{If you’re reading this via email, click the title to view the gallery. It’ll make so much more sense that way. Promise!}

THANK YOU to all of you who entered the Rock Your Rental contest. Choosing a winner wasn’t easy, and while I’ve personally thanked each and every one of you, I’d like to thank you here. Right now. I couldn’t have done this without you, and I’m deeply grateful for the community we’re building. Cheers!

If you’re new here, let me get you up to speed. I created the Rock Your Rental contest so that I could help you break free from the decorative limitations of renting. Renting sometimes sucks, but unless you’re a college student or in an especially transient period, your living situation should never *feel* temporary, even if it is. Rock Your Rental is about giving one lucky reader the chance to transform their space ~ on their terms, within their budget, and on their timeline. And it’s giving me a chance to show all of you that no matter where you live, it should always feel like *home*.

I know renting can sometimes feel like living in aesthetic purgatory, and the sense of, “where do I even start?!” can be overwhelming. But there’s absolutely no need to ‘grin and bear it’ when it comes to your personal space. Personal space is just that… PERSONAL, and it doesn’t take bundles of cash and a couple of sledgehammers to make it feel so. More to the point, a space isn’t about the bits of ‘this and that’; it’s about how you want to FEEL.

So whatever your individual nasty happens to be ~ ugly fixtures, even uglier lighting, dusty don’t-know-how-long-they’ve-been-up window treatments, I’m about to show you that renting doesn’t have to equate to “ugh”. I’m inviting you behind the scenes for an intimate over-the-shoulder peek as I tease apart the story, get inside the minds of our winners, figure out where they’re going sideways, and best of all, what turns them on.

And the juiciest part? I’m giving you a peek inside their record collection, which will form the basis for my intuitive excavation and space orchestration. It’s what I mean when I talk about teasing out your inner theme song, and bringing the intangible essence of ‘you’ into tangible 3D form. It’s exposing inspiration and solving problems by listening.

So without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Mr. & Ms. B. Actually, let me introduce you to their bedroom, specifically. Photos are a little fuzzy, but you can definitely get the gist…

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[View with PicLens]

This should be interesting, no?

Next we’ll meet the couple behind the images and break the project down. And later, I’ll bring you inside their record collection for some gorgeous inspiration, where you’ll get an idea of how to create your individual aesthetic fingerprint, by taking cues from what turns you on, auditorily speaking.

So stick around; you might just learn something new that you can use in your own space, renting or otherwise.