Earl of East founders reveal how to bring personality to a rental home

Following the release of Home for Now: Living Well Without Staying Long, a book spotlighting interior design for rental homes, authors Paul Firmin and Niko Dafkos talk Dezeen through eight of the most inspiring examples.

As founders of Earl of East, a London-based lifestyle brand specialising in scent products, Firmin and Dafkos wanted to show that it is possible to inject warmth and personality into homes, even if they're only temporary.

"It came from years of lived experience and a lot of conversations in our shops," they told Dezeen.

"Over time, we kept hearing the same thing from customers: a genuine desire to make wherever they were feel like home, but this real hesitation, like they had to wait for a forever home before they could truly invest," they continued.

"So much of what exists in the interiors world is aimed at people who own their homes, who have the freedom to renovate, to knock down walls, to start from scratch. But that's not the reality for most people. We wanted to make a book that spoke directly to them."

Published by Gestalten, Home for Now explores 40 rental homes from across the UK and USA, and the stories behind them.

Firmin and Dafkos have picked out eight of their favourites. Here, they explain what makes them so special:

Railroad apartment, Greenpoint, New York
Brigette Muller

"Brigette is one of the most fearless people we featured, and her 1920s apartment is one of the most emotionally rich spaces in the book.

"She's a content creator whose work sits somewhere between French interiors and New York romanticism, and her home is where that aesthetic lives most honestly. High ceilings, original mouldings, a fireplace – she describes it as living inside a love letter.

"What makes her such a perfect home for now is her complete refusal of the renter's hesitation. She's painted almost every inch herself, renovated the bathroom, installed a marble countertop, and had the windows replaced.

"But what really stays with us is the emotional layering: two mirrors passed down from her grandmother and her mother, a kitchen drawer filled with incense and candles, a scent blend of frankincense, bergamot, rose, jasmine and cedar that she's made her own."

One-bed apartment, east London
Scott Bennett

"Scott's home stuck with us because of the discipline behind it. He and his partner, an architect also named Scott, refused to rush the process of furnishing their rented basement apartment in east London.

"Walls were painted and repainted, furniture was plotted with tape on the floor before anything was acquired, and cheaper pieces were steadily replaced with ones chosen for meaning and longevity.

"The objects that made the cut tell you everything: a grandmother's painting, a glass cat figurine, a print from the National Galleries of Scotland that connects them to their small-town roots as a queer couple, and coffee table legs salvaged from a V&A clearance sale."

Two-bed apartment, Upper West Side, New York
Agnes Baddoo

"Agnes' home stopped us in our tracks, because it does something none of the others in the book quite do. Her apartment – a prewar Classic Six from 1926 – has been in her family for generations, passed down through the years along with its furniture, its objects, and all of its accumulated atmosphere.

"When she took it over in 2022, she didn't strip it back or start again. The kitchen linoleum floors have been left exactly as they were, a quiet nod to the building's history and her family's place within it.

"Beautiful objects get used daily; every morning begins with tea candles lit at a small altar, mantras playing softly in the background – a ritual that grounds her before the day begins.

"There's something rare about this home. It doesn't feel frozen in time, but it doesn't feel like it's trying to escape it either."

Two-bed apartment, Greenpoint, New York
Éva and Ian Goicochea

"Éva and Ian have lived in the same corner apartment in Greenpoint for nearly a decade, and their home is one of the quietest and most powerful demonstrations of what time and genuine care can build.

"Éva is the founder of the intimacy brand Maude, and Ian works in sustainability. Their space – a bright, gallery-like apartment with huge windows on every side – has been shaped slowly and deliberately, through habit rather than any single renovation moment.

"A wide hallway doubles as a library holding nearly 800 books. Ian built the cabinetry himself to house the collection, and the shelving has since extended into the bedroom as it continues to grow.

"Furniture has been gathered with an eye for character over trends, chosen with the intention of keeping pieces forever. Even the dogs, two rescued Shih Tzus, have their own built-in 'pet couch'."

One-bed apartment, Koreatown, Los Angeles
Rhett Baruch and Patty Sanchez

"Rhett and Patty's 1920s Spanish Mediterranean house in Koreatown is one of the most visually arresting spaces we visited, somewhere that genuinely blurs the line between home, gallery and office.

"Rhett is a former 'picker' who turned his talent for finding objects at Craigslist and estate sales into a gallery on Melrose, while Patty is an artist. Together they've filled the space with hand-thrown pottery, studio crafts, modernist furniture, and what Rhett cheerfully describes as 'weird stuff that nobody else really cared for'.

"Their philosophy around impermanence is what makes the home sing. The kitchen was lovingly transformed by Rhett as a deliberate act of investment.

"Their home isn't a showroom, it's a lived-in reflection of their taste, where even the temporary objects have a place and a function.

Four-bed house, Los Angeles
Robert Gigliotti

"Robert's Los Angeles home captures something we feel very deeply: that beautiful things don't need to be new, and that a space built from thrift, inheritance, and creative instinct can carry more warmth and personality than one assembled from scratch with a big budget.

"The house has curved ceilings and a wood-panelled sunken den that Robert sees as the ideal backdrop for evenings of food, conversation, and connection.

"Everything has a story: a thrifted armchair from his first LA apartment, his father's cigar box, and an Eames armchair he plans to keep for life.

"His approach to renting is one of genuine custodianship, stripping carpet to reveal hardwood, updating light fittings and bringing original features back to life. The rooms are eclectic and changeable; a bookshelf grows week by week, newly thrifted pieces find their place, palo santo fills the foyer, and afternoon light filters through the pink-tiled bathroom."

Converted workshop, Stoke Newington, London
Shai Akram and Andrew Haythornthwaite

"Shai and Andrew's home is probably the most radical act of homemaking in the whole book. Their Stoke Newington property, a former flour shop that later became a hackney carriage station and ceramics studio, had oil-stained floors and makeshift walls when they first saw it.

"Rather than saving for a mortgage, they invested that money into making the rental entirely their own. They partitioned a large industrial shell into three zones for working, living, and sleeping, keeping the feeling of openness intact throughout.

"The rule was that every change had to be reversible. Room dividers were built from full sheets of carefully selected plywood, held without nails.

"They designed and built much of their own furniture, including their daughter's bed, shelves and modular kitchen units, with all demountable and movable when the time comes."

Two-bed house, north London
Zoe Starreveld

"Out of everyone in the book, Zoe has most completely rejected the idea that renting means living in limbo, and you feel it the moment you walk into her 1960s townhouse.

"She paints, she plants, and she puts down roots, both literally in her garden, and figuratively in her community. Pristine finishes and show-house styling have never been the point.

"What we love most about her approach is how unsentimental it is. The old, utilitarian kitchen and bathroom are not really hers to change, so she doesn't try. Instead, she works with the movable: textiles, plants, and objects are constantly rearranged as the mood and season shift.

"Every salvaged piece earns its place. Scent and ritual run deeply through the home too; there's a quiet sense that daily and monthly rituals are just as important as anything physical."

The photography is by Sarah Victoria Bates.

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