"Alexandra Gater proves you don’t need thousands of dollars or sprawling square footage to create a home you love. The former magazine editor-turned-content creator specializes in transforming small spaces and rentals into beautiful, functional homes on a budget. Her YouTube channel has amassed a following of over 700,000 subscribers who tune into her videos taking homes from basic “befores” to incredible “afters.” As you can imagine, her own 1,000-square-foot rental is just as jaw-dropping. Prioritizing warm colors and a whimsical feel, her home is full of bright personality and, of course, endless DIYs and renter-friendly hacks. Step into Alexandra’s home for a full tour below and get her best advice for making a small space feel like home.
Alexandra Gater’s Toronto Home Tour
The details:
Name: Alexandra Gater
Location: Toronto, Canada
Square Footage: About 1,000 sq ft
Rent/Own: Rent
You’re a content creator and interior stylist who specializes in renter-friendly, small-space makeovers. What led you to this niche?
I started my career in publishing at a women’s lifestyle magazine in the home decor department and really noticed a gap when it came to who home content was primarily being created for. Most magazine home content is for those with thousands of dollars to pour into a huge home reno, but I was looking around at both my and my friend’s tiny apartments and thinking, “Where are the tips for us?” For so many, renting in a big city is the reality—not just for the short term but longer than ever before. The goal of my channel is to teach my viewers that living in a beautiful space is absolutely attainable. Sometimes, it’s the smallest changes that have the biggest impact.
Your entryway makes a small space very functional. Walk us through the projects that got it to where it is now.
Because our entryway is a bit of an odd shape and pretty narrow, I knew we had to build up and make use of all the vertical wall space. I lived in the mess that was our entryway for a while, so when it came time to make it over, I knew exactly how I wanted it to function and what we needed.
Custom shelves made by my handyman Graham (who I will mention has brought all of these projects to life in my home!) and painted in Sulking Room Pink ensure there’s room for all of our necessities, with our most-used pieces along the bottom shelves in easy reach. The coat rail means that we can easily find the jacket we want to wear instead of having a piled mess of coats on one hook, which is how it used to be! I also gave my favorite IKEA HEMNES shoe cabinet a glow-up with some paint and a custom wood top, knobs, and shelves on the side for even more storage.
Every room in your home feels so playful and fun. How would you categorize your decorating style, and how has it evolved over time?
My style has always been whimsical and colorful, but in recent years, I’ve been incorporating more refined elements to give that whimsy and color a more mature feel. I love mixing and matching patterns and finding interesting and quirky finds from small businesses or artisans. I really just buy what I love and try not to worry too much if everything matches, which has really created a home that feels unique to me and my partner, Noah.
What are some of the biggest challenges you run into when decorating a small space, and how do you work around them?
The layout of a small space is more crucial than ever, as people increasingly need to use one area for multiple purposes. It’s a really fun challenge trying to maximize people’s spaces, especially studio apartments, but layouts are something I revisit every makeover and definitely don’t get on the first try. I love to incorporate dual-functional pieces and maximize storage in clever ways.
You live with your partner, Noah. Do you have any tips for combining personal styles when decorating a space with a partner?
Combining both our styles was definitely a challenging process for us both! One thing that I found the most helpful was showing Noah my vision. I do home decor day in and day out, so I have a strong sense of what something is going to look like, but Noah (like most people!) can have a hard time visualizing how something is going to look from a tiny product photo or a paint swatch. Showing him an example of a room painted out in a paint color rather than just the swatch was so helpful in making sure we were both comfortable with a change.
When it came to combining our personal styles, we talked about what things were non-negotiable to us both along the way and worked together to ensure we both felt like our styles were being represented. For example, Noah was not into the idea of an all-pink kitchen, so we compromised on green, but because my favorite color is pink, I injected that throughout our main floor in bursts rather than across an entire room.
Your home was built in 1884 and has a lot of original charm. What was your approach to honoring the home’s unique details as you updated the space to make it more functional?
I love this question! We definitely have decorated around the home’s unique details, like not painting the fireplace in the dining room area and leaving the molding on the walls as-is (we wouldn’t dare touch that!!). My favorite homes are ones like ours, where the character only adds to the overall design.
The pink cabinet in your dining area is such a cool statement piece. Walk us through how you pulled off this stunning DIY.
This piece is an Anthropologie dupe that Graham and I made together! This was truly the missing piece to my main floor. A lot of the furniture is low to the ground, so I love how the height of this piece fills the space and adds a statement. It’s actually a BILLY Bookcase and a MALM dresser that’s been cut down to size to fit in the bookshelf for extra storage. I painted it a bright pink and added a marble top inside. Noah and I get so much use out of this piece for all of our bar needs, especially during the holidays.
The birdcage light fixture in your living room is such a unique, statement piece. Do you have any favorite stores to shop for quirky, individualistic pieces like this?
Etsy is absolutely my go-to for quirky, one-of-a-kind pieces like this birdcage lamp. I also love buying directly from ceramicists and artists as you can get amazing one-of-a-kind pieces and know exactly who and where your piece came from.
You have re-decorated your living room many times. What about this version feels like the right fit for your home?
I couldn’t get this living room right because nothing seemed to ground the space. I didn’t want to paint an accent wall or add wallpaper because this room gets so much light during the day, and I wanted to lean into the airiness of it. The missing piece that made the biggest impact was adding a few panels of peel-and-stick molding from Luxe Architectural on the TV wall. It filled the space and added interest while leaning into the original molding of the home. I learned that I really just needed to play off the original details of the home—the stained glass and the wall molding.
We love all the bright, warm tones used throughout your home. How did you decide on the color palette?
I’ve always been drawn to bright and warm tones like greens and pinks, and I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to expanding my paint palette in my own space! I know what I like, and if I try out a new color, I immediately know if I like it (or not) by the way it makes me feel. I’ve had visceral physical reactions to colors I don’t like! All the colors in my home (Sulking Room Pink, Cloud White, Windsor Green for example) are all ones that make me feel cozy and warm. To me, these colors are neutrals that I know I won’t tire of.
When decorating your own rental, how did you approach this space differently than you would a client’s?
I was able to make so many changes to my own rental that I wouldn’t in other people’s spaces. My decorating process was more like a mini reno. I changed all of the vinyl flooring to real wood on the main level and installed tile up an entire wall in my kitchen, for example. It was really fun to have landlords who welcomed these changes because I was able to expand my skill set and execute the largest makeover I’d ever done.
You’ve made many upgrades to the kitchen, including retiling the backsplash, removing cabinets to create open shelves, and painting the cabinetry. What project do you think has made the biggest difference in the overall look?
Painting kitchen cabinets is something we do in most kitchen makeovers on my channel because it has such an impact! Painting cabinets a fun color can distract from changes you can’t make like countertops or backsplash. Bringing that warm green (Pigeon by Farrow & Ball) into our kitchen definitely changed the look and feel of the whole space. I also think taking down the upper cabinets on the one wall and adding in floating shelves was a great way to inject my personality into the kitchen with all of my favorite things on display.
The corner nook under your kitchen window seems like the perfect place to curl up and read a book. What do you use this space for?
I work a lot in this nook in the spring and summer with the windows open!
The shape of your office seems like it would be a challenge to decorate. How did you fit all the storage and function you needed within this unusual footprint?
I always find challenging nooks like this sloped alcove the perfect place for storage, usually because it’s difficult to fit pieces of furniture in these spaces. In a space like this, you want to maximize every square inch you can and usually can’t do that without custom pieces to fit into the unusual angles, which is why my handyman and I cut down PAX wardrobes to fit seamlessly in this sloped nook. I finished them off with custom-painted doors from Nieu Cabinet Doors to create a feature wall. This solution also gave us so much extra storage that we desperately needed.
Your home is chock-full of DIYs. What project are you most proud of?
Probably my laundry closet! I took a little corner I really didn’t know what I was going to do with (it was literally just our washer and dryer stacked on top of one another with a wide, empty gap on the right-hand side and no door) and made it extremely functional. It’s a space I use weekly, and even though it’s tiny, it looks pretty and makes laundry an enjoyable experience even in such a tight space.
Do you have any favorite renter-friendly hacks you always rely on?
Peel-and-stick products! I can’t say enough good things about removable backsplash and flooring. In my old apartment, I used both of these in my kitchen and bathroom, and it was such a game-changer. I also use these products in a lot of my makeovers. These days, peel-and-stick products are so reliable and advanced; many are waterproof and work well in kitchens and bathrooms.
You also live with two adorable cats. How have you made space for all the pet necessities without detracting from your style?
One of my favorite DIYs ever is using an IKEA cabinet to hide a cat litter box! I’ve done it with both the IKEA IVAR and the PS cabinet, and it’s a great way to disguise a litter box with extra room to store food and litter. I painted the one that’s currently in my home the same color as the kitchen, and it seamlessly blends in with the rest of the decor—you’d never know it was hiding their bathroom.
Your bathroom is a great example of how small changes can make a big impact. How did you update this space without committing to a full renovation?
I knew right away that the bathroom tile wasn’t my style (and as you can see, it covers basically the entire bathroom), but instead of fixating on it, I decided to focus on what I could control. To make the space feel cohesive, I tried to go with neutral or black finishes to tie into the black in the tile. The original, outdated wall sconces were replaced with sleek black ones, and I picked a bobbin mirror that I loved to add a decorative statement. I replaced the legs and knobs on the long storage cabinet to make it feel a little more custom. Drapery, bath mats, towels, and shower curtains are also easy and inexpensive ways to update a bathroom outfitted with outdated and unchangeable fixtures.
You’ve mentioned before that you want your bedroom to exude calmness. What aspects of this space contribute the most to that serene environment?
We’ve really tried to keep the bedroom from feeling too cluttered or busy in order for it to exude calmness, which is why we just have the necessities: a bed and storage. We don’t have a rug under the bed for this reason, plus we love the original hardwood floor in this room. The goal for this space is to just walk in at the end of a long day and get into our cozy bed. I wanted this room to be minimal upkeep—no fancy pillows or precious pieces of decor to zhuzh. Cozy, relaxed linen sheets also help keep it calm and inviting; I’ll never sleep a day in this bed without linen!
As someone who decorates for a living, do you feel like you’re constantly making changes to your home? How do you know when a space is truly finished?
I’m actually really grateful that I get to express my creativity outside of my home. There’s something really nice about coming home at the end of the day and not constantly thinking about what I have to update next. For me, I am content with a space when it feels right visually and functions perfectly, but it’s never really “finished” because my taste and needs are constantly changing. That’s what’s so fun about design! It’s a puzzle and a challenge that’s ever-evolving.
