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Renting doesn’t have to be a consolation prize, but it often feels like one: It’s where we end up when we can’t quite hook onto the property ladder. But in the right conditions, it’s an opportunity to live outside our price point—but within our budget.

For architect Jeff Gillway and his wife, Kim Gittleson, it was also a lifeline. The couple uprooted their lives in New York City to move down to Washington D.C. while expecting their first child. A well-timed rental contract offered them the stability to lay down roots for real.

Kim’s work as a journalist has taken her around the world—she once moved between London and New York five times in a single year. But when Kim took a job based in Washington, D.C., in 2024, she tried commuting each week from the couple’s rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn. By early 2025, it was time for a move, and to buy their own place.

“We put offers on five or six different places at full asking price—or above—but every time we got beaten out by a cash offer,” Jeff says. Even houses that would take a little work flew off the market.

One property that couple toured was in Carrollsburg Square, a brutalist complex developed by Keyes, Lethbridge, and Cordon in the 1960s. They loved it, but another buyer outbid them by around $30,000. “This place had termites,” Jeff remembers. “I was, like, what do you mean someone put in more than an asking price for if it’s got termites?”

They put in offers on a few different Carrollsburg Square apartments before they finally found a rental in the development: a 2,100-square-foot town house spread over three stories. It’s a piece of history—a plaque nearby notes that Hillary Clinton lived here in the early ’70s—and it’s around $1,000 less a month than their mortgage would have been. Best of all: It came termite-free.

“The real estate market was as brutal as the architecture,” Jeff concedes. Kim adds, “But here, we could sign a two-year lease and we basically thought: ‘We’re never leaving.’”

Choosing a historic home had its benefits. The apartment’s construction was solid, and well-preserved, with head-turning features like floor-to-ceiling windows, Carrara marble countertops, and plenty of cast concrete. Building codes have advanced since the ’60s, so the landlord agreed to swap the wide-set balustrades on the stair railing with glass.

When it came to outfitting their home, the couple operated under two tight constraints. Jeff left his job at a corporate firm in December 2025 to focus on his solo practice, and with a baby on the way, they were particularly cautious about their budget. They also avoided any major structural changes to the house, because a historic rental is still a rental—and they plan to keep their security deposit intact.

Jeff and Kim focused on decor to make the space their own—and Jeff drew on his background in interior design as well. This meant reversible interventions and light-touch installations, like painting doorframes and opting for floor-to-ceiling office cabinetry, which uses spring-loaded tension rods for drill-free installation. To hang their art, they used picture rails—popular in the Brooklyn brownstones in their old neighborhood—which make it easy to move their modest collection of prints and paintings around.

The rest of the apartment filled in quickly. Jeff knew midcentury-modern pieces would pair well with the building’s brutalist bones, and he found most of their furniture for cheap on Facebook Marketplace, in local classifieds, and deeply discounted at auction houses.

The nursery is furnished almost entirely with high-end products they source from a local WhatsApp group. To adorn its walls, the couple went through the New Yorker archives and found their favorite illustrations as a nod to the city where they met and married.

They’ve quickly found their favorite spots as well: Jeff runs his practice downstairs, while Kim, an enthusiastic home cook, feels that abundant natural light in the kitchen eases the short winter days.

“I think that’s the funny thing. It’s a rental apartment, so it should feel temporary,” Kim says. “But because everything else I’ve done had felt so much more temporary, all of the things that we’ve done here to make it feel like its ours have made it feel like home so quickly.”

More Rental Revamp stories:

“Sexy Soho House” Was the Inspiration for This Broadway Star’s Showstopping Apartment

Their L.A. Home Is a DIY Design Test Lab

A Designer Cuts a Deal With His Landlord to Give His Buenos Aires Place a Rustic Reno

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Keyes, Lethbridge, and Cordon

Architecture & Interior Design: Jeff Gillway Architect