How to make a rental feel like your forever home

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With time, they might be embraced or tempered by the things we add ourselves — the objects, scents and rituals that overlay the permanent with the personal.

They add character to blank walls, usher personality into plain rooms and bring warmth to spaces that might otherwise feel stark.

Whether it be the books and magazines that follow us from place to place or the choice of records stacked beside the player, these pieces express us, sometimes more clearly than words.

The Barbican apartment of Kim Darragon and Daniel Giacopelli shows how this negotiation plays out in practice.

In 2022, they left London and their beloved Barbican apartment to start a new chapter in Los Angeles.

Yet while they enjoyed their time in California, they missed London — the city where they had met and which felt like the perfect balance for them — and decided to come back in 2025 on one condition: that they go back to the Barbican.

The couple’s printed pieces have followed them from one city to the next, serving not just as references but as companions.

Whether a vintage concert poster or a well-thumbed travel guide, each contains a small piece of the world the pair have passed through together.

Mornings begin with coffee and fresh air on the balcony, while strolls through the gardens or photography sessions along the highwalks create breaks throughout the day.

Kim lights candles and plays meditation music before deep work; Danny closes his laptop to cook or, just as often, to order comforting chicken and rice dishes from neighbourhood spots.

These gestures give shape to the fleeting nature of rental life and transform the entire Barbican estate into a cocoon within the city.