Skylights over Santa Monica

Bare brick walls, riveted steel beams, and skylights that pour natural light down into the room – this converted loft in West Hollywood has the kind of character that's hard to fake. Art-filled and design-forward, it's an intimate retreat for two, with a full kitchen for proper dinners in and a terracotta-tiled shower worth lingering in. A coffee shop sits on the ground floor for slow mornings, Santa Monica Boulevard's restaurants are right on the doorstep, and the Sunset Strip is a twenty-three-minute walk when the evening calls for it.

Home truths:
* This is a studio apartment, so you'll be living and sleeping in one space.
* The loft is on the second floor with no lift in the building, so you'll be using the stairs to reach it.
* The coffee shop on the ground floor of the building stays open until 10pm, bringing a lively street-level buzz to the building in the evenings – something to factor in if you're sensitive to noise. More broadly, this is an urban neighbourhood, so expect some background street and pedestrian noise.
* You'll have one reserved parking spot across the street – it's not in the building itself, so factor that in if you're arriving with heavy bags.