There’s a monthly minimum expenditure of $99, so subscribers need to rent a couple of items at a time for the service to make sense. (The company said recently that it was redoing its fee structure; some prices noted here may change.) Large pieces, which can be a hassle to move when you’re still trying out jobs and cities, are in most orders, Mr. Reno said. Sofas include a chunky, modernist West Elm model that retails for $899 and rents for $52 a month, if you sign up for a year subscription (prices are higher for shorter terms). And people “go bonkers for” Feather’s own emerald-green velvet sofa on walnut legs ($55 per month for a year’s subscription; it sells for $1,299). If Feather’s young customers haven’t yet pinned down their taste in home furnishings, they can take the Style Quiz on the company’s website and allow its algorithms to make suggestions.

“People tend to like Scandinavian/midcentury/Japanese,” Mr. Reno said. “What they really like is simplicity.”

That works for the company because pared-down pieces are easier to clean than fussy ones. At the end of a rental term, a customer can buy the pieces — with the monthly payments going toward the retail cost — or extend the subscription, perhaps swapping in other items. Or the goods can be picked up (for a fee of $149), taken to Feather’s Brooklyn warehouse (or, in the San Francisco area, one in South San Francisco) and spruced up for the next customer.

Tables and case pieces are wiped down. Upholstered items — many of them covered in durable contract-grade fabrics — are steam-cleaned. Slipcovers are easily replaced.

“If someone spills red wine on a back cushion, we can just replace that cushion,” Mr. Reno said. If damages go above and beyond the scuffs and stains of normal wear and tear, the customer will be charged for the item.

Although Mr. Reno declined to divulge the number of Feather customers — other than to say “thousands” are currently using the service — or reveal the company’s annual revenue, he said Feather will expand to new markets by the end of the year.