Location Strategy on a Shoestring Budget: 'Hero' Locations & Doubling/Tripling

Hey everyone, hoping for some real-world advice here. I'm currently prepping for a micro-budget indie short, and we're talking practically zero for locations. The director's concept hinges on some specific 'hero' settings, but the reality is, we're looking at friends' apartments and begging favors.

I've seen the advice about 'hero' locations and trying to find spots that can 'double' or 'triple' for different scenes. In theory, that makes perfect sense to maximize resources. But when every single location is already a compromise, how do you genuinely implement that without making everything look cheap and repetitive? I've been trying to brainstorm different angles or dressing changes within one apartment, but it feels like we'll just end up with the same couch in every scene. How do you actually make one place feel like three distinct 'hero' locations when your options are so limited?