This living/dining space is the social center of the apartment. For that reason, the architect designed the cabinet walls as a unifying visual feature that anchors the two rooms and provides practical storage space.

Hynam built additional storage along one angled wall of the bedroom loft and beneath the skylight.

The apartment's entryway features a hidden storage wall and media console.

What the original building lacked in period detailing, it made up for with massive interior spaces, natural light, and a hardy palette of wood and raw brick. Working with these loft signatures, David developed the hall’s liveable side, adding under-floor heating, and a gigantic kitchen on the upper floor running the width of the building, with a 37-foot-long solid walnut counter on top of stainless steel cabinets. This unites the dining, cooking and social spaces that run the length of the front façade on the upper floor.

The architect brought the solid walls of certain rooms down to 7’ 8”, filling the remaining 4’ 2” with glass. This defining feature allows sunlight penetrate deep into the core of the space. The clients say the bright reds, oranges, and yellows of sunsets race across the ceiling and white walls.

Opposite the master bedroom on the top floor lies the sunny kids’ bedroom. A double-sided wardrobe provides storage, and functionally divides two separate sleeping areas. Further storage is placed along the window wall that faces the backyard.

A wall of bamboo adjacent to the atrium floor provides a dramatic and seductive green entrance—“natural art,” Eric calls it.

A couple takes a minimalist approach to their Brooklyn apartment, focusing on supple materials, subtle gradations of color, and custom finishes by local craftsmen. The Mandayam–Vohra family gathers under one of Workstead’s signature three-arm chandeliers, shown here in its horizontal configuration. Bartenschlager designed the white cabinets and is responsible for the walnut counters both on the kitchen island and near the stove.

The kitchen shelves are organized with clinical precision.

In the kitchen, the custom cabinets contain special compartments that hide appliances from sight. The room draws in natural light from the balcony.

Get the whole family involved in the kitchen, whether it be teaching young ones a tried-and-true recipe or exploring a new dish together.

Skylights draw sunshine into the apartment.

Alex Gil and Claudia DeSimio created a duplex in an apartment building where they’d been renting for years in Brooklyn, New York, and set to work gutting the interior and adding a new rooftop addition clad in panels of Cor-Ten steel.

Exterior of the backyard studio Riley McFerrin of Hinterland Design built for his client, a children's book illustrator.

A polished concrete floor was selected for its durability. Using a design move inspired by Japanese architecture, Bruzkus introduced a change in height to help separate the sleeping area from the living area.

Restricting storage to a monolithic bank of bookshelves and cabinets cuts down on furniture clutter. “If you put a lot of small things into a small space, it can feel twice as small,” Ryan says. “If you have an object with heft and mass, it makes everything feel larger. It seems contradictory, but it works.” He outfitted an Ikea Pax and Komplement closet system with custom doors and placed automotive felt over them to dampen sound from a nearby track of the Long Island Rail Road.

In a bathroom otherwise dominated by the neutral tones of Statuario marble, a powder-pink wall of cabinetry adds a colorful contrast—and creates ample storage to boot.

The couple's daughter reads in the cozy nook just inside the front door painted in a vibrant blue from Benjamin Moore. Of the storage area below, Fredrik says, "In Sweden, there's always a place to sit and take off your shoes. This is a version of that."

The full-height cabinets offer plenty of nooks and crannies where household goods can be hidden away. “Carefully considered storage provides space for each family member’s essentials, yet limits consumption and places greater value on the objects that they have chosen to live with,” Cousins says.

A couple takes a minimalist approach to their Brooklyn apartment, focusing on supple materials, subtle gradations of color, and custom finishes by local craftsmen. Photo by Matthew Williams.

The couple’s Murphy bed, Clei’s Penelope model, folds up into the wall.

The bi-level car barn, a spare, timber-clad structure with an A-frame roof, nods to traditional farmhouses, but is “sleek and contemporary in spirit,” says Geremia. Inspired by an old photo of a porcelain farmhouse sink, it features polished concrete floors.

When closed, the discreet cabinets fit flush against the wall.

Inside, playful pillows can be rearranged in any manner, and are often used as mock beds for relaxing and looking at the canopies above.

Husband-and-wife founders of Calico Wallpaper Rachel and Nick Cope show how easy it can be to put a personal, design-led touch on loft living—even when it’s a rental. When the Copes rented a Red Hook loft in an industrial 1860s warehouse, the couple turned their rental into a testing ground for their marbleized wallpaper business and installed wallpaper in each of their rooms. The custom pieces take inspiration from the loft’s immediate surroundings and characteristics—from the silver-and-gold marbled mural that complements the loft’s exposed structural beams to a color-gradient wallpaper in the primary bedroom that takes cues from the sunset seen from Red Hook.

The wall beneath the stairs holds hidden storage, including an Enomatic wine dispenser and Sub-Zero refrigerated drawers.

The gutting of the ground floor uncovered a former union meeting hall, with a steel beam spanning 45 feet. “With renovations on buildings like these,” says Berridge, “you never know what you’ve got until you start doing demolition. Once we started, none of us could figure out what was holding the building up, because there were no posts. It was quite something. That’s what allowed us to have this huge open space on the ground floor.” Bartlett didn’t want plugs that would protrude below where paintings hung, but the building code demands a certain amount per room, so the architect designed recessed ones that interrupted the plane of the wall as little as possible.

In the Dolomite mountains, an angular copper-clad apartment building echoes the topography of its site. Photos by Hertha Hurnaus

The Wall of Storage came after the couple moved in.

Pros: Marble is elegant, heat resistant, and comes in a range of colors. Cons: Its high price, especially for more unusual types like Calacatta marble (known for its purer white and bolder veining compared to more common marble like Carrara), means that it isn’t an option for everyone. It is also quite high maintenance, requiring regular resealing.

An alcove above the kitchen discreetly houses a sleeping space for guests.

The Laccio side table in the bedroom is by Marcel Breuer for Knoll.

The kitchen is equipped with a custom Statuario marble countertop, shelf, and sink.

A handwoven silk ikat print, which Molineus acquired in Uzbekistan, is draped between the kitchen entrances. A Sapiens bookshelf by Bruno Rainaldi stands at far right.

A large unit provides book and media storage in the living room.