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When the Zimmerman family settled in Seattle, Washington, in the late 1990s they bought a 1,100-square-foot Craftsman built in the 1920s. Fast-forward to today. Not wanting to leave their beloved neighborhood, but hurting for space, they enlisted the help of local design-build firm Ninebark to create a separate living area. Working from sketches that the residents had from their uncle, Gary Schoemaker, an architect in New York, Ninebark realized a refined structure that serves as a playroom, office, and guesthouse for visitors, complete with a kitchenette and full bathroom.

While the structures might look like shipping containers, they're actually constructed of corrugated metal, a nod to the site's industrial history. Photo by Ken Moore

What's it like to work with this piece of machinery? "The loom can be very cantankerous and I have had to learn a few mechanical tricks to keep it in good repair. There are parts that are rigged with aircraft cable and it eventually breaks and needs to be replaced, sometimes mid-project. The brake mechanism consists of heavy rope, springs, turnbuckles, and bar-bell weights that hang from arms on the two large back beams. It is all mechanical, nothing automated. Some have asked me if it is some kind of work-out machine."

The Sill, which began as an online plant store in June 2012, tailors its offerings to busy urban lifestyles. Its in-house line of ceramics is paired with a selection of low-maintenance plant varieties curated for apartment life. The New York City flagship opened in fall 2014.

This renovated apartment in Barcelona plays with subtle color contrasts, such as the chromatic tile mosaics and the blond wood used for sliding doors and benches.

The open-plan kitchen and living room in the de Gaspé House in Montreal's Villeray neighborhood borrows natural light from a double-height space over the seating area.

The budget was nearly as tight as the space in this cheerful renovation of a 516-square-foot flat in Bratislava. The centerpiece of Lukáš Kordík’s new kitchen is the cabinetry surrounding the sink, a feat he managed by altering the facing and pulls of an off-the-rack Ikea system. The laminate offers a good punch of blue, and in modernist fashion, Kordík forwent door handles in favor of cutouts. “I wanted the kitchen to be one simple block of color without any additional design,” he says.

Architect Tamira Sawatzky and artist Elle Flanders get an awfully good view of their busy Toronto street from their office and dining room.