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Cheng opened up the kitchen to the main living spaces and gave it an uber-functional layout.

The structural slab on the ground floor has simply been polished as a cost effective, practical, and durable flooring solution, especially to the sand and salt.

Sometimes all it takes is a little luck. For a young married couple, it came in the form of this rare find: a 19th-century, three-story, single-family home in the heart of Paris. The building was a charmer with good bones, but was in need of some serious care. In a vibrant retrofit by architect Pierre-Louis Gerlier that includes structural reinforcements, the reimagined design is set off with a new floor plan. The lower level now serves as a space for the couple’s children, with the public areas—including an open-plan living/dining room and kitchen—on the floor above. Upstairs, the attic has been transformed into a very large primary bedroom with a green-and-white bathroom suite. The living room (pictured) showcases the firm’s bespoke carpentry work with a beautiful, mossy-green built-in bookcase that frames a new fireplace, and a staircase surrounded by arched doorways that hold hidden storage. “We created visual breakthroughs in order to connect the different spaces,” says Gerlier. “The rounded arches are there to help magnify these moments.”

Studio Becker Xu streamlined the kitchen by building all of the appliances into the millwork. The budget-friendly countertops are a Formica solid surface.

The team removed dropped ceilings in the relatively small bedrooms and painted the exposed rafters a glossy white to bounce light. “Opening the ceiling makes the [bedrooms] feel much bigger,” says Chernak.

Each student room has a dedicated workspace that's clean, bright, and functional. Objects and furniture had to be carefully selected or designed to make the apartment work: for instance, the steel desk was custom designed by Wierciński’s firm to double as a radiator cover.

The complete line of WorkShop products, including limited edition items, is available now. New tools for work and brainstorming will periodically refresh the collection.

A 2009 Cedric desk by Kay + Stemmer occupies the study.

A cantilevered peninsula offers a smart, space-saving solution for the 900-square-foot layout: It offers ample space for food preparation and also acts as a dining area.

The kitchen cabinets are made from a pressed wood-fiber product. The countertop and backsplash are Caesarstone.

This backsplash may only cover a small surface area, but its asymmetric tiles are the kitchen’s pièce de résistance.

This lovely kitchen features laminate cabinets by Danish brand Reform.

The kitchen, which was moved to the sunny side of the house, embraces Anyeley’s taste for simple, modern forms. Cabinetry painted in Hague Blue by Farrow & Ball surrounds a central island fitted with Nerd bar stools by Muuto and a Dot Line Suspension pendant by Lambert & Fils. Completing the kitchen is a Litze faucet by Brizo and a Crosstown sink by Elkay, along with rangetop and wall ovens by Dacor and a Benchmark refrigerator from Bosch.

A pink concrete dining-cum-coffee table holds a fire-pit at one end, where it’s surrounded by a pair of Gae Aulenti lounge chairs, a Tufty Time sofa from B&B Italia, and a Mies van der Rohe Barcelona chair. The 1930s dining chairs are by Hynek Gottwald.

A twin bed that he designed anchors a flex room on the second floor.

Each bedroom has two access doors, which close completely flush for a clean appearance.

Done right, a mattress placed on the floor or a low-lying bed frame has an irresistible cool factor.