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Clever cubby storage is incorporated into the base of the interior stairs, while the extra-deep stair treads provide flexible "stadium-style" seating for the kids.

Sam Shah and Anne Suttles asked architect Kevin Alter to renovate their 1920s bungalow in Austin, Texas, and add an addition, which contains a living area downstairs and an office upstairs. They tucked an office nook under the stairs; the Eames chair is a hand-me-down from Shah’s father.

Kenter Powder Room

Reilly, pictured here, deleted the original front door in order to create an expanse of uninterrupted wall in the living room. The existing slider is now the main entry point. She clad the exterior with planks marketed as a shou sugi ban product that reads as burned, knotty cedar. A new, corrugated metal roof replaced asphalt shingles.

The kitchen now occupies the addition, and the island was detailed to look like a piece of furniture to better meld with the living room. The cabinet colors are Farrow & Ball’s Skimming Stone and Sherwin-Williams’s Garden Gate, and were handpainted instead of spray-finished, so as "not to have something too slick or sterile," says VW. "We wanted them to be warm and have personality."

Isabella asked the Bidgood and Co team to install a hanging rack for her well-curated clothing collection, rather than a closet.

The light-filled living room features extensive glazing in the form of clerestory windows, skylights, and a brilliant wall of glass.

The kitchen layout was reconfigured so that the focus is on the view—the wall of windows, which look out on the ocean, is now underscored by one long, uncluttered counter. There, the faucet is Delta and the dishwasher is Bosch. The range stayed in nearly the same spot, and the opposite wall has been thickened with storage and the refrigerator column. Both the refrigerator and range are by Bertazzoni.

The home went through an 18-month renovation period.

Neither the owner, a self-declared "card-carrying-modernist," or his girlfriend, Stephanie Kiriakopolos, miss having a big bulky refrigerator.

The outdoor living space of the Birch Le Collaboration House features a wood-burning fireplace under large, covered porch.

Luciano Kruk perforates a concrete volume with glass walls to fashion a simple yet elegant vacation home in the province of Buenos Aires. On a quiet lot populated with aged pinewood, Luciano Kruk designed a modest vacation home for three sisters and their families. The 807-square-foot, two-level home is ensconced in its forest setting. The firm employed board-formed concrete inside and out to connect the building with its environment. "Pine planks were used to set the formwork so that the partitions, as well as the slabs, would preserve the texture of the wood veins in an attempt to establish a harmonious dialogue with the bark of the local trees," said the firm.

In the coastal town of Byron Bay in New South Wales, Australia, local practice Harley Graham Architects elevates the Australian "garden studio" with this 646-square-foot granny flat. Named Marvel Street Studio, the guesthouse is an addition to a home designed by Paul Uhlmann.

The inner courtyard is the core of the home.

Kitchen

The large, naturally lit kitchen is the heart of the house. Messmate-clad cupboards and huge expanses of glass dominate the space where Angelucci uses the sink, Gorman works at the kitchen island, and Pepa and Hazel look on. Play in the courtyard between the kitchen and garage is easily supervised and enclosed from the alley behind the house.

New pine and spruce wood from the Pyrenees (both recyclable and PEFC certified) were selected for the façade of the 1,000-square-foot prefab. Smart blinds cover the windows, rigged to open and close depending on the weather forecast.