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The main kitchen, where Margit, left, is working with her niece Sarah, has a bright blue island that offers a striking contrast to the warm-toned wood and pink floors. “We wanted a color that would transform it into an object that really stands out in the room,” says Thurmann-Moe. “It’s almost like a sapphire.”

“The pink color scheme was something that Dagny and I started the design process with,” says Margit. “We wanted a warm, natural color, so we decided to use pink Claystone on the floor. The other pink colors followed. It also makes a wonderful contrast to all the green leaves in summer.” The glass pendants are from Jotex.

"Also consider performance when purchasing an older house, as these properties use a ton of energy,” says Schaer. “Many midcentury homes are minimally insulated and can be costly and challenging to remedy. For example, if you want to add insulation to a roof, you have to add it above the roof because there is no cavity for insulation."

In the kitchen, flat-front cabinetry from MTR joins Inax' round Pom Ponette backsplash tile with a slightly transparent pastel glaze.

Natalie loved the original painted metal kitchen cabinets, elevating them with gray leather drawer pulls. She also removed the upper cabinets from the wall and added a patterned tile backsplash that extends to the ceiling. The kitchen island was removed, making room for a dining room table, and the ceiling light was replaced with an Orikata Saucer pendant light from Room & Board.

Kitchen

“I didn’t ask for a round house. Nothing against round houses, but it wasn’t like, ‘Ooh, how cool, I want to have a round house,’” says resident Mitchell Lee Marks. In the kitchen, Hot Mesh barstools from Blu Dot pull up to an island with a faucet from Kallista.

For the backsplash, the homeowner chose ceramic tiles in a honeycomb pattern by Portland-based Clayhaus to compliment the walnut-faced cabinetry.

Earth-toned laminate covers the kitchen niche and shelving for durability. There’s a gas stove and refrigerator, and no running water. “The staff bring you a bottle of water and it's a pump faucet at the sink,” explains St-Laurent.

“Lydia and Ian both have great taste and a deep appreciation of quality design,” says Agnello; the couple describe their style and aesthetic as “James Bond meets Barbarella.”

Photographer Richie Davis occupies the 700-square-foot studio upstairs.

A new, lowered level at the back of the home hosts the kitchen and dining room, and is accessed via concrete steps that deliberately double as informal seating. “We loved the idea of being able to read the sunken part of the house as an entirely concrete element, which would give the space a feeling of being grounded,” says the architect. “[It also] provides a robust base for the timber frame and a series of plinths on which different activities can take place—such as sitting, cooking, reading, or exercising.”

A dusty-pink facade is only a hint of what’s inside this 18th-century structure. For Sérgio Antunes, cofounder of Lisbon-based Aurora Arquitectos, the charming exterior and its rich pigment provided a fascinating starting point for the renovation of the Rose Building—a single-family residence in southern Portugal that his team turned into five glowing apartments in collaboration with Lisbon architecture studio FURO. Throughout are huge swaths of color with unique touches: For example, painted on the ceiling of the central stair is a moody mural of a woman in the style of a fresco, and in one of the unit’s bathrooms, more ceiling artwork depicts a mermaid emerging from a swirl of waves. Elsewhere, arched windows, sloped ceilings, ornate moldings, and wooden doors elegantly play off Portuguese marble and patterned ceramic tiles. With the go-ahead from the city, the architects were also able to construct a modern addition at the rear—The Mustard Building—that pairs natural wood partitions with the subdued tones of creamy terrazzo.

Vigo Plumbing provided the matte black plumbing fixtures.

Tweak, another kitty, sits at the brass-clad kitchen island on a Ghost stool by Philippe Starck.