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Walnut storage, both open and closed, frames a black-painted wall with a fireplace at its center. The wall treatment can also hide a future television. "A dark wall is a great way to keep a large screen from feeling like a big black hole on the wall," notes the firm.

Most of the furnishings are from from Globe West.

A Les Blakebrough ceramic urn punctuates the concrete fireplace.

A light-filled living room is anchored by a modern hearth and features a lofty tongue-and-groove ceiling that references the home's midcentury roots. Floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors provide the potential for indoor/outdoor living during the warmer months.

To save money, the team sourced IKEA cabinet bodies for the kitchen and den, and then built and assembled them on-site.

Midcentury California beach culture and the classic look of the Mediterranean coast blend to create cozy, lush lounge spaces in this Laguna Beach retreat.

The minimalist living room includes built-in seating.

The den has its own fireplace and outdoor access to a small terrace. The white cabinet on the right conceals a Murphy bed.

Hufft Projects designed the blackened steel "fireplace wall," which includes a Lennox wood-burning stove and an entertainment center. Ample firewood storage is incorporated below the fireplace and television, with enough wood storage for over a week.

The unique, handcrafted fireplace was installed where the original had long since been removed.

Preda elegantly reallocated the space to contain a side-by-side living room and dining room area, with the latter defined by a custom Cor-Ten steel and zebrawood bookcase designed by the firm. The dining table is by Alepreda for miduny, the firm’s sister furniture company. The fireplace is an ethanol model, since incorporating a chimney wasn’t possible in the building.

The built-in sofa anchors the living room and faces the existing fireplace. The Leather Oval Chair with a red steel base sits off to the side, and the coffee table was fashioned by attaching vintage steel legs to another tile sample board.

Raj and Watts extended the fireplace column to the ceiling to highlight the room’s expansive scale, and had it coated in concrete plaster. It was important to retain the wood-burning fireplace—a rarity in the city—but “we wanted to re-clad it in a material that also spoke to the industrial past of the building,” says Raj.

“At first we thought the fireplace was going to be too big… but now I think it’s just fabulous,” says Donna.

In the living room, the team raised the firebox, cladded the hearth in a tactile plaster finish, and installed a floating limestone bench that wraps the column. On the left (unseen) is integrated firewood storage, and a cozy reading nook sits on the right. "The bench was designed to be used as a social space/lounge, and is well-used," says Coffey. The wood beams and red brick were scraped and stripped many times to remove the silver paint and reclaim a natural state.

Clerestory windows pierce the pitched roof on its west side, making the living area, with its custom curved sectional sofa and built-in end tables, full of natural light year-round.

The plywood fins have a telescopic effect that intensifies the coastal view to the north. "I wanted the clients to have an alternative experience to the wide open vistas they work in on the farm,

The homeowners are avid collectors of Haitian art and exhibit some of their collection within the Douglas fir slats. A Crate & Barrel Axis sofa pairs well with vintage pieces including a farmhouse table, chairs, and rugs.

Tigg Coll Architects took a new approach to a straightforward town house renovation and expansion in London. The home’s rear extension has its own personality, with with pivoting glass doors, sharp red support beams, and a wood-burning fireplace. The overhanging concrete plinth acts as a hearth or, as Tigg imagines it, a sort of contemporary inglenook. Wood piles neatly between the beam and wall. The fireplace, a Stovax Riva 2, is flanked by a Lampe Gras wall lamp; firewood is cleverly stored in the narrow space between the fireplace and the red support beam, creating a fun moment of practical texture in the room.