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A moodier aesthetic emerges in the guest house with concrete and inky tones.

Visiting a Manhattan apartment designed by Tim Seggerman is like sitting inside one of Nakashima’s cabinets, a metaphor realized most fully in an ingenious "library"—really a glorified cubby with a banded maple ceiling, conjured from a free space adjacent to the loft bed.

The light timber of the interventions have a delicacy that emphasize the grandness of the original structure and mesh with the homeowners’ environmental philosophy. “We fell in love with the raw nature of the original structure, its heaviness and many imperfections,” says David McGahon of Studio McW, “all of which tell the story of its industrial history. We all agreed that a light touch approach should be taken.”

Brooke and Tobi found the dining table on Craigslist, from a Eugene carpenter who specializes in refinishing vintage furniture. The chairs and light are vintage, and the white oak banquette is designed by Boyer, with Brooke’s love of the Audo hotel for inspiration. “They have a dining area that has an insert in the back of the dining bench to lean photos and pictures,” says Brooke.

The Bulthaup b2 brings the woodshop into the kitchen with utilitarian workspaces and pristine, orderly wooden cabinet systems.

A modest kitchen is tucked at one end of the great room, illuminated not only by two walls of glass but a pair of skylights above.

A double-height great room offers extra storage accessed by a vintage library ladder, and a pair of loft rooms underneath the pitch of the exposed, plywood-covered vaulted ceiling.

In New York about two hours north of New York City, architecture and interiors firm BarlisWedlick created an eclectic compound designed to suit a client with an idiosyncratic wish list. In the kitchen, a custom Stickbulb LED lamp hangs above a kitchen island topped by concrete from Get Real Surfaces. The cabinets and island feature a modern version of a traditional board and batten siding that are given an even more contemporary feel with the concrete countertop.

Tribeca Manufacturing Building New York–based architect Andrew Franz undertook the renovation of a landmark circa-1884 former soap warehouse in Tribeca, originally designed by George W. DaCunha in the Romanesque Revival style. Franz reorganized and modernized the six-story building—which retains its original 16-foot beam ceilings, brick walls, timber columns, and elevator winches from the former freight shaft—by incorporating steel, glass, handmade tile, and lacquer to complement the masonry and heavy timber. An interior courtyard and rectangular mezzanine are situated below the original 16-foot gull-wing ceiling planes.

Cape Long lights by Cedar and Moss illuminate the kitchen, which features dark Dekton countertops and Thonet Bentwood counter stools.

Cabinetry maker Forest Designs used birch plywood to craft the U-shaped kitchen island, which is topped with quartz from Floform. The Ziro floor tiles in Gris are from Navarti and the contemporary metal edge pulls are from Richelieu. The appliances are from Whirlpool.

The residents, who live in Calgary, frequently entertain, and with 16 beds, bunks, and twin-bed-wide window seats, there is no shortage of places to sleep.

Everything guests need for a restful sleep away from home.

A ramp leads to the entrance door.

To complement the charred cedar cladding Vista Residence, the outdoor furniture is crafted from the same wood.

A splash of dark green paint in the sleeping nook introduces an old world drama to the space. The paint color is Billiard Green from Sherwin Williams. The crochet pendant is from World Market, and the brass bull was an eBay find. The couple's dog Waylon lounges in the pull-out dog bed drawer.