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While not the most successful sofa in terms of quantity sold, the Marshmallow Sofa almost immediately became an icon of modern furniture design when it debuted in 1956. The piece was originally conceived by Irving Harper, a staff designed at George Nelson, who wanted to use new technology that would injection-mold the cushions that essentially formed soft discs attached to a metal frame—a far cry from the chunky, bulky traditional sofas. However, the manufacturing process was unable to produce satisfactory results, and so the team resorted to discs that were plywood-backed and hand-upholstered, resulting in a very expensive—but eye-catching—piece . (The Marshmallow Sofa: promotional photograph featuring George Nelson and Associates receptionist Hilda Longinotti, 1956.)

Guess used inexpensive graded pine plywood so that he would get heavy grain patterns on the surfaces. One of the main goals in the kitchen was simplicity. To that end, he opted for a poured-in-place concrete island. "We didn’t know if we could afford to do that, but we found a great subcontractor [Nate Francis of Countertop Creations] here who had never really built anything like that," Guess says. "Because he was interested in giving it a shot and adding it to his portfolio, he didn’t charge an exorbitant amount of money because it was sort of an experiment for him as well." The kitchen features a GE Profile refrigerator and KitchenAid range, microwave, and dishwasher. The sink and faucet are from Kohler. The project's builder was Joe Doherty with Custom Homecrafters of Austin.

To accommodate a young family leaving New York City, design firm Stewart-Schafer revamped the kitchen and living areas of an outdated upstate home in just three months.

"Architects that have experience with old structures have a thorough understanding of how to deal with—and take advantage of—archaic materials and express them in the design. Allowing the existing building structure and integral elements to be revealed lets the building tell its story, and is what makes timeless and intriguing architecture," adds Nardella.

"If you like the look of higher ceilings, choose a home that already has your preferred ceiling height,” says Eskandari. “Raising the height of ceilings is possible, but extremely labor intensive and costly. Taking down walls to create an open concept space is one of the most common requests from homeowners. Make sure you know which walls are load-bearing, as those are a lot more expensive to take down.”

The exposed rafters were carried into the exterior areas, including the covered patio.

The living room Velvet sofa: Nebula Nine Diesel for Moroso Side tables: PAWN collection by Marie Michielssen for Serax Table lamp: Copycat by Michael Anastassiades for Flos Floor: oak

James Veal and Christine Stucker are coprincipals of Stewart-Schafer.

New sliding doors from Marvin enable the family to seamlessly move between the indoors and the refurbished patio.

The Uphill Utilitarian sits at the back of a sloping site, which the owners left as natural as possible, while adding a small seating area.

becomes this wood cocoon with ambient light coming through the clear wall panel. You don’t need to even turn on a light.”

The Eagle House floor plan

You can buy just about anything on Amazon these days, from mundane household necessities to garish novelty items—and now, there are even DIY kits to help you construct your own tiny guest house, shed, office, or lounge. Take a look at the prefabricated units Amazon has to offer, and get ready to upgrade your backyard.

“We call it the Traveler because it will travel to you, you can travel to it, or you travel within it, into your own healthy world," says the Coexist team.

At 23 years old, self-taught designer Mariah Hoffman set out to craft her own 156-square-foot sanctuary.