Favorites

Two balconies are tucked beneath the vaulted roofline in the double-height kitchen/living room.

The extension wraps around the brick walls of the original home. It features large glazed doors that slide open to the verandah for seamless indoor-outdoor living when the weather allows. The dining table has been in Miriam's family for several generations, and is paired with some “very battered” midcentury Magistretti chairs.

In the kitchen, the color of the casing echoes the warm tones of the stairs.

Ted Power and Honora Dunham’s home sits in an area with some light industrial and commercial buildings in Long Island City, New York. A wood-burning stove from MF Fire and a West Elm couch cozy up the living room.

The white oak bench seating wraps a vintage wood table found on Offer Up. The custom cushions are by Legacy Custom Upholstery in Perennials 'Raffia' fabric in Geranium Red. The wall light is the Schoolhouse 'Gantry Pivot Sconce.'

An interior window creates flow between the skylit landing and baby Banks’s room.

The renovation updated a pair of staircases—one to the basement, one to the upper level—from their steep, unsafe angle to one that is now up to code. In the dining room, the pendant by Hans-Agne Jakobsson is from Karoline’s family cabin in Germany.

Quartz countertops and two-by-eight-inch subway tile with tan grout (on the backsplash) complement the tone of the birch cabinetry and ash shelves in the kitchen.

The breakfast area sits directly beneath the clerestory window pop-up, or scoop.

Generous breezeways, walkways, and overhangs frame views beyond: “It’s like a promenade, with a forest at the end of the road,” says Deb.

Now more than ever, having a sustainable home that conserves resources and energy usage is paramount. Sustainable design and architecture has seen tremendous growth over the last decade—as has the number of professionals who specialize in designing and building green homes. While major sustainable features pertain to the initial design, planning, and building stages, there are still plenty of changes to make in your home for a greener lifestyle. Have you covered all your bases?

A custom dining nook, inspired in shape by the Mos Eisley Cantina in "Star Wars.

Custom cabinets in a mix of white oak and lacquered paint join Miele appliances and a honed quartz countertop.

In the main living spaces, Montgomery exposed the Douglas fir LVLs, which are structural support beams that span the entire ceiling and don’t necessitate support columns.

The renovated kitchen is open, airy, and connected to the rest of the main level. Plum Projects used Bedrosians Magnifica Luxe polished white porcelain for the island, countertops, and backsplash. The black upper cabinets are made from Richlite: a durable, sustainable material made from recycled paper.

The renovation reconfigured the kitchen to include a peninsula, which has a secondary level for the owners' wheelchair-using daughter.

The ground floor’s adjoining staircase, as well as the kitchen cabinets and tables, can be adjusted depending the homeowner's preferences. “The design of the house is an attempt to respond to [French novelist] Georges Perec’s question, ‘We should learn to live more on staircases. But how?’” Simpson says.

One of the greatest design challenges, according to Franz and Paré-Mayer, was reimagining the dark, unfinished garage space in a way that would “establish [it] as primary, instead of an afterthought to the original floor above.” This was achieved by layering open, linked spaces on the ground floor and sticking to a few carefully selected materials for cohesion and fluidity. There are hardly any hallways in the home; every space serves a function. Polished concrete floors continue throughout the new living level, and a bent metal dining chair with a reclaimed Douglas fir backrest made by Scholz sits in front of an open white oak staircase.