Home sweet home

In a family home in Mill Valley, California, Lauren Goldman of l’oro designs kept her clients’ goals of “modern yet accessible” in mind while also looking for opportunities to add functionality. This proved successful when she discovered that the empty space under the steel-and-glass stair landing was the perfect scale for children to sit and read under. The team was inspired to create a kid-sized library, turning a useless space into a perfectly cozy reading nook.

- Buenos Aires, Argentina Dwell Magazine : September / October 2017

Mikulionis custom designed the white steel staircase that leads from the living area up to the bedroom platform.

Simple white bunk beds, with lockable storage compartments, fill the mural-adorned dorm rooms. Photo by Nikolas Koenig.

Ray sits at the central hearth on the north end of the comfortable sunken living area. From this perspective, you can see how the interior spaces flow into one another, passing one half-level up into the breakfast nook and kitchen and out from there onto the overgrown hillside. The various built-in furnishings have all been there since the house's construction.

Visitors pass by a sentry wall of lamps from Design House Stockholm on their way to the airy living-dining room with its 52 windows.

Use this as a guide to finding the right architect for your new home or renovation—and what to expect during the process.