houses

“I simply was drawn to the notion of concrete. So much great modern architecture has made use of it,” Blauvelt says.

In the dining area, chairs found in an antique store join a table the Wessels made from a piece of mesquite. Overhead is Lindsey Adelman's Branching Bubble fixture.

An en-suite bathroom, walk-in closet, and window seat complete the bedroom. A bridge leads to a guest room, a family bathroom, and two linked children's bedrooms.

A large glassless opening on the sloping curved shed roof of this Californian home opens the courtyard to the sky and the elements while give the surrounding living areas an almost outdoor, park-like feel.

Blurring the boundaries between indoors and outdoors, this 1,300-square-foot home on the island of Honshu, Japan by architect Keisuke Maeda has multiple windows and skylights surrounding its concrete base.

The guesthouse has similar built-ins and is outfitted with a reproduction rotating sconce by Serge Mouille and rugs by Stephanie Odegard.

The backyard features a vertical garden, called the “picking wall” by the designers of Weller Landscapes, for its selection of kitchen herbs. In regards to the courtyard's wood and concrete finishes, the architects explain how “[The] materials all had an honest raw quality about them, allowing them to age gracefully and acquire their own patina over time.”

The designers explain, “These steel windows played an integral part in making the interior feel larger and more open by blurring the boundaries between the interior and exterior.” A grey Halcyon Lake area rug, an oak chair from MAP, and Hans Wenger Wishbone chairs make for a simple, neutral palette. The painting over the fireplace is by Kate Hendry.

The open-plan living room was inspired by the couple’s previous residence, a London loft. The paintings are by Dunlop. The louvered floor-to-ceiling windows, ceiling fan, and sliding deck doors usher in sea breezes and encourage good air circulation.

The dining room features 1970s leather-and-brass dining chairs and a table concocted from a brass-and-silver base and a custom lacquered top. The cheerful blue paint enlivening the doorway is from Emery & Cie.

This detail shows the conjunction of concrete with wooden beams, where flush glass windows angle outward to the canopies of nearby trees. The detail also encapsulates Ray's vision for the house: a synthesis of the rational and the intuitive.

Always put contingencies aside. During any renovation, it is critical to set aside money for the "what if" or emergency scenarios. For example, there might be plumbing that you didn’t anticipate needing to replace. Conventional wisdom suggests adding 15 to 20 percent to your contractor’s renovation cost to safely consider these contingencies.

A skylight in the ceiling floods the house’s double-height wood trellis bridge with plenty of natural light.

The home’s undulating roof, composed of exposed wood beams and plywood sheathing, references the rolling terrain. A Cor-Ten steel–clad outdoor fireplace was built by BRD Construction; the same material was used for the interior fireplace, as surround on some windows, as cladding for the garage door, and on the chimney. The lounge chairs are from the Finn Collection from Design Within Reach. Tim Kirby of Surface Design Inc. tackled the site’s landscape architecture. - Leelanau County, Michigan Dwell Magazine : September / October 2017

Inside, the open-plan layout features a kitchen which morphs into the living area with a raised built-in bench/reading nook, along with an upper level that overlooks the space.

Irish-born actress Cornelia Hayes-O’Herlihy gazes across the Venetian roofscape. Her cozy glass enclosure rests atop the new home designed by her husband, architect Lorcan O’Herlihy.

A guest bedroom, with furniture from Room & Board, overlooks the bridge above the dining courtyard. The home’s landscape architecture is by Ventura, California–based Jack Kiesel. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Next to the bathroom and above the living room, the terrace is open to sky, street, and the house itself. It has no roof, so daylight floods the entire wall-less building from the top down. The willow-green metal chairs are by Fermob.