How to Design with Yellow

“Materials were a major consideration in this house,” says Massie, who created a curtain wall with steel supports adorned with sandwiched layers of birch plywood and amber acrylic. “When light enters that wall, the layers of acrylic allow it to come through and glow—it’s really quite beautiful,” says Massie, who added the same acrylic for the thin window at the end. “That plays off the yellows in the Gambone ceramics and the Eames storage unit,” notes Wooten.

The living-dining area of a beach house designed by El Salvador firm Cincopatasalgato features a custom bar cart by local designers Claudia & Harry Washington, a built-in sofa, and an Ikono chair and Circa low tables by The Carrot Concept. An Isis model from Big Ass Fans is above.

Geraldine and Kit Laybourne remodeled the kitchen in their High Line apartment with yellow and gray interiors. The kitchen features an Artematica Vitrum glass system from Valcucine, artwork by Craig Kucia, and banquette cushion fabrics by Hella Jongerius for Maharam.

David Rowland stacking chairs join a 1970s Italian glass-and-steel table in the dining room. The daughter loves being able to stop in to visit. “I’m over there ten times a day. It’s brought me such peace.”

Shopping Mall Fruit Basket, a painting by Peter B. Hastings, shares space with a special-edition Royal Copenhagen tea set and a photograph by Tokyo-based artist Keith Ng.

With the help of architect Bart Lens, Veerle Wenes and Bob Christiaens merged a 19th-century building with a 1970s one to create a combined home and art gallery in Antwerp. In the dining room downstairs, Wenes entertains family, friends, and gallery visitors. The yellow chair is by Jens Fager.

The five roommates share the common space in their high-ceiling loft. There’s a large library and a studio. The large worktable gives Dreitlein and Ionescu, who together have a small art/architecture practice called The Objectionists, space to paint and make models.

Splashy bunk beds made from yellow lattice brick outfit this stylish hostel in Mexico.

How a highly productive collaboration among a trio of creative Angelenas—and a good dose of Barragán—turned a dark and beleaguered midcentury house into a family home for the ages. The resulting design acquired its own flow, full of colorful narrative, spirited counterpoint, and anecdote. Now, in place of dark, disconnected spaces, outdoor rooms echo luminous indoor ones, and experimental filmmaker Laura Purdy and her family’s eclectic collections of art and personal artifacts share space with flashes of pattern and interior planes of saffron and pink stucco.

Conceived as a glass wall or window that could swing open rather than a typical door, the resulting glass-and-metal piece is so heavy that it required its own foundation! Thanks to clever engineering by Sand Studios, even seven-year-old Macy can operate the 2,000-pound door.

The freestanding staircase was built three times before Gregory deemed it structurally sound—a tribute to the architect’s tenacity. The high-tech end result was achieved using small custom-made plastic reinforcing fibers. The galley-style kitchen with its bold use of color was Caryn’s choice. She fell in love with the name of a paint swatch called Canary Yellow and then left it to Gregory to fine-tune the exact hue.