Small Spaces

Inside, the eye goes immediately to a floating staircase along one wall. Hand painted by local artist Tess Thomas, its wood treads add a pop of color within the voluminous great room.

Rossi kept important features of the old home throughout, such as the built-ins, fireplace, and original floors.

The archways progress throughout the interior, leading residents from one room to the next. A second courtyard is situated between the kitchen/dining area and a staircase that leads to the loft. Teak flooring in the kitchen/dining area contrasts with the lime plaster walls, adding warmth to the space.

The addition is clad in timber boards of various widths and depths, adding a subtle layer of texture to the simple, gabled form.

Removal of walls in a former laundry room, hallway, and a small corner room produced an open living space overlooking the Mediterranean.

The tile-clad addition to this existing home in Yangqing, China hosts the entry, dining room, and kitchen.

Preda elegantly reallocated the space to contain a side-by-side living room and dining room area, with the latter defined by a custom Cor-Ten steel and zebrawood bookcase designed by the firm. The dining table is by Alepreda for miduny, the firm’s sister furniture company. The fireplace is an ethanol model, since incorporating a chimney wasn’t possible in the building.

To make the two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath dwelling look and feel as large as possible, Sundius and Ichiki maintained sightlines from one end to the other. "We didn’t want to disrupt the flow of the stepped ceiling as it runs the length of the building,

The original living room was converted into an open-plan kitchen and dining area with a living room that can be reconfigured into a bedroom. The use of natural materials and the large windows that flood the space with natural light and frame the views make the small space feel bright and airy.

Whereas others might look at a board-formed cement wall in a basement and see, well, a concrete wall, Jess and Jonathan Taylor, the design duo behind the L.A.-based firm Taylor + Taylor, were inspired. The couple had purchased a virtually untouched 1952 house in east L.A. and that concrete wall became the backdrop for a new guest kitchen in the basement. "It was really the starting point of the whole design," says Jess Taylor. "As designers, our goal is to always try to incorporate the existing surroundings whenever possible, utilize them in practical ways, and be inspired by them."

Gijsbert Schutten and Gijs Coumou of Liberte Tiny Houses designed a 182-square-foot tiny home on wheels in the Netherlands to mimic the shape of a folded leaf. "The window shutters give the effect of the way light scatters through the forest," Schutten says. On one side of the ThermoWood radiata pine-clad home, floor-to-ceiling glass walls make it seem as if there’s no boundary between the house and the natural surroundings. "Those big windows give an unobstructed view of the outside world," Schutten adds. "You almost forget you’re inside."

“It’s the biggest one you can get,” says Patrick Powers of the shipping container he revamped and moved to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Steel frames hold ample glazing, including a pair of custom 2,000-pound sliding doors.

Whether you desire a simple storage shed, a yoga studio, a mountain home, or a guest retreat, the customization allows you to define your own EscapeSpace.

"The general color scheme used is neutral, so as to enhance the original features," says the firm. Sage green wall paint makes the terra-cotta ceiling pop.

The 4.9-foot overhanging eaves shelter the walkway and shade the interiors in the summer.