Stairs

Recycled bricks form a core wall and support the central staircase. A white metal railing is another layer of texture in the scheme. "The project relied heavily on craft, detailing, and a raw material or 'wabi-sabi' spec to provide amenity and delight in the small footprint," say the architects.

The Big Space was updated with new skylights and a roof hatch with a staircase that provides access to the roof.

The stairs are mounted on wheels so that they can be moved out of the way when residents need to access storage.

The bedroom is located on the mezzanine level.

The sculpture on the wall is by artist Peter Dudek, a friend of the family, and the pendants are by Glashütte Limburg. Baumann made a point to integrate industrial materials throughout, exposing steel beams and setting the floor in concrete.

The redesign added about 750 square feet and a new ground-floor level to the original two-bedroom structure, built in 1901.

The second-story home office is paneled in wood with perforated steel shelving.

A red metal spiral staircase leads to the second-story office.

Three thin slabs have been staggered vertically through the space to create three distinct floors and allow light to flood in from the front, back, and roof. The white Saari kitchen makes the most of a compact space.

From the mezzanine of his 450-square-foot apartment at La Esquina, an eight-unit live/work building in San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood, designer, artist, and Woodbury University professor Patrick Shields chats with fellow professor Hector Perez, who spearheaded the project.

A steel spiral staircase efficiently links all three floors. With no interior doors, Yurika can keep an ear on the shop from upstairs while maintaining the privacy of her home with the help of the vertical distance.

Studio David Thulstrup incorporated green spaces into this old pencil factory in Copenhagen to transform it into a modern home for photographer Peter Krasilnikoff.

In the living room, ethereal white curtains soften the severity of the concrete walls.

A perforated-metal staircase in Benjamin Moore’s Flame and built-in cabinetry in various shades of blue highlight Fougeron Architecture’s bold reinvention of a narrow row house in Noe Valley for a couple and their daughter.

Ab Rogers dons a bold suit that suits the spirit of the accompanying decor he designed.

On a sloped plot in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, an almost 100-year-old anonymous bungalow was rendered in pink, referencing the sun-kissed stucco that's so common in the region. Mexico City-based architecture firm PRODUCTORA completely remodeled and renovated the home of graphic designer Jessica Fleischmann, daughter of Ernst Fleischmann, who led the Los Angeles Philharmonic and commissioned Frank Gehry to build the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Over the 15 years she lived in the home, she developed a strong connection to the neighborhood and the house itself, which inspired her to renovate it. With her strong affinity for design, she was thoroughly involved in the creative process, including selecting the particular colors that are interspersed throughout the renovation and extension of the house.

In a small seating area at the base of a two-story tower, Oslo chairs and sofas by Anderssen& Voll are paired with Around tables by Thomas Bentzen, all from Muuto. The lamp from Svenskt Tenn was designed by Josef Frank in 1938.