A new office sits at the front of the house, and its moody walls and bookshelves contrast the other rooms' mostly light and neutral palette.

Chickens foraging in an enclosed garden with vertical planters.

Completed in May 2018, the Crossfield Street House is the residence of architect Jonathan Pile, his wife Katherine, and their five-year-old son.

In this updated 1950s Portland home, a light gray Neo sofa by Bensen harmonizes with warm wooden walls, ceilings, and floors, as well as a red-and-mustard-yellow vintage rug.

The box-shaped extension plays off the familiar farmhouse typology, creating a series of intriguing contrasts.

A painting by Ginger’s grandmother hangs above a midcentury dining set Ginger found on Craigslist.

A modular shelf system by Alu provides a more sculptural take on the classic bathroom vanity in this Toronto home.

Linda Taalman and Alan Koch, of Taalman Koch Architects, completed work on their glass iT House, a lovely, minimal home that tests the limits of living lightly on the land in the desert near Joshua Tree National Park. The bath and basin in the bathroom are by Duravit, and the orange wall is by Three Form.

Detail of the kitchen

Marble countertops of black and white with kitchen cabinets finished in sparkling white are offset by a unique glass backsplash, which offers a hint of the surrounding rainforest.

"Shane enjoys both cooking and entertaining so we maximized the counter space to make meal prep and hosting easy," Priftaj says. "It was also very important that the kitchen include a gas grill so he could quickly and conveniently grill without having to climb up five flights of stairs to use the bbq on the patio." Priftaj selected high-gloss acrylic white cabinets from bulthaup's b3 line with an aluminum backsplash and b3 prism drawer system to keep things tidy. A Wolf hood and gas cooktop with chargrill give Carslake the flexibility he desired for indoor grilling. The counters are polished white quartz.

A look at the small reading nook located on the level between the bedroom and ground floor.

During the worst of the recession, companies looked to DIY and low-cost creativity to innovate. One company to jump aboard the creative revamp bandwagon is the notoriously cheap Motel 6 chain. The pillar of downmarket roadside accommodations, Motel 6 is reskinning their shabby (and not chic) interiors to give them a touch of modern minimalism and an air of modest luxury. Check out the changes here.

6 and 3

This sleeping area includes a bookshelf and sconce.

The 323-square-foot BYG House in Spain updates Paleolithic dwelling typology with bold colors and multifunctional spaces. Madrid-based Gon Architects divided the layout into three distinct spaces designated by the colors teal, yellow, and off-white.

Tsai Design was able to double the home’s footprint via a rear addition that includes two bedrooms and two bathrooms. (The original home was 645 square feet, and the extension added 614 square feet.) The firm then introduced plenty of natural light and three separate exterior decks that add up to 270 square feet of outdoor space.

Tufty-Time ‘15 for B&B Italia, $11,418 For a three-element sectional For its 10th anniversary, Patricia Urquiola’s modular seating system is reimagined with a new pleated cover, arriving to U.S. stores in November.

Annemie Lathouwers grew up in a forested enclave on the outskirts of Antwerp, Belgium. A nature preserve filled with stately pines, the area lured her back when she and her husband, David D’Hulst, began thinking about trading their house in the city for greener surroundings.

After 15 years of living in a one-bedroom flat above their specialty violin shop in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood, the owners were tired of trekking downstairs to their workshop in order to use the building’s only bathroom.

In the open-plan living area, one of the highlights is the natural light-filled kitchen from Italian manufacturer Armony.

The kitchen countertops are soapstone and the faucet is by Axor.

Designed by a little-known architect in 1949, the now streamlined home honors its original bones.

The hanging textile, which is used as a room divider, is by artist Nathalie Van der Massen.

Atelier Branco built 3,229 square feet of shelving units to house all of the client's texts, documents, and books.

Gardiner Architecture ensured that flexibility, practicality, comfort, and spaciousness were all present in Elm Street House, as well as natural connections to the oft-used backyard and the surrounding neighborhood. The kitchen units are composed of blackbutt veneer and have a matte finish; the counters are Caesarstone. A pass-through window at the sink connects to the yard and makes for easy entertaining.

A long, timber deck extends through the tree canopy at House of the Big Arch. As House of the Tall Chimneys has only a bedroom/living space and a bathroom, all other activities, such as cooking and dining, takes place at House of the Big Arch.

The large, round Douglas fir trunk contrasts with the rectangular ceiling beams and provides raw, organic texture in the open-plan living room.

The couple fabricated the shelving themselves.

The large window that floods the interior can be sealed off for privacy with sliding shutters.

The designers raised the floor in the sunken den and painted the dated paneling Cotton Balls by Benjamin Moore. “We hardly ever used that space, and now we’re in there all the time,” says John. The credenza is a vintage find from Sunset Bazaar, while the Blok horizontal sconce is from WAC Lighting.