Architect Paul Hinkin and his partner, Chrissy Pearce, bought and restored a 538-square-foot Deckhouse at Emsworth Yacht Harbour in Hampshire, England.

With the help of builder Peter Watts, the couple returned the house to its original early-1970s glory, utilizing the space beneath for both boat and car.

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

Who says kitchen islands can’t work in small spaces too? A design-minded pair ensures that their tiny seaside getaway in Hampshire, England, is shipshape. At 538 square feet, this home is efficiently designed, with an interior that was influenced by the compact housing that you see in Japan. The kitchen and island have been sized to fit the small space, but the island’s minimal finishings keep it feeling appropriate.

Near the room’s curving wall, a Verner Panton chair joins a K2 B console table by Tecta, topped by a vintage mirror by Robert Welch. The wall light is from Flos. “If I had more space, I’d just fill it with more stuff,” says Pearce.

The master bedroom echoes the house’s black-and-white exterior and includes a custom-built storage unit that the architect designed for the space.

House O, designed by Jun Igarashi, forgoes hallways and interior doors in favor of casually interconnected rooms.

In the living room, Arne Jacobsen Swan chairs flank a Marcel Breuer for Isokon nesting table. Above the Florence Knoll–designed credenza is a print by English artist Terry Frost. The adjacent deck holds Breuer’s Folding Armchair and a table from Aram in London.

The house rises to nearly the height of the neighboring structure. The plantings on the bridge, which connects the guest pavilion with the master bedroom and media room pavilion, will eventually grow in to create a privacy screen. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Porcelain floor tile from Daltile is a durable, easy-to-clean substitute for wood. The family does laundry in an efficient Summit SPWD1800 washer-dryer combination unit. Miller saved money in the kitchen by using a reclaimed sink and faucet and drawer pulls from Ikea.

Sleeping nooks that look like the grooves in a block of cheese.

In all of its beige glory...

5.0.2

The room’s opposite side holds the companion Breuer nesting tables and an Eames Aluminum Group chair and ottoman.

Lightroom 1.0, a photography studio, is a freestanding structure on the property. “Together, they represent an autobiography of my career,” Carpenter says.

The elevated dining room opens out to a side patio, which climbs the wall just behind the house.

Life Along the Elevated, by Megan Canning, Krisanne Johnson, and Whitney Johnson, $25 from designtrust.org Published by the non-profit organization the Design Trust for Public Space, the book is the product of a photojournalism fellowship documenting life in New York City near its nearly 700 miles of elevated infrastructure, which includes bridges, highways, subway tracks, and rail lines. This title offers a glimpse the cityscape that is misunderstood, something the urbanism enthusiast or landscape designer on your list would appreciate. (Plus proceeds benefit a good cause.) “The reality is the elevated looks beautiful from afar, especially at sunset, but after spending a great deal of time photographing along it, you quickly notice the intense noise pollution, the poor lighting, and the chaotic nature of a transit hub. And these conditions are exactly what the Under the Elevated project is trying to improve,” noted photographer Krisanne Johnson.

Lift Brushed Copper Fruit Bowl by Felicia Fferrone "It’s entertaining season! Time to think about the holiday serving platters and centerpieces. This copper stand will add just the right amount of metallic flair to your modern holiday table."

A passage between the walls for hide and seek.

Both the sitting and standing versions of DESK 01, a collaboration between Artifox and IdeaPaint, are outfitted with dry erase surfaces for recording sudden bursts of creativity.

Style: "#1"

The addition’s two stories of cedar-framed sliding doors and window provide generous views of the house’s prized jacaranda tree. The addition’s polished concrete floor and white cladding extend into the garden, drawing occupants to the serene rear porch. There, they can relax on stools designed by Alvar Aalto and Charles Wilson while admiring the luscious greenery.