Black and white kitchen cabinets painted with a triangular pattern add a whimsical touch to this funky kitchen.

White concrete panel cladding and corrugated steel roof panels give this cabin a crisp, geometric form that almost melts into the landscape on bleary, snowy days.

A salvaged 19th-century soaking tub wrapped in stainless steel is topped by Hudson Reed faucets.

Measuring only 180 square feet, this exquisite, off-grid tiny home features a big sense of style.

This 19th-century New York factory houses the apartment of Brandon and Amy Phillips as well as the workshop for their company, Miles & May Furniture Works.

This cabin has a commodious kitchen and living area that encourages family and friends to come together for meals and conversation.

The kitchen cabinets are from Multiform's Form-1 line, which was designed by Carsten Michelsen in 1982. Per the company's website, Form-1 was Michelsen's effort to "elevate the Scandinavian kitchen to the level of the Danish furniture classics of the 1950s."

A large deck coated with Cetol finish from Behr extends into the home’s sloped site.

Keeping the original mottled, worn-brick walls and outfitting the kitchen with their own custom cabinetry were among this couple’s cost-saving measures.

The bathroom evokes the building’s industrial bones. The pendant light is from Ikea, and the towel racks are repurposed train car luggage racks. The Carrara tiles are mismatched seconds. “It works if you let yourself not try to fix it,” says Brandon.

The home office of 19th St. Residence by Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects peeks into the lush side yard.

The dining area, with a table and hickory chairs from Miles & May, opens onto a kitchen the couple created as part of a DIY gut renovation. The result, says Amy, is an “intentional raw and polished combination.” The lamp is from M&M Electrical Surplus.

Stairway to Heaven is located on the clients' parents' land, just steps away from the homeowner's childhood home. Two siblings were also building homes on the property, making it a true family compound. The architects were mindful to create a home that utilized the views, but also allowed for privacy between residents.

We snapped a shot just as workers poured the copper-brass alloy over a Bocci 19 series mold, click through the slideshow to see the rest of the process.

Farnley Hey’s heart is a large, double-height living area, dubbed "the dance floor

Inspirational spaces

This award-winning home by New York–based West Chin Architects is situated on a narrow corner lot in a Long Island neighborhood. The cedar-clad residence features a garage-style glass door that opens to welcome the salty sea breeze from the neighboring beach.

Lyng Hansen steamed and framed remnants of 19th-century wallpaper found during the renovation.

This classic 1960s A-frame cabin in New Jersey now serves as a stylish Scandinavian-inspired vacation retreat that’s available for rent.

For our In the Modern World section, we shared a process shot of a Bocci 19 series. Here is a finished product of a Bocci 19 series bowl. Photo by Gwenael Lewis.

British artist Hannah Sawtell and technologist Avi Flombaum created sawbaum.com, where users can create visual collages using multiple vine streams. "We wanted it to look like a visual comic book, with overlapping panels," said Flombaum. "And we wanted it to be fun!" Photo courtesy Rhizome.

The board-formed concrete retaining wall holds firewood and is also a bench. Beyond, the garden lounge backs up against the studio and a retaining wall. “It’s a study in how little you can do to define a space,” Thomas says.

Nicolas Grospierre, Hydroklinika, 2004, D-Print on Wood, 19 3/4" x 19 3/4"

Activities diagram

With previous uses a butcher shop, grocery store, window workshop, hat shop, and a restaurant, the mix-and-match facade feels like an appropriate reflection of the renovated home's varied history.

reading corner - living room

The patio below the custom pergola is laid in a herringbone pattern with Techo-Bloc Borealis pavers and transitions to Blue Grande Slab laid in a running bond pattern for the uncovered patio

The lower ceiling of the breezeway giving way to the voluminous vaulted ceiling and expansive views

Named Los Terrenos, meaning The Terrains, this retreat in Monterrey, Mexico, was designed by Mexico City–based architect Tatiana Bilbao to reflect the lush woodland hillside it sits on. The dwelling consists of two volumes made of rammed earth, terracotta clay bricks, and a facade clad in mirrored glass.

The result is a “frozen lava texture, which contrasts with the inside of the bowl that we polish to an almost mirror finish,” says Arbel. “This is the first series of objects that has very little function. Mostly they exist for some sort of emotional response.”

Summa 19 calculator designed in 1970 by Ettore Sottsass for Olivetti.

Sottsass labored over the project in multiple dimensions and mediums, but always with a flair for style, as seen here in a vivid watercolor painting of the home.

The house on the corner in the tiny town of Castellet in Catalonia, that Kirsten Dirksen and Nicolás Boullosa bought in 2018.

corten steel planter + Bonsai garden