Anchoring the Housemuseum’s music room is the mural YOU’VEALWAYSWANTEDTOBEBLACK (white friend), a 2006 piece by artist Brook Andrew. The red staircase leads to the bedrooms and additional gallery space on the second floor.

An internal courtyard punctuates the main floor of this renovated home near Melbourne, Australia, and adds a practical source of light and air. The local climate patterns were taken into account during the home’s design and layout. Because temperatures can vary quite dramatically, solar control was very important. The large glazed sliders to the east, where the home gets morning sun, strategically contrast with the less extensive glazing to the north.

The “white cube” gallery space off the dining area displays work by contemporary Australian artists including Louise Forthun and Patricia Piccinini. Clerestory windows offer glimpses into the second-floor library and private bedrooms.

The dramatic rear elevation showcases the open-plan living and dining room. Apart from the addition, the rest of the home maintained its “traditional” layout, with bedrooms branching off from a central hallway. Windows on all sides of the addition bring light in and make the space feel bright and expansive. Tonal and textural contrast can be seen between the burnt ash cladding at the exterior and the engineered European oak flooring at the interior. Through thoughtful design and space planning, the architects and owners made the biggest impact possible with only 500 square feet of added living space.

The interior showcases the roof's laminated wood beams. A Panton chair takes the seat of honor at the dining table.

Australian expats Carla and Paul Tucker tasked designer Dan Gayfer with expanding their Melbourne bungalow without adding any square footage. In the kitchen, a soft palette of wood, laminate, and tile created cohesion, impressive considering the clients didn’t see a single finish, color, or material in person prior to their homecoming. The kitchen cabinets were clad in Russian birch plywood, and the countertops were concrete.

The architects pulled away the roof at the house’s center to create a courtyard where the residents can enjoy meals. The ground sits below floor level, which means that the wraparound eucalyptus deck can also serve as a bench.

The exterior of the Housemuseum has something of a Darth Vader look to it, without directly mimicking the brutalism that exemplified much of Melbourne’s modernist architecture of the 1960s. The street names that form the corner on which it sits—Cotham and Florence—are marked out in the chocolate-brown brickwork fence.

Inspired by the Sydney Opera House, architects Andrew Maynard and Mark Austin paid careful attention to the extension’s “fifth elevation"—the way it’s seen from the sky. Its tiny houses, clustered at the southern end of the property, are clad in white steel panels and western red cedar shingles, contrasting materials that emphasize their geometric forms.

The streamlined kitchen features Miele cooktop, Sirius hood, Siemens oven, and Fisher & Paykel refrigerator.

Designer Christiane Hogner, Bruxelles

Though most of the home's interior comes without a splashy designer's name attached, the bathroom is kitted out with a toilet, sink, and bath/shower from Jasper Morrison's line for Ideal Standard. The cabinets are from an Ikea kitchen system.

Here's what you need to know before undergoing a building project with a contractor but no architect.

When not in use during winter, the tub is hidden from the home’s view. The entrance has a sheltered overhang for car parking.

This Victorian-era home in Melbourne, renovated by OOF! Architecture, maintains privacy from the street, but does so in an unusually "friendly" manner—with a giant brick wall that spells out "Hello," a collaboration with local artist Rose Nolan. The residents wanted their house to appeal to passersby, since it sits on a well-trafficked block near a café.

The house is a simple cement and steel box with elements that fold outwards to create privacy screens where needed. A perforated aluminum fence unravels from the building down toward the street. The material was selected to deter local graffiti artists from leaving their mark. Instead, a recycled brick wall serves as an appropriate canvas for street art.

The thrill of a home renovation can quickly be diminished by unforeseen circumstances, stretched budgets, and other unexpected issues. The good news is that most of the time these problems can be mitigated, if not avoided entirely, by keeping an eye out for warning signals. Read on as we go through essential home renovation tips to consider before kicking off your own revamp.

A flat roof and all-white interior unifies the home's three volumes.

The entire living and dining space features tough polished concrete floors. The architects intentionally contrasted the darker concrete and veneered pantry against the neutral white walls and marble. This color play runs through the renovated areas.

Architect Andrew Maynard designed this home in Melbourne, Australia. Called the Hill House, its form is defined by a cantilevered box that juts over an Astroturf-clad hill. A three-foot-wide corridor opens up to an expansive, open courtyard that draws sunlight into the property.

Escape made a splash by launching a property in Tampa Bay filled with its trailers. But you don’t have to live there to own one.

From Japan’s Pavilion: Toyo Ito brings together three young Japanese architects (Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto and Akihisa Hirata) to collaborate in the design a "Home-for-All" for people who lost everything in the city of Rikuzentakata because of the tsunami of 2011 in the north of Japan. Golden winning Lion for the Best National Participation, the project exudes humanity, is one of the clearest examples of real collaboration in the design process of a home. The result transcends disaster relief architecture and gives a glimpse of what could become an architecture that embodies the desires, user daily habits and a particular comprehension of the inner logic of a place through a professional method that is willing to dilute their personality and authorship to a minimum. A future and promising path for architecture.

“I love the house more each day,” says Tamami Sylvester of her and husband Michael's home by Sebastian Mariscal in Venice, California. The kitchen, which includes all Miele appliances, is sheathed in custom woodwork from Semihandmade. Accessories from A+R complement the Caesarstone countertops and Franke faucet. A LifeSource Water System provides filtration. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Six-inch-square blue tiles cover the walls and floor of the girls’ upstairs bathroom. The towels and rug are also by H&M Home.

The backyard features a vertical garden, called the “picking wall” by the designers of Weller Landscapes, for its selection of kitchen herbs. In regards to the courtyard's wood and concrete finishes, the architects explain how “[The] materials all had an honest raw quality about them, allowing them to age gracefully and acquire their own patina over time.”

"How would a kid draw a house?" architect Per Franson asked himself when designing the Olivero-Reinius family home. The simple prefab structure’s unusual color comes from a traditional source: falu rödfärg, the historic mineral paint that gives the region’s famous barns their red color.

Architect Gustavo Costa calls the home library the “project’s heart.” This central space houses the owner’s expansive collection of about 5,000 books, and acts as a meeting place for friends and colleagues. A Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Red and Blue chair completes the space.

5. "What are the top 10 most important things I must have in a home?" "If there are two people buying the home, write your answers down separately, starting with your absolute must-haves," Hoffman explains. “Putting together a list separately can give both parties and the realtor a clear picture of what the perfect home will have for both of you."

An outdoor shower was the family’s first construction project. “Doing the shower made us realize we can build things the way we want to build them,” says Meg.

“We sought to create a house that would not damage the environment and not be too visible,” says architect Tina Gregorič. A single zigzagging roof stretches over 5,380 square feet, doubling the area of the interior spaces and serving as an ideal spot for sunset cocktails and whale-watching.

He worked around existing oak and eucalyptus trees for the new building, and retained the vernacular of an original barn, at right, where Frankel hosts concerts. Check out MVRDV's Balancing Barn.

The courtyard is just one of many open spaces that will be highly utilized—in the non-winter months anyway. Concrete worked well with developing the language of FlatPak. The second level is a wood panel that can be clad in corrugated metal or cedar—different layers that can be plugged in like covers on your cellphone.

A garage-style door separates the patio from the street.

The kitchen is situated in a sunken basement, underneath the staircase’s walnuts steps. The same joiner who built the house’s timber elements built the white cabinetry which are finished in a 40% gloss lacquer. Silestone countertops and integrated appliances maintain the space’s simple lines. Additional storage is fitted under the staircase.

Located on a steep site with limited suitable building ground, the firm decided to cantilever the home over the hillside, which has the effect of helping the structure blend in with the landscape.

The Lais designed their house to be theirs forever. As such, they were able to make design moves that made sense for themselves but that wouldn't have high resale value, like the Japanese-style master bathroom in the middle of the second floor instead of off of the master bedroom. The traditional setup features bath stools from Muji for washing off.