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.

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 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.

Lassen designed all the furniture with the exception of a few items, like the vintage Chairman armchair by Henrik Tengler and white IKEA sofas. “To keep it simple, we only used natural colors from wood inside, with everything else being white,” Lassen says.

Turin designed the bed, console, and side tables in the master bedroom. The room gets plenty of illumination through the windows, which she had remade to match the 1925 detailing and covered in translucent Trevira fabric curtains by Rogers and Goffigon. “They provide privacy but lots of light comes through.”

Konishi and Gaffney's bedroom is fairly austere, though a pair of dormers let in lovely natural light.

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

This Nordic kitchen shows why white spaces aren't all the same. Frosted glass and veiny marble offset the milky Eames shell chairs in this photo from @tinashome.

In the kitchen, glossy white MDF and quartz countertops allow for maximum light reflection, as do the white walls and ceilings. The stools are from Zone Maison.

Although the two apartments were stacked vertically, their individual systems and layout were quite different. The limited horizontal overlap meant that the owners and design team had to give careful thought to the connective elements, and how the family would ultimately circulate through the home. One of the key pieces to the puzzle was finding a place for the interior stairs. Says Bangia Agostinho principal Anshu Bangia, “There was a challenge to find an appropriate location to cut a new stair opening between the apartments, and then have the new stair coordinate with the existing one to form a logical sequence of circulation between the three levels.”

Future additions to the series include a look inside the IMF with Liaquat Ahamed and a tour of the technology firm Alcatel-Lucent with Douglas Coupland. If access is power, these books could be revolutionary.

Two Black Sheds incorporates all the conventional aspects of a weekend retreat in a rather unconventional way.

Teacher and resident Eric Schneider’s 450-square-foot space needed to be able to accommodate individual areas for cooking, storage, sleeping, entertaining, and, of course, working—without filling the diminutive abode with furniture, or eliciting claustrophobia by chopping it into tiny spaces. The simple and elegant solution was to knock down most of the apartment’s walls, and concentrate all of the living space’s functionality—kitchen storage, closet, bar, bed, lighting, and office—into a single, transformer-like cabinetry unit.

Espadrilles by Industry of All Nations.

The relatively simple construction incorporates clever sustainable design: a two-level wood roof structure keeps the sun’s heat away from the interior, and small windows at either end facilitate powerful cross-ventilation. It’s natural air-conditioning, and it works beautifully.

Sottsass designed much of the inside furniture, including the vintage Hawaiian Koa lounge chairs and Hyatt side tables.

An all-white design brightens up the bathroom, making it feel serene and comfortable for the family. Photo by Mariko Reed.

Underneath the raised pavilion, the architect carved out an updated version of the classic Southern veranda. This one sports a minimalist outdoor kitchen and all-white accents with a cypress ceiling.

Chris stained all the interior wood black, including this wall by the entry stairs.

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.

The all-ages crowd on opening night.

True Modern Playhouse, $1,425 at All Modern.

Hang-It-All Coat Rack by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller, $199.

The JustK house does zero-energy with unusual style. Architecture firm Amunt incorporated a geothermal heat exchanger and triple-glazed windows into the strict planning regulations, which dictated the pitched roof and narrow structure (the asymmetric profile accommodates a neighbor who asked that her view of nearby Hohentübingen castle be left intact). Built for Dominik Bless-Martenson, Katrin Martenson, and their four children, JustK (the name comes from its location on the Justinus-Kerner-Strasse) can be divided into two separate units, giving options as the family grows up and leaves the nest.

Dr. Bronner's All in One Soap with its font-centric graphic labels, $4-$15

The flags and other bright accents bring a shot of color and fun to the serene, white-filled bedroom.

Here's the little guy, all finished.

Even the rear facade is seamless—its door all but disappearing into the cedar cladding.

By enclosing a small deck, the couple was able to expand and remodel the kitchen. Painted plywood cabinets add a streamlined aeshetic. The refrigerator is Sub-Zero, the cooktop is Thermador, and the hood, dishwasher, and double-wall oven are Bosch. The countertop is Caesarstone's Frosty Carrina.

The "bar" area houses all of the service sections like the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room.

All of the stonework and brick were repaired or replaced.

The outer walkway leads all the way around the structure, spilling into a small patio in back.

The renovation involved painting the house white and extending the roofline over the front door with an open trellis to create a more welcoming entrance. Photo courtesy the owners.

Michael K. Chen Architecture channels Le Corbusier vibes into a modular and multifunctional holiday home aboard the world’s largest residential yacht.