Waechter Architecture reimagined a traditional gabled home in southeast Portland without significantly altering the original building. A simple coat of red paint abstracts the century-old structure, creating a residential work of art.

This stylized vintage trailer is the image of small-scale luxury.

Jansen+Co Cake Stand Young Dutch design house Jansen+Co adds to its growing collection of brightly colored ceramic servingware with cheerful pedestal stands. Layout cupcakes, pies, cake of course, or anything you want to display on your tablescape. Traditional form meets contemporary styling in the minds of Jansen+Co founders Anouk Jansen and Harm Magis. Find this item at the Dwell Store.

This bathroom, tiled in bright blue mosaic to offset the home’s limited materials and color palette, calls for a simple vanity. The sinks, toilets, and tubs are by Villeroy & Boch, while the faucets and towel rails are by Grohe and Avenir, respectively.

Since surrounding neighbors can overlook the one-story property, Thomson created a roof detail that is environmentally friendly and attractive: “the bio-diverse [green] roof is planted with indigenous species of flowers and grasses,” he says.

De Poorter lowered the living room floor by about three feet to allow for larger windows. Vintage Sade sofas, purchased in Berlin, join an Arco lamp by Achille Castiglioni for Flos, a Noguchi coffee table, and a painting by family friend Hugo de Clercq.

With primary colors and a classic shape, this pot is a throwback to childhood tea parties with a grown-up sensibility. $65 from store.dwell.com.

Jansen+Co Espresso Mug and Saucer Made of high quality ceramic, these mugs are perfect for serving that little bit of espresso at the end of a fabulous meal. They are a beautiful combination of industrial production and hand finish. Their shape is classic with twist and is available in bright colors and urban tones. Find this item at the Dwell Store.

The budget was nearly as tight as the space in this cheerful renovation of a 516-square-foot flat in Bratislava. The centerpiece of Lukáš Kordík’s new kitchen is the cabinetry surrounding the sink, a feat he managed by altering the facing and pulls of an off-the-rack Ikea system. The laminate offers a good punch of blue, and in modernist fashion, Kordík forwent door handles in favor of cutouts. “I wanted the kitchen to be one simple block of color without any additional design,” he says.

The steel canopy protects the residents from Seattle’s notoriously rainy weather as they walk from the entry gate to the front door.

Kastehelmi Bowl - Light Blue Designed by Oiva Toikka | Iittala

By inserting a tunnel made from 36 reclaimed commercial doors and tearing down a handful of walls, LOT-EK and contractor Andreas Scholtz brought light into the formerly unused dark hallway in Maurice Russell (right) and Jorge Fontanez’s apartment. The glossy Safety Red paint by Benjamin Moore catches the light by day but “becomes a richer, darker, very relaxing red at night,” Fontanez says.

The bathroom features Chromtech tile, a Toto toilet, Kohler vanity, and powder-coated steel countertop.

The interior is an open plan, but divided into different zones through furniture. "It allows smaller groups of children to be in different activity zones without having closed off classrooms," Curtiss says. "There's enough space to have each group be work in an area without being distracted by other groups. By keeping three groups at 10 children, it’s manageable both with space, sound and teacher to child interaction by being spread throughout the school from front to back."

The Helios Fire Bowl Set from Skagerak is a portable outdoor fireplace that is ideal for a back patio. It can be used as a fire pit, or with the Helios Steel Grille and some charcoal to create an outdoor grill for hotdogs, vegetables, or shish kebabs.

The red acrylic hallway.

The children’s rooms, which are reserved for family and an extended network of friends, feature more custom Crasset-designed beds set against a vivid blue backdrop, courtesy of the French paint brand Zolpan.

A sky-blue vintage trailer blends in with the sky.

Staffan Holm's VISP coat rack designed for Blastation is a piquant accent in any room. Coiled tubular steel coils grounded by plastic feet offer floor-friendly, lightweight storage space.

Adler’s Slate grass cloth, a material he likes because it feels natural, sheathes a guest room’s walls. Ravello and Nixon side tables flank the bed, which is covered with Adler’s Alexander duvet. A reissued mirror by renowned metal artist C. Jeré rounds out the eclectic room.

In such a small space “you have to organize, and every piece takes a decision,” says resident Heidi Wright. The couple keep things they use less frequently, like guest bedding, in the higher cabinets.

Sendan Tokusa Bowl, $22 This bowl is a multi-tasker any entertainer will lover. She’ll use it for dips, snacks, and even prep. It features the traditional Tokusa design from 17th to 19th century Japan.

"Like the old farmhouses and barns of the Champlain Valley, the Foote Farm House has a clearly ordered wood frame on a sturdy foundation, an exterior skin made of local materials, an economy of form with tried-and-true proportions, a central fire place, and a common-sense relationship to the sun and the weather." - Architect John McLeod

The Merivuokko print features forms that resemble sea anemones.

Moskow Linn Architects of Boston tackled this ground-up renovation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a client who wanted to maximize efficiency. Photo by Eric Roth.

Bold color is embraced in the home’s first bathroom, with tilework by Trend Mosiacs. Faucets are by Grohe and vanities are by Hastings. A Flos Glo-Ball pendant light illuminates the space.

Here, laminate kitchen cabinets are topped with Corian in Glacier White for a fresh and fun color-blocked look.

"Architecture exists through states of contrast; the building as a bridge between a wooded forest and a field, a strong roof line against a backdrop of trees or mountains. In these states of contrast we truly start to see where we live." -Architect Steve Kredell

Short StackA tiny cabin in the Wisconsin Woods makes a big impact with Johnsen & Schmaling's innovative stacked design. The resulting cozy abode is stylish and durable, with stunning views of the surrounding landscape.

The kitchen window was designed to look into the Goodchilds' daughter's home. Photo credit: Dale Christopher Lang PhD AIAP

The walls are covered in Graniplast, a tinted acrylic finish. Nathan Pereira Arquitectos y Diseño advised on the facade, floors, and finishes. All the bedrooms are off one hallway; the three children’s rooms were designed by Vanessa Clark.

Preservation Props Since the house is in a historic district, Beebe and Skidmore’s interventions were constrained by local guidelines, including a stipulation that the walls of the addition couldn’t line up with the walls of the existing house. They bumped the walls in by five feet on either side and painted the addition, clad in siding from Capital Lumber, a color complementary to the original building’s deep, bright blue. “A guy from Boise’s preservation office came by and said, ‘This is a perfect example of how we’d like people to build additions,’” says Dana. “We were pretty proud of that.” beebeskidmore.com capital-lumber.com

The Red House, 2002.