In the old building, the painting studio is accessible from the patio. At the center of the space, a custom table is flanked by Eames shell chairs. Tom Dixon pendant lamps hang from rustic wood beams, and a Pablo Studio Lim360 table lamp sits atop a custom white cabinet.

An Introduction to Art Collecting: A history of art collecting and a guide to your first acquisitions.

While we couldn’t hunt down a painting by Elva Stewart like the one Holden Shannon has, check out our introduction to art collecting for a special find to put in your bedroom.

For artist Heather Kahn, a backyard painting studio attached to her home's original garage is the perfect place to work. The light blue paneling echoes the wood paneling on the main house, but the color distinguishes it and gives it a sense of personality.

Front Walkway - A Hidden Service Entrance Door in the Cedar Siding uses a keyfob to electronically open the door.

Inside, a Herman Miller bench creates a small sitting area. A rich collection of artwork, amassed over the years by the Saleks' mother, Mahshad, is visible at every turn. The flooring throughout is a warm walnut.

Orlando Vacation Home Master Bedroom Desk Detail

The master bedroom in Holden Shannon’s unit in Houston’s Row on 25th development features a Nook bed from Blu Dot, a pair of Base table lights by Tom Dixon, and a painting by artist Elva Stewart.

Tracy Beckmann and Ryan Trowbridge spent four years shopping for furnishings, fixtures, and lighting to outfit the guest rooms, sourcing steel hardware in Hong Kong, vintage lighting in Italy and France, and many mid-century pieces in their backyard, aka Palm Springs’s renowned vintage shops.

Finds included Bertoia barstools, a J. Wade Beam coffee table, and a chrome Thonet-inspired chair in Unit One and a Warren Platner coffee table and chair in Unit Four.

The open observatory.

Each of the four units has a private patio.

Resident Misha Bukowski plays with young Zachary in the walkway between the renovated buildings. The new units are clad in stained local cedar.

To maximize guests’ experience of Lautner’s legendary approach to daylight, Beckmann and Trowbridge forewent blinds or curtains on the windows and glazed walls, offering guests sleeping masks instead.

The eat-in kitchen features poured-in-place concrete countertops and redwood wall paneling.

In the living room, the painting is by Geoff McFetridge and the wood paneling is original to the house. “Jewel-y color and simple shapes—they feel right in this house,” says interior designer Jessica Helgerson.

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.

Books pepper the Toronto apartment, but most are housed in two libraries, one of which is dedicated to art and photography. It also features a Palms lounger by Dutch designer Frans Schrofer and the painting Any Number of Preoccupations by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. The second bedroom, which also functions as a library, has Vitsœ shelving and houses owner Kenneth Montague’s book collection.

Will relaxes on the sofa Gerald designed, below a painting by Gary Freemantle.

In the living room, a Lake credenza by BDDW is topped with a Bauhaus chess set and a portrait of Ernest Hemingway by the artist Yuriy Rudnev.

With broad expanses of white walls and perfectly modulated light, this space is the very picture of an artist’s studio—and it was crafted as carefully as Monkman’s mountain landscape.

The moody painting by artist Victor Wang complements the exposed brick wall and the muted colors of the bar cabinet. Photo by Tara Donne.

“Your first impression is that the house is very closed,” says David Barragán of the building he designed with Jose María Sáez in Quito, Ecuador. Stacked concrete forms, developed by Barragán and Sáez and used as planters along the front facade, offer privacy and integrate the building with the site.

Another painting by Neo Rauch, Der Landgang, demonstrates strategic use of color over a red-brown background (a common theme throughout the exhibition), which is meant to represent the lighting before or after a storm.

Michael Goldberg, Untitled (43), 1992, oil and pastel. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection Vogel Collection. Photography by Dennis Griggs.

One of the best parts about having a designer is having the courage to take the leap into a bold statement. A patterned entry wallpaper let's you say "...it's perfectly alright to be jealous" - without actually having to say it. Photo by Chellise Michael Photography.

The best way to make a small space work is to find the hidden gems. The high ceilings, exposed brick and ridiculous skylight in this Chelsea one-bedroom gave us a pretty good foundation to go mountain-man modern. Photo by Chellise Michael Photography.

Walls are overrated. Instead we mounted a ceiling track and suspended a 13-foot piece of art that slides to become the bedroom wall. Viola—instant privacy! Photo by Chellise Michael Photography.

In the Dolomite mountains, an angular copper-clad apartment building echoes the topography of its site. Photos by Hertha Hurnaus

Very civilized coffee service at Karimoku New Standard gallery installation in Brera (plus new table by Scholten & Baijings).

When this client said she'd impulse bought a 12-foot, reclaimed bookcase from across the street, we chuckled. Photo by Chellise Michael Photography.

If the shade is ugly, throw it away. Sometimes bending the rules a little allows for a creative surprise—and that's what good design is all about. Photo by Francisco Aguila

You don't like to wake up surrounded by your favorite things? Photo by Francisco Aguila.

Mixing mid-century modern with the iconic brick of downtown Manhattan is a sure fire way to live "bachelor-chic". Photo by Chellise Michael Photography.