A family of cost-conscious Hamburgers converted a kitschy turn-of-the-century villa into a high-design home with a strict budget in place. To unite the quaint masonry of the original villa with the squat, ugly add-on built flush against it, the architects decided to paint the old-fashioned facade graphite gray and then covered the box next door in plain, light-colored larch. Photo by Mark Seelen.

While it's not your traditional backsplash material, when properly prepared and treated, wood can make for an effective, functional, and beautiful backsplash. Here, the wood backsplash matches the wood of the nearby kitchen island in an otherwise white kitchen with white cabinetry.

According to Paul Raff, the biggest design challenge was creating a functional home that would accommodate the family's regular activities (dining, music, play, homework) all on one level. This was solved by "collaging spaces of different shapes and sizes together, and by interconnecting them all with a very open and seamlessly integrated kitchen." The airy family kitchen features Loire limestone floors, BassamFellows Tractor stools, and an Eames molded plastic chair.

“Keeping the kitchen and bathrooms simple saved money for the important things,” Harkness explains. They went with a soothing color palette and hardware from Reece.

Lisbeth Juul and Laust Nørgaard drew upon their years of experience living on the water to design and build an 860-square-foot floating home in Copenhagen Harbor. The home’s minimal form and furnishings reflect the residents’ desire to downsize following three years on land.

The staircase leading to the master suite features aluminum treads supported on stainless steel tubes. "We wanted something that would allow the resin panels behind it to reflect the light from the windows at the top of the stair," Slade says.

Maja demonstrates another use for the guest bed: a trampoline. Behind her is a wall of storage, an essential attribute in the 1,260-square-foot house. Extreme editing of material possessions also helps.

The adjoining master bathroom is connected by mirrored pocket door with bronze trim at the frame. The graphic space features a Kaldewei tub, Domus tiles, and Dornbracht faucets and fixtures. A marble vanity top and medicine cabinet sit against the far wall; a compact wood bench slides smartly under the vanity.

A family in Hamburg, Germany, turned a kitschy turn-of-the-century villa into a high-design home with a few exterior tricks, including sheathing the exterior in one-dimensional, murdered-out black.

Playful stylistic details, such as two-toned dining chairs from Latitude Nord and a creative lighting fixture from Au Courant, are juxtaposed with the rest of the home’s tranquil elegance.

With its green features, durable materials, and clean-lined minimalism, the house represents the new generation of building for its mostly colonial neighborhood.

Three’s Company Inspired by the minimal color scheme of a hotel they stayed at in Bali, Winterhalder and Ehlers decided to limit their palette to three colors: anthracite black, concrete gray, and a light larch wood. The first move was to paint the backyard wall gray. Next up for a coat of dark paint was the villa’s old-fashioned wooden staircase, which the couple didn’t like but didn’t have the budget to replace. The consistency works to unite the different styles found in the house. “Somehow,” says Winterhalder, “it all fits.”

The Balancing Barn in Suffolk: On the edge of a nature reserve a few miles from the Suffolk coast, the MVRDV-designed Balancing Barn cantilevers over the surrounding meadow.

In the bathroom, a chrome waterfall faucet by LightInTheBox tops a 12.6-inch-square Mini Nova basin by Barclay; a retractable Ikea mirror is the only concession to vanity.

New interior finishes, furniture, and a guesthouse were part of the restoration/renovation of John Lautner's Chemosphere, a 1960s house that makes frequent cameos in film and television.

Masi also turned the miniscule guest quarters into a pool house.

The homeowners wanted a simple, unfussy space. The walls throughout the home are painted in Dulux Swan White. Built-in cabinets are custom made in Tasmanian oak. The hanging pendants are from About Space and the wood-burning stove is a Morsø 7642 model.

The kitchen, living area, and bathroom are located on the ground floor. Large windows overlook the surrounding forest, and Italy to the west.

That said, even their closet clutter is minimal and well-organized.

Choosing not to make a big to-do of itself, this cottage blends in with its surroundings. A wall of glass on one end allows a merger of the outdoors with the interiors, while white trim leaves the appearance of a snow-kissed façade year-round. Berlin, Germany. By Atelier st Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

Transformer or beach hut? Positioned in a coastal erosion zone, this holiday retreat for a family of five is completely capable of being relocated. An oversized shutter allows for protection from the elements when not in use and opens to allow sun in during the winter or provide shade on hot summer days. Waikato, New Zealand. By Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects, from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

The ever-changing, lush wooded surroundings of Minnesota, such as those experienced at this 8,000-square-foot Type Variant House outside of Minneapolis designed by Coen and Partners, are right near the small town of New Richland.

An elegant built-in shelf lies above the bed.

The home's different levels create a playful experience for the inhabitants. The concrete floor references the building’s past use as a garage for ambulances.

Made of polished integral concrete with a Cor-Ten steel base, a fire pit “becomes very much a unique element that sets itself apart in form and color,” says landscape architect Stefan Thuilot, who designed it.

To highlight the views and avoid clutter in a multipurpose space, the van Bolderen brothers, in cooperation with Originele Staat interior design firm, used stainless steel countertops and added screenprinted Dibond aluminum plates to the standard kitchen cabinetry. The window frames are by MHB.

The sparse interior lets the house's waterfront setting stand out. Stool_One seats by Konstantin Grcic pull up to a simple wood island.

A zigzagging white-gravel path ultimately ends at the final destination: a circular fire pit for conversation.

A Chilean home’s dramatic stained-pine exterior references local vernacular architecture.

The Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin, designed by Russian firm SPEECH Tchoban & Kuznetsov, has a wooden door that mimics the structure's textured concrete exterior.

If you’re able to dish out a significant sum on a renovation, pinpointing the areas of the home to tackle can be frustrating. Berkus warns that opting for trendy construction materials is not the way to go. “I am always interested in learning what’s happening with advancements in technology, but regardless of how much money you have it is always best to air on the side of timeless and classic in terms of construction materials,” Berkus says. “You can still live in a very modern way using classic materials like subway tile, statutory or Calgary white marble, stainless steel or butcher block countertops.” Pictured is a dining room and kitchen renovation designed by Machnik in a Los Angeles loft for American Dream Builders. Photo courtesy NBC.

A super minimal World Cup calendar helps us keep up with the schedule.

Porcelain Sugar Bowl by Hasami "I have more sugar bowls than I care to admit," Stubbs says. "I drink my tea and coffee with sugar, so I always want to have a sugar bowl out, right next to the kettle. This is a really nice departure from the old-fashioned sugar bowls that I’ve been using for years."

The iconic Penguin chair by Theo Ruth is upholstered with a minimal take on the postal stamp by Dutch graphic designer Julius Vermeulen.

Shulman's shot of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House No. 22 in 1960 became one of the most iconic photographs of modern U.S. architecture and many felt like it encapsulated Los Angeles during at that time. Shulman ultimately photographed 18 of the 26 Case Study Houses commissioned by Arts & Architecture magazine. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, Research Library at the Getty Research Institute

Women in Architecture Survey: According to the results of the Architect’s Journal Women in Architecture survey, the pay in the architecture field is still unequal and discrimination is common.