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.

By creating a desk out of roof beams, this home office perfectly integrates into an open-plan renovation of a Northern Italian farmhouse.

Chef Alfredo Oropeza wanted the kitchen to be the heart of the house. By saving money on building materials elsewhere in the project, Castillo was able to indulge in cabinetry by Porcelanosa, bar stools by Ligne Roset, and a granite island, making this the crème de la crème of kitchens.

The dining table, made from a single piece of teak, is a little over 13 feet long and was custom made for the space. It can seat up to 24.

Another of our favorite home office ideas on a budget? Incorporate a basic office space in the upper level or attic of the house, like this small workstation on the upper level of this magnificent, midcentury, A-frame prefab home off the coast of Rhode Island. Here, an airy push-open window provides a refreshing ocean breeze for this sparse workspace.

Torsten Sherwood's Homage chair was originally designed for the Sesame Seed Project, an open-source design website. It is part of a series of designs made from standard sections of wood. By cutting the sections to length and screwing them together, anyone can put these chairstogether them quickly and cheaply. Photo courtesy of Torsten Sherwood.

The structure of the chair is simple; it is joined by lap joints. Photo courtesy of Torsten Sherwood.

80 years Xavier Pauchard’s galvanized sheet metal Model A chair is an icon of industrial aesthetics. Designed in 1934, it still remains a staple in both indoor and outdoor spaces. Photo courtesy of Tolix.

Sherwood is presenting his new furniture collection at Milan Design Week's Salone Satellite, in Booth D19, from April 8 to 14.

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.

A small terrace outfitted with an H55 easy chair by Björn Hultén offers a view of the San Francisco Bay.

In a couple’s Mexico City apartment designed by David Levy of Flexform, a Murano chandelier hangs above a marble-topped dining table from the showroom.

In the kitchen, the continuous kitchen worktop and table are made of marble from Caledonia Marble. The pink Tamatik dining chairs are by Connie Chisholm and are from the Canadian design shop Made. The Blinding Love pendant lights are by Periphere, which has shops in Montreal and Toronto. The iron rails were inspired both by screens the couple had seen on their travels in the Middle East and by the ornate wrought ironwork favored by their Portuguese neighbors. Barzel Ironworks fabricated the banister to Sawatzky’s design by slicing up iron pipe, welding it, and painting it.

Edgeland House, built on a cliff-top lot in Austin by architect Thomas Bercy for lawyer and writer Chris Brown, is topped by a living roof that helps it blend into the landscape. The concrete, steel, and glass house is divided into two distinct public and private halves.

Architects Mayer Sattler-Smith designed the bookshelves and Alvar Aalto the 406 lounge chair for Artek.

The Antonio Citterio walnut-back Morgan chairs are also from Flexform.

The entire family makes good use of the music room, where they hold public and private Sunday concerts with local and international musicians.

Alex relaxes on the first-floor couch, with is filled with an array of pillows from Crate and Barrel, CB2, West Elm, Muji, and Blu Dot.

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

An architectural designer and an artist harnessed the collective power of their design firm to remake a dilapidated mid-century gem into a hillside perch for their family.

The 4,400-square-foot residence is designed for aging in place. A ground-floor bedroom suite enables extended stays from grandparents. Low- and no-VOC finishes create healthy indoor air quality.

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.

The chair's design was inspired by the work of Enzo Mari. Photo courtesy of Torsten Sherwood.

For a slightly funkier feel, opt for a variety of high-design chairs around your table. A less rigid approach to hanging art can also ease the hard lines of much modern decor and add to a more bohemian vibe to your home.

Platzhalter-Stuhl by German designer Julian Sterz is another rumination on object and perception—one conventional chair becomes four new, different chairs, each with a missing part replaced with a metal frame.

The interior walls and ceilings are plaster, and all the floors are solid maple.

In Marquina and Font’s living room, a pair of kilim-covered chairs by Philippe Xerri, a chest of drawers by Piet Hein Eek, and a handmade Tunisian rug provide bursts of color amidst the overall scheme of white, ecru, and cream.

The family's activity centers around the open-plan dining room, which does triple-duty as a living room and kitchen. Susanna prefers a motley set of dining chairs over a coordinated set; that way guests can pick their favorite when they sit.

Located on the house’s lower level, the bedroom is bright but soothing. The bed is flanked by custom side tables and covered with a red West Elm duvet.

Magenta Togo sofas by Ligne Roset, a red Eames molded plywood chair, and wire Bertoia Diamond chair provide seating around the hearth.

A pair of deck chairs from the Conran Shop brighten up a deck designed and built by Mark Congdon Landscape. Visible through the window are a Praying Mantis floor lamp from White Furniture and a fiberglass rocking chair from Modernica.

Husband-and-wife founders of Calico Wallpaper Rachel and Nick Cope show how easy it can be to put a personal, design-led touch on loft living—even when it’s a rental. When the Copes rented a Red Hook loft in an industrial 1860s warehouse, the couple turned their rental into a testing ground for their marbleized wallpaper business and installed wallpaper in each of their rooms. The custom pieces take inspiration from the loft’s immediate surroundings and characteristics—from the silver-and-gold marbled mural that complements the loft’s exposed structural beams to a color-gradient wallpaper in the primary bedroom that takes cues from the sunset seen from Red Hook.

For the dining room table, Hirsh and Volny collaborated with local company TCWoods, an urban sawmill that makes custom furniture and art from downed trees. Based on a classic George Nakashima design, the table is made from a maple tree that had been in front of Boulder High School.

Architect Abigail Turin added a dose of color to her black-and-white bedroom with a Rainbow chair by Patrick Norguet for Cappellini.

HAL Tube and Sledge chairs, by Jasper Morrison for Vitra, are arranged around an Extesso dining table by Neo Katoikein. A George Nelson Eye Clock sits on the cantilevered shelving by Pafos, a furniture company based in Oinofyta, Greece, which also constructed the built-in cabinets in the living room. The pendant lamp includes fixtures designed by Lee Broom for Oikos.