Upstairs is a sleeping loft, accessible by a spiral staircase. A digital projector makes it possible for the couple to watch movies against the opposite wall.

Inside, Kaiser crafted a curved interior that matches the silo's circular footprint. "I didn’t want to cheat and do a box inside a curved shell," he says. "I wanted it to feel like the inside and outside were born of the same mentality." Scrap walnut plank flooring purchased on Craigslist for $350 accounted for most of the interior wood. It's paired with black steel touches. Everything in this room is custom—Kaiser designed the curved-faced cabinets, the dining table, the sofa, and the lamp that has hooks for pots and pans. The countertops are Corian. The Eames Wire Chairs are one of the only non-custom elements.

The silo was transported to Phoenix in a pickup truck. Grain silos have an oculus at the top that allows air to move through the grain; Kaiser converted that into a retractable skylight.

Kaiser added ten inches of spray foam insulation between the exterior shell and the interior of the house. He also fabricated all of the doors and windows in the structure.

The bathroom features white ceramic glazed penny tile and a Duravit toilet with a custom vanity.

Resident Peter Østergaard (with Maja, 6, and Carl, 20 months) and architect and photographer Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen have been best friends since they were 13, which makes for easy collaboration. Says Bjerre-Poulsen: “There are always a lot of challenges in a renovation, but Peter and Åsa trusted my judgment and gave me a completely free hand. Usually it’s hard to push people into unconventional solutions, but Peter has all these wild and crazy ideas.” One such idea was to embed a transparent glass-and-iron door in the floor, operated by a hydraulic pump, which allows access to the subterranean wine cellar. At night, the lit-up cellar glows, lending the compact living room an increased sense of verticality.

Mastic plants that can grow up to 16 feet tall will eventually create a canopy of shade around the structure.

By merging typical Saigon architectural and stylistic details, architect Toan Nghiem of a21 Studio created a space that brings family together. Stacking roof layers, open flowering balconies, and an alleyway that serves as a living room, dining room, and outdoor playground are all filled with colorful, rich materials. Inside Saigon House, reclaimed and second-hand furniture lend history and spirit to the home. With so many small interior rooms and divisions between spaces, the addition of a net ceiling brings openness to the back alleyway, where the family often gathers to eat dinner. Not only does the net allow for ventilation and light, but it offers a place to play for the children, who love to climb and lounge above their parents.

A custom, sliding 9-foot-wide door opens the living space up to the outdoors.

A circular tower echoes the former gas storage cylinder that once occupied its place. It houses a private study.

The planks inside the house blend into those on the small porch just outside. It's a nice touch that helps marry the outdoors with the home's interior.

Inside a converted grain silo, a bathroom is wrapped in white penny tile. #penny #tile #bathroom

At a renovated home in Nevada, cabinetmaker Ben Wilborn carefully matched the grain of the kitchen cabinets, and the homeowners paired the wood with modern stainless steel cabinet pulls.

The bedroom is located on a mezzanine just below the roof of a church. The minimal decor and simple arrangement of the room reflect the client’s modest tastes. The small pewter spotlights and pendant by Holloways of London connect to an exposed galvanized conduit that is set against the brick above the bed.

The home’s sliding doors blur the boundaries between inside and out.

The Trues host parties in the glass-walled structure, located steps from their vacation home, or they escape to it to catch some rays and read a book. Bill reclines on cushions hidden under the reclaimed-fir floorboards that are propped up with Sugatsune hinges.

On Vashon Island, about 20 miles southwest of Seattle, architect Seth Grizzle designed a 440-square-foot multiuse structure for his clients Bill and Ruth True.

Cedar slats help this Ontario lake house float soundly atop still waters. Photo by: Raimund Koch

Seeking more space and a connection with the city, an artist and a designer turn an old Toronto storefront in Dundas West into a home and studio. Photo by Naomi Finlay.

A sofa from Design Within Reach opposes a Hi Turn chair by Bensen in the living room.

Sheridan Coakley, owner of the London-based furnishings purveyor SCP, uses his circa-1970s home as a testing ground for the furnishings he carries in his company’s inventory. In the foreground, a Balzac lounge chair by Matthew Hilton is draped with a Donna Wilson blanket.

Street Smarts-An artist and designer couple transform an old Toronto storefront in Dundas West into a home and studio. Their industrial yet cozy abode mixes customized Ikea pieces with art by up-and-coming designers and modern finds. Photo by: Naomi Finlay

Here's what you need to know before undergoing a building project with a contractor but no architect.

When not in use during winter, the tub is hidden from the home’s view. The entrance has a sheltered overhang for car parking.

In keeping with Hayon’s goal of creating a serene and airy home, the master bedroom and sticks to a mostly neutral palette of whites and grays. The bench by the bed is a custom piece designed by Hayon and Klunder and fabricated by their carpenter friend Josep Joffre.

An upstairs bedroom is at once bright and cozy.

"When I was furnishing the place, I made sure it’d also be a good place for art," Judin tells FvF. "After that, I considered my other passions: cooking, for example. My kitchen is the heart and center of the house."

White-and-blue, wood-grain–patterned UonUon tiles by 14oraitaliana line the bathroom walls in a loft above the garage.

To complement the white-washed custom cabinetry in her kitchen, architect Julie Salles Schaffer has designed a tile backsplash to resemble "melting butter in a white pan." Daltile arranged her two-color AutoCAD design—white and off-white—onto a mesh backing for a small fee. To soften the edges of the cabinets’ drawers and doors, Schaffer requested radial edging.

When he moved in, Judin noticed that his existing furniture fit right into the new space—many pieces are also from the '50s. See more images here.

This home in a former Chicago church fully utilizes an original stained-glass window in its light-filled kitchen.

BOUND MIRROR Two RISD-trained designers based on a small island outside Seattle hand-wrap their precision-cut mirrors with hemp twine around a border of FSC-certified Baltic birch plywood.

Because this house, in a converted 19th-century Singapore shophouse, is narrow and long (16 by 68 feet), the design team decided to create a huge open-air space to light the interior naturally. Two retractable motor-driven canvas canopies shelter the space during Singapore’s frequent rains. Photo by Richard Powers. Learn more about the challenges of the renovation.

Competing grains of laminated pine panels enliven the stairs.