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Home Design Photos and Ideas

Quartz countertops and two-by-eight-inch subway tile with tan grout (on the backsplash) complement the tone of the birch cabinetry and ash shelves in the kitchen.
The breakfast area sits directly beneath the clerestory window pop-up, or scoop.
The house's modest footprint and small detached garage left room for an inviting backyard stocked with drought-resistant plants.
The kitchen, which friends helped put together, pairs affordable Ikea cabinetry with birch countertops and glazed brick tile.
The pitched roof upstairs is set back from the flat-roofed main floor, breaking up its mass. The detached rear garage became an office for Moshe and firm partner Wayne Erb.
In the evening, the house looks like a lantern. Originally, the homeowners planned to paint the house a light color. “Bassel encouraged us to go bold,” says Ming. “The contrast at night is more intense.” The exterior is painted in Calico Blue from Benjamin Moore, which is a dark green.
Past the front door, a screen of white oak divides the foyer from the great room. The storage wall on the right includes a bench and drawers for storing shoes, a wet bar , and a closet hiding the washer and dryer on the far end. The large round mirror is from Crate & Barrel.
The wood-framed folding glass doors are from Centor. The battens on the board-and-batten siding are wider than usual for a more modern appearance. The exterior sconces are Dioscuri sconces from Artemide.
The design team added a skylight to the shower room, which has a ribbed glass partition and wall tile from Solistone.
The design team restored the cork floors. The island lights are Sven Middleboe for Nordisk and are original to the house. The counters are Ceppo Di Gre Marble and the door to the restored pantry is painted Tarrytown Green by Benjamin Moore, and given a porthole window with reeded glass.
Cover Architecture and EEK Studio redesigned the fireplace so it no longer obstructs the side of the window. The surround lighting creates a warm and inviting effect, even when the fireplace is not lit.
Cover Architecture and EEK Studio collaborated with the owners on a remodel, intervening lightly in some rooms, like the foyer, and more holistically in others. The cap on the stair railing is painted Tarrytown Green from Benjamin Moore to sync with the green-toned woodwork.
A covered breezeway connects the main house and the guest house. Here, Legge took the opportunity to play with perspective, framing part of a tree and the sky with an abstract roof cutout.
Another move that reduces the house's environmental impact is the inclusion of photovoltaic panels on the roof. The panels generate enough energy to offset 95% of the house’s consumption.
Another money-saving choice was changing the driveway from a stone paver driveway to poured concrete. The roof is designed to collect rainwater, which travels through a set of pipes for storage in a 39,000-gallon cistern behind the house.
According to the homeowners, one concession they made to save money was downgrading the exterior retaining wall from a gabion retaining wall to native limestone blocks.
The project was completed entirely remotely. Since then, the husband-and-wife team have moved back to Santiago, where they had met as young architects working for local firms.
In this Australian project, a resort-worthy swimming pool sits beside the industrial-chic kitchen and living area. It's a joy to swim in, of course, but the body of water also provides evaporative cooling for the courtyard.
The couple added the wainscot, installed by Seamus, and painted in Farrow & Ball Red Earth to continue the “color story” from the breakfast room. The white oak built-in has much needed storage behind the cane cabinet fronts and display. The Caitlin couch by Everygirl for Interior Define sits atop a vintage checkered rug with an Anthropologie coffee table and Hay Paper Shade overhead.
The couple added curved cabinetry and a window seat to form a breakfast nook, painted in Farrow & Ball Red Earth. The table is discontinued from Anthropologie, where Kara previously worked as a display coordinator, and the overhead light is the Lambert & Fils Waldorf Double.
An arched opening was added to connect the kitchen and breakfast nook, and gain sightlines to the yard. Seamus refinished the fireplace mantle and added square zellige Zia tile in ‘Nana’s Lipstick’ to the surround. Gubi Semi Pendants hang over the island, and the sink has a Devol Ionian Bridge Tap.
The wet bar was given a custom cherry top, and the couple added wall molding for texture.
Seamus rebuilt the front porch to be more historically accurate, and the couple painted everything in Pink Ground by Farrow & Ball, except the porch ceiling, which has Little Boy Blue by Sherwin Williams.
The redesign enlarged an existing arched opening between the dining room (with its vintage Saarinen table) and the new addition.
For a bathroom in the new addition, the architects utilized the former addition's rocky foundation, complemented by zellige tile.
Twenty minutes from Marfa, a couple bring a 1914 home back to basics by peeling away faux stone, preserving marbelized tile, and building an addition that’s boxy in the best way.
The original house was built in 1914, on a slightly raised portion of the property.
The four-bedroom home features a front elevation with offset windows of different sizes that create a dynamic facade. The windows emphasize the verticality of the home, and their size is based on the program and function of the space behind.
The Garduno-Heiser House above Silver Lake has a daring cantilever, vintage tile, and original walnut cabinetry.
Thanks to the California weather, the couple can make use of the outdoor dining and living area for much of the year.
The elaborate pocket door was carved by David with a CNC machine.
David built a record player nook into the corner. "We keep our record collection in the garage on the property and every week swap out 20 records," he explains. "We were so close to getting rid of our collection, but are so happy we were able to squeeze them in."
David and Darian had to do a big cull of their belongings to make Airstream life work, but smart storage solutions mean they've adapted to small-space living well.
A kitchen shelf Nick picked up secondhand on Kleinanzeigen. It was very damaged when he acquired it, so he applied spackle to resurface it and painted it red.
Low-lying furniture and art makes the high-ceilinged living room appear even bigger. Most of the furnishings were sourced secondhand, though the hanging lamp is a DIY Nick made by fusing two paper shades together.
Nick lounging in the living room. The one-of-a-kind candleholder to his right is one of his favorite secondhand finds. "It has these three mirrors which reflect the light of the candle perfectly, and the wiggly shapes are just amazing," he says.
Nick photographed in his dining room.
“We had been searching for a pine with the appropriate shape for quite a long time,” says Wakebayashi of the garden’s signature planting. “Then, Mr. Nakamura strongly recommended this special pine tree to us.”
Although Wakebayashi is not a professional Noh actor, he performs in front of an audience once or twice a year. For these performances, his preparation goes beyond memorizing lyrics and choreography—he sometimes even visits temples and locations where the story is set. “I need to understand the contents of the Noh play, which is how the main character feels, and the background of the story including history,” says Wakebayashi.
The home’s Noh stage is constructed of hinoki cypress. On the back wall, Kagami-ita—which literally translates to “mirror board”—is a polished board on which the sacred pine tree is depicted. “It serves as an echo board for the sound on the stage, and is known as the large pine tree that first catches the eye upon entering the Noh theater,” says architect Takanori Maita.
The Cotage
Day time facade looking straight on: A private residence in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, with its perforated brick facade being devised by programmatic needs.
Staircase with rift-sawn white oak handrails and pour-in-place terrazzo in green.
Wood panelling brings a warmth to the concrete-and-white space.
The wallpaper was one of the first interior details, a limited edition print featuring trans icons and significant moments in queer history.
Concrete floors were polished a few extra times to reveal the pebbles and stones for a terrazzo-esque effect.
The sofa flips into a comfortable queen-sized bed. “We’d rather have the space be mostly available for hanging out, but able to convert when we need to," says David.
Natural light was extra important to Aaron, as this space functions as his art studio, too.
A pop of red distinguishes the front door, paired with vertical cedar siding with an ebony stain, and Richlite panels and detailing.
The build team added 25,000 pounds of concrete and lead to ensure ballast, or that the house would be level on the waves. “It’s a tiny home, so you have all the same things you would worry about in a tiny home, but with this added challenge of having to be as stable as possible,” says David.
David likes to cook and entertain so the architects designed a full-scale kitchen with Forbo Marmoleum flooring, white oak cabinets, ceramic tile backsplash, and Richlite counters.
Windowsills were extended to do double-duty, and also function as bookshelves.
A crooked little fisherman cottage gets a new lease on life in the hands of owners Jamie Kwong and his wife, Ingrid, who renovate the seaside shack with an eco-friendly approach that includes recycled and repurposed materials wherever possible. Located across the bay from Australia’s Palm Beach, the Little Black Shack has been made available to rent for your next dream vacation getaway.
Completed in just six weeks by Australian practice Archiblox, this modest prefab home is perched atop cliffs with prime views of Avalon Beach, just a short drive away from Sydney. Oriented east to west to maximize cross ventilation, the house is clad in marine-grade Colorbond Ultra steel and Queensland blue gum to protect against the elements.
In Lorne, Victoria, Austin Maynard Architects gave an old shack near the beach a modern revamp and a timber extension that allows for elevated sea views. With interiors lined in recycled Silvertop Ash, the house oozes a cozy, cabin-like feel.
Built to go off the grid, this remote beachside cottage can open up completely to the outdoors with its series of movable wall-sized glass panels and screens. Designed by Herbst Architects, the modest New Zealand bach comprises two rectangular pavilions built with mostly natural materials chosen for their durability, texture, and weathering characteristics.
For an escape from bustling San Francisco, architect Craig Steely and his wife Cathy have created a modernist getaway on a lava field next to a black sand beach on Hawaii’s Big Island. Fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the ocean, the steel-framed home is one of several homes that Steely built on the recently active lava field.
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