The story architect Clara Nahas wanted to tell in this studio was a personal and musical one. "I designed it as a posthumous tribute to my mother, a musician and professional pianist," she says of the intention for Semibreve Studio, her personal debut at CASACOR São Paulo — the largest architecture, interior design, and landscaping show in the Americas. "In a sense, the space is inhabited by her memory more than by a literal resident."

Conceived as a physical manifesto against contemporary hyperconnectivity, the project transforms the designer's personal memory into spatial solutions.

Set inside Parque da Água Branca, a historical park founded in 1929 in the heart of São Paulo, the 55-square-meter studio was a completely blank shell before Nahas's intervention. Her brief came from CASACOR's 2026 theme, Mente e Coração ("mind and heart"), which encouraged architects to treat the home as a place of self-reconnection. Nahas decided to focus on introspection.

"I chose to follow the path of affection and turned to my own trunk of memories, my mother's musical universe," she explains of Semibreve Studio, which embraces evocative shapes, sensory materials, and light to make them manifest spatially.

The project draws from the original handwritten score of a song Nahas's mother wrote when she was born. It has been framed and hangs as a tribute in the bedroom's study area and "the lyrical axis of the project," as she calls it.

Rather than a traditional layout, Nahas has arranged the spaces so visitors move through an inverted route that makes the studio's entire flow unique and unexpected.

"Instead of entering through the social area, you enter through the intimate zone," she explains. Guests cross the bedroom and study first, before reaching the openness of the living space. "It's meant to work like a rite of passage, a sensory filter before connecting with the soul of the house," the architect says.

Nahas has managed to fit an entire home, including bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen, study, and closet, into just 55 square meters without ever losing narrative depth.

This was, Nahas admits, the biggest challenge of the making of Semibreve Studio, the assembling of which required special attention. Since CASACOR only permits dry assembly on-site, every element integrated in the scheme had to be pre-built off-site.

This was also the case for the custom woodwork and masonry closures that were implemented to correct irregularities in the original architecture — a trick Nahas successfully pulled off despite the initial hesitation.

The kitchen was conceived to resist "purely utilitarian coldness," Nahas says. For it, she sought a style that looked monolithic and inherently social.

Built by Todeschini, the cabinetry runs along the main wall in the brand's newly launched Giardino finish, a tinted natural oak veneer, paired with a polished Da Vinci quartzite countertop.

That countertop extends into a sideboard built to hold a record player and Nahas's mother's original vinyl collection, with a niche carved out for a small bar.

The standout feature and most intriguing aspect is the burgundy cylindrical volume that anchors the entire plan. It encases the bathroom, a space that's color-drenched, with the floor and ceiling clad in ceramic tiles.

The countertop and backsplash are in honed Napoleon Bordeaux marble, with a wood-finish cabinet raised off the floor, chrome Cogumelo sconces flanking the mirror, and Deca fixtures in Dark Antracite.

On the exterior face of that same cylinder, in the bedroom, the curvature is clad entirely in red ceramic pieces by Keramika, rising all the way to the ceiling. "That gives the desk area a more introspective, welcoming scale," Nahas says of the effect.

That desk was carved directly from the cylinder itself, via a precise cut below the main beam, doubling as a vanity with shelves that display a collection of hourglasses — objects Nahas links to memories of her mother. "It is a poetic reminder of the passage of time," she explains.

The subtle architectural details Nahas has included continue the project's musical logic. The studio takes its name and its concept from the semibreve, the musical notation.

"It's the note that fills the measure and sustains the sound, asking for a pause so its fullness can actually be heard," Nahas says. That idea of sustained rhythm shows up in the alternating ceramic pieces running along the skirting board's entire perimeter, "almost like a measure being played out in ceramic instead of sound."

The gabled ceiling has been left with exposed beams and wooden slats; these are nods to the archetype of the traditional house, while soft-toned textured paint acts, in Nahas's words, as "a silent canvas" for the rest of the space. Together, these quiet details convey the warmth that makes Semibreve Studio so welcoming and familiar at first glance.

The project is a temporary installation. But in striving to render the enduring impact that people hold on our lives — whether or not this can be perceived by our eyes — it stretches beyond its physical limits.

A reminder that home is first and foremost the place where we feel most loved, and the one that knows us best, Semibreve Studio might not be permanent, but it's eternal.

With sun-washed colors, expressive masonry, and intricate tilework, Mediterranean homes have an enduring charm. Lately, this style has found renewed relevance as people seek interiors that evoke the ease, warmth, and transportive calm of a faraway holiday.

This home in Montreuil, purchased by a family of four, follows a similarly hot-weather design story, with its residents drawn to a slightly eclectic, gently coastal aesthetic. Spread across three floors, the 1,292-square-foot, three-bedroom house became a wonderfully characterful project for Julie Nebout and Giuseppe Punzo of La Fotosintesi, a studio known for its joyful approach to interiors.

"The goal was to create interiors full of personality without ever becoming overwhelming, allowing the house to feel timeless and comfortable," the designers share. Although the existing layout already worked well, the clients wanted to give spaces an entirely new soul. Julie and Giuseppe responded by introducing moments of surprise in this modern home, as each room gradually unfolds, creating a sequence of colorful spaces with distinct identities that still feel harmonious as a whole.

"As soon as you enter the house, your eye is drawn to the bespoke masonry kitchen, finished in lime plaster and immediately evocative of a Mediterranean seaside home," shares Julie, one half of La Fotosintesi, who adds that the detail "creates a natural sense of welcome for guests."

The small kitchen's tiled island reinforces the relaxed, summery mood while introducing texture and a strong sense of craftsmanship. Despite its compact footprint, the kitchen includes everything the family needs for daily life; integrated cabinetry and seamless storage keep the space visually calm.

The ceiling plays an equally important role, coaxing the eye upward and creating a greater sense of volume. "A perimeter molding frames a soft sage green ceiling, chosen to create a dialogue with the greenery of the garden just outside," Giuseppe adds.

Where originally the kitchen was closed off, the designers decided to integrate it with the dining, helping open up both areas to light and breeze. Conceived as an intimate family space, it offers a place where parents and children can gather over meals and conversation.

Warm materials help create that sense of ease, from the wood flooring to the woven rattan chairs.

A dining table sourced from Sklum brings a more contemporary note, while a large aluminum screen by Marion Barbaz introduces a reflective surface that catches the light and lends the room a polished, modern edge. Sheer curtains filter the daylight throughout the day, while the painted ceiling — an enveloping canopy of color —continues the home's chromatic story overhead.

A doorway leads into the colorful living room, where a palette of soft pastels comes together in quiet harmony.

"The lounge is painted entirely in a light blue tone, enhancing its intimate and cozy character while creating a calm, peaceful environment for relaxing," Julie says.

The armchair, sourced from AM.PM, alongside a textile artwork by Gregory B Studio, gives the room an easygoing yet inviting quality. Above people's heads, the ceiling is painted in a slightly deeper shade of blue, in an enveloping, cocoon-like effect.

The attic bedroom, or the primary bedroom, is defined by bright tones and clever storage solutions.

"Because of the sloping ceilings, one of the main challenges was making the room feel spacious and balanced," Giuseppe explains. "We introduced a false partition to create a proper headboard wall, allowing the bed to sit centrally within the room."

Beside the bed, the designers created a discreet wardrobe that conceals a generous dressing area and an integrated writing desk — a quiet, practical corner for working or reading without disrupting the room's overall flow.

The en suite small bathroom is undeniably the boldest room in the house.

"We wanted it to become an architectural feature rather than simply a functional space, so we clad every surface in green zellige tile," Julie says. "The bathroom is enclosed in glass, allowing it to remain visually connected to the bedroom while maintaining a strong identity of its own."

The designers also introduced new windows that flood the room with natural light throughout the day. As the sun shifts, it plays across the handcrafted tiles, bringing out their rich texture and creating an ever-changing spectrum of green.

Their little girl's bedroom is awash in soft pink. The color extends across the walls, ceiling, and curtains, taking on added warmth in the natural light.

Custom furniture and delicate lamps keep the room feeling calm and considered, even amid the inevitable clutter of books and toys.

The kids bathroom is defined by a warm, gentle palette, with lime-plaster walls, softly rounded details, and warm-toned ceramic tile. The result is a welcoming space with an intimate atmosphere that offers a subtle counterpoint to the primary bathroom's bolder character.

Taken as a whole, the home unfolds as a cohesive design story, allowing each floor to establish its own identity while remaining connected to the others and the house's playfully uplifting spirit.

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It is no coincidence that this home sits within walking distance of the premier live music venues of Austin, Texas. Its owner has been in the music industry for years, and he envisaged the property being an artful pied-à-terre for hosting parties during music festivals, such as SXSW and Austin City Limits.

The single-storey house was built in 1915 and renovated repeatedly until the current owner purchased it in 2022. Its interior was reimagined by Christina Simon Studio, while Daniel Ward, of Mark Richardson Architects, renewed the architecture; both aided by historical-building specialist Dustin Minium of Red Tail Construction, and all with one main objective in mind: crafting a truly joyful modern home.

"I knew the house got a lot of light, so I wanted to create a warm and grounded environment by adding deep, bold colors, layers, and textures," says Christina Simon, who used Farrow & Ball's Inchyra Blue and complementary wallpapers in the majority of the living spaces and most of the bedrooms. "Everything was selected for its ability to bring warmth and evoke a sense of elegance, while still being creative."

For the transformation, the interior designer didn't start from scratch. "My client came into the project with a collection of art from Texas artists, so highlighting it was the first place we started," she remembers.

"I was also inspired by some of the 1970s and 1980s interiors I experienced as a kid. I loved the idea of playing off of an interior that may have been designed in that era, but which made it all the way through the subsequent years."

The remodelling was done in two phases: first up, focusing on the primary bathroom and kitchen — complemented by thoughtful exterior landscaping, including the protection of oak trees — and shaping the home's overall personality.

And secondly, preserving the original craftsmanship — such as the refined plaster fireplace — as well as creating a cohesive, balanced dialogue between the existing elements and the new. From brass to unique stones, the materials were chosen to enhance the home's vintage soul, while also bringing a more contemporary aesthetic to life.

"Because I selected almost every last little item that went into the house, I had to work very hard to make it look like it happened over time," Christina explains. The glass mushroom collection, for example, was bought from a collector friend who had gathered the pieces over a decade.

In the office, what was originally intended as a hand-painted William Morris-style wallpaper evolved into an over-scaled, somewhat psychedelic, design in vibrant pinks and yellows, as artist Michelle Marchesseault and the homeowner collaborated. "When we started conceptualizing it, this room was going to be much more subtle," laughs Christina.

But unexpected moments such as this mural are embedded throughout the home — which now possesses a spirit entirely its own — resulting in an immersive, character-filled atmosphere.

"I aim to create spaces that encourage creativity, curiosity, mindfulness and meditation," says Christina. "I wanted this house to be provocative for both the owner and the visitors." We can safely say she achieved her ambition.

If you like the vibrant color palette of this home, then you'll love this garden villa designed by the Ludwig Brothers, which features a color palette so unusual, even the painter questioned it.

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Moscow, Russia: a bustling capital city with a rich, layered history. The vibrant Maryina Roshcha district is no exception, set among a former industrial estate once home to the famed Detskaya Kniga printing house. Charm and storytelling are at the neighborhood’s core, with rich cultural offerings and grand architecture at every turn. It's the ideal location to call home.

Local interior design and architecture firm Lake & Walls is the mastermind behind an eclectic apartment that leans into all that the district has to offer.

"The concept and style of the project are based on the unique history of its location," Oksana Zavarzina, one half of the studio with co-founder Evgeny Shevchenko, says of their commission, Jazz Apartment, which was constructed in 1972 and redesigned in 2026. "The project gained its character and distinctive atmosphere from these historic buildings, which the developer carefully preserved and transformed into contemporary apartments" — modern homes with a lingering past.

Jazz Apartment was designed as a family residence, and Zavarzina and Shevchenko considered the clients' needs and interests throughout.

They incorporated elements of their favorite travel destinations, including subtle nods to Parisian-style decor, and paid special attention to the couple's busy lifestyle.

"They are an active and passionate family, and it was important for them that the interior felt alive and soulful, but not overloaded," Zavarzina notes. "The aim was to create a space where technology, functionality, history, and emotion could naturally coexist."

While history certainly plays an important part in the bi-level property, the designers were careful not to overcrowd things with folklore motifs, ornaments, or obvious decorative references.

Instead, they were much more interested in exploring Russian cultural heritage through architectural language — in a more restrained and contemporary way.

To do so, the pair opted to lean into the 90-square-meter apartment's origins and current surroundings, preserving some of the original structural elements of the building while breathing fresh life into it. Think sturdy concrete slabs, rugged columns, and industrial-style steel I-beams.

"These elements were carefully styled into the space and painted in the same color as the surrounding surfaces, allowing them to blend into the interior rather than dominate it visually," Zavarzina explains.

She adds that they treated the concrete structures, columns, beams, and the original detailing as the starting point of the project.

Once the foundation was laid, though, it was time to make it fit for modern living. And so, while concrete and metal became the architectural framework, wood, textiles, color, and art became the house's beating heart; it's human, not purely structural, side.

According to Zavarzina, the project contains some of the qualities of Russian Constructivism: honesty of structure, exposed architectural elements, geometry, functionality, and transformation of space.

"The former printing house already carried its own industrial memory. We didn't want to erase it, but to continue its story," she says. Two particular areas that put that vision into practice are the kitchen and the foyer.

In the kitchen, a striking backsplash comprised of uniform glass blocks sits behind the sink, simultaneously supporting and embellishing it while also providing a natural, 'see-through' visual transition between different areas of the apartment.

In the foyer, a wall made entirely of glass contrasts with the winding wooden staircase, again stressing the architectural movement's preference for beautifully practical materials and its tendency to disclose rather than conceal a home's structural parts.

The designers liked the idea of taking a familiar material like glass and presenting it in a new way, not as a nostalgic element, but as a contemporary architectural gesture. The glass blocks featured in the scheme let light into the space, creating a dialogue between transparency and privacy while feeding into the building's legacy.

Zavarzina and Shevchenko believe that openness and privacy can coexist. Together with the house's extremely high ceilings, this belief inspired their decision to craft a dual-level apartment rather than one built on a single level.

The choice was partly mandated by height restrictions, which prevented the duo from covering the ceiling. Instead of hiding the structure, they strived to express its full potential, making it a dominant part of the apartment's design language through a generously sized, warmly furnished mezzanine.

On the main level, a neutral color palette creates a lighter and calmer space. White walls act as a neutral canvas, highlighting architectural detailing and providing a backdrop for brighter, bolder furniture and artwork.

Perhaps one of the most striking features of the property is the master bedroom's gorgeous green archway, which counters the pure white wall and doubles as a hidden bookshelf while serving as an extension of the plush headboard.

The mezzanine level, on the other hand, was designed to feel deeper and more intimate — "designed almost like a separate cozy architectural capsule," the duo explains. The entire bedroom, from the floor to the ceiling, is painted in a rich dark brown shade, with metallic accents adding a touch of understated glamour.

"A contemporary interior should be able to change together with the people who live in it," Zavarzina explains. "Sometimes we need air, light, communication, and a sense of freedom. At other moments, we need silence and our own small world."

With multiple yet individually envisioned pockets of space gathered into a seamless, immersive residential scheme, the Jazz Apartment strives to answer the most disparate whims of the family it was imagined for, whether they are looking to come together and relax or soak in Moscow's majestic views from the kitchen bar.

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"Take out as much as you can" were the brave words Gisbert Pöppler offered a new client. The homeowner had initially imagined a simple refresh — new colors and furniture — for their 1920s garden villa in Hagen, Germany.

But while the listed clinker-brick exterior was beautifully preserved, a 1980s gut renovation hardly matched up and Gisbert wasn't impressed. Open to bold ideas, the client trusted his radical vision for a complete transformation of this modern home.

The home, designed by the Ludwig brothers, sits within Hohenhagen, an early-20th-century artist colony spearheaded by industrialist Karl Ernst Osthaus and inspired by England's garden city movement.

The setting is packed with history, and its modern garden reads more like a small park. But its interiors were destroyed by fire during the Second World War. This made the home a blank slate — ideal for the entrepreneurial client, who envisioned the estate as much for business meetings as family life.

Light was essential to designer Gisbert Pöppler's glow-up. Despite its south-facing orientation, the house had many rooms that were surprisingly dark. First, a series of walls came down, merging three tight rooms into a spacious salon.

Gisbert's team also improved the flow of light through technical solutions: subtle slants in window reveals capture more sunlight, and doorways were heightened into gentle arched openings.

More dramatic interventions, such as interior porthole openings and a sculptural skylight in an orangerylike extension, funnel light deeper into the house.

A bold palette completed the picture. Gisbert proposed decorating with colors so unusual that the site's master painter phoned the client, concerned the tints were mixed incorrectly. But color is Gisbert's calling card and one of the reasons the client approached his Berlin studio.

A mix of earthy yellow, vibrant orange and light blue offsets the home's serious architecture. The playful color palette pops in pieces designed by Gisbert's studio, from color-blocked cashmere throws to rotund armchairs in mustard and powder blue.

The most striking intervention is an oak staircase to private quarters off the main entrance. Its presence is palpable: with its arched walls lined in pink linoleum, it's reminiscent of an art installation. The bold gesture also clearly marks a passage reserved for the homeowners only — no stray business guests allowed.

What was lost to history is now alive through a reverent respect for craftsmanship — the skylight alone took weeks to complete. This devotion, says Gisbert, is worthy of Osthaus's craft-centric ethos for the original artist's colony: "He would have liked it in this era."

If you like this villa, you may also like this LA home designed by Coco Greenblum that is filled with color and texture but without being overwhelming.

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Homes today are expected to do far more than simply provide shelter. They have become workplaces, places for gathering, spaces for rest and, increasingly, environments capable of offering the kind of emotional escape we once sought only through travel.

It's no coincidence that the language of hospitality has begun to influence residential interiors: boutique hotels, wellness retreats, and destination resorts have become references not thanks to their aesthetics alone, but because of how they make us feel. That idea lies at the heart of Dvira Interiors' latest residential project in downtown Toronto.

Located just steps from the historic St. Lawrence Market, this three-story penthouse doesn't attempt to recreate Bali or the Arizona desert. Instead, it distils the atmosphere of those places, their warmth, tactility, and slower rhythm, and brings it into the reality of contemporary urban living.

The apartment sits inside a building completed in the late 1980s, an era whose expressive architecture has often been overlooked in favor of cleaner contemporary minimalism. Here, however, founder and principal designer Dvira Ovadia chose a different approach.

"Throughout the apartment, we discovered original walls with subtle curves, a design feature we chose to celebrate and enhance," she explains.

Rather than flattening the building's personality, the studio allowed the existing curved walls, rounded windows, and sculptural forms to dictate the flow of the interiors. The result feels simultaneously rooted in the original architecture and unmistakably contemporary.

When the renovation began, the owners, a couple in their 30s working in the creative industry, didn't have a predetermined aesthetic in mind.

For the brief, they leaned on the memories of places that had stayed with them: the earthy landscapes of the American Southwest, the tropical calm of Bali, and the layered, eclectic interiors of Austin's Proper Hotel.

"Working with clients who embrace the creative journey allowed us to push beyond the predictable," recalls Ovadia. "We fell in love with the apartment the moment we walked in. While undeniably dated, it was full of charm, character, and untapped potential."

Those travel references never become literal: there are no overt tropical motifs or desert clichés. Instead, the influences manifest through atmosphere.

As in the best hotel design projects, emotion is constructed through light, texture, color, and material rather than decoration. If there is one gesture that defines the project, it is its relationship with the outdoors.

Rare for a condominium in the center of Toronto, balconies and terraces extend from almost every room. Integrated in every corner of the home, daylight, fresh air, and greenery transform what could have been a conventional urban apartment into a remarkably serene haven suspended above the city, and an exemplary indoor-outdoor living scheme.

The home's vertical layout reinforces that feeling of openness. The main floor unfolds as a continuous sequence of kitchen, dining, and living spaces opening directly onto two terraces.

Above, the primary suite shares the level with a dramatic double-height lounge that visually connects the floors below, allowing natural sunshine to travel through the house.

Complete with a balcony and soft seating nooks, the oversized family room on the upper level boasts a hotel bedroom-like atmosphere, a relaxed yet sophisticated environment designed for gathering, reading, or simply slowing down.

These are intentional design choices that reflect a broader shift in contemporary domestic life, where the experience of hosting and that of recharging are equally relevant.

Rather than assigning rigid functions to each room, Dvira Interiors created spaces capable of adapting throughout the day while maintaining a coherent emotional ambience.

More than a color palette, the project constructs an emotional landscape. Honey-toned oak introduces warmth and continuity across all three levels, while deep green marble and travertine establish an immediate connection with nature.

Terracotta, moss green, soft creams, and earthy neutrals evoke Mediterranean architecture, tropical vegetation, and desert landscapes without ever becoming thematic.

"Inspired by the Arizona desert and Bali, balanced with an effortless California ease, these colors create a home that feels grounded, warm, and naturally inviting," explains Ovadia.

Wallpaper plays an equally important role. Botanical patterns layered throughout the apartment recall the immersive atmosphere of boutique stays rather than traditional domestic interiors, creating moments of escapism without overwhelming the architecture itself.

The most powerful intervention unfolds on the third floor, where walls, ceilings, doors, and baseboards are entirely wrapped in terracotta limewash.

"Conventional paint would have given us color, but not the same depth, movement, or softness," Ovadia explains. "Limewash has a living quality. It catches the light differently throughout the day, creating subtle variation that feels natural and atmospheric."

The effect is almost cinematic. Rather than simply coloring the room, the limewash changes its perception over the course of the day, enveloping the space in a warm, cocoon-like atmosphere.

Elsewhere, a burlap-effect wallpaper climbs seamlessly from the bedroom walls onto the ceiling, while cork wallcoverings introduce tactile richness to the home office alongside Jacob's distinctive green Ladder shelving. Throughout the project, materials are chosen less for their luxury than for their ability to create sensory depth.

Since it was impossible to avoid the technical limitations of remodeling a 1980s apartment, Dvira Interiors decided to make them instrumental to the overall design process.

The conditions of the building itself, for example, led to small changes in the layout of the space, but they also stressed one of the key aspects of the brief itself: soft curves. "What initially felt like a major setback became a turning point," Ovadia recalls. "Creative pivoting ultimately shaped some of the home's most distinctive features."

More than a renovation, this project reflects a broader shift in the way we think about domestic interiors. Rather than borrowing the aesthetics of luxury hospitality, Dvira Interiors translates its emotional qualities —warmth, tactility, layered atmospheres, and a slower pace of living — into an everyday home.

It's a home that doesn't ask its owners to leave Toronto in order to disconnect from it. Instead, it quietly changes the way they experience the city daily.

Speaking of Balinese inspiration, have you seen studio YSG's lush reinvention of a private residence, Moon Gang? With just five suites and uninterrupted tropical views, you're in for a treat.

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Fit for entertaining, while designed for family life; overflowing with storage, yet simultaneously seamless and clutter-free; highly functional, yet also warm and inviting — these are all the often opposing things we come to expect from our kitchens nowadays, and yet, somehow, this design managed to do all of them, and more.

A modern space within a traditional Victorian terraced home, this kitchen extension feels thoroughly timeless, interweaving elements of the home's period origins with contemporary touches. "The kitchen sits within a traditional Victorian terrace, but the rear extension introduces a distinctly contemporary character," Greg Daulby, senior designer at Cor Domi, says. "Flooded with natural light and defined by generous ceiling heights, the extension presented an opportunity to create a kitchen that felt modern whilst remaining sympathetic to the original home."

Designed by Cor Domi and Project London, this south-west London kitchen renovation epitomises exactly what we all hope for from a kitchen today. Full of texture and warmth, with a welcoming, open layout and masses of hidden storage, this project is a masterclass in intentional design.

The Brief

Perhaps the most universal desire when designing a kitchen is for the room to become the central hub of the family home, and this project is no exception. "The client wanted the kitchen to become the true heart of the home, a sociable, convivial space where cooking, dining, and entertaining could happen simultaneously," shares Greg.

Primarily a family home, though also frequently used as a hub for hosting, Greg's clients wanted both possibilities to be equally supported by the design, with plenty of space for younger children to move around and feel at ease, while still feeling sophisticated enough to welcome their friends in, too.

It's always easier to plan out a kitchen renovation timeline when there are clear ideas from the beginning, and that was certainly the case in this project. "From the outset, there were several key requirements that shaped the design," says Greg. And primary among these was a large, central kitchen peninsula, used to create "a natural gathering point for cooking, casual dining and conversation."

In addition, Greg adds, "The client was also keen to incorporate a comfortable banquette seating area to encourage more relaxed everyday use of the space, blurring the line between kitchen and living." With seating at both the peninsula and the dedicated banquette dining area, this kitchen is as suited to large dinner parties as it is to intimate family meals.

"Kitchen storage and functionality were equally important," says Greg. Wanting to keep the kitchen as tidy and uncluttered as possible, they opted for a concealed walk-in pantry behind pocket doors and direct access to the utility room through this hidden cabinetry.

Set within a modern extension of a traditional Victorian terrace house, Greg explains, "The architecture played a significant role in shaping the joinery. Rather than treating it as a series of standard cabinets, we designed the furniture to respond directly to the volume of the space, using changes in height and proportion to emphasise the full-height ceilings and create a more architectural composition."

The result is a room that feels beyond time, with elements of Victorian and contemporary design seamlessly interweaving with one another.

The Process

Intentionally avoiding any reliance on popular kitchen trends that could quickly fall out of style, the vision for this design came about more naturally. "The design evolved from the material palette rather than a particular style or trend," explains Greg.

"From the outset, we wanted to create a calm, tactile environment where the richness came from texture and craftsmanship instead of bold color or ornamentation," he says, and with plenty of natural materials and a warm, earthy color palette, they achieved this with ease.

As a fundamentally functional space, optimal usability was, of course, a priority when developing this design. They spent time considering exactly where to position the kitchen appliances and mapping out how the space would most likely be used to ensure a kitchen layout that felt intuitive and seamless for the clients to live in.

"Natural light was another key driver of the design," says Greg. "The extension benefits from two generous rooflights and large glazed doors, flooding the space with daylight throughout the day. Rather than competing with this, we selected a soft, neutral material palette that reflects the light and enhances the sense of openness, resulting in a calm and inviting atmosphere."

A minimalist approach to the kitchen lighting allowed for the existing natural light to remain central to the design.

As an open-plan kitchen, cohesion was crucial. But, to ensure it never felt too monotonous, Greg says, "We introduced moments of contrast through the client's carefully curated artwork and a striking natural stone peninsula, which acts as the focal point of the room while adding depth and character to the otherwise restrained palette."

In addition to the client's requests and desires, the team had to take note of the structure itself, adapting the vision to suit the requirements of the space. For example, "Exposed steel beams formed part of the structure, so the cabinetry had to be meticulously detailed around them, allowing the joinery to feel completely integrated."

The Design

Perhaps the most enviable feature of this space, at first hidden from view, is the generously sized walk-in pantry. Concealed behind a wall of kitchen cabinetry, a pocket door opens to reveal this extra space, designed to store any kitchen appliances and other clutter.

"The location of the pantry entrance was fixed architecturally, so rather than allowing it to interrupt the flow of the kitchen, we embraced it as part of the overall composition," explains Greg.

"We created a full-height wall of bespoke joinery that conceals the pantry entrance within the cabinetry, allowing the elevation to read as one continuous architectural element. This approach not only creates a much calmer visual language but also provides the opportunity to introduce additional storage throughout the run, ensuring the design is as functional as it is refined."

Although the design in its final form looks thoroughly intentional, there were a fair few compromises that had to happen to arrive there.

The most significant example of this was the island. As Greg explains, "Like many clients, the original brief centred around a large island, but once we assessed the proportions of the room, it became clear that a freestanding island would have resulted in compromised circulation and an inefficient working layout."

Instead, Greg chose to rework the island into a peninsula, attached to the perimeter wall at one end. By doing this, they were able to create the same focal point that an island offers, without impacting the overall layout of the kitchen.

Opting for a neutral kitchen color palette, this design was all about letting the materials do the talking. "We kept the material palette deliberately simple, allowing texture and quality to take center stage," says Greg.

The lacquer-finish cabinets provide a warm, smooth backdrop for the rest of the design, allowing the bold, veined kitchen worktops to be the main focal point. Although the monochromatic, veined surface looks like marble, it's actually made of porcelain, allowing for a more durable, low-maintenance kitchen design. "They capture the elegance of natural stone while offering exceptional durability for everyday family life," adds Greg.

Counteracting the hard, cool finishes on the cabinets and counters, warm brass kitchen hardware, and Clayworks plaster walls bring a tactile warmth that spreads across the room.

The foundation of warmth and tactility in this design comes from the softly mottled, warm-toned walls that wrap around the room.

To create these plaster-effect walls, Greg used a Clayworks plaster, supplied by Surface Design London. This finish, he says, "Brings a beautiful sense of depth and movement to the space."

For a more cohesive effect, Greg opted for a near-identical shade for the cabinetry, too. "We selected the wall finish first, before choosing a complementary paint color from Little Greene for the cabinetry to ensure the two materials worked together harmoniously," he explains, which was Little Greene's Rolling Fog.

This, paired with the sage green upholstery and wooden details of the banquette area, makes for a sophisticated yet welcoming effect.

As gorgeous as a glass kitchen extension can be, there's one major issue with them, and anyone living with one will be all too aware of that issue at the moment: heat. Luckily, these heatwave-proof house extension tips will save you from that dreaded greenhouse effect. And for even more helpful tips and ideas, subscribe to our newsletter.

A fresh pair of eyes can be handy for spotting things that can go underappreciated. Having only lived in LA for three years, interior designer Coco Greenblum was still excited by the city's mid-century design legacy. Indeed, this project was an important 1970s house, though prior to her intervention, the interior "was basically a white box," she says.

For her research, Coco did a deep dive into LA's most iconic homes — namely, Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House in East Hollywood, the Eames House in Pacific Palisades, and the Stahl House in the Hollywood Hills. What she noticed was that the palettes were in the same muted tonal family. "They all had similar olive, amber, and gold tones that didn't feel overwhelming."

Coco wanted to harness that for her clients, but also to "translate it — so it would relate to a modern home for a Hollywood couple today".

The result was that mid-century got a glow-up. To those muted tones, Coco Greenblum added a dose of Hollywood luxe — gold details, saturated velvets, graphic patterns: "It's mid-century, but also very glam." What's more, by sticking to the same tonal palette (the various colors — russet, cocoa, ochre, olive — are all at "the same saturation"), she could avoid everything feeling too busy. "I wanted it to still feel serene."

That understated elevation also helps avoid pastiche — some 80% of the furniture pieces here are actually mid-century antiques, but by enhancing them with modern upholstery and adding contemporary companion designs, the home doesn't resemble a museum piece. But more than mid-century or Hollywood, Coco's biggest muse was the owners themselves — her main aim, she explains, is helping clients bring their personality into their interiors.

The couple had been living in the house for a year and felt the house didn't connect with them. Chloe explains that Coco "helped me to find my taste. I was very clear about what I don't like, but had a hard time describing what I did like. She was able to translate it and present me with things that I never would have thought of."

For Coco, it's about "taking the time to ask questions about who they are so that the client feels very comfortable with me — there's an 'aha' moment where they fully trust you to make a beautiful space."

Before Coco's renovation, Chloe and Jeremy had restricted themselves to decorating with neutrals in order to keep it calm. "I'm a sensitive soul," explains Chloe. "I couldn't have bright colors or images, but it felt boring — and not actually what I like." Now, however, "there's color and texture everywhere, but it never overwhelms me."

This is what Coco calls "warm minimalism". Others, she explains, may think of minimalism "as being very modern with no color. That's not what it means to me — it's very clean, very liveable, very structured and uncluttered, while also being very warm-toned".

The result is not only far removed from the original white box, it's also, says Chloe, proving impossible to tire of — "which is amazing for someone who primarily works from home". That's because, she explains, "Nothing is trendy, everything is timeless, but it all feels vibrant and alive".

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Sea and sun, breezes and billowing sails: it seems nature works in harmonious ways around the Polish coastal city of Gdynia. Located roughly 30km north of Gdańsk, the city is a bit of a hidden gem; for many young Poles, it is now "the most vibrant and appealing place in the country," says designer Maciej Ryniewicz.

Not only does it have beautiful beaches, but its atmosphere is youthful and modern; it is dotted with cafés, bars and restaurants, and animated by its mix of modernist architecture and maritime charm. The perfect place, you might say, for a modern home away from home.

Since setting up his multidisciplinary design studio, Akurat, 10 years ago, Maciej has worked on many hospitality locations in the city, and it was via an investor he nearly worked with on one such project that he was introduced to the family who own this holiday apartment.

Maciej believes his clients were ready to take a chance on a young studio that approached design with curiosity and experimentation rather than rigid formulas.

The most striking feature of the apartment is its large windows, offering a panoramic view of the harbor, the changing sky, and the shifting tones of the Baltic Sea. Unlike southern European coastlines, where the sea often appears vivid turquoise, this part of the Baltic typically displays shades of gray, green, or deep navy, and the climate can be severe in winter, with restless waves and harsh winds.

Maciej wanted the flat’s interior to feel peaceful and protective, while still acknowledging the presence of the water outside. "When we saw the view, we knew we had found our prime focus for the space," he explains.

Cleverly, the connection to the sea appears in understated ways, rather than through literal nautical motifs and coastal interior design. So there are light fixtures with curves that subtly resemble waves; a custom aluminium coffee table has a surface that catches light in a way reminiscent of sunlight breaking on water; while the children’s room resembles a compact ship’s cabin, practical and thoughtfully organized.

Mirrors are strategically placed to reflect fragments of sky and sea back into the rooms. Even the marble used echoes the muted colors of the northern coast. Yet none of these references overshadow the view itself. Instead, the interior is meant to act like a quiet frame around the landscape outside. "The apartment offers peace inside and out," says Maciej.

Maciej believes that comfort doesn’t require excessive decoration. "Homes don’t need to be filled with objects to feel intimate," he explains. "If the furnishings, textures and art are chosen carefully, the space naturally feels lived in." Reflecting this, the material palette is restrained and minimalist, with abundant wood softened by linen, wool and other natural textiles, paired with sharper accents such as glass, marble and aluminium. The result is a calm, yet rich, atmosphere — orderly, warm and welcoming.

When asked to define his style, Maciej hesitates. His projects vary widely, and he prefers not to confine his work to a single label. "We try to develop our own direction instead of chasing whatever is fashionable in the moment," he says.

He believes every design should reflect its own context, and in this instance, it was about the owners’ sentiment that an apartment should be for living in, not simply for admiring. "The aim of the entire project was to be current — or even ahead of its time — but also liveable and created for actual people to live in, not just to look at," says Maciej. "We couldn’t be happier with the outcome."

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The relationship between a client and the interior designers they pick is always personal, but in the case of this project in Miami's North Beach, it's particularly significant. Novelist, journalist, and columnist Asha Elias has known — and worked with — duo MONIOMI Design for over 13 years, more or less as long as the Floridian studio has been operating.

The pair's designs have marked many of her family's milestones — from creating her daughter's nursery when she was born to transforming it as she grew into a teen. So it makes sense she entrusted them with this latest, symbolic task: the decor of her new modern home at a significant juncture in her life, following a divorce.

The idea was to create a space that felt representative of her individual identity — something that, by now, the designers have an instinctive understanding of, and that they feel aligns closely with their own style, marked by a maximalist sense of color, pattern and contrast.

"This whole time, we've learned who she is. We know what she likes," says MONIOMI Design's co-founder Monica Santayana, who runs the studio with her husband Ronald Alvarez. The two encouraged her to express her unmitigated preferences. "She said: I want it to be feminine, to be comfortable but also artistic, fun, and energetic," continues the designer.

Another important requirement was to have a space to both relax with her children and entertain. A boxy structure by the pool area, nestled at the back of the 1930s Spanish-style villa, lent itself to that naturally. Santayana and Alvarez set about turning it into an enticing multi-functional cabana.

While the main body of the house is all pinks, mauves, and burgundies, this is a triumph of tropical greens and rattan. "It's detached from the main home, very much amidst the foliage and fauna of her backyard, so she definitely did want a different vibe here," Santayana says of the cabana's irreverent island aesthetic. A graphic, patterned ceiling wallpaper by Pierre Frey, picturing luxuriant leaves, helps accentuate the connection between outside and in.

"It was supposed to be really warm, inviting, comfortable — but again, it reflects her (and our) playful style side," explains Santayana. Out of this compact, rectangular space, the studio was able to create a wide sofa seating area, a music room that's currently home to her son's drum kit, a small bathroom, and a fully stocked bar complete with a terrazzo counter by concrete collaborative.

"As a place to entertain, it needed to hold its own weight — somewhere she could do everything and not feel like she needed to go back and forth into the main home," explains Alvarez. "It's a self-sufficient space. The sense was this would become the family’s retreat."

The limited footprint did force the duo into smart space-saving measures: as the room featured an "intrusive column right smack in the middle, where the sofa needed to be", MONIOMI Design dressed it in mirrors so it almost disappeared. They also built a table at its foot, fitting perfectly in between the modules of the CB2 sofa that extends around it.

"We 'ate' the column — it was a fun solution!" laughs Santayana. "We were really tight on space, so it was about maximizing efficiency and tricking the eye to make it feel like it's ample." The lesson is clear: "Sometimes challenges create really beautiful opportunities," the designer adds. "You just have to take advantage of that."

Custom millwork helps integrate the TV into the room; it's also mirrored around the custom-built home bar to tie the space together and frame the deep-green zellige tiles by Zia Tile.

"The bar has a sink, a back bar, a front bar and stools: it's really what activates the space and supports it with its function," Santayana says. "I actually think our spaces are mostly functional — and then we happen to be able to do a pretty good job at making them beautiful. What's important for us is that they are efficient in however they need to perform."

Though MONIOMI Design has its own furniture range (on display at the duo's brand-new Miami concept store and showroom, La Sala, where they also stock pieces by artists they have collaborated with), many of the pieces in the cabana were sourced from brands they love in a process driven by color palette and texture.

Woven rattan stools by Lyk Carpet, hand-knotted in Nepal and topped by green plush cushions, are matched by a light applique by GIOBAGNARA and a pendant by Schoolhouse — and everything is enveloped by the walls' Portola lime green wash.

"We really love playing with materiality — that's our innate design language," Santayana explains, adding that the goal is to continuously "push its boundaries."

Their signature style isn't for the faint-hearted: "we love color, we love pattern, we love geometry — we like to pair the graphic and the organic. But it's the unexpected, the sense of surprise in our spaces, we really value."

MONIOMI Design's joyful quirkiness carries an appeal of its own, but it also echoes the architectural history of Miami — and beyond. "Being in Miami, we're obviously deco-inspired. But again, it's not in-your-face deco. It's soft inspiration," says Santayana, pointing to Art Nouveau and Memphis as two more of their stylistic references.

The studio strives to incorporate the three into every space — the geometric essence of Memphis, Art Nouveau's organic and flowery schemes, and the linear-meets-curved silhouettes of Deco.

More than anything else, though, their practice "is a beautiful compilation of memories, history, and culture", just like the spirited pool cabana and home they imagined for Elias, where family life gets to thrive.

Dreaming of a Floridian summer? Explore Miami with Jen Roberts' insider guide to the city, filling you in on everything from the most coveted Miami design hotels to must-know restaurants and coffee shops.

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Perched on a hill, suspended between open blue skies and the Mediterranean Sea, this modern Mallorcan finca seems to act almost as a bridge between the elements.

It's an ideal place to reconnect with nature and, by extension, with oneself. Situated in the Serra de Tramuntana — a UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrated for its dramatic mountain landscapes, terraced hillsides and breathtaking vistas — the modern home subtly marries local building traditions and contemporary elegance.

Built in the early 2000s and featuring a stone facade, terracotta roof tiles and pink shuttered windows, the building is rooted in the vernacular architecture of the Balearics.

And by maintaining its original bones, designers Marie Soliman and Albin Berglund of London-based Bergman Design House have kept its soul intact. The location was their muse: the play of light, the sound of the sea and the trees dotting the hillside all guided the palette and textures.

Inside, the narrative shifts from the rustic to the more refined, yet it is also a very liveable space for the family of four, who spend their summers here. "This house is a quiet celebration of understated luxury," says Marie.

"We wanted to create a sanctuary, a space that is deeply restful. That meant soft lighting, a muted color scheme and spaces that flow gently from one to another. Every element — from the curve of a chair leg to the weave of a rug — was chosen to encourage a mood of presence and peace."

By blending sun-bleached neutrals and earthy terracottas with cool marine blues and olive greens, the color story evokes the island’s landscape, while a touch of wabi-sabi — from the Japanese philosophy that celebrates the beauty of imperfection — was introduced to create a grounded, sensory experience that echoes the slow-paced rhythm of island life.

"The location was magnetic," says Marie. "But what truly pulled us in was the opportunity to explore a home where every room held its own identity. From the textured walls to the vividly colored stones in each bathroom, we were given a playground of materials. It was a designer’s dream."

The sprawling lounge is the heart of the home, opening onto a panoramic terrace that effectively draws the surrounding landscape into the house. Meanwhile, the modern bathrooms offer a departure from the living areas’ muted tones by showcasing a rich spectrum of stones ranging from dusky pink to emerald.

"We wanted each room to sing with personality, yet still feel cohesive," says Marie. "We sourced bespoke materials and worked with local artisans to ensure every finish felt authentic." This considered visual language created the bridge between heritage and modernity, and in the process has turned the house into a true home from home.

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Building a new, from-scratch home is a dangerous thing. But it's not only the potential supply issues, drawn-out timelines, or tradesmen hiccups that make it so. It's the risk of it feeling just that: new, a little desolate, cold.

To conceive a never-lived-in home that feels the opposite takes a keen eye, a deft hand, and a practised approach. Thankfully, for the owners of this home in Austin, Texas, that's exactly what they found in Jennifer Greer Hartmann, founder and principal of Greer Interior Design.

The couple went to Jennifer with two main criteria. First, to create something that felt beautiful, comfortable, and approachable, and second, to blend traditional elements with modern simplicity. It needed to be elegant, but with the grit and hardy palette to sustain the realities of daily life for a young family of five.

"Designed top to bottom by us, the project took a total of three years, and we never stopped considering the client experience of living in the house day to day," says Jennifer. "A key concern for us was ensuring the home didn't feel too big and unfriendly, or too brand new."

What resulted is described by Jennifer as a "classic upside-down home with Texas proportions." It's grand, it's cozy, and it works with the slope of the land, where the main level sits elevated at the back, and a secondary floor lies beneath.

With this design came an opportunity: to capitalize on the leafy exterior, making the home feel treehouse-like — "it's very private and soothing and lives really well," says Jennifer.

"When we were designing the interiors, we chose to keep many of these views as open as possible from the inside, not placing furniture in front of them and only using sheer natural shades to cover them, if anything at all," she explains.

"Our use of light neutral furnishings really brought the outdoors in, and didn't overwhelm them at all. Everything feels so peaceful and beautiful inside."

To achieve a home that felt like it had been standing for years longer than it truly had, Jennifer relied upon a warm palette, opting for materials with a patina, such as wool fabrics and stone.

"We used warmer woods, plaster, and metal finishes throughout the house," she explains. "We always said the house was a bit of Texas, a bit of California, and a bit of France. One thing they all have in common is the importance of natural and earthen materials and history."

Once the material and neutral color palettes were established, Jennifer turned her mind to what would really give the home that relaxed, intimate feel and a chance to add her signature touch: the furniture, decor, and art.

"We carefully added in vintage pieces, objects, and artworks in every room, which introduced a lot of depth," she says, adding that doing so makes a home feel personal.

"We worked hard trying to find the right combination of lighting and furniture pieces that felt collected and layered. Contrast was key."

As with all of Jennifer's projects, this Austin home is full of considered, bespoke details. Her favorite feature? The built-in joinery.

"The cabinetry throughout the house is just beautiful; so varied and layered. Both TV cabinets are so uniquely and carefully designed," she says.

"I love the modern details of the cabinets downstairs, the way the doors slide open and close to hide the TV or expose the shelving. I also love the timelessness of the one upstairs. Careful attention was paid to the scale, hardware, and metal mesh finishes, so that it would not feel overwhelming."

Jennifer also has a soft spot for the wallpapered powder rooms. "They're both so gorgeous, I can't pick a favorite."

As for the upstairs terrace, "it's beautiful, and the homeowners use it as an outdoor room and love to relax out there," she says.

"This space was designed to feel like part of the house and is heavily used by the family, for nightly dinners and watching sports games around the fire."

Although Jennifer calls the pool area "pretty typical for this neighborhood", it's certainly a visual spectacle.

Beside it, a mature tree towers over a small dining area, while water trickles in a constant stream from a built-in water feature.

"It is very hot most of the year, and people use their pools a lot," Jennifer explains. "This area was designed by the architect, though we weighed in on paver finishes and lighting."

Now that the clients have moved into their new home, Jennifer has time to reflect.

"Tireless detail went into this project, and we love how it turned out," she says. "The whole process was definitely an unforgettable experience."

From the most genius design ideas to insert style, comfort, and creativity into your home to the hottest lifestyle trends reimagining what interiors look like in hospitality, Livingetc lets you get ahead of your game, whether you're a homeowner looking to renovate, a DIY enthusiast, or a keen, decoration-obsessed renter.

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We don’t tend to think of brand-new residential builds as iconic architecture. The phrase usually conjures mid-century greats such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater or the glass-and-steel modernist purity of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion.

But when Steve Smith completed the Invisible House — a mirrored box on stilts in Warwickshire that reflects the surrounding silver birch trees so precisely it appears to vanish into the landscape — in 2018, the modern home immediately made headlines and has since been shortlisted for a RIBA award and quickly became a modern phenomenon.

The house hit the news again when it was sold in 2022, and now we’re unveiling its refurbishment by studio Atelier Savoir Faire — a transformation that shifted the interior from bright and cold to warm, tactile and deeply calming.

"The interior was very jarring," says Dhilnawaaz Khan Trotman, studio co-founder. "Other than the black foyer, it felt like a spaceship — all stark white surfaces, not really conducive to living in." (It’s worth seeking out the "before" images online to reveal just how dramatic the change has been.) "We wanted to introduce natural colors and materials, plus earthy tones and curves, to make the home feel like a warm hug."

All on one level, the Invisible House is unlike any home we’ve featured before. Clad entirely in mirrored panels, its central entrance hall branches into two wings, now housing multiple living areas, bedrooms and even a dedicated video games room.

"There’s no phone reception here and the owner really values disconnecting from the outside world," says Dhilnawaaz. "So we leaned into that. The scheme is rooted in neuroaesthetics, using materials and forms that help the brain relax and the body slow down."

The design language is deceptively restrained: a tight palette of microcement, limewash, stainless steel, and soft curves, all gently illuminated by warm LED strip lighting concealed in ceiling tracks and behind artworks. In practice, however, the execution was anything but simple. The house’s seamless architectural shell meant there was no opportunity to layer on paneling or introduce new flooring — the edges of each room are entirely continuous.

Nowhere was this challenge more keenly felt than in the entrance hall. "It’s very long and beneath the window there’s a dark pond that reflects sunlight onto the ceiling like moving water," says Annahita Samiri, Dhilnawaaz’s co-founder. "We wanted to soften that space."

Her solution was a hand-drawn, undulating wall installation made up of 56 individual panels, wrapped in oxidized bronze vinyl, with hidden storage for coats and shoes. "It was an expensive eccentricity," she admits, "but it creates a sense of flow that guides you through the house."

The installation epitomizes what Dhilnawaaz and Annahita have successfully achieved here, which is a mellowing of the hard edges, allowing the home to exhale. They’ve taken a shrine to ultra-modernity and made it feel both right for now and, even more importantly, liveable.

If you like this home, then you may also love this Townhouse in London's Little Venice, designed by Alta Idea, which is unique, light-filled, and even has a yoga room in the garden.

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Interior designer Kevin Klein went to elementary school with a close family member of this Southern Californian home's owners and had remained friends with the occupants for years. When they inherited a sprawling property in the exclusive Beverly Hills area, it was only natural that they called on him.

The house had been passed down from the husband's father, who had himself begun the renovations. "It was in complete disarray," explains Klein, founder of Kevin Klein Design. "The owners had just gotten married and were expecting their first child when they were gifted the property."

The two-year transformation was focused on restoring the classic mid-century modern home while introducing a more contemporary, livable interior.

Spread across a single story, the modern home features five bedrooms and six bathrooms. "This house was amazing, but it was inhabitable, and the permits were a mess," Klein explains. "They asked me to come in and help triage and salvage it."

The brief was to preserve the home's original character while re-imagining it for a young family, resulting in a careful dialogue between past and present.

Klein's team had to work around walls positioned in peculiar locations, while previous contractors had attempted to add to the structure and then abandoned the plans entirely.

Fortunately, Klein had already worked with the wife on a commercial project and had a clear sense of their taste. "She owns coffee shops and is very design-focused herself, which is helpful as we really enjoy the collaborative process."

The couple had a distinctly European sensibility and wanted the home to feel like a mid-century Milanese apartment. When concept design began, they had just returned from Italy, and that influenced the scheme, where verdant hues have been woven in.

This is most notable in the bathrooms and kitchen, where Verde Alpi and Cipollino Verde marbles and Ceppo di Gré stone make a statement. "The main driver was green," Klein recalls. "The wife simply said: 'I like the color green.'"

The kitchen is entirely bespoke. Ceppo di Gré stone has been used throughout for its exceptional durability. "It's a pretty bulletproof material, and there's a rigidity to it, a mid-century ruggedness that felt just right."

In the foyer, an inherited daybed offers a distinct counterpoint to the rest of the mid-century furnishings and design.

This area connects the living room, dining room, kitchen, and hallways, all beneath ceiling heights so generous that Klein carefully calibrated the flooring design to bring a sense of balance. "It almost feels like the herringbone is oversized," he explains.

One of the most pressing decisions was whether to subdivide the larger rooms. Two living areas are separated by a fireplace, and the question of how to carve out formal and informal spaces proved challenging.

"There was no proper way to divide the house without compromising the original architecture," Klein explains. "I'm happy we maintained the layout, restoring the travertine of the central fireplace."

The designer has introduced vintage pieces throughout, such as the 1950s modernist tripod lights that stand on either side of the de Sede DS-1025 terrazza sofas.

A new bar area is a natural addition for a couple who love to entertain. Here, vintage John Jay LeShane Kai stools allow for conversation while drinks are being prepared.

"We used the same walnut as the rest of the joinery, but finished it in a high gloss. The doorways are framed in the same Ceppo di Gré stone used in the kitchen," Klein explains.

Off the foyer, a powder room is clad in marble from nearly floor to ceiling. "We went shopping together and fell in love with a stone whose tonal warmth we knew would complement everything else we were planning with the wood," Klein explains.

The dining room also flows organically from the foyer. The space is clean and uncluttered, with the same Pierre Frey fabric chosen to cover the vintage CH990 Eyelet chairs.

The millworker was able to match the timber tones in the space without it all looking the same, and a generously proportioned bespoke buffet completes the scheme.

The dining chairs are vintage, upholstered in a cedar-toned fabric, and the table is bespoke. "The wife wanted a large serving counter as part of the design as they host substantial family dinners fairly regularly," Klein says.

For Klein, the primary bathroom was the most enjoyable room to design. It is here that the Milanese spirit of the project comes through most vividly, in the intricate stonework and the deliberate choice of green marble. There is a mix of Verde Alpi and Cipollino Verde; the couple opted for a considered variation from the same palette.

His-and-hers closets come off the primary bedroom and are accessible from either side of the bed, serving as a connecting passage to the bathroom.

"There's a perfect symmetry to it," Klein says. “The husband's one requirement was a respectably sized closet. So we literally split it 50-50."

The result is a home that feels grounded in its mid-century origins yet entirely suited to contemporary family life. Klein has designed the spaces to evolve alongside the people who live in them.

Fortunately, the clients are not precious about it. With twins already running through the rooms and a third child on the way, they've created a beautiful home they can live in and enjoy.

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If you love this home, you'll love this equally inspiring Beverly Hills home designed by Nina Takesh that once played host to Hollywood soirées.

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"When I saw the house, I said, 'What did you buy?'," says interior designer Astrid Kvistad of her initial response to her clients’ newly purchased 1950s home. The space was low-ceilinged, dark, and very awkwardly arranged.

But the decision had been a deliberate one. The house, set within an orchard, had been sold by an elderly couple to the young family of four, and the previous owners were keen that the property wouldn’t be broken up or overdeveloped, hoping instead that it would live on as a modern family home, making the most of its generous garden.

Inside, however, the house hadn’t been touched since it was built — so its small rooms and layout no longer suited modern life. "First, we were asked to help with the color," explains Astrid, one half of design studio Familien Kvistad, who had previously worked with her client redesigning his Oslo office.

"Then he said, 'We want to move the kitchen… and we should change the bathrooms, too.' It just became more and more. In the end, we changed every bit of the house — except the chimney — and everything was renovated from the inside."

The redesign began in 2019 and, says Astrid, "everything that could go wrong did go wrong — it was a long project." COVID hit, sending production and practical work into free fall; compounded by a building ban being imposed across the area, ruling out demolition, extensions, or any major additions.

Astrid embraced these new limitations. Her focus shifted to elevating the house within the existing footprint. She set about recladding the exterior, painting the wood in a soft yellow tone; the 1980s conservatory, which had been slapped on the side of the house, was reimagined and absorbed into the overall plan, blurring the boundaries between the house, terrace and garden.

Every single wall and door on the ground floor was removed to create a single, open-plan living space combining the kitchen, dining, and sitting areas.

Throughout the home, craftsmanship, color, and materiality were non-negotiables. "High-quality materials and custom-built furniture are a consistent, conscious choice for all aspects of the house," explains Astrid. The kitchen and the dining bench were made by Hamran, and the ash flooring came from Dinesen, its unusually wide planks laid like a puzzle. The window frames were reduced to slimmer fittings to let in as much light as possible.

A bespoke color palette transformed the walls and fireplace, which were previously tucked against a wall. It was re-established as the centerpiece of the ground floor and covered in yolk-yellow tiles. "We chose ochre Kaufmann tiles," says Astrid. "Even though the fireplace has clean lines and feels modern, we wanted it to carry a sense of history. When we removed the walls around it and relocated the kitchen, it ended up in the middle of the living space and is now the focal point."

If you squint, the 1950s home is still legible, with its wooden floors, glazed tiles and shifts of color from room to room. But with Astrid’s imaginative interventions, it feels tailor-made for the more modern way its new owners want to inhabit this traditional building.

If you love playful pops of color, then you'll love this cinematic home in Brooklyn, which was inspired by its owners' joyful, celebratory Sephardic Jewish culture.

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When Giulia Felicani, the Italian-born co-founder of communications agency Com & Stories, relocated from London to Paris with her French partner Hughes, she envisioned settling in a quintessential Parisian modern home. "For me, Haussmann architecture is Paris in a nutshell," she explains. "So when I imagined living here, I pictured beautiful moldings, generous proportions, high ceilings, and a sense of timeless elegance."

If there's one neighborhood that embodies all of this, capturing the essence of Paris-style decor, it's the 8th arrondissement — an area long associated with the city's bourgeois heritage and landmarks such as La Madeleine and the Opéra Garnier.

"We loved that Belle Époque spirit, but honestly, the choice for this location was driven by more personal reasons," Felicani explains. For starters, the proximity to Parc Monceau and its beautiful gardens, and a desire to remain within walking distance of the city center without being immersed in the intensity of central Paris.

London, though, didn't leave Felicani quite so easily. Instead, it seeped into many stylistic decisions she took alongside Charlotte Petit, founder of ARGIA Architecture, known for her sensory and curatorial approach to spaces.

"Living in London taught me to embrace color, personality, and bold design choices," says Felicani. "London interiors are often less constrained by convention and more willing to take risks."

Those risks are visible throughout the home; in the lacquered and mirrored surfaces that double as architectural tools, extending perspectives and multiplying light, in the unexpected material combinations, in the shapes that surprise.

But first, Petit took a close look at the apartment's flow. "Previous interventions had fragmented some of the spaces and diminished the clarity of the original layout. Here, I paid particular attention to the quality of the light, the circulation between rooms, and the visual connections throughout the apartment."

At the beginning, she was joined by interior architect Marie-Sophie Roussel, whose contribution to the spatial reorganization was, as Felicani puts it, invaluable. "What was so rewarding was the constant exchange between all parties involved. It truly felt like a collaborative creative process."

Together, they reimagined the whole home as a sequence of visual experiences, an approach shaped in part by Petit's time at the Musée d'Orsay. "After training at the Ateliers Saint-Luc in Brussels, that period at the museum taught me to approach interiors almost as a form of scenography," shares the designer.

The entrance acts as a prologue: a mirrored archway that immediately extends the perspectives and creates an unexpected sense of depth.

Later, Felicani commissioned an artist to paint birds onto the mirrors, creating the illusion that they float through the reflections. Petit also introduced a figurative painting by Roman artist Luca Morelli into the entrance. "I love it when art is not simply added to an interior but becomes an integral part of its architecture and identity," she says.

What follows is an intimate reception room, and then, at the heart of the home, a deep green lacquered kitchen with a large pendant floating above: a dramatic reveal at the end of the entrance axis. Many people who walk in, Felicani attests, pause for a moment and gasp.

The living room offers a softer counterpoint: curved lines, a calmer palette, and an art collection that gets to breathe. The dining room shifts the mood again: richer materials, a sculptural marble table, both elegant and bold.

As you move into the private spaces, everything softens. Until the bathroom, where a theatrical spirit re-emerges: a bathtub inside an almost cinematic colored capsule, and a marble washbasin carved in the shape of a shell.

"Why should a bathroom not be a bit theatrical instead of purely functional?" Felicani asks. "Growing up in Rome, I learned that a home should be joyful and expressive. Spaces should not always behave exactly as expected."

Yet for all the rich detail, Petit is clear that decoration was never the point. "It's part of a broader architectural composition; all these gestures make sense within the space and the history of the space." Heritage was a key component, or better yet, such was the dialogue between history and the future.

"We should always remember where we come from while remaining open to new ideas. Ultimately, a home should tell a story about the people who live there. It should reflect their identity and their memories," the designer explains. In this case, it leaves margin for quirky anecdotes, too, as the apartment previously belonged to the Montgolfier family, the inventors of the hot air balloon.

One original architectural element they were adamant to preserve was the frescoes in the primary bedroom. Partially concealed over time, restoring them became one of the defining gestures of the project.

"We reorganized the entire space around the ceiling rather than treating it as a decorative element," Felicani explains. Even the custom wardrobes were designed to remain open at the top so that the fresco could be appreciated in its entirety.

"What I find so beautiful about these historical details is that they carry memory," she says. "They connect us to the people who lived here before and remind us that architecture is always part of a larger legacy."

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Family life rarely arrives quietly; it announces itself in movement and mess. Yet within this Brooklyn home, everyday chaos has been translated into a space that feels deeply considered. The house belongs to a creative family: a fashion executive and his writer wife.

Together, they are raising their three children (aged seven, five, and three), along with their dog Jude. Designed to support the rhythms of all its inhabitants, this modern home feels responsive rather than prescriptive.

Its designer, Louis Lin, had a serendipitous meeting with his clients. They had attended a Shabbat gathering in a home he had designed, and the atmosphere resonated with them — enough to spark a conversation.

"Their original house was a 1950s collage of styles," says Louis. "Our discussions — often with Jude in attendance — centered on books, travel, and childhood memories. References ranged from a Shou Sugi Ban temple and Axel Vervoordt interiors to a Marrakech spa and a countryside retreat. Rather than reconcile them stylistically, I focused on what they shared emotionally."

That emotional thread is closely tied to the family’s Sephardic Jewish culture. Their holidays are loud and joyful, shaped by food and large gatherings, and this spirit became foundational to the spatial plan.

The open dining room flows into the living room, while the kitchen, anchored by an island, encourages shared moments. Even the third-floor home cinema prioritizes togetherness, with a custom sofa that transforms into a pull-out bed for guests.

The living room and lounge bar are central to the home’s social life. Instead of upright, formal seating, with its low-slung furniture and lime-plaster walls, this space invites guests to exhale.

The transitional spaces, meanwhile, offer moments of narrative pause: for example, the hallway leading to the den features a commissioned installation of 28 ceramic spheres. "On closer inspection, no two are exactly alike," says Louis. "The variations spark imagination."

In the main bedroom, a custom-embroidered French bedspread depicts the owner napping alongside Jude, while a tiny dressing corner adds an intimate moment. "She jokes it’s the perfect vanity, even though she doesn’t wear make-up," says Louis. "She uses it instead as a ritualized corner to sit, reflect or unwind."

Summer shifts life outdoors, with barbecue nights turning cooking into a shared ritual. A shed houses an office — "their favorite spot," says Louis — conceived as a retreat for creative work and solitude and a useful counterpoint in a home that is otherwise shaped by connection, conversation and constant motion.

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Renovation stories often begin with subtraction: walls taken down, furniture discarded, a home reduced to its bones before being built back up again. But how often does a renovation read more like an act of preservation? In this 5,000-square-foot, six-bedroom Chicago home, designed by Jennifer Kranitz of Set Setting Studio, the impulse was not to erase what existed, but to listen to it.

Rather than overwrite the home’s history, Kranitz honored its soulful details, layering in beautiful craft pieces collected on her travels through Mexico. The result is a modern home that feels at once deeply personal and richly storied.

The house belongs to one of Jennifer Kranitz’s close friends, who lives here with her husband, their two children, and two dogs. The family was keen to refresh a space that had begun to feel a little staid, but without losing the warmth and familiarity that made it feel like home in the first place.

“While on a trip to Mexico, a country I’ve been traveling to for the past 20 years, I was visiting several towns and discovering beautiful pieces made by local craftspeople,” shares Kranitz. “I was telling my friend about everything I was witnessing and her immediate responses were, ‘I want that!’ And that was really how the Mexican element and the initial inspiration for the home’s redesign came about.”

What followed was a renovation guided less by reinvention than by reverence, where memory, material, and collected craft now sit beautifully side by side.

For the modern living room, the designer chose a warm beige-and-salmon scene, its palette taking its cue from the large jacquard drapes on the right, already in place. At the heart of the arrangement are long, flowing tassels made of nylon cord and sourced from Mexico.

“In Paseo de Montejo in Mérida, I visited a jewelry maker, Daniela Bustos Maya’s store, and saw these hanging tassels in her shop as decor, and I inquired if she was willing to make some for my project in custom colors and lengths, and her team said yes,” says the designer. “These were then translated into the living room, adding an earthy touch.”

To break up the brown-and-beige living room color scheme, Jennifer painted the walls a warm white and reupholstered the armchairs, the 20-year-old pieces, in a terracotta-salmon corduroy, finished with a small piping detail in patent leather. The vintage living room rug also belongs to the client, a true investment.

Perhaps the most attention-grabbing moment is the rug draped over the coffee table, an unexpected and quietly theatrical gesture. “The Lucite coffee table, which my friend had purchased when she bought the home, was all glass and constantly showed dust and fingerprints,” shares Jennifer.

“The piece felt a little too polished, and she wanted something with a more earthy energy. So we found a rug that seamlessly merged with the one on the floor and draped it over the table as a subtle gesture. For the part of the coffee table that remains visible, we added vintage books she had in her family — some old encyclopaedias and others that add a bit of interest to the set-up.”

The accent chair, a new purchase, is the Etcetera Lounge Chair by Jan Ekselius, chosen to add a moody, sculptural quality to the room. It creates the perfect contrast between old and new, while bringing a small but striking note of depth to the space.

Adjacent to the living room is the dining room, the two spaces separated by the thick drapes that fall from a double-height, two-storey ceiling. The console was an interesting purchase from Noir Furniture; it arrived in four parts, which Jennifer reassembled in a new configuration to give the room a more sculptural presence.

The client already owned a vintage candlelit chandelier, originally finished in rustic brown wood and wrapped in rope. There was some debate about whether it should be replaced, but instead, Jennifer painted it black to give the piece and the dining room lighting an edge. “I think this brought the piece more into focus; before, its color was getting a little lost against the drape. Now, there’s a stronger element of contrast. My friend also had an old dining table that was quite beaten up, so we covered it. We kept the vintage chairs she already had, although some were broken. To balance this, we mixed in two new chairs from B&B Italia. Overall, the room follows the story of mixing the old and the new.”

Finally, there was the question of what to do with the vast wall, which Jennifer had painted in Benjamin Moore’s China White. Art seemed like the obvious answer, but anything placed there, even at a large scale, risked making the expanse feel emptier. “I came up with the idea of creating an elevation for the wall using interesting geometric shapes,” says Jennifer. “We cut them out of three-quarter-inch-thick MDF panels and painted them the same color as the wall, so they almost read like moldings.”

In the banquette seating area, the clients already had the furniture, but it had all been pushed up against the wall. There was no overhead lighting either. “We wanted to introduce a light without having to rip open the ceiling,” shares Jennifer. “That’s where I came up with the idea for a custom fixture, which begins at the half-wall behind the banquette and is attached to the ceiling at the top for stability. It pivots, allowing for directional lighting across the entire area.”

The piece was fabricated by Archistoric, a local studio in Chicago. The seating, meanwhile, is upholstered in a Knoll fabric designed by David Adjaye, adding a subtle layer of texture while also working beautifully for the rhythms of family life.

The client wanted a modern kitchen without redoing the space completely. A clever renovation became the solution. “Previously, the space had a stainless steel hood, plus a couple of stainless steel open shelves, with just drywall behind. I took down the hood and the shelves and instead made the new hood wider to have a more significant presence, and one that could be shrouded and hidden within the zellige tiles.” The tiles, another wonderful and coincidental call-back to Mexico.

The existing kitchen cabinets had T-bar handles, the kind that were ubiquitous in the 2000s but now feel quite dated. “I found a retailer on Etsy who makes leather cabinet hardware, and we asked him to customise some pieces for us with a loop at the bottom,” says Jennifer. The island top was always granite, but with the surrounding updates, it suddenly looked fresh and modern.

In the basement, the family gathers for quiet moments and long, meandering conversations. The family room's fireplace wall was originally brown, with worn cabinets flanking the hearth, gold porcelain tile around the surround, and drywall elsewhere. It simply wasn’t working. “The question was: how could we renovate it without ripping out the entire wall?” says Jennifer. “We skim-coated it, then brought in a local plaster specialist to apply plaster across the entire elevation.” The treatment softened and neutralized the wall, transforming the fireplace into a quiet stage for beautiful objects.

The room also needed to be practical and hard-wearing, especially with two dogs in the house. “We purchased two rugs from Loloi and had them stitched together locally to create one large rug,” Jennifer says. “Because of their darker color, they hide almost everything.” The sofas were sourced from Archiesto in Chicago and upholstered in Perennials outdoor fabric with a stain-resistant finish.

The powder room on the first floor, used by both guests and family, has one of the home’s more whimsical moments: a vanity filled with books, all uniformly covered. The idea came from the client’s abundance of reading material, which Jennifer decided to wrap in the same cover.

“This means you never quite know which one you’re picking up to read while in the bathroom, which adds an element of surprise,” she says. “The rest of the bathroom is finished in Venetian plaster, and we color-drenched the space in green.”

On the second floor, the primary modern bedroom is anchored by a bed the client had purchased when she first moved in. “I have to die in this bed,” she told Jennifer, having invested quite a bit in the piece. But the four-poster, with its dark brown leather headboard, felt heavy and weighty, especially against the brick wall behind it and the dark brown drapes the client did not want to remove.

“So the idea was to recreate the backdrop,” shares Jennifer. “On one of my trips to Mexico, I came across Caralarga, a textile design studio in Querétaro. I had seen these large wall hangings in the store and loved them. So we gave them the drawings and dimensions, and they custom-made this ceiling-mounted installation for us. Each tassel was numbered, and we hung them locally.”

The installation softens the room’s architecture. The pillowcases are by Daniela Bustos Maya, creating a quiet continuation of the textile language introduced downstairs through the tassels. “Since the room is so large, we used these dressers from Crate & Barrel to work as side tables.”

In the daughter’s room on the second floor, the ceiling wallpaper is by a local Chicago designer. The pattern, named Frida, was inspired by a trip the designer took to Mexico and features braids with snake heads woven into the design — a delightful coincidence, given how Mexico had once again found its way into the home. “I had a contractor make this headboard in wood, and we painted it. Plus, the swing with this fringe design added a darling touch,” says Jennifer, very much in tune with the earthy, tassel-filled home's aesthetic.

All in all, the home now breathes fresh air, wonderfully emerging as a space that feels neither newly made nor frozen in time, but gently reawakened.

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Sometimes the secret behind a home’s visual harmony is hidden to the untrained eye. The key to the "just so-ness" of this weekend retreat on the outskirts of Berlin is, according to its designers, Johanna and Friedrich Gräfling, the humble tape measure.

Here, the duo honed in on a "golden number", explains Friedrich: "Let’s say the height of the skirting boards is 21cm." That figure then informed the measurements that run through this modern home: for the bespoke joinery, the floorboards, the trims. "It’s this architectural, mathematical eye that gives balance to the project," adds Johanna.

The clients’ brief, however, did not come with such precision. The current owners bought the villa during COVID in order to spend more time in the countryside, but despite commissioning two previous interior designers, who’d variously added a new modern kitchen, paint schemes and in-built furniture, "the family never felt comfortable in it and so never really used it," explains Johanna.

"Our brief was to create a house that they’d feel at home in, but they couldn’t pinpoint what they’d need for that."

And so, the Gräflings reverted to the building’s original turn-of-the-century details — the arched ceilings, the wooden skirting and stucco moldings. Where the previous designers had tried to insert a more contemporary design (which arguably didn’t gel with the existing architecture), "We let the house speak to us, and that’s what made it come to life," says Friedrich.

The striking new color palette also has a hint of history. "For inspiration, we looked at color books and architectural drawings of that time period," explains Friedrich. "But then we put them aside — only what sticks subconsciously is transported into our design. It’s not literal."

Color is one of the Gräflings’ design signatures. "We always use a lot of colors in our projects," says Johanna. Sometimes their color combinations may seem "overconfident", she admits, but when applied alongside that mathematical harmony, "they come together in a way that doesn’t overwhelm".

The villa’s use as a weekend retreat for the clients and their guests informed the design on various levels. Firstly, the clients wanted flexibility on sleeping arrangements — thus, the guest bedroom can accommodate three adults overnight, while the playroom is perfect for sleepovers.

In addition, says Johanna, "We wanted it to feel like a spring or summer getaway. So it needed to be bright and airy with welcoming colors to lend warmth and happiness." But, adds Friedrich, "This is not Marbella — there are practical considerations" — namely, Berlin’s colder weather.

Thus, the open-air terrace now has glass walls with UV curtains that, says Friedrich, "allow you to sit there in the wind or sun, or even rain". The dining and living rooms, which will be mostly used during the winter months, have a different feel to the lower ground floor, explains Friedrich, "which opens up into the garden and pool and has more of a summery pop".

While the interiors might lean more to the Mediterranean, the art on display throughout the house was largely sourced in Germany. The Gräflings work closely with a wide network of artists in Germany and beyond and encourage their clients to go to their studios and form relationships with them. "It’s more personal than us just buying art for them," says Friedrich. "A lot of them really become part of this collecting habit."

If you love this home, then you'll love to read about how Friedrich and Johanna Gräfling build their art-led interior schemes.

After another design marvel? Discover this elegant family home that was once a Church in Rotterdam.

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There is a new generation of designers who no longer think in terms of geographical boundaries or rigid cultural references. Influences overlap, languages blend, and the home becomes the place where these layers find a tangible expression. Glass Ridge House, the Los Angeles residence of OWIU Design's co-founders Amanda Gunawan and Joel Wong, is perhaps the most personal embodiment of this approach.

Here, Ray Kappe’s Californian modernism meets Japanese-style rituals and sensibilities, while architecture and landscape merge into a narrative shaped by multiple identities, memory, and everyday life. The result is not simply an aesthetic fusion, but a home that reflects how more and more people, including the couple, live today: between different cultures, global influences, and a growing desire to reconnect with nature.

Part of OWIU Design’s success lies in its ability to bring different cultural influences into conversation without reducing them to stylistic references. Their design language is not the result of a calculated exercise, but rather the product of years spent traveling throughout Asia, family memories, and a life built in Los Angeles. Their home becomes a kind of spatial autobiography.

Nestled among the hills of La Cañada Flintridge, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the founders of OWIU Design have transformed a residence originally designed by Ray Kappe in 1973 into a quiet manifesto of their design philosophy.

A key figure in Californian modernism, Kappe was redefining the language of West Coast architecture during that period through a more organic, human approach — "one rooted in landscape, light, and spatial openness," Gunawan and Wong say.

Rather than a straightforward modern home restoration, the intervention developed alongside Inflexion Builds extends Kappe's original vision into the present. Left vacant for nearly three decades, the house has been revived through a series of thoughtful interventions that preserve its architectural character while adapting it to contemporary living, the designers explain.

Glass Ridge House unfolds through a carefully considered renovation that honors both Eastern philosophy and California's enduring relationship with the landscape — "the surrounding mature trees, light, and terrain shaped nearly every spatial decision of the property".

Architecture and nature had already grown together in a remarkably harmonious way, and Wong and Gunawan chose to preserve that quality throughout the project. The relationship between indoors and outdoors became the guiding principle of the renovation.

Expansive glazing, generous openings, and natural materials dissolve conventional boundaries, making nature an active part of the domestic experience. Water flows throughout the project as a recurring presence.

The veranda was transformed into a glass-enclosed stream, while a koi pond wraps around the entrance alongside a minimalist Japanese zen garden.

The redesigned swimming pool now blends seamlessly into views of the surrounding hills. Existing nature becomes as integral to the experience of the house as any piece of furniture or lighting element.

This dialogue forms the basis of the house tour right from the beginning. Natural light penetrates the building through large glass surfaces, casting shadows on the surfaces of wood, natural stone, and Shikkui plaster. There are fewer materials used here; their purpose is to generate a warm, inviting ambience.

One of the home’s most significant spaces is the sunken tatami lounge. In order to create an authentic cultural touchpoint from Japan, OWIU partnered with the traditional tatami maker Kuboki Tatami, who have been manufacturing tatami for 280 years in Fukushima prefecture, Japan.

The idea is not to look at tatami as a heritage piece but rather to reinvent its purpose. The tatami-clad living area creates a more intimate and flexible environment designed for gathering, pausing, and informal moments of connection.

Need an example? "It also happens to be the favorite spot for our new born to freely explore his 'little world,'" Wong and Gunawan note.

The tea bar is one of the project’s most refined moments. Framed in marble, it features custom ceramic tiles created by Japanese artist Tomonari Hashimoto. Here, tea is not approached as a simple domestic function, the OWIU Design co-founders explain, but as a ritual.

The space establishes a deliberate separation from the kitchen, creating an emotional hierarchy between the speed of everyday life and the slower rhythms of contemplation.

The kitchen designed by Inflexion Builds truly represents the social nature of the OWIU. With its double volume and large windows, this area is characterized by plenty of natural light, which emphasizes the light-colored wood surfaces of the furniture.

Right next to the kitchen there is the dining room that provides quite a different atmosphere: the low ceiling covered in dark wood, combined with a black wood bar area, creates a cozy environment.

Every detail in the house conveys a sense of life accumulated over time. Objects collected during travels, handcrafted ceramics, artworks, gifts from friends, and vintage pieces come together to create a layered and deeply personal domestic landscape. Nothing feels purely decorative; every object appears to carry a memory.

More recently, the house has continued to evolve with the addition of a nursery designed as a natural extension of the home’s overall language. Soft tones, gentle curves, ambient lighting, and custom millwork create an intimate and protective environment, reflecting a new chapter in the family’s life.

What might be the most provocative aspect of the Glass Ridge House is the question, perhaps, of whether the future of the house has anything more to do with the addition of new uses than with rebuilding our connection to space, nature, and how we inhabit time in it.

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If there’s a sweet spot between classic Upper West Side style and liveable contemporary design, then this Manhattan family home, renovated by Rachel Sherman of Rachel Sloane Interiors for first-time homeowners, has found it.

The lateral apartment, although a new build, echoes the graceful architectural detailing of neighboring pre-war properties, but with a one-of-a-kind edge. In this modern home, gracious archways are lined in oak; joinery is clean and graphic and the artwork is just as likely to be a sculptural chair as a traditional wall-mounted piece.

"We wanted our home to honor the spirit of the neighborhood: not too modern, nor too traditional, but a timeless mix of both," says one half of the couple that lives here with their two young daughters.

"This was the first place we had bought, and the aim was for it to feel unique — nothing cookie-cutter or overly trendy — using colors, textures and materials that felt distinct to us."

That dream was realized with the help of interior designer Rachel Sherman, known for her focus on composition — a skill she believes she picked up at Ralph Lauren during the early days of her career.

The owners fell for the apartment two years ago, impressed by its "generous light, thoughtful layout, and strong foundation." Despite those attributes, its configuration needed a little revision to better suit the demands of family life.

"I guess we took old-world ideas and applied them in a new-world setting," says Rachel, "meaning that it was about maintaining a sense of grace and attention to detail, but opening the space a little to create a modern home."

To that end, the kitchen-diner, originally two rooms, was turned into one long space, the main bedroom was relocated to the opposite corner of the apartment, creating a generous primary suite, while out of the original principal bedroom, a guest room and study were born.

Those tweaks were not without challenges. "Once we opened up a few walls, we discovered a handful of unexpected angles and curves in the hallways," says the owner.

"Rachel found clever ways to celebrate those quirks: she designed arches to mirror existing and a curved dresser in our bedroom that perfectly fits an angled wall. Those decisions ended up being some of our favorite design features — they give the home so much personality and cohesion."

A key element is the successful zoning of the main living space, delineated into lounging, formal entertaining, and dining. "It was about creating a balance between form and function — beautiful furniture and art that could coexist with the daily rhythm of family life," the owner explains.

"Comfort and warmth were priorities, but so was durability. We wanted a space where our girls could do homework at the counter one moment and where we could host a dinner party the next."

Despite its grown-up vibe, this is very much a family home. Corners have been rounded off, fabrics are stain-resistant, and, as Rachel points out, color can hide a multitude of sins, as well as being inherently joyful.

"The apartment perfectly supports the way we live," says the owner. "The kids have their own zones, we have a quiet retreat of our own, and the main living space brings everyone together.

"Our mornings often start in the kitchen, with jazz playing, pancakes on the griddle, and our dog, Roberta, circling for crumbs. Evenings are usually spent in the family room watching movies, reading, or playing cards. It’s a relaxed, happy rhythm — and the space feels made for it. It’s everything we hoped for and more."

If you like this home, you may also like this Chicago home redesign, which merges the spirit of travel, handmade craft, and wonderfully practical ideas to give it a fresh new life.

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"It felt like a building with both a story and a future," say the owners of this expansive home, set amid a leafy garden overlooking Rotterdam’s harbor within a four-storey, double-fronted former chapel.

Walking through the first-floor enfilade of living spaces of the modern home, where gracious proportions and original features meet confident, contemporary furniture, that pleasing tension between tradition and modernity seems perfectly expressed.

"We were drawn to the building’s scale, its classical layout and its strong architectural presence," say the owners, who both work in food manufacturing. "We’ve lived in Rotterdam for many years, and we love this part of the city for its historic elegance — but finding a space that could function as both a home and a workplace is no small task."

The space that fitted the bill turned out to have had a chequered history: originally built as a grand townhouse in the 1920s, it was later transformed into a church, before being adapted for office and commercial use.

"Each of these phases left traces — from stained glass to wood paneling — that informed the way the building would be reimagined," say the owners. "We knew the key was to clearly zone the interiors into areas for living, working, and entertaining, while keeping strong visual connections between them."

The couple asked Judith van Mourik to unlock their home’s potential. The interior architect, who formerly ran her own fashion styling agency, is known for her ability to contemporize historic spaces.

"The house has so much natural allure, such as moldings, high ceilings, marble fireplaces, and wainscotting," she reflects. "I wanted to preserve that stateliness, but counter it with something warmer, more inviting, more modern."

Those humanizing touches come in the form of aged brass, deep-pile rugs, circular shapes, wood, and natural stone. They are incorporated both for impact and coziness — a tightrope not always easy to walk. "Those materials add warmth, while contrasting with the formal architecture," says Judith. "Plus, I like to combine opposites. Elegance with rawness, classic with modern, luxury with vintage. That’s what makes an interior interesting."

Design-led furniture pieces, often upholstered in a pop of color, allow for a space that straddles the gap between warm and architectural. "The building itself guided the shapes, while color was used to emphasize depth and rhythm in the rooms," shares Judith.

In much the same way that this home reflects the owners’ multifaceted lifestyle, so its many personalities have now been reconciled into one cohesive whole. "Being bolder with color and materials and not shying away from the grandeur of the building has really paid off," say the owners.

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Picture the elements of the ultimate, dream Paris pied-à-terre — essentially beautiful, minimalist interiors, painstakingly curated decor, and a hyper-strategic location. This apartment might just have it all, or so thinks Jérémy Chaillou, the founder of Marseille- and Paris-based multidisciplinary design studio Chaille.

A perfectly balanced narrative where old meets new, the sleek hideout finds its home within the walls of a historic timber-framed — or pan-de-bois — 14th-century building in the Marais.

When approached by the homeowner, the young Parisian entrepreneur Aaron Taieb, Chaillou and his team were given that elusive and exceptionally rare 'golden ticket' — carte blanche. Not only did Taieb intend not to bring any furniture, furnishings, or accessories from another house, but Chaille was given the freedom to curate its entire look and feel.

"This kind of trust is rare," Chaillou notes. The result is a bachelor pad that feels "intentionally masculine and affirmed," he says. A space that wows.

With choice on tap, the key question might then be, "where to start?" But for Chaillou, who approaches every project by "listening to what a place is already saying", the answer was evidently clear.

"The original beams are everywhere: low, exposed, irregular. They are so present, and so loaded historically that they became the starting point of the entire project," he says.

Seeking to create a "dynamic and frank" dialogue with the pre-existing architecture, Chaillou and his team brought in contrasting materials such as stone and stainless steel, solid wood and glass, and matte and mirrored surfaces.

"It's a heritage shell inhabited by a precise, almost architectural set of contemporary gestures," explains the designer. Design magpies will no doubt be enthralled, as this jewel box of different finishes certainly catches the eye.

The residence is nestled inside what were once two separate buildings. This prompted Chaillou to pay particular attention to some of its architectural features, such as a split across two different levels by a half floor, in his new design.

A chic brass step now defines the original threshold, adjoining the main living room and kitchen spaces.

The axis played to the designer's imagination, and now one of the project's key materials — a Pierre du Nivernais limestone floor sourced from the Nivernais region — is laid out in a strikingly precise and contemporary cabochon pattern.

This, along with what Chaillou refers to as the flooring's "dense, slightly veined surface", creates the foundation and exposition of old meets new.

The multiple reflective elements, meanwhile, create different perspectives in the space, adding a multi-dimensional feeling to it.

In the living room area, a Rotondo sofa designed by The Socialite Family has been covered in a rich, dark-red cowhide, Western-style leather.

A Willy Rizzo coffee table is positioned low-level in the center of the space, allowing visitors to appreciate what lies in front of them at eye-level: an element Chaillou considers "a signature piece" from the studio, the mirror-clad feature fireplace.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, bespoke brushed stainless steel cabinetry meets an Avocatus Quartzite worktop — a stone with deep green veining that sets the tone in this room.

The handles are crafted from chromed Marbelo, and the combination of materials used "is deliberately tactile", the designer explains.

They are essentially cold materials, but deeply sensual. The leather and stainless steel Axel Chay chairs, the custom mahogany and aluminum table, and the wall sconces by Violaine d'Harcourt, bring a chic touch to the scheme.

Elsewhere, a Tom Ducarouge-designed pendant lamp — suspended above the dining table — puts a sculptural metal artwork by designer-ceramist Sophie Blouin under the spotlight.

As you move through the apartment, "the language softens", Chaillou explains, starting from the bedroom. This shift in tone is indicated primarily by the "darker, richer, more enveloping" mahogany-stained wood that he has chosen for the bespoke bed and cabinetry.

Wall-to-wall golden carpeting adds another element of undeniable decadence, whilst a splash of deep green paint sets the appropriate backdrop for a bronze sculpture by Victor Guedy, which quietly sits on the wall. It's enveloping, like the design equivalent of a warm embrace — the kind you might never want to leave but keep lingering in.

Multiple inspirations informed this project, Chaillou explains. These include Stanley Kubrick, for the rigor of his interiors and his "obsession for proportion and tension", Carlo Scarpa, for his examples of meeting new metal with old stone, and Jean Prouvé, for the "directness of the materials" and the "honesty" of his structural designs.

The influence of each of these cultural legends is subtly woven throughout the apartment.

Incorporating such a diverse and dazzling palette of materials in a historic building didn't come without its challenges.

"The 17th-century structure imposed strict constraints," the designer explains. "On the practical side, getting heavy materials — Pierre du Nivernais, quartzite slabs, stainless steel sheets — up to a protected, timber-framed Marais apartment was a logistical challenge on its own."

While the original beams are beautiful and a key element to the Chaillou-envisioned scheme, they proved "old and irregular", and meant that nothing could be drawn from a standard module.

"Every joint and piece of millwork had to be measured on site," he says, "and the polished, reflective finishes had to be installed at the very end of the build, in a space where every other trade had already passed through." The sequencing itself was an exercise in discipline.

The most surprising aspect of the project, though, Chaillou indicates, was actually "historical, not technical".

"This building hosted the literary salon of French writer Ninon de Lenclos in the 17th century — one of the most influential intellectual circles of her time.

Working in a place loaded with that kind of memory shifts how you draw, and every gesture has to earn its place," he says.

From a famed salon littéraire to a characterful bachelor pad, Chaillou has written a compelling new chapter in this apartment's history.

Set within Victory Ranch, a luxury residential community located just outside of Park City, Utah, this 8,200-square-foot modern mountain retreat serves as a vacation home for a family of five from Chicago. Designed by Jennelle Butera of Park City-based Bloum Design, the entire aesthetic centers around cherished art and family relics.

"The design was deeply informed by the client's family collections and a desire for a warm, inviting, and casual atmosphere, achieved through rich layers of texture and color. Curated furnishings in jewel tones, alongside the client's art and relics, drove the entire palette, tone, and design aesthetic," explains Jennelle.

The clients traded their original Victory Ranch cabin for this sprawling three-storey modern home in Kamas to accommodate their expanding family, which includes five bedrooms, six bathrooms, two powder rooms, two laundry rooms, a wine room, a games room, an office, and a sauna.

"My favorite element of the design process for this project was the creative problem-solving and the deep collaboration required to integrate my client's history into their new home," says Jennelle Butera.

Speaking of the pieces that defined the mood of the home, the clients explained, "We have a cherished collection of artwork that my family brought back from Pakistan, where we lived in the late 1960s. These pieces carry so much history and meaning for us, and when the home began to take shape, it felt as though the design was naturally drawing them in."

And it's these pieces that give the home so much heart, providing depth and resonance beyond materiality.

The mixed metal kitchen is a striking space that showcases the craftsmanship of local artisans. The oxidized rift oak kitchen cabinets work perfectly against the Bespoke Studio Zellige tile backsplash, with a gunmetal patina hood crafted by Handmade Industries.

"Most clients favor a hood insert at the range, a preference that allows for creative freedom to customize the hood design and finish. The aesthetic is preserved by planning for the client’s collection of handmade pottery (made by her mother) to be showcased in the clear glass-door upper cabinets," explains Jennelle.

The contrast of modern finishes and handmade craft creates a contemporary space full of soul — each element, from textures to the pops of red and flashes of green foliage, comes together to create a modern kitchen that sings.

The modern living room has stunning mountain views, and it was these views that drew the client to the location. "The sheer beauty of the landscape and the intimacy of the setting made the decision for us. We never looked back," they explain.

With deep green tones and natural finishes, the space is rich with texture and visual interest — a layered haven of sophistication.

"The challenge we faced was achieving a balanced and architecturally resonant feature in the great room," says Jennelle. "The fireplace design underwent extensive refinement in collaboration with Berg Design Studio and McNulty Construction.

"The final design seamlessly incorporates the client's statue from Indonesia and custom pedestal. For the surround, we curated a sophisticated material palette to speak the language of the architecture, featuring the contrast of blackened steel and leathered granite with subtle accents of brass and a smooth plaster finish."

Each space in the home is the result of a series of successful partnerships — the designer, the clients, the stylist, the architects, the construction team, and the local artisans — each had an important role to play, and all the elements come together in perfect harmony.

"We trusted Bloum completely," say the clients. "They worked closely with our architectural team from the very beginning, and that collaborative confidence meant there was very little second-guessing along the way."

The banquette seating in the kitchen is both Jennelle's and her clients' favorite space in the home. "It was actually added later in the building process, and I'm so grateful we made room for it," explains the client. "Every morning, I sit there with my coffee, work on my travel business, and look out over the sweeping views of Deer Valley. It's become my favorite ritual in this house."

Anchored by a custom Greg Palombo table with an Urban Electric Dome Pendant hanging above, along with art from the client's existing collection, the space was created by repurposing exterior square footage from the original architectural plans and serves as the ideal everyday retreat. Much like the rest of the home, this light-filled setting is both sophisticated and cozy, oozing endless character and warmth.

And so, too, are these hard-working spaces in the home. They make everyday tasks and practicalities easier, while also remaining visually cohesive with the overall design.

This neutral bedroom, with sweeping views of Deer Valley, is a soothing space that speaks effortlessly to the landscape — each window reflecting a framed work of natural art.

While the home's palette was not informed by its surroundings, the earthy tones work in perfect harmony with them — the timber's warmth and the depth of the green walls in this bedroom create a cocooning space that is at one with nature.

These modern bathrooms are an example of the effortless use of contrast in design that can be seen throughout the home, where light meets dark, and new meets old, in a perfect marriage of juxtapositions.

And it's this balance of juxtapositions that makes this elegant home work so well — historical elements inform modern design, while sleek, contemporary architecture integrates seamlessly with natural finishes and textures. The result is a timeless sanctuary that tells a story — both of the past and how we live today.

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If the kitchen is the center of the home, then the island is its heart. It’s where breakfast happens, guests gather, and conversations continue long after dinner is finished. But for all the time we spend perched around them, traditional barstools rarely prioritize comfort. This kitchen shows you how.

In this Amsterdam townhouse by Framework Studio, the kitchen island seating takes the form of a plush, curved sage-green bench that feels more like a sofa than conventional kitchen seating, and it completely changes how the space is used.

Rather than creating a spot for temporary seating, the upholstered banquette transforms the island into somewhere people want to stay. "The high bench is something we often do in our projects at kitchen islands," designer Francesca Finotti explains. "It creates a more comfortable and cozy setting for meals that are often done there."

Standard island seating often encourages quick interactions, a coffee before work, or a casual drink while someone cooks. However, this softer silhouette and cocooning upholstery make the kitchen feel more like a living space, encouraging slower mornings and longer, relaxed dinners.

That idea was especially suited to the clients’ lifestyle. "Most of our clients are Dutch, and Dutch families live and hang out in the kitchen," Finotti says. "We very often feature kitchen islands in our projects as it creates an interesting dynamic between the ‘cook’ and the guests or family members sitting at the island."

The kitchen also acts as a transitional space between floors, "the layout creates a natural corridor from the entrance to the staircase," Francesca explains. "The kitchen becomes the heart of the house as you always need to pass through it."

The success of the seating idea also comes down to materiality. While the bench instantly draws attention with its soft ‘lizard green’ upholstery, it forms part of a carefully balanced kitchen color scheme that moves between cool and warm tones throughout the house.

"The color palette is a balance between cold colors, such as the lizard green of the bench, the light blue of the pantry cabinet, the polished stainless steel finish, the bluish natural stone countertop, and warmer colors such as the off-white and cream walls and ceilings," Francesca says.

The combination prevents the kitchen from feeling overly sleek or overly rustic. The polished steel and marble introduce a crispness, while the velvety upholstery and warm neutrals soften the room and make it feel cozy.

Would the idea work in every kitchen? Perhaps not. Upholstered island seating requires more space than standard stools, and it naturally lends itself to homes where the kitchen functions as a living area rather than a purely practical workspace. But in a house designed around gathering, conversation, and everyday comfort, it is perfect.

If the kitchen really is the heart of the home, why shouldn’t it feel as comfortable as the living room?

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When interior designer Chizitera Pennington converted the loft of her family's 1930s home in Brockley, she knew she didn't want the project to feel like an architectural afterthought.

"With a growing family, we needed an additional bedroom and bathroom, and we also needed a space that felt elevated and special in the midst of the chaos of family life," Chizitera, founder of Chizitera Interiors, explains. "The attic, which spanned the length and breadth of the house, presented an opportunity to create such a space."

Instead, the retreat was shaped by the designer's own daily rituals, family life, and personal narrative, and designed with abundant ideas that just make a lot of sense for a loft conversion, specifically, from its tailored details to clever spatial planning.

What was once an underused roof space is now a sumptuous bedroom suite complete with a bathroom, dressing area, and a series of cleverly concealed storage solutions that make the entire space feel calm, cohesive, and self-contained. Here, Chizitera talks us through the project, including the coffee station she designed to be hidden into the walls.

From the outset, the goal was about more than just adding functionality. It was about creating a room that could hold both practicality and design storytelling. "The brief was to create a room that felt like a self-contained, refined sanctuary within the house. Aesthetically, it needed to cohesively highlight our story — our backgrounds and personal journeys — while referencing Art Deco codes, as the house was built in the 1930s."

Instead of forcing symmetry onto an awkward roof volume, the design works with the architecture, allowing slopes and structural quirks to define zoning and storage opportunities. Chizitera's approach was to design the loft around life, not just layout.

A clear separation is created between sleeping, dressing, and bathing areas with an architectural room divider, yet the overall effect remains open and fluid, helped by light entering from both sides of the loft. This sense of flow is key to the room’s success. It feels expansive without ever losing intimacy and its signature coziness.

One of the most distinctive interventions is a concealed coffee station, built directly into the wall so it disappears into the architecture when not in use. It’s a small gesture that roots the entire design in daily routine.

"I designed this room thinking about how life would unfold in space," Chizitera says. "Having a cup of coffee in the morning is part of my daily ritual. Including a coffee station in the room means I can enjoy my coffee looking out the windows across the parks nearby, and the City and the Shard further afield, without having to go down to the kitchen."

To preserve the calm architectural language of the room, the station is fully concealed, a decision that reinforces the sense of restraint throughout the scheme.

"To have the room feel like a sanctuary, it needed to be restrained, with clean lines, allowing architectural elements like the slats above the headboard space to breathe."

Nearly every awkward angle in the loft has been reworked into something functional, but the loft never feels over-designed. As the designer puts it simply, "no space was going to waste."

Storage is incorporated everywhere, but embedded into the architecture rather than layered on top of it. A flush-mounted wall cabinet disguised in wallpaper concealing first aid and cleaning supplies and a lift-up laundry zone shelf also providing hidden storage are just a few of the innovative design ideas in this loft conversion.

Much of the loft’s success lies in its bespoke joinery, particularly around the chimney breast and eaves, where standard solutions would have failed. The wardrobes are divided into functional zones depending on depth, transforming awkward geometry into highly specific storage for clothing, accessories, and personal items. Meanwhile, the bedside tables are built directly into the headboard, their chamfered edges allowing smooth movement through the space.

Even the most challenging structural elements are absorbed into the design rather than worked around.

The material language of the loft is what holds its many references together. Rather than relying on a single aesthetic, the design draws from multiple personal and cultural influences, unified through its tone and texture.

"My design style combines an intentional use of color, layering and clean lines with a client’s story at the heart of it all. This style comes through clearly in the loft. I wanted this space to cohesively capture my English and Nigerian heritage, my husband’s time living in Spain alongside Art Deco references."

Earthy reds, muted greens and warm neutrals form the base palette, softened by a red-based neutral wall color, reminding the designer "of red earth and beautiful palm trees of Nigeria." Terracotta introduces warmth in the bathroom area, while jute underfoot adds texture.

The scheme also references Art Deco detailing through glossy finishes, walnut and zebrano timbers. This is all balanced with carefully considered louvred joinery and more tactile materials such as linen and woven textiles.

Lighting plays a transformative role throughout the loft, shaping how each zone feels at different times of day. A soft downlight above the bath creates an evening glow, while spot lighting supports dressing and grooming areas for getting dressed in the evening.

"The lighting design is probably one of my favourite details about the room. Again, it comes back to thinking about how life will unfold in space," Chizitera notes.

Alabaster pendants above the vanity act as both functional light sources and sculptural elements, while bedroom lighting can be controlled from both the entrance and the bed, ensuring the room always feels immediately welcoming.

GET THE LOOK

Despite its complexity, this loft bedroom forms a calm, intuitive, and deeply lived-in space where every element works. For any homeowners converting their lofts, Chizitera imparts ,"good design starts long before the first brick is laid. It is so important to start off having a clear idea of what purpose of the room is."

Sometimes it is important to let architecture lead and to design around daily rituals. True luxury isn’t always about opulence and excessive design, it can be having the clarity that everything is exactly where it needs to be.

For more inspiration for your loft conversion, read our 5 clever ways to create space, or sign up to the Livingetc newsletter for even more ideas.

The bespoke joinery in this north London home has been meticulously planned to elevate the original 1930s architecture, and sculptural African artworks, like the metal ballerina that sits in its bright living area, have found an accord with the interior stylings of French duo Uncanny Studio's Églantine Sicat and Pauline Dellemotte.

"Our work is emotional; we really like to create meaningful homes that tell the story of the people who live there," explains Sicat.

In the entryway of the pied-à-terre, a structural column has been wrapped in stained oak and two sets of rings. "When we met the clients, what struck us most was how deeply connected they are. We wanted to create a totemic sculpture with the wood rings symbolizing their union," Dellemotte adds.

The clients are a retired couple in their 70s with three adult children who live in different countries around the world.

"They wanted a place that connected them to their African culture and would offer room for when the children came to visit," Dellemotte explains.

Aside from the metal dancer in the living area, there's a wooden totem in the hallway entrance made of masked-like faces stacked on top of one another in the form of a cylindrical column.

"Their artworks are powerful pieces that initially looked intimidating as they're quite large," recalls Sicat. "They said, 'this is what we have: make it work.'" And that's exactly what Uncanny Studio did, transforming the interiors into the canvas against which their collection stands out.

"We are not experts on African art, and initially, finding a way to work with it was challenging," Sicat says.

Still, "the owners and their daughter, who managed the project, are very knowledgeable about the local creative scene in the rising cultural capital of Lagos, Nigeria, and taught us a lot about it."

Once the artwork found its place, Uncanny Studio went to work on configuring multifunctional living spaces that could be connected and fully open when required, but still able to be closed off if one person was entertaining and the other relaxing in front of the bespoke mirror TV.

"The clients cook and host often, and hold wine tasting sessions, so flexibility was key," Dellemotte says.

The designers have established areas that are easy to navigate, framing and separating environments with existing thresholds and smart shelving. The bespoke joinery here, for example, has transformed the living areas, adding warmth with walnut timber.

"The shape of the apartment is very geometrical with sharp angles," Sicat explains. "We wanted to bring some curves."

Varnished walnut, clear and frosted glass-framed doors delineate the living areas, heightening their sense of lightness.

The neutral hues of the Paloma armchair by Collector Group, featuring soft, round edges and solid walnut legs, the édition 1.6.9 oversized rug, and the Heaps & Woods side table and Hamilton Conte stool all add interest through a delicate kaleidoscope of shapes and patterns.

In the kitchen, an oval-shaped island contributes to the integration of curves: the slimline central piece, made from a quartzite top and an Oberflex paper metal body, features storage, too, and establishes a gathering point for people.

"The clients wanted a space where the family could get together and enjoy the views. If someone is cooking, you can keep them company while having a glass of wine on the island," Dellemotte says. Built especially for the modest-sized kitchen, the island maximizes space without taking up excess room.

On the floor, Uncanny Studio injected further texture and color, something the owners were not originally keen on.

"They said, 'we don't like color, we like beige and wood, we want something really simple — like white tiles in the kitchen," Sicat recalls. The couple felt that these neutral shades and materials would make everything easier to maintain.

It was mere chance, then, that when the designers presented them with an innovative flooring option made from a mix of threaded fibers, the owners said yes.

"It's a very durable material we often use because it comes in numerous patterns and colors," the duo explains. "We chose this one as it is shiny, with a copper tinge, and while it is plain, it still brings a lot of brightness to the space."

Further pleasant surprises arose as the interior scheme began to take shape at the rear of the property.

The designers soon realized that the real challenge on this project wasn't the clients' initial restrictions, but making the long corridors and small bathrooms feel less cramped: the layout was perfect for the sales market — three bedrooms and three bathrooms — but it didn't meet the needs of a 70-year-old couple.

"The owners wanted to create two separate bedrooms that were connected by a shared bathroom," Dellemotte explains. The latter, with its bespoke marble bath and Aged stone, Rosa Perlino and Rosa Asiago floor tiles, which recall the laterite soil of West Africa, would be an important meeting point for the clients.

As the two bedrooms are on opposite sides of the apartment, Uncanny Studio used joinery to cloak the long corridor and create something functional — to enter the bathroom, you now have to step inside a passage that feels like a walk-in closet.

"When the wife mentioned wanting to incorporate their African heritage in a contemporary way, we decided to bring in textures and patterns," the designers explain.

They started with the bedroom headboards, in the wife's room, also known as the "Red Room," where they used silk paneling with a bold motif. "We sent three options across, and when they chose the most vibrant design, we knew there was room to push further," Sicat says.

To complete the bedroom, they then picked an irreverent, textural rug from édition 1.6.9, "the same brand that helped us cover the living room's floor," the duo adds.

The pied-à-terre now features two main bedrooms, a den that doubles up as a guest bedroom, two bathrooms, and a WC. The living areas with a dining space are light and filled with views of Regent's Park.

When Uncanny Studio delivered the project after 18 months, their anxiety was palpable. "Most of our dealings had been with the couple's daughter, and we'd only met them twice; even our contractor was nervous," Dellemotte confesses.

Thankfully, when the owners walked through the door for the first time, the relief was mutual. Uncanny Studio had produced exactly what the brief had asked for — a home that told their story. A place where the whole family can gather.

After more interior design inspiration? See how Hauvette & Madani revived a 1930s Paris apartment while preserving its 'cadenced' architectural scheme, or subscribe to the Livingetc newsletter for weekly style pills delivered straight to your inbox, hassle-free.

Modern homes aren't the only thing to reflect the rhythm of everyday life: increasingly, more and more lifestyle destinations do so, too, with the boundaries between holiday destinations, retail platforms, and the domestic realm blurring as a result.

Revisit our latest travel trends report to discover what's hot on globetrotters' radar — and how to take the uplifting energy of OOO mode home with you at the end of your sojourn, starting with London's coolest new aparthotel, Mason & Fifth Belsize Park.

I speak from experience: Paris can be a beautiful kind of chaos, each arrondissement reading as its own story. Move west, beyond the périphérique, past Neuilly-sur-Seine and into Les Sablons, and the city begins to open up: more sky, more greenery, more space, and a sometimes welcome slower pace.

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is currently overseeing a vast transformation, with the ambition of becoming one of Europe's greenest capitals by 2030. With 50 per cent of the city's surface set to be planted or permeable, over 170,000 trees introduced, and four new 'urban forests' created, that sounds like a breath of fresh air. And yet, when your home is set in one of the buzzier central neighborhoods, the city doesn't always feel particularly leafy. Even now, that promise can feel just out of reach.

Unsurprisingly, Parisians move a little further out, to places like Les Sablons, where that shift is tangible. "It's still urban, but softened," finds Samantha Hauvette, one half of the design duo Hauvette and Madani, who led the direction of a home for a young couple relocating here.

The 1930s apartment they found now feels as calm as its surroundings, just as the designers intended. How they approached that becomes clear from the outset. "Light is everything," Samantha notes.

These are, in fact, the themes the duo worked with: materiality, subtle punctuations of color in sea-like tones of blue and green, and a mix of design pieces that feel (in their own words) less "designed" and more "collected".

While there is a deliberate layering of pieces from the 1930s, a nod to the era of the house, alongside more contemporary designs, the overall feel never gets too decorative. The home, as a result, feels as though it has come together over time, rather than over the course of a few months.

Lucas Madani sums it up: "a home that's curated, but lived-in, which is very much our signature. What helps, of course, is that we've worked with them before, so there's a level of understanding, and everything flowed quite naturally."

Before they got there, they first had to look at the bones.

"The original layout was highly compartmentalized, as is typical of 1930s Parisian apartments: a succession of enclosed rooms, each with its own function, and very little sense of flow between them," explains Lucas. "That kind of rigidity doesn't suit the way families live today, but it does carry a certain spatial logic and a generosity of volume worth preserving."

The key intervention was to open up the main living and dining areas. "We were deliberate about not going fully open-plan," Samantha adds. "The 1930s bones called for something more measured, with a sense of progression from one space to the next, rather than everything revealed at once."

Needless to say, flow was key. Upon entering, the atmosphere shifts gradually. The entrance is understated, leaving room for what follows (one or two surprises, for sure), and from there the living spaces widen and become lighter, a lot more expressive even.

The kitchen, with its bright blue ceramic tiles, shimmering like the bottom of a swimming pool, stands out as a bold gesture.

In the dining room, a surreal painting by Mathilde Lestiboudois introduces a soft, sea-toned palette against warm wood, much of it bespoke and designed by Hauvette & Madani. A teak chair by Ettore Sottsass, painted in turquoise, adds another note of color; ton-sur-ton interplay rather than a bold statement.

The living room continues this approach. A work by Mickaël Doucet — "his paintings carry an emotional stillness we're so drawn to," notes Samantha Hauvette — in layered blues sits against a pistachio-green rug by Nordic Knots. This brings softness through texture while holding the palette together.

Nearby, a Culbuto chair by Marc Held (1967), in lacquered black and white, reads almost like an enlarged punctuation mark; its rounded base and sharp contrast giving the space a graphic accent.

The devil is in the details. As I recently discussed with an industrial designer friend, much of today's joinery tends to be standardized. Here, custom-built elements run throughout the apartment, acting as both divider and anchor, guiding the movement from one room to the next in a fluid way.

Further in, the private spaces shift in tone, with the bedroom becoming more intimate and enveloping through a darker palette and tactile materials.

It borders on boudoir: art deco-style wall lights, tobacco tones, and leopard-print cushions set against cream bedding. Curtains fall symmetrically on either side, framing the bed and leading through to the bathrooms beyond. One is more pared-back in feel, while the other stands out with, again, accents of washed blue.

Cinema from the 1980s and 90s played a role in shaping the bedroom. "Not as a direct reference," Samantha explains, "but in the way intimacy is constructed through light, texture, and domestic detail."

More broadly, a habit of visiting exhibitions and spending time with art informs how the spaces are composed and how objects are placed and weighted within a room.

Other references reach further back. Ceramic low tables, sourced from various dealers and chiné in the spirit of Roger Capron's 1970s work. "Those tables bring an artisanal warmth that feels difficult to replicate today," Lucas notes.

There is also the personal. "My grandmother made the white sculptures," Samantha says as a proud smile appears on her face. "They belong in the home in a way that goes beyond aesthetics, carrying memory and affection into the space."

And then there is the present, with contemporary art woven throughout. "Balancing contemporary and vintage is less about contrast and more about dialogue," adds Samantha.

"Vintage pieces bring depth and narrative, a sense that a space has been experienced and considered over time, while contemporary elements bring clarity and prevent it from tipping into nostalgia." In the end, it is about being able to live there in the now. Here, that balance has been beautifully struck.

Lucy Goldbart is going to be a superstar designer of the future — you heard it here first. Unless, that is, you’re also a reader of our sister title, Homes & Gardens, which picked Lucy from hundreds of entries to be part of its inaugural Next in Design list last year, a spotlight on the rising stars who are shaping some interesting and incredible spaces.

Surprisingly, Lucy’s entry featured only renders and no images of any finished work — but even these showed her promise and flair. The trouble was that, despite having set up her own studio in 2022, after having worked at places such as Elicyon, her launch projects were so vast (including a total remodel in Antigua) that none of them were quite ready to share. In fact, this modern home in London’s Little Venice is her first completed work — undoubtedly the first of many.

"The whole place feels very warm and very soft," says Lucy Goldbart of this duplex home on the raised and lower ground floors of a stucco-fronted house. "The owners are a young couple who were very familiar with Soho House and wanted the same sense of this being a welcoming space with an ever so slightly retro vibe."

Lucy’s starting point was a rich palette of chocolate brown, terracotta, and deep red — a beguiling mix of hues that seem to increase the temperature of any space they’re used in. "The richer we got, the more inviting the home started to feel," says Lucy. "But rather than doing six colors in one space, I like to explore one really deeply, and use several different tones of the same shade."

She continues: "The real focus was texture. I like to be able to brush my hand across every surface, so even the walls are textural with their limewash finishes. Paired with bouclé and layers of velvet, then contrasted with glazed ceramic side tables, it all makes for a scheme you can’t help but want to sink into."

The duplex had previously been covered in decorative cornicing, which was overshadowing the architectural features Lucy felt were most interesting, such as the arched doorways and alcoves. "Instead of over-decorating, I wanted this home to be about both sight lines and little cozy corners."

And there are plenty of those, from the dining table down the end of the symmetrical kitchen layout to the built-in window seat in the living room, which Lucy says is perfect for cocktails. "It was meant to be a reading corner, but it’s clearly just as good for drinks," she says. A neat encapsulation of why her interpretation of the Soho House vibe works so perfectly in this home.

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It wasn’t necessarily the house that drew interior designer Kim Lapin to this Spanish-style home in the Los Angeles suburbs, but rather the storybook neighborhood. Before moving with her young family from the center of the city to Palos Verdes, where she’d grown up, she’d drive this particular street of the coastal Californian suburb simply to take in the area’s natural beauty — and marvel at the diverse styles of property through the car window. Craftsman, ranch, mid-century modern, contemporary: it’s a street that reads like an architecture textbook.

It’s not, however, an area so well-known for exceptional interior design. "While in this town there are beautiful homes, it’s not very common that they are well designed on the inside," Kim admits, "and I wanted to feel like my home was still an inspirational place, even in a suburb."

Creating the modern home she was looking for was a project that called for a gut renovation, and on some scale. With just her husband Chay and a one-year-old in tow at the time, Kim admits that the 3,000 square foot house was "big for them, but not too big" — somewhat fortunately, as the designer found out she was pregnant with twins just a month after moving in.

Still, even with her family growing, the home offered space enough — with a family room, which now opens up onto the kitchen for better flow between the two spaces, and a more formal living room for entertaining. "We call this the 'fancy room'," Kim says. "My kids love to be in there with me. We listen to music and have 'special drinks', which usually means sparkling water in fancy cups."

It’s one of the rooms that best shows Kim’s philosophy as a designer, even though her business was still in its early days during the renovation, having only just taken on her first clients. "This was my first home that I was getting to design from top to bottom," Kim explains. "The other homes we had lived in always had some renovation component, but I was never able to fully express myself to the degree that I was able to on this project."

Textural plaster walls and low, horizontal fireplace hearths wrapped in interesting marbles, used both in the ‘fancy room’ and primary bedroom, speak to the balancing act of luxurious and laidback, and the designer’s West Coast Cool meets European eclectic design aesthetic.

In the entryway, Kim’s take on a welcoming checkerboard floor feels softer, using more tonal natural stone than the classic black-and-white of elegant hotel lobbies. The lighting, while jewelry-like, is often specified in unlacquered brass, so that they "age over time, and don’t look too precious."

It’s a hard place to aim for, the cool factor, but for Kim, it’s more an incidental outcome than it is intentional. "What I’m aiming for is relaxing, yet delightful," the designer says. "This house is calm, but there is something interesting to see everywhere you look."

Aristocratic mansions aside, few homes today remain in the same family for more than a generation, but the children running through these refined and tranquil rooms are the third generation of their family to live here. Their father and mother moved in with his parents while renovating their previous home, then decided to buy this place when said parents downsized nearby.

In these circumstances, it could be a challenge to bring your own identity into the mix. Perhaps that’s why the family brought in architecture and interior design studio Zunica Paraskevas to help them reimagine the house as a modern home.

They asked the founders of Zunica Paraskevas, Maria Olmos Zunica and Frédérique Paraskevas, to create a better sense of flow between the rooms, with the capacity to host lots of family and friends, and to include a grown-ups’ drawing room with a members’ club vibe.

"The house felt compartmentalized and inaccessible," says Maria. "We opened up the wall between the kitchen and dining room, letting light flood in." To improve the proportions of the main living space, they shifted the wall bordering the hallway, restoring and reinstating the original oak paneling. "It is such an important original feature, reflecting the Arts and Crafts character of the house that we wished to preserve and respect," says Frédérique.

The project has been a balancing act between past and present. "The stone and wood that were used when the house was built feature rich textures and craftsmanship," says Maria. "We wanted to introduce materials that would complement the craftsmanship of the original house, rather than overpower it," adds Frédérique.

In the kitchen, the custom-designed joinery is a pared-back, contemporary take on the original wood paneling. "We used the oak cabinetry almost like a blanket that wraps the kitchen and creates a continuity, a conversation, with the living rooms. Our design process was an ongoing exercise in finding an almost understated elegance," explains Frédérique. Drawing on the warm tones of the paneling, the color palette throughout the house is now soft and subtle, but also rich and intense.

At one end of the kitchen, Zunica Paraskevas created a little breakout space with a sofa area. "By integrating a lounge area into the kitchen, the space allowed for cooking and family life to happen in parallel — something that was not possible in the previously fragmented layout. We design the spaces that our clients ask for, but also the spaces and atmosphere that the family may not initially have known they needed," says Maria.

The couple’s modern bedroom was approached in the same way. Here the designers have created an indulgent, cocooning space, with an upholstered headboard layered against a wall-wide wool panel. "It’s no longer a purely functional space but somewhere in which it is a real pleasure to spend time at the end of a long day," says Frédérique.

"When the project was over, our clients said that we had opened new possibilities for inhabiting their space and new ways of living as a family," concludes Frédérique. "On a professional and personal level, that meant a lot to us."

So much of being an interior designer is about understanding your client. You want to design a space that feels reflective of them, incorporating elements of their personal style and interests. A lot of the role involves setting your own tastes aside and putting yourself in the mind of your client. So what happens then, when your client is yourself?

This was the question Katie Edmondson, founder of De La Warr Design, was left to answer when designing her own loft conversion. And for her, the answer lay in a return to simplicity. When design is your job, it's so easy to become absorbed by the constantly changing trend cycle, with new, beautiful ideas flooding your feed day after day. The challenge for Katie was stepping away from this. "Working in interiors, I'm constantly exposed to trends, and it was important to me that the scheme felt current but not trend-led, especially in the bathroom, where I look at spaces all day, every day," Katie explains. "I wanted something that would still feel right in 10 years."

Dominating the top floor of a Victorian semi-detached home in London's Walthamstow, this loft conversion saw an unused attic transformed into a luxurious primary bedroom, complete with a private balcony, en-suite bathroom, and an easy-breezy design style that speaks to the designer's desire for timeless elegance.

The Inspiration

Spending every day discussing dream homes via design consultations and workshopping ideas for her e-design packages, there was no shortage of inspiration for Katie to work from — the greater challenge was narrowing it all down.

Avoiding the risk of becoming overwhelmed, Katie found herself drawn to a more subtle style. "I actually kept coming back to something far more simple — a muted palette, lots of textures within materials and light," she explains.

Opting for a neutral bedroom scheme allowed Katie to design herself a calming retreat, a top priority for her. "We have two young children, and I really wanted to create somewhere calm to retreat to, even for a stolen moment in the day," Katie explains. So much of the design was led by a vision of a particular lifestyle, as opposed to a clear-cut style. "I knew I wanted the bed to face the window so I could lie there in the morning with a cup of tea and watch the trees move. A little bit of tranquility whilst living in London," she says.

Although this space sits at the highest point of the home, somewhat detached from the rest, thanks to the modern architecture of the design, it was still important to feel it was cohesive with the rest of the home. This was largely achieved through the color scheme, explains Katie. "The colors are actually an extension of what I already use throughout our home; muted reds, rusts, pinks, blues, and cream. I realized quite late that I'd essentially copied my own brand palette, which made me laugh."

So much of this design was influenced by Katie's own work and career, especially when it came to the ensuite. "As a bathroom specialist, I knew the ensuite had to deliver on every level: storage, heating, spacing, and easy to clean," she says. The challenge was achieving all this in such a small loft bathroom. "With such a small footprint, there was really no room for error. I look at bathrooms every day, so anything that didn't work would have bothered me constantly."

As well as making her especially tuned in to any potential flaws, Katie's background also meant she had a deeper understanding of the possibilities of her space.
"My background in the building trade means I understood what was structurally possible, and I could see straight away that what this space lacked in footprint it more than made up for in ceiling height," says Katie.

In terms of design inspiration, Katie found herself turning to Arent&Pyke. "I love their playful use of color with the strength knocked back. That sense of calm from a slightly muted palette, paired with natural and handmade materials, such as wood, stone, and zellige. But not in a rustic way, the spaces still feel polished. That really influenced me, albeit on a considerably more modest budget," she explains.

The Process

Before embarking on this renovation, the top floor of this home was essentially a storage room, brimming with discarded belongings. Despite this, Katie was in no doubt of what this space could become. "I'd always been aware of the potential sitting above us, the height, the light, and trees, and I really wanted to make the most of it," she tells me.

And while the potential was there, that by no means meant the renovation would be an easy undertaking. "The planning stage was probably the longest part of the whole process," says Katie. Before applying for planning permission, Katie worked with Shacklewell Architects to create the plans to transform the space. "Getting that nailed at the beginning meant the build itself was relatively smooth. We went from an attic to a full loft conversion with a primary bedroom, ensuite, and balcony in about five months," she says.

As well as Shacklewell Architects, Katie also called upon George Busch Carpentry to help bring her vision to life. The team, who Katie describes as a 'dream to work with,' built the bespoke wardrobes and bed on-site, perfectly tailoring them for the space.

And as effortless as the bed may look, the process to get there was anything but. "It had to sit centrally in the room, both so we could use the space behind for wardrobes, and so the view out of the window was perfectly framed. Because of its position, it needed integrated electrics for lights and sockets, which meant it had to be built and upholstered entirely on-site," explains Katie.

In the bathroom, too, Katie sought out suppliers who could help her achieve the luxury, spa bathroom look she wanted, while staying within budget. For this, a local supplier called Roman Stone offered a solution. "You can rifle through their offcuts to find the perfect piece for a shower niche, a shelf, or a vanity top. An affordable way to genuinely elevate the look of a space," says Katie. Instead of investing in a full slab, offcuts can be a brilliant and cost-effective way to design your own marble bathroom.

In this room, the challenges mainly came from the amount of space available, or, more accurately, the lack thereof. They had to develop a bathroom layout that wouldn't eat into the bedroom width, while still maintaining enough space for all the essentials. "These are the problems nobody really talks about, but they're what bathroom design is actually about. The space is only 1.4 meters wide. There's a pocket door at the end of the shower. The towel rail position was extremely limited.

"So I installed an underfloor heating mat inside the wall at the end of the shower to warm and dry towels, a trick I first came across via Mad About the House. Where do all the towels and bath mat actually live in a tiny bathroom? Where can I store all my products? When those small needs are genuinely met, the daily experience of a space becomes so much more pleasant."

The Design

Although this design is spread across three distinct entities, there is a cohesion and fluidity that makes this loft feel more like one, continuous whole. The color palette of rust and blue remains consistent throughout. First introduced by the warm tones of the red zinc balcony, the rust color is echoed in the bathroom floor tiles and the headboard fabric. The piping around the headboard, however, is the same pale, sky blue as the Zellige tiles that cover the bathroom and the rug that covers the bedroom floor.

This use of color helps to 'zone' the space, creating a feeling of connection that runs throughout, while ensuring each feels distinct in its own right. "The weight of color shifts across the spaces; the balcony is more red, the bedroom holds the mix, and the bathroom leans blue," she explains.

This natural, earthy color palette helps to emphasize the generous amount of natural light this space is blessed with. "What hits you when you walk into the loft is the feeling of space and light, even in the bathroom," says Katie. To emphasize this, Katie opted for dramatic, oversized glazing throughout, a decision that, she says, "Makes my heart sing. That feeling of expansiveness, of sky."

In her choice of materials, too, Katie continued to refer back to nature. This can be seen through the oak woodwork, inspired by her father's work as a carpenter, as well as the handmade, beautifully imperfect Zellige tiles covering the bathroom. "I love handmade tiles and the imperfection in materials; zellige plays into this. It's incredibly tactile and pairs so well with marble. It brings movement and character to a bathroom, which can otherwise feel quite sterile, especially in blues and greens," she says.

The care and consideration put into these decisions is perhaps why Katie describes the walk-in shower as her highlight of the conversion. "As someone who designs bathrooms for a living, I'm probably harder to please than most clients, so the fact that I genuinely love going in there every morning feels like the real test," she says. "It's full of light. I used a pony wall with glazing above rather than full glass. It makes you feel slightly more cocooned, and there's marginally less cleaning. The continuity of flooring throughout, with no threshold to a shower tray, vanity on legs, and wall-hung toilet, makes the space feel bigger than it is."

Get the Look

If this space has you considering all the potential of your own abandoned attic, you're in the right place. We have answers to many of the questions you may have, including the cost of a loft conversion and the loft conversion mistakes to avoid.

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Creating a home for a student might sound like a modest brief: clean lines, a practical layout, and spaces that support ease. But simplicity, when done well, is rarely simple. In compact homes, especially, every decision must work harder, balancing function with atmosphere, and that careful tension defines this 36-square-meter apartment in Barcelona, designed for a young student as her first private space during her studies — a gift from her parents, and a home intended to feel both independent and deeply personal.

Though small in scale, it is far from quiet in spirit. Drawing on the playful irreverence of Ettore Sottsass and the Memphis movement, the apartment brings bold design thinking into a compact footprint, proving that even the tiniest home can feel power-packed, inspiring, and full of character.

Interior designer Yuliya Andrievskaya chose a serene warm-grey palette for the walls and ceiling to set the tone of this home, while custom furniture, rare ALPI veneer, and playful artistic accents handcrafted by the designer bring warmth, texture, and character to it. The result is a small modern home that feels far more layered than its size suggests.

The small living room is composed with a quiet, almost painterly restraint. A neutral palette forms the backdrop, allowing materiality to take the lead. The custom sofa offers a soft, easy perch, while the mirrored surface, veneer base coffee table introduces a cool, industrial note, and around it, the patterned console and shelves, crafted in "expressive wood veneer, chosen for its distinctive grain and warmth," bring rhythm and movement to the room. All art pieces were created specifically for the project, and the ceramics are handmade by Savour Ceramic.

Wherever possible, materials were sourced locally from Spanish artisans and European suppliers, supporting regional craftsmanship and sustainability, and metallic decor pieces were chosen to evoke an 80s-style vibe.

"The project draws inspiration from Mediterranean minimalism, Italian modernism, and contemporary European interiors," shares the designer. "Scandinavian design principles influenced the clean lines and functional clarity, while gallery-like compositions guided the placement of art and objects. Barcelona's architectural heritage and its culture of craftsmanship also played a key role, resulting in a layered yet cohesive aesthetic."

The small kitchen follows the same language of restraint, continuing the home’s quiet material rhythm. Here, the expressive wood veneer brings personality and warmth to the counters, proving that even the most functional zones can carry a sense of character, and a Carlo Nason sconce from Mazzega adds to the scheme.

"The limited space significantly shaped — and ultimately inspired — the design," says Yuliya. "Rather than viewing it as a constraint, we approached it as an opportunity for innovation. Integrated storage maximizes efficiency, and every element was designed with intention, ensuring that the apartment feels spacious, refined, and harmonious despite its compact footprint."

The tiles on the backsplash add a handcrafted, light-catching texture, while kitchen diner stools and minimalist lighting make the space feel comfortable and usable without overwhelming its modest proportions.

The bedroom, wrapped in muted tones, is a delicate balance between function and expression. Veneer side tables bring warmth and texture, while a tiny bespoke artwork on the wall and brushed-metal wall lights introduce moments of quiet personality.

"Understanding the clients' lifestyle was essential — they sought a home that felt both practical and emotionally engaging. The family had an appreciation for bold design and individuality, and that inspired the inclusion of sculptural elements and playful accents," says the designer.

The result is a room that feels calm and efficient, but never anonymous — a compact yet highly considered space shaped as much by daily rituals as by artistic instinct. In sum, the ultimate student retreat.

Interestingly, the heart of the home is the modern bathroom, where the Memphis influence comes through most vividly, especially in its nods to Ettore Sottsass.

"The heart-shaped mirror, which introduces an element of irony and delight while serving as a sculptural focal point, is my favorite detail in the home. Set against a terrazzo backdrop, it transforms an everyday object into an art piece, embodying the balance between functionality and emotional expression that defines the home," says Yuliya.

The space also channels Barcelona's vibrant, creative spirit through its material palette, light-filled atmosphere, and confident design language. Terrazzo and warm natural tones echo the city's architectural heritage, while custom cabinetry adds depth, grain, and warmth.

"Like Memphis design, the interior celebrates individuality and challenges conventional notions of minimalism by merging functionality with artistic expression," concludes Yuliya.

Love a ’70s vibe? This Aussie home offers a fresh, modern reinterpretation of the era. Plus, it's a masterclass in styling room dividers.

Though intuition plays a part in every home renovation, it takes guts to lead fully from the heart. But in the case of this classic Amsterdam townhouse, that’s exactly what its owners did, in collaboration with Dutch interior design studio Framework Studio.

Despite the rigor that its name suggests, the firm has earned its credentials by thinking outside the box, whether creating Karl Lagerfeld’s headquarters in Amsterdam or boldly combining classicism with color in the home of the studio’s founder, Thomas Geerlings. So, it’s no surprise that this modern home features all its signature moves: expect the unexpected.

Owned by a Dutch couple — one half of whom has Turkish roots — and their two boys, 10 and 14, the 18th-century house is close to the Amstel River in a central neighborhood they were long familiar with. But they knew it needed a significant restructure to accommodate family life. The solution was to bravely take the building back to brick, adding a basement and extending the first, second, and third floors in line with the ground floor’s footprint.

"We wanted to create elegant spaces where we could come together as a family, as well as cozy rooms in which to hibernate and be alone at times," says the female owner. "And, given my Mediterranean roots, I was also looking to create a different layout to those you’d typically find in historic Dutch buildings. Flow was important, but so was the idea of being timeless and bold."

Those ambitions, often opposing, were brought together in easy confluence by Framework Studio. Described by Francesca Finotti, the project’s co-lead, as "quietly surprising", the interiors balance entirely classic elements (think geometric stone flooring and elegant fire surrounds) with deeply confident pieces (inflated stainless-steel wall sculptures and chairs as art objects).

The ground floor’s tendency to darkness was countered with exposed painted beams, as well as arched doorways connecting one space to another. That shaping is repeated in the sweeping curve of the wildly generous kitchen banquette, the trellis-like backs of the dining chairs, and the bold marble-clad tub in the main bathroom.

Much of the space has been turned over to meaningful "pause points" throughout: the library table is stacked with books and two 1970s stools to perch on; the kids’ floor features a built-in daybed to lounge across, and a whole room, finished entirely in red, is devoted to chess playing.

Though the shell of this house is essentially neutral, surprising color moments hold their own. "The light blue of the kitchen cabinetry wanted to suggest a connection to the Mediterranean," says Francesca, "while the red study just wanted to be unexpected and sexy."

A relaxed rejection of trends contributes to that easy design confidence. And function works just as well as form. "The house now accommodates all our needs, including the boring logistics like utilities and cloakrooms, which leaves more time for fun," says the owner. "We cook together as a family, host dinner parties, work, study, watch movies, and have big sleepovers."

Fresh and dynamic, yet grounded and timeless, this is a renovation that shows fortune really does favor the brave.

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In the Livingetc office, the mood was like when Geri left the Spice Girls. Late last year, Scott Maddux and Jo leGleud, the duo behind Maddux Creative, announced a shock split, ending a creative partnership that had lasted 15 years, seen them appear in our pages countless times, and featured one of their modern home projects on our cover.

Of course, this being the always-friendly interior design industry rather than the tempestuous world of pop, there isn’t much of a story (despite the surprise among our team) — it felt like a natural time to evolve. "We’ve simply gone our own ways to pursue our own creative paths," Scott says, as he launches a new design studio under his full name, Scott Maddux, while Jo leGleud is taking on renovation projects under her own name, too.

The pair were incredibly influential in how they so effortlessly decorate with color, creating projects that read as dazzling bouquets, each room unfurling like a variegated rose, with hues layered together as delicately as petals. Happily, that creative spirit has continued into their last joint project, working on a historic townhouse in a conservation area in west London.

"We talked a lot about color, and the owners wanted to create a family home that was filled with joy," says Scott. "As the project went on, they got braver and braver about what they would let us do — and we have created a home that has personality shining through it."

And it’s true. The moody purple entryway leads to a pink-and-green kitchen, a chartreuse living room with an orange couch, a dusky pink lounge with a watermelon sofa, then up to bedrooms in dark blue, red, and yellow. "Every aspect of this home is joyful," Scott says. "You walk around it with a smile on your face."

But this isn’t just color for color’s sake. There are details here that make all the difference, from the wallpaper inside the kitchen's skylight, which so smartly fills an empty space, it’s hard to believe everyone doesn’t do it (though, Scott says — "don’t try this at home folks, it was really, really hard" — so perhaps that’s why), to the unexpected glass bubble around the bath and shower in the main suite, which has the dual purpose of sectioning off the toilet and making the bathing area feel cocooned.

"The house was a complicated space, being Grade II-listed and having to play home to three kids with a lot of stuff," Scott says. "But through hard work, we created a wonderfully playful sense that permeates the entire home." And that could well be his mission statement for his next era — a studio serious about decor that feels fun.

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We are in the Hudson Valley, upstate New York. Between tall trees and rolling hills sits a converted barn, the home of Rachel and Nick Cope, founders of Calico Wallpaper. With a worn, wooden facade, large windows, and an extension with a grass-covered roof, the house is surrounded by a landscape that blurs the boundaries between forest and garden, interior and landscape. This is also what made the couple fall for the modern home in the first place.

"We were drawn to the quiet immediacy of the landscape, the way the house sits within it rather than apart from it," the Copes say, who lived in New York for many years but were seeking more space, physically as well as creatively. "It felt like a place where we could slow down and really pay attention to light, to weather, and to each other," they add.

The couple hired designers and long-time collaborators Sarah Zames and Colin Stief at General Assembly to design their new home. When they began working on the place, it already boasted wooden floors, lots of natural light, and soft transitions between inside and outside.

"It was a beautiful structure, but lacked some of the couple's personality," says Colin. They introduced layers that reflected the Copes' work, community, and history.

Early on, they all agreed that they wanted the house to feel like a living gallery, not something sharp and austere, pairing art pieces and design made by friends and collaborators with more simplistic wooden furniture — vintage and new. It was all about accumulation rather than composition, the Cope couple says. As a result, the home reflects the couple's authentic and multi-faceted style, not unlike their own wallpaper designs.

Rachel and Nick are partners in business as well as in life. Together, they founded Calico Wallpaper, collaborating with renowned designers and artists on beautiful wallpapers that exist in a world far from your grandmother's living room. Calico was born in 2013, during Hurricane Sandy, when the flooding constrained the couple inside.

"We were forced to reconsider our surroundings," they say of that time. Through translating Rachel's artworks into wallpaper, the company took shape. Years later, the pandemic once again prompted the couple to take a closer look at the nature around them — this time in their Hudson Valley home.

Selecting wallpapers for their new home, however, was not an easy task. Just as important as choosing the designs was knowing when to hold back.

They did not want the house to become a living portfolio, Colin says. Instead, the designers proceeded with care, using the designs sparingly and balancing them out with quieter surfaces like plaster, a material that emphasizes natural light.

"The views outside are such a huge part of the interior. In the living room, the palette and furniture are very minimal to not distract from the wide-open view," says Colin.

The use of wood — especially oak — was already a consistent material language when they began working on the house, providing a foundation for the overall palette.

Vintage wooden Alpine chairs and Shaker-inspired benches are combined with a modern oak-covered kitchen, each expressing the material in its own way.

In the wallpapered rooms, the walls are the artworks. This allows the clean lines of simpler pieces of furniture to stand out, such as the long wooden table in the dining room, paired with the bright, abstract palette of the Fragments wallpaper, inspired by the colors outside the window.

In their daughter's room, an evening sky covers walls and ceilings, making the low mezzanine bed literally feel like it's floating among clouds.

The more playful pieces of furniture and bold textures are saved for the light-walled rooms. The Lindsey Adelman pendant hanging over their dining table is one of their favorite accents, and brings movement to the room's otherwise minimal furniture.

Colorful, sculptural creations by British designer Faye Toogood sit in the living room and by the entrance, creating a dynamic contrast to the warm oak floors and clean surfaces.

The placement of the Misha Kahn mirror in the living room was inspired by how the children navigate the house, Rachel says. "Seeing how they inhabit the space brings a sense of playfulness to everything," the owners explain.

To incorporate Rachel and Nick's style in your own home, editing is just as important as adding something new. Furniture, art, or wallpaper, a statement piece always exists in relation to the other, and shines when it doesn't have to compete for attention.

Wallpapers can completely change the feeling of a room, but so can a big window. By considering the view outside as part of your home, unexpected colors, shapes, and movement become part of the room.

Rachel and Nick admit that their favorite part of the house changes as the day progresses, reflecting the changing of the light.

Several of the artists and designers featured in the house are also collaborators of Calico. Toogood's designs, for example, dress the walls of Nick's upstairs office. Just like large, black brushstrokes against a light backdrop cover its surfaces, contrasts also characterize the room in relationship to the rest of the house.

Here, soft wooden floors are replaced with gray carpets, and the natural light is dimmed with darker black-colored furniture.

The heavy clash with the rest of the house made this Colin's preferred room in the project — a more introspective space for ideas to ruminate before they are let out into the open, or into their next client's home.

It captures what the house represents: "it's a bit of everything, and that balance is essential to us. It's a space for family life, for gathering, for working, and for solitude."

Browse our modern homes pages to revisit our exploration of hundreds of houses worth stealing inspiration from.

Stepping into this converted loft condo in Chicago, it's clear the apartment is designed for pleasure over business, from the integrated bar to the speakeasy-style couch. The owners never intended it to be a practical work-a-day home, but instead a fun hangout for intimate gatherings, whether that's an impromptu dinner after a ballet downtown, pre-game snacks, or cocktail hour before heading out to the West Loop.

The goal in decorating the apartment was for the 1,250-square-foot floorplan to feel 'jewel box-like' rather than utilitarian; less workhorse and more occasion-driven. "Because this isn't the homeowners' primary residence, it allowed for bolder design decisions," reveals Sarah Goesling, owner and principal designer at Goesling Group. "It's rich in color, emotion, and memory. Inspired by Fleetwood Mac's Songbird, it was designed to feel special, expressive, and full of life. Every piece tells a story, from hand-printed wallpaper to repurposed vintage finds."

Drawn to the condo for its character-rich bones and prime location, the homeowners turned to Goesling Group to reimagine the space after previous renovations fell flat. Originally constructed in 1872 after the Great Chicago Fire, the structure is part of the landmarked Holden Block — one of the city's last-standing examples of Italianate-style architecture.

It required a full gut remodel, involving a full-scale renovation of the kitchen and bathrooms, along with custom furnishings and new cabinetry throughout. Preserving and highlighting the brick walls — some previously concealed by drywall — was central to the design: it created that loft apartment-style aesthetic and provided a characterful backdrop to the key living space.

"The homeowners wanted everything to look like it had been there forever and honor the history of the property," says Sarah. "So we leaned into raw and natural finishes that would show their age over time and focused on sourcing repurposed materials and furnishings from vintage collections."

The kitchen layout has been reimagined for entertaining, with the dining table doubling up as an island, maintaining the owners' priority for "cute dinner parties" rather than heavy kitchen prep. Anything "practical" is discreetly tucked away; concealed Sub-Zero drawers and paneled appliances maintain a seamless, "living room" vibe, while the walnut and brass-trimmed hood feels more like a sculptural piece than a purely functional element.

The custom home bar area was also a top priority for the client and a real highlight — the glass-and-brass racking system adds glamour while providing a subtle nod to the space's industrial past. "The ceilings in the space are tall, which gave us the opportunity to dial up the drama and explore how to enlarge the space with its petite footprint," says Sarah.

Sarah worked with O'Brien Harris to create custom cabinetry for the space — previously a dull 1990s builder-grade kitchen — inspired by the property's 19th-century roots with striking, saturated blue cabinetry, walnut interiors, and brass accents.

"This project allowed us to push bold color in a deeply personal way," says Sarah. "Together we landed on a custom blue-green cabinetry finish that felt eye-catching but still timeless, which flows from the kitchen into the bar and coffee bar areas for a unified, immersive feel."

This seamless integration was key to the success of the project — the dining, kitchen, and living spaces have been deliberately designed to invite conversation and togetherness, whether it's for an intimate four-person dinner or a gathering for 15 people.

In the dining area, a restored 19th-century French fruitwood trestle table from Chairish is paired with Circa Hendricks pendants and a refinished vintage 1960s Danish teak sideboard, creating a curated balance of eclectic modernism. The milky orb light fittings over the table were positioned precisely to match the height of the cabinetry, bringing a presence and sense of grandeur to the space.

A large rug zones the living space and instantly creates a cozy feel, with the fireplace mantel — a vintage piece gifted to the homeowner by a close friend — acting as a cherished focal point. The alcove doubles up as a home bar, with glasses, serveware, and spirits within easy reach. The plush red button-backed chaise longue sofa provides both a comfy spot for guests to perch, but also brings warmth and a pop of color, tying cleverly to the Morris & Co Blackthorn wallpaper used in the bedroom beyond.

In the two sleep spaces, Sarah reintroduced the curved wall treatment and picture molding to bring character back into the rooms, with iconic William Morris wallpapers chosen for their link to the Arts and Crafts era — a movement prevalent during the 1870s when the condo was constructed. Rich timber floors and exposed brickwork bring warmth and texture, while floor-to-ceiling velvet drapes and oversized rugs keep it cozy.

According to Sarah, the most complicated element of the transformation was the primary bathroom and mudroom, which involved reorganizing the mechanicals to open up access to the furnace and service its filters. She also added a laundry in-unit and reorganized the primary bathroom to accentuate its brick walls and add a double vanity.

In the hall bath, Sarah chose classic subway tiles and a bold navy to ground the height of the room. Bold floor tiles bring the scheme together and prevent it from feeling cold, as does the upcycled mid-century walnut vanity unit, merging sustainability with luxury.

"In this project, we prioritized integrating vintage and repurposed materials in a way that feels elegant and modern versus rustic," says Sarah. "These touches create a feeling of warmth and soul — touches that truly make a difference when hosting."

"The result is a bold, highly personalized transformation that balances the openness of loft living with rich detail, expressive materiality, and a design sensibility made for entertaining."

This Goesling Group's project isn't the sole renovation to put a sense of togetherness and familiarity front and center. Elsewhere in the world, designer Victoria-Maria's recently completed reinvention of a Brussels home evokes emotion and memories through color.

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Nestled in the heart of London's Little Venice — a calming stretch of canals filled with narrowboats and water cafés — this once-dark early-1900s townhouse is now a beautiful, light-filled home that is as surprising as it is tranquil.

Julia Baydyk, founder of Alta Idea interior design studio, was tasked by her clients — "young professionals with exquisite taste" who are passionate about nature and travel — to create something truly unique. "Even though the house is in central London, they wanted it to feel completely different from everything they had seen before, both nearby and elsewhere. That is why we placed a strong emphasis on making the space feel airy, fresh, and full of light," she explains.

Taking 16 months to complete, this modern home project was challenging from the start — involving the creation of a large rear extension, and adding a new room by digging out a study — but with an open dialogue, trust, and a shared sense of values between Julia and her clients, the complex renovation unfolded with precision and clarity from the outset.

"From the very beginning, we wanted to create a home in natural shades, something warm, calm, and cozy, with a strong connection to light and nature," explains Julia Baydyk.

One of the main ways Julia achieved this was by creating the stunning, vast skylight as part of the rear extension, which opened up the space and allowed as much natural light as possible to flood in.

"Before the renovation, the ceiling height on the lower ground floor was only 2.3 meters, and it was extremely important for my client that both floors should feel almost equal in height. So we carried out underpinning on the lower ground floor and increased the ceiling height to 3.2 meters, while the ground floor is 3.4.

"This is very unusual for London, and in my opinion, it makes the project absolutely unique, because it is very rare to find a house where the ground floor and lower ground floor have such generous, nearly equal proportions. That change, together with the skylight, completely transformed the space's feeling," shares Julia.

The rounded curves of the island, dining table, and chairs add a softness to the space, while the natural wood tones add warmth and depth.

The shape, size, and materiality of the table and island create a visual connection between the kitchen and dining areas, and this creates the balance in design that Julia and her clients were hoping to achieve — both here and throughout the home.

"In the downstairs living space, we used a "cloud tree," or they call it Japanese holly, Ilex crenata," Julia shares. "I love using greenery like this because it adds softness and sculptural form at the same time, and it strengthens the connection between the interior and the garden outside."

Microcement was also used extensively throughout the home — on the floors, and in some places, on the walls and ceilings — adding warmth and depth, and a quiet luxury aesthetic. "Microcement gives a very timeless feeling, almost something eternal, which was exactly what we were looking for.

"The main color was custom-mixed on site. We made several samples, and the final tone was the one that both my client and I felt was absolutely right. So this color does not have a specific reference number," explains Julia.

"My client loves cooking, but she also loves very clean lines and visually calm spaces," says Julia. "She asked me if it would be possible to hide the kitchen in some way, and that is how this concept was born."

This hidden kitchen is a thing of beauty and is one of the many examples of how flexibility is a defining element of the home's interiors.

The full-height sliding panels were crafted from veneered wood and are also used in other areas throughout the home, such as the hallway and the kitchen, adding to the cohesive feel. This was so that "the kitchen feels fully integrated into the architecture rather than standing apart from it," Julia explains.

"This continuity of material was very important because it made the whole space feel calm, seamless, and intentional."

One of the project's biggest challenges was local regulations, specifically related to the property's modern kitchen. "Because the kitchen is open-plan, we were required to have a mist fire suppression system," Julia explains. "Usually, this would mean having a lot of visible sprinkler heads across the ceiling, which would have looked very technical and would have completely disturbed the clean ceiling design.

"Instead, we installed an automatic mist system that stays hidden inside the walls and only opens automatically if smoke or fire is detected. For us, this was a very important technical solution, because it allowed us to keep the ceiling visually pure."

In the ground-floor hallway, the entire wall is mirrored with the bronze mirrors that Julia loves and uses throughout the home.

"These full-height mirrors were made without any horizontal breaks, which made them incredibly difficult to deliver and install — you can imagine what a challenge that was," she shares. "But it was absolutely worth it, because they bring depth, warmth, and reflection in a very elegant way."

All of the furniture in this project was custom-made, so that everything was uniquely tailored to the architecture of each space, including the headboards in both the guest room and the primary modern bedroom.

"In the guest bedroom, we designed vertical bronze panels with integrated LED lighting, which create a very elegant, soft atmosphere. In the principal bedroom, the lighting is more horizontal and was designed to illuminate the textured microcement wall behind the bed, bringing out its materiality and depth in a very subtle way," says Julia.

Four Corners was the Ukrainian manufacturer responsible for the design of this stunning vanity stool. "We had the structure painted in our own custom color, and then the fabric was selected very carefully to work perfectly with that tone. I love this kind of detail because even a small piece can feel completely integrated into the room's overall design language," explains Julia.

Another standout feature is the textured wall in the bathroom — a detail that entirely transforms the space.

"I had this wall in mind from the very beginning, because I wanted to emphasize the curve that appears on the left-hand side of the ceiling and continues down into the wall. I also wanted to make this wall visually different, because when the clients are lying in bed, and the bathroom door is open, they can see this surface and enjoy looking at it," shares Julia.

"I call these textures transitions of slate or cut pieces of natural stone. They become especially beautiful when the lighting is on, because the shadows bring them to life. To create this wall, the craftsman and I spent several days and made several trials on site until we found the right pattern. It is completely handmade and was created directly in the space."

The sunset tones of this modern bathroom spark joy and imbue a soft sense of serenity that is equally felt throughout the home.

"One of the most special details is the circular bronze mirror in the bathroom. It is softly backlit, and the composition feels almost sculptural because the mirror interacts so beautifully with the curved architecture and textured walls around it. What I love most is that the design is not only decorative, it also conceals practical shelving behind the mirrored surface, so it combines beauty with function in a very seamless way," explains Julia.

At the end of this modern garden hides a wonderful secret — "There used to be a shed there, and we completely transformed it into a yoga house. Now my clients have the opportunity to exercise, meditate, and use their outdoor space to the fullest without having to go anywhere," says Julia.

"You can walk from the living room along a beautiful garden path, where each section of the stone walkway is softly illuminated with LED lighting. In the evening, it looks especially beautiful and creates a very calm, atmospheric journey through the garden.

"And then you arrive at your own private yoga house, where you can work out or meditate, feeling as though you are far away from everything, while still being right in the middle of central London."

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The complex renovation of this property was worth every bit of the problem-solving process the designer went through on an almost daily basis. It respects the building's past but reimagines it as a serene, contemporary space that is in perfect harmony with its owners.

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A childhood home is never just a house. It is a living archive of scraped knees and slammed doors, of holiday feasts, exam-night silences, and the particular groan of a staircase that only family members know by heart. Over generations, it ages, but it never quite lets go and remains emotionally intact. Such is the story of this 600-square-meter, eight-bedroom Brussels home where the client grew up, which was designed in a more traditional style for a family of five. But when he acquired the property for himself, his wife and their two children, the couple sought to give it a fresher spirit.

To help reimagine it into a modern home, they enlisted interior architect and designer Victoria-Maria, who was tasked with reinterpreting it while honoring its generous bones. While nothing was retained from the old house, color became the mainstay. "Each room has its own identity thanks to its color scheme, but there is a continuity in undertones; nothing feels isolated," says Victoria-Maria. Vintage furniture picks, however, infuse the interiors with nostalgia, gently reminding the family of their roots and the home's endearing history.

The house unfolds across several levels. On the ground floor are a large living room, two separate home offices, a kitchen and dining area, a library, and ancillary spaces, including a mudroom and guest WC. The first floor contains the parents' suite, a guest bedroom, and a utility room. The second floor accommodates three children's bedrooms, a shared bathroom, and a playroom, while the basement houses a gym, technical spaces, a multipurpose room, and a fully self-contained guest suite.

The home does not subscribe to a single decorative theme. Instead, it feels collected and carefully curated, layered with comfort, polish, and a lightly lived-in quality. "To achieve this, we combined elegant pieces with softer textures, natural materials, and subtle patinas," shares Victoria-Maria.

The modern living room is a case in point: generous in scale and strongly connected to the outdoors, with abundant natural light. "We started with a very restrained palette of soft neutrals, which allowed us to work more subtly through texture and materiality rather than strong contrasts," the designer explains.

A sofa designed by Augustin Rose and upholstered in a Zimmer + Rohde fabric anchors the room, while adding a sumptuous dose of color. Nods to the home's vintage spirit come through in the 1940s living room accent chairs, sourced via Vintage Hoarder, which lend the scheme a subtle sense of history. "The straw marquetry coffee table is a key piece; it adds a tactile, almost artisanal quality that contrasts with the softness of the seating," Victoria-Maria says.

An especially striking presence is Peter Halley's abstract artwork Six Prisons (2004), which plays a crucial role in the overall composition. "It introduces a graphic and conceptual layer that offsets the softness of the interior. The piece was sourced through Ars Belga (Sybille du Roy de Blicquy), and was chosen very specifically for its ability to hold the space without overwhelming it," shares the designer.

Not to be overlooked, the living room rug became, in Victoria-Maria's words, "the key element in anchoring the living room". A Persian rug from Pierre Frey (the Theodora) was chosen for its slightly faded tones and intricate pattern. Introducing a quiet patina, this is yet another subtle gesture that nods back to the home's vintage soul.

The dining room takes on a more enveloping mood, with walls swathed in a blue Dedar moiré that lends the space an almost jewel-box richness. A coordinating blue paint from Ressource deepens the effect, creating an immersive, tonal backdrop that feels both dramatic and refined. "Each element was selected to contribute to a strong, cohesive atmosphere rather than stand out individually," says Victoria-Maria.

Against this saturated setting, the Calix chairs by Cardonès introduce a sculptural clarity, their silhouettes offering a subtle counterpoint to the softness and movement of the moiré-lined walls. Underfoot, Pierre Frey's Duke rug helps root the scheme, bringing a sense of warmth and ease that keeps the room from feeling overly formal or staged.

The decorative accents were approached with a more intuitive hand. "The Shibuis pieces from WANNAS, sourced from Surat in India, were a particular favorite," states the designer. "They bring a handcrafted, almost raw quality that contrasts with the more controlled and refined aspects of the room. I had an immediate attraction to them; they introduce texture, irregularity, and a certain warmth that makes the space feel less rigid."

As in most homes, it is the family room that truly draws everyone together — here, wrapped in a luscious deep Bordeaux hue, complemented with pleasing pink sofas. "The tone reflects the clients' personal preference and creates a clear contrast with the lighter, more open areas of the house," says Victoria-Maria.

For a calm work-from-home environment, the home office is intentionally free of visual clutter, its mood shaped by a soft, restrained palette. "The simplicity of the room allows the architecture and natural light to take center stage, which helps the space feel both airy and grounding," adds the interior designer.

The desk, with its clean lines and timeless silhouette, offers a practical workspace without feeling too weighty or dominant within the room. Meanwhile, the chair was chosen as much for its comfort as for its sculptural presence, its legs so wonderfully unique.

The staircase, a sculptural, winding presence at the heart of the home, reads almost like an artwork in itself, transforming circulation into something far more atmospheric. "I love having rugs on stairs, it makes going upstairs feel more inviting and less architectural. It also adds comfort and helps reduce noise," says Victoria-Maria. Rather than being treated as incidental leftover spaces, the landings have been approached as considered moments within the home's rhythm.

"We introduced a mix of pieces — from Bella Silva ceramics to works sourced through Ars Belga — alongside a Morrentz sideboard and a folding screen by Bondeel & Weyers. The idea was to create small pauses throughout the vertical circulation, almost like informal galleries."

In the master bedroom, the aim was to create a retreat-like space, quieter and more restrained than the rest of the house. "We worked with a palette of muted blues, greens, and soft yellow undertones to create a layered but very calm atmosphere. The focus was on comfort and proportion rather than statement pieces," says Victoria-Maria.

The guest bathroom takes a more playful turn, embracing color and pattern with walls clad in Bisazza mosaics and wooden blinds by Atelier Souveraine. "In most spaces, color is used less as a statement and more as a way of structuring the experience of the house," avers the designer.

"While there is still an emotional attachment to the place and its history, our work hinged on reinterpreting it to adapt it to their current way of living, and to modernize it for the future," concludes the designer.

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"I’m not sure it’s clear enough from the photos how important the bath is to the entire flat," says the architect Micah Sarut. "It’s right in the middle of it." This central bathroom has three different windows looking out into the living room, dining area and bedroom. "You can be in the bath having a conversation with somebody sitting on the sofa, for example."

Better still, you can invite everyone to join in. The bath, measuring a meter by almost two meters, was inspired by Japanese communal bathing, and with its efficient water-reheating and -recycling system, always stays the same temperature. "You can keep it going for a couple of days," says Micah.

Indeed, Japanese design principles were the key inspiration for the renovation of this Grade-II listed, fifth-floor apartment siting right on Silicon Roundabout in East London — the client is "very familiar" with its culture, and Micah lived and studied there. But they were keen "not to produce something that was overtly Japanese," he adds. "It’s more, ‘If you know you know’ — though the way everything is put together is really quite Japanese."

For example, the toilet is not in the bathroom but on the other side of the flat, in accordance with Japanese architectural rules. The hallway, meanwhile, is designed for taking shoes off, with a designated shoe cupboard. The circular window into the bedroom is a reference to moongates, the arched passageways found in Chinese and Japanese gardens, while the moss green paint used throughout the flat references Japan's traditional moss gardens.

And, Micah adds, "traditional Japanese houses have a flow that’s very fluid." To achieve this in an open-plan space, and avoid it "feeling like an aeroplane hangar", Micah used modular furniture. With the B&B Italia sofa, you can completely change its orientation with "a quick snap of the wrist"; the custom dining table, meanwhile, comprises four separate triangular pieces: "You’re going to finish all the wine before you get through all the possible combinations," says Micah. The effect, he adds, is that in one room, "you've got 17 different experiences happening."

But surely the coolest feature is a pill-shaped internal door that references the vintage anime series Doraemon, where Micah explains, "a big blue cat — a cultural icon in Japan — travels through time to aid a boy. He had something called the "Go anywhere door", a secret door that took him anywhere he wanted; a portal into a very different world.”

Micah’s interpretation of the secret door leads off the living space into a forest-green relaxation room with tatami, with a steaming bath in the room beyond.

In stark contrast to all the mindful Japanese touches is the visible scarring of WW1 and WW2 bomb damage, of which Micah has made a virtue. "We peeled back the plasterboards from a very cheap conversion to expose the true nature of the building, and got very excited by its history and roughness."

Although between the bombings and rebuilds over the years, "there is very little of the original style left,” he notes, “there are lots of really interesting structural features", such as the clinker concrete ceilings and steelwork. "Originally, the interior would have been very utilitarian," he adds, "so it was about bringing that back a bit; this shell is actually the soul of the building."

With the client being a film colorist and the designer a former artist, it’s perhaps not surprising that color was the cornerstone of this Greenwich Village apartment’s aesthetic.

In fact, there were some pretty erudite references on the mood board for this modern home — for example, French film director Jacques Tati’s 1950s comedy Mon Oncle. "The film has these interesting colors," says the project’s principal designer, Keren Richter. "A lemon chiffon, a cherry red, a saturated blue — primary colors, but not super literal."

Playfulness was also an important part of the brief. The intention was to create a "joyful place that’s fun to share with friends", says Keren Richter, who is one half of New York design studio White Arrow. There’s a custom DJ station as the client’s boyfriend loves to DJ; a sofa spanning two-thirds of a circle that’s built for socializing; plus an immersive home bar.

Even the design references are lighthearted, albeit with a somewhat cultured take. "The sense of humor here is maybe not evident to everybody, but there’s something playful happening," Keren explains. So there are references to the art of American sculptor Alexander Calder, to the fresh, pioneering spirit of 1950s graphic design, and to the works of Charles and Ray Eames, "with really saturated, bold colors, but done in a very lively way".

Color was key in bringing the joy. "Blue and red are really fun together," says Keren, as are other Crayola colors, "although you don’t want something to feel like it’s a kindergarten classroom — it has to be done with sophistication."

While the existing apartment needed no structural or plumbing work, there were some practical issues to address. For example, the home lacked clever storage ideas, plus there were some "strong triangular shapes" in the floor plan that the client didn’t like, so Keren created a wall of cabinetry for clothing, which also "absorbed the irregularity of the bedroom".

And while the apartment was generously sized, Keren wanted it to feel intimate — so she zoned the open-plan area, with, say, a screen or a big rug, to create the sense of a room within a room. In addition, she harnessed pendant lighting "as a way of defining spaces" — in fact, she even lowered the ceiling throughout in order to install it.

The home is also filled with an impressive collection of design classics — yet not so many that it starts to feel like a showroom. The key, says Keren, is to strike "a balance between referencing the past, but also creating a space that’s rooted in contemporary design and today’s design language — that’s what makes it feel young and cool".

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Brian Woulfe’s projects always carry a certain warmth — a subtle, soft-focus richness that has become something of a signature. As the founder of Designed by Woulfe, he has perfected the pairing of subdued creamy hues with tactile, plush finishes — orchestrating airy curations and bathing his spaces in a golden glow.

There is an instinctive gentleness to his rooms — a sense of calm that comes not from minimalism, but from the careful tempering of color, so that everything feels both elevated and deeply comforting. Light in his schemes is never harsh; it’s refracted through smoked glass and onyx and marbled frames, all quietly and irresistibly opulent.

For this modern home, an apartment in Notting Hill, his starting point was to give that cream a little kick — turning the space into the visual equivalent of the most indulgent café au lait. "The palette is warm, a bit French," he says. "Being in this space feels like being given a giant hug."

The secret, he explains, lies in his shrewd color selection — a Designed by Woulfe signature. "We completely avoided white, so the softer pigments cradle you. In summer, the daylight makes everything glow; in winter, instead of dull grayness, you get wonderful comfort."

At just over 160 square metres, the apartment isn’t tiny, but it came with challenges — such as a dog-leg offshoot from the back of the open-plan living area that had once been the kitchen, as well as an overall lack of architectural charm. "It was essentially a blank shell," says Brian.

There was no ornamental character to fall back on — no original fireplace or dado rail waiting to be revived. So he added everything: new cornices, fresh paneling, even using plasterwork and trimless vents as curtain pelmets to disguise air-conditioning ducts. "We wanted to create a sense of quiet luxury without obvious flourish," he explains. "You shouldn’t be able to see how the room is working so hard."

And that awkward dog-leg? Brian reimagined the floor plan completely, turning it into an office area and pulling the new, modern kitchen back into the main living space. "Now there’s a direct line of sight between the two," he says. "Whoever’s cooking feels part of the room." The kitchen itself follows the same gently toned palette, with soft metallic notes and warm stone surfaces adding depth without disrupting the serenity.

The result is a home with real cohesion — where each zone gently shifts through muted tone and texture, and the abundant natural light becomes the most flattering design element of all. "We used liquid metal on all the joinery, which gently patinas and catches the light," says Brian.

"Then there’s the geometric oak parquet, the metal inlay bars framing each room, and the ironmongery around the windows." These finely drawn details speak to one another, blending like the marbled swirls in a latte.

The result is a space that feels layered yet weightless, contemporary yet enduring. "The effect," says Brian, "is timeless — a harmony of amber tones where nothing ever feels flat."

If you like this calming home, you might like this Mallorcan finca, designed to allow you to kick back and relax.

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"One of the first things we picked out was the kitchen backsplash, it pulls so many colors," California-based interior designer Abbie Naber of A. Naber Design recalls. The kitchen features multicolored zellige mosaic, which has been intentionally repeated in new architectural features like the wall niches created by T7 Architecture. This family renovation project began in the winter of 2023, and ended just as the clients were expecting their third child.

Their brief was for a complete makeover of the multi-level 1980s property. Drawing on inspiration from their travels around Europe, they were particularly taken with Portuguese tiles and, more locally, Santa Barbara's Spanish Modern vernacular homes.

The kitchen hadn't even been a part of the original plan, but a leak changed everything. "In the beginning, we were not going to touch that space," Naber explains. "At the last minute, we had to include it and work within the footprint that was already there because everything else was already set." The constraints turned out to be a gift. The resulting kitchen, with its dark ocean-blue island and the statement backsplash, sets the tone for the entire scheme.

You enter the house through frosted crittall-style doors onto one of the upper floors that hosts the open plan living area. The main living room is considered and welcoming. Here, a Community Manufacturing sofa provides ample space for everyone to gather in front of the modern fireplace.

In large part, the interior walls remain neutral, the main living spaces, kitchen, and breakfast nook are kept in Simply White by Benjamin Moore.

In the nook, Naber enhances the natural wood finish of the beams and engineered flooring with an original painting by Solomiya Zelenska and a distinctive Pinch pendant light, offering additional illumination for the family to enjoy casual meals.

"The result really is a testament to the client trusting and collaborating," Naber explains.

"When we first met, we spoke about what they liked, and the husband mentioned traveling to Europe, particularly Portugal, and talked about the green and blue colors."

Naber translated these memories into everyday tactile experiences throughout the home, giving each zone a personality while remaining unified throughout.

In the lower-ground den, which the family uses to gather and watch films, Naber applied a peach hue that makes the West-facing room feel like a cocoon.

The roman blinds draw down to further cloak the room while the matching custom-made poufs provide a footrest for comfort. There's a sideboard and a media unit sourced from CB2, while the rug is from Armadillo.

Further down on the basement level is a pool room that has received a more restrained treatment. Naber has chosen to hang prints instead of original pieces of art.

"It's a flexible space where you can entertain or watch sports," she explains. "We didn't put anything in there that's too precious, and the price point of the furniture is lower than in other areas." Even on a modest budget, Naber still manages to deliver a tasteful finish.


In one of the children's bedrooms, artwork by LA-based Colombian artist Shaskia Cuaspa draws you in, while the textiles play further with patterns and geometry. Although layered here, the deep shades help it remain restful and not cluttered.

In the associated bathroom, a unique skirting design on the lower part of the wall adds an element of fun. The checkerboard is in the same style, but a different size and color from the blue and white of the floor tiles.

"I enjoyed being more playful; you could argue that the checkerboard effect is in this case both trendy and timeless," Naber muses. This energy is amplified in a "pint-sized" powder room where color really comes alive.

"I love that the wife wanted something wild and off-the-wall," she enthuses. "You can do that in a small space." The best part was her commitment to the wallpaper and to painting the remaining walls in terracotta.

The project came together in two years, ending just as the clients welcomed their new addition.

While unforeseen delays led to a change of plans, it also opened up the opportunity to create a considered scheme that speaks to family memories of sun, sea, and European travels, one that plenty of other people will be able to resonate with, too.

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When faced with a renovation most would run from, designers Enrique Ventosa and Ana Arana of design house Plutarco saw nothing but potential. To them, this Madrid villa's dilapidated appearance was merely hiding architectural gems that would later be uncovered and blended into a modernist masterpiece.

"We found the building in a deplorable state. It had been abandoned for many years, and the floors were built halfway up the windows, so it was very important for us to treat it as a blank canvas where we could build and reimagine the spaces from scratch," the designers say.

To begin their journey, research was fundamental. But not into Madrid's architectural scene alone. Enrique and Ana wanted to draw inspiration from the 1935 period as a whole, resulting in a design for this modern home moulded by a much broader European style.

"We researched what other modernist villas were being built at the same time in different parts of the world, to understand and connect with the era in which this house was born," says Ana. The results echo throughout the design. From the terrazzo kitchen flooring reminiscent of Milanese palazzi, to the more utilitarian Scandinavian splashback, this melting pot of design influences comes together in total harmony.

Of course, there are certain advantages to stripping a building back to its core structure and feeling the freedom of an undefined floor plan. As designers Ana and Enrique explain, "the house opens onto two courtyards, one of which is a private street and the other a very large interior courtyard, a very unusual structure in Madrid. This spaciousness and privacy were key in deciding that the living area should be located in the lounge, in a quiet and peaceful space on both sides."

To make this central space feel flexible and versatile, the designers decided to play with multi-functional room dividers. "The movable screen plays an important role," says Ana. "During the day, it functions as a tiled wall, and at night or when you want to change the atmosphere, it can be turned around to reveal a mirror. Behind it is a piece of art by Xevi Sola, one of our favourite artists from the Alzueta gallery, who always supports us."

Design-led as this project was, the Spanish art of socializing had to work hand in hand with any design choices. This central living space was to be a place of comfort and connection; that much was non-negotiable.

"We love to think of the dining room as a social space, where there is time and space to stay and chat. That's why we connected it directly to the living room, allowing for different scenarios. We believe that this connection between rooms is key to making the space feel changeable."

The designers' social concerns extend to the furniture, too — particularly its comfort. "We designed the dining room furniture ourselves. The chairs are called Escote, because of their obvious shape, and the idea was that they should be super comfortable, so that you could spend long periods of time after dinner," says Enrique. "We love to think of the dining room as a social space, where there is time and space to stay and chat."

To this duo, aesthetics are nothing without the furniture to enjoy them in. The villa is scattered with indulgent, comfortable seating options. Whether that be the deep private upper floor STV striped sofa, designed by the duo for Rabadán, or the wide bespoke upholstered dining chairs.

According to Ana, "the blue lower floor sofa by Arflex was essential. We wanted it to be very cozy and very soft." Part of the iconic Strips collection for Italian furniture design house Arflex, the Strips sofa design was originally formed in the late 1960s by Italian designer Cini Boeri. This one-armed variation features the brand's comforting steel-blue Swing col.02 fabric, adding a calming meditative shade that contrasts with the terracotta high-gloss vaulted ceiling.

As the project progressed, it became clear to designers Enrique and Ana that the villa's ceilings weren't truly representative of the building's construction period.

"Ceilings are very important to us, so we decided to build vaults, a feature widely used at that time, and we opted for high gloss to better reflect the light."

Upstairs, the ceiling motif continues in the villa's most private area — the living space and accompanying dressing room. Enrique explains, "A small study leads to the dressing room, inspired by a Japanese temple, with a conical ceiling and grid-patterned wood paneling. We wanted the bedroom to convey a sense of tranquillity."

"We always say that dark colors embrace you, which is why the vaulted ceiling is midnight blue, with integrated light bulbs that look like stars and a constellation hand-painted by Jesús Colmenero."

Of course, the beauty of this project lies in the detailed blend between its traditional architecture and contemporary finishes: the vaulted ceiling design coated in a high-gloss finish; warm cherrywood kitchen cabinets that glow red from a nearby crimson vinyl-draped door; the oak-paneled dressing room ceiling that frames curved modern chestnut-brown built-in storage. So much of the blending is accomplished through the materials themselves, as opposed to their individual design, as Enrique explains.

"In the kitchen, mixing materials is essential. We worked with five main ones. Two types of wood: cherry, for its reddish tone, avoiding the usual oak, and pine stained dark blue, an experiment with a new Danish material; a terrazzo island, specially made for this project; a floor of another type of terrazzo reminiscent of the portals of Milan, and blue tiles with red grouting."

This meticulous blend continues upstairs with "green-stained wood and circular glass blocks leading to the bathroom through a curved door. The curve, very present throughout the house, softens the lines and avoids aggressive angles," says Ana. "In the bathroom, curved cubicles separate the shower and toilet, and the terrazzo floor unifies the whole space, while the Chinese marble and elm root wood washbasin cabinet completes the look."

Ana continues, "We also introduced more contemporary pieces, such as the lamp by Ingo Maurer and the work by Iván Franco, which, although it looks like a photograph, is actually done by hand in pencil. We loved that surprise effect."

"In the dining room, we have two clear architectural references: the vaulted ceiling with mouldings, inspired by Robert Mallet-Stevens' work at Villa Cavrois, and the mixture of marbles, which can be seen above all on the staircase and banister, reminds us very much of the entrances to Piero Portaluppi's villas in Italy in the 1930s, with their combinations of marbles and banisters with oculi and circles."

Ana and Enrique's way of decorating with red brings depth and mood to each space. Grounded by darker tones and fresh blues, it never overwhelms the space, as Ana illustrates.

"We really like red, but always in controlled touches: what is called Unexpected Red. The rest we keep more neutral, with a light blue reminiscent of the sky that blends in with the exterior. Hence, also the high-gloss blue ceiling, which creates continuity with the outside."

Even the vegetation plays into the crimson pattern come autumn. "Vegetation was another important point: we wanted to create a small climatic oasis that would help during the harshest times of the year. We planted a Virginia creeper that will cover the wall, turn red in autumn, and sprout again in summer, along with a mixture of evergreen and deciduous species so that the space changes with the seasons."

Outside, an urban Mediterranean oasis awaits — little more would be expected of an interior this idyllic. The designers' socially-focused design continues with two seated areas, one casual and the other a more formal neutral-toned table and chair set, framed by towering greenery and contrasting ceramic floor and wall tiles. Not forgetting, of course, the covered outdoor pool, glazed in deep moss green tiles.

"In the garden, the idea was also to combine unexpected elements: a striped tiled floor, a green mosaic tile swimming pool, and a barbecue area with 10x10 blue tiles," says Enrique. "We like the fact that this space promotes calm: the side wall covered with vegetation and the virgin vine create a green screen that brings tranquillity. The pool was another important part of the project, a recreational space for cooling off and socialising. We love having people over, using the house, enjoying the common areas, and having large tables for outdoor living."

A far cry from traditional, Plutarco's villa design breathes new life into what was a tired structure, without forgetting its heritage.

The duo pay tribute to the architecture of the building, and of the architectural period as a whole, but celebrate it with fresh eyes. Stucco is replaced with modern high-gloss finishes, chandeliers are swapped for minimalist glass lighting fixtures. It's a blend of then and now, underpinned by a strong social and practical focus.

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The Paris-based interior design duo Stéphan Bidoux and Julien Villeneuve are not into beige, minimal interiors. They love color far too much for that. "We’re not afraid to play with it," says Julien, "but never to the detriment of the other elements of an interior. We like to use it in small touches."

Thus, for this modern home, a duplex apartment on the French capital’s Right Bank, they chose an icy green marble for the backsplash and countertop in the kitchen; played with an array of ochre and pink tones in the primary bedroom; and placed a vibrant yellow painting in the dining area.

They also reupholstered a vintage Italian armchair with a multi-hued striped fabric from Missoni Home. "Its vibrant pattern combines elegance and casualness," says Stéphan.

Before Bidoux & Villeneuve got cracking with the decorating, however, there was a significant amount of structural work to be carried out in order to adapt the space to the lifestyle of their clients, Anne and Sébastien — a couple who particularly like to entertain. "You could feel the flat had once been part of a larger apartment that had been divided up and rearranged in a somewhat odd way," says Julien.

They ended up completely gutting the space, reinstating traditional architectural details, adding an extra bedroom and bathroom and creating a large, open living area. They also managed to transform a pair of former maid’s rooms on the floor above into a multipurpose space, which is now linked to the main level via a sinuously elegant staircase. "It’s really handy and is used by the whole family," says Anne. "You can work, watch the TV or do exercise up there."

The family formerly lived in a similarly classical Parisian flat, but with a very different vibe. "It was a lot more contemporary, very black and white," recalls Anne. "We were definitely looking for something warmer and brighter."

In each of their projects, Stéphan and Julien like to introduce a fresh, playful spirit. They did so here with the striking custom rug from Marguerite Le Maire in the sitting area, which features panthers pacing through luxuriant, multi-hued vegetation.

To counterbalance its expressive motif, they introduced lots of white around it, not only on the walls, but also through the furniture placed upon it. "If you put color and rich patterns everywhere, it becomes overkill," explains Stéphan.

The sleek, chic, low-backed sofa in particular adds a laid-back feel. Julien compares the experience it provides to sitting around a campfire. "It encourages people to gather together," he says. "You can also perch on the back and chat to people in the adjacent dining area."

That sense of conviviality lies at the heart of what the design duo does. "We’re never dramatic just for the sake of being dramatic," says Julien. "It’s never just for show. Our goal is to create spaces where people feel good and want to stay."

Anne and Sébastien certainly have no intention of going anywhere fast. "We love absolutely everything about the apartment," enthuses Anne. "The only reason we’d consider moving would be for somewhere bigger."

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Ascending to the top floor of this luxe Art Deco apartment block, there’s an instant sense of light and quiet — a million miles from the bustling Paris street below.

Although when interior designer Sandra Benhamou first saw the place, the rooms felt small and disconnected with no sense of flow, she could spot the potential straight away. "The appeal was immediate: a top-floor setting, beautiful Art Deco geometry, generous ceiling heights, and an incredible calm, right in the center of the Left Bank," she recalls.

She leaned into this mood to create the interiors for this modern home, spurred on by her client’s brief. "She is a cultured writer and art collector, and she wanted a space that supported both contemplation and daily life. The brief was intimate: create a cocoon that remains open, luminous, and intelligent in its function."

For Sandra Benhamou, the main challenge was to rethink the apartment, without losing its heritage and soul. "You could feel the charm of the Art Deco structure, but it was muffled under layers of previous renovations. Working with a Thirties frame is a gift, but it demands precision," she explains.

"I’m drawn to this era for its clean lines, controlled ornamentation, and sculptural volumes. It was a time when elegance came from proportion, not excess. That balance suits my own design language: warm minimalism, geometry, and the tactile quality of noble materials."

Sandra made a series of subtle interventions to create a sense of flow and coherence throughout the apartment, which now feels simultaneously open, yet warm and cocooning. "That balance is at the heart of urban apartment living. You want openness — views, light, continuity — but you also need moments that envelope you."

In bringing the apartment to life, Sandra drew deep on her rich store of cultural references, including Viennese Secessionist painter Gustav Klimt’s portrait of Fritza Riedler. "I love the balance between softness and rigor — the patterns, the pale tones, the quiet strength. It’s controlled femininity, which resonates with the client and with the spirit of the apartment."

To reimagine the apartment in a new light, Sandra played with the idea of volume, creating bespoke pieces, such as the main bedroom’s full-height bookcase: "It expands the perception of height without overwhelming the room." Meanwhile, the kitchen’s island storage was designed like a sculptural block, "both functional and monolithic, to keep the space calm," she explains.

To create an apartment or smaller home that feels considered and luxurious, it’s essential that the spaces function brilliantly — and Sandra has lots of thoughts on that subject.

"Custom joinery is everything. It allows you to use every centimeter without cluttering. Keep the lines vertical to stretch the spaces. Avoid visible hardware and integrate as much storage as possible behind quiet, architectural surfaces — it creates serenity."

Deploying all these strategies — and more — here, she has given the owner both a home and enabled a lifestyle that truly reflects her inner world.

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Townhouse, a new coffee table book by Cultural Union, explores the "rhythm of vertical living," sharing peeks inside some of the most beautiful modern homes around the world, including Georgian London terraces, New York brownstones, and Amsterdam canal houses, designed by the likes of Byran O'Sullivan, Greg Natale, and Sophie Paterson.

In the excerpt shared below, we see inside Banda’s Hyde Park Townhouse project, and hear from the firm's founder, Edo Mapelli Mozzi, on how townhouses can be reimagined in a way that balances historical character with the luxuries of contemporary life.

And if you like this, you might also be interested in Cultural Union's other new volume, Penthouse, which explores the "floating sanctuaries," including a 78th-floor Steinway Tower residence.

“At Banda, our aesthetic is rooted in a simple, confident elegance,” says Edo Mapelli Mozzi, founder of the design and property firm. “We are drawn to timeless forms, rich natural materials, and an architecture-first approach to interiors.”

All these are evident in Banda’s Hyde Park Townhouse project – a 7,000-square-foot (650msq) London townhouse which combines clean, geometric architecture with sculptural furniture and a blend of neutrals, jewel-tones and layered textures, anchored in bare oak floorboards.

“We strive to craft spaces that feel considered, layered and deeply human,” says Mapelli Mozzi. “There’s a deliberate restraint in our work; we aim for beauty that reveals itself slowly, and design that doesn’t shout but lingers in the memory.”

The townhouse occupies five levels of a Victorian shell, with a brief that included structural reconfiguration, light control, and the integration of a wellness suite – alongside full interior design and curation.

In the ground floor sitting room, a Jelly Pea sofa by India Mahdavi, upholstered in Pierre Frey Bold Army velvet, establishes a curvature theme which is carried through the George Smith ottomans and a wonderful Calanque ripple pool coffee table in bronze by Charles Zana.

The dining room, painted in Farrow & Ball’s Green Treron, features 12 mid-century Etel GS1 chairs, Brazil-made and designed in the 1950s by Italian Giuseppe Scapinelli, set around the clients’ own original dining table.

In the bay window at the end of the dining room is a curved Pierre Augustin Rose sofa in Teddy Mohair with a Tatau black oxidised bronze coffee table from Maison Armand Jonckers.

The kitchen features a table designed by Yabu Pushelberg with Carl Hansen Wishbone chairs, with a 1950s Italian space-age chandelier above. And the principal bedroom, with its serene hanging linen curtains and organic forms, features a plinth bathroom with a Carrara marble bath and Crittall shower enclosure.

Other notable spaces include an enveloping cigar room, the walls and ceiling wrapped in Bauwerk’s signature tactile plaster in Hazelnut, with a 1950s Finnish Asko chair by Ilmari Lappalainen and custom sideboard by Banda Design Studio.

On the lower levels, Banda delivered a full-scale amenity wing comprising a pool, sauna, gym and cinema, all of which sit below garden level. These spaces maintain the same tactile serenity found upstairs, mitigating their utilitarian purpose with natural stone, warm timbers and carefully calibrated lighting

With their Hyde Park Townhouse, Banda have demonstrated the enduring nature of Victorian London houses – their ability to allow their form to be stripped back and remoulded around the exigencies of new generations and lifestyles, their inherent architectural harmony revised and updated, but always providing the perfect backdrop to sophisticated city living.

“For us, a successful townhouse balances its historical character with the rhythm of contemporary life,” says Mapelli Mozzi. “It is not about nostalgia but about respecting a building’s structure while crafting spaces that feel relevant, warm, and liveable today.”

Order your own copy of Townhouse: The World's Most Elegant Townhouses by Peter Martin from Amazon.

There's a particular kind of Parisian apartment that seems resistant to easy transformation: the ones hidden under the steep roofs, the result of centuries of incremental adaptation rather than design. This interior architecture project by Véronique Cotrel starts exactly like that: as a former service attic in a historic Paris hôtel particulier in the Marais, transformed in the 1970s into a fragmented duplex.

What the designer discovered was not an apartment, but rather a problem, as she described it: "a merging of several awkwardly shaped service rooms tucked under the eaves, consisting of small, dark spaces lit by tiny dormer windows."

Rather than imposing a familiar language of Parisian style design upon it, Véronique took a much more radical approach: to strip back expectation. "We couldn't envision a traditional Haussmann interior, which would have felt rather artificial," she says. "So, we decided to start with a blank slate, to imagine a modernist loft spirit."

Of course, this is a choice that, while low-key, is one that is quite defining in that it sets the tone for the entire project. If there is one act that sums up this loft renovation, then, it is one of opening. The old apartment, divided up into small rooms, effectively imprisoned light within each space. By removing most of these room dividers, Véronique created an environment that is effectively one level, where light could finally circulate.

"The first gesture was to fully open up the ground floor plan, so that the windows could be integrated into the overall layout," the designer says. This is a strategy that is immediately familiar to anyone who has ever worked with an attic space, where the amount of light available is always a precious commodity. This, in essence, transforms the apartment from a series of rooms into a stylistically cohesive landscape of kitchen, dining, living, and study areas.

The key is in the walnut wall paneling, a system of architecture that replaces walls without replicating the weightiness of them. These bespoke elements run through the apartment as a spine, housing storage, shelving, kitchen elements, and technical space.

"After opening up the spaces widely, we used it to structure the different zones in a more open, organic way," Véronique says. "They allow the apartment to be organized while maintaining a strong sense of visual fluidity." The rigor in this design evokes the mid-century design aesthetic, in which the architectural elements were often used as furniture as well. The walnut, in this case, is not just material, but language.

Working under a pitched roof is a constant battle against compression. Véronique's solution is counterintuitive in that she does not seek to minimize vertical angles but instead maximizes them.

The tall walnut casings and panels have a vertical impact that gives a sense of monumentality beyond their limitations. Moreover, no awkward space is left unused. Storage is incorporated seamlessly into the design, and the technical items are incorporated into the joinery in such a way that the space looks calm and composed.

The most profound change, however, is not so much a physical as an atmospheric one. Light, which was previously localized, is now ubiquitous throughout the apartment. Véronique's strategy was two-fold: first, to open up the space; second, to make use of the existing windows.

Since it was not possible to enlarge the dormers due to planning regulations, mirrors have been placed along their sides to increase their scope and impact. This is a smart tactic: in small windowed rooms, mirrors not only reflect light but also redefine it.

Finally, the color palette does its part. The soft, slightly grayed, off-white unifies walls, ceiling, and wood surfaces, diffusing light evenly. "The color choices were guided first and foremost by light and by the materials," Véronique says. Light is the atmosphere; materials are the story. The project is motivated by the relationship between wood and stone, by the warmth of walnut and the cold mineral beauty of raw marble.

The interplay is effective because it does not rely on excess. There are no unnecessary decorative elements. There is no compensating for the absence of historical details such as moldings, fireplaces, or original parquet flooring.

The flooring also has its own reinterpretation. Véronique does not copy Haussmann's style but creates a floor inspired by the roofing structure and the modest size of traditional chambres de bonnes. It may be a small detail, but it suggests a level of sensitivity.

What is interesting about this apartment is not so much the transformation, but the fact that it is situated between two histories. It is part of a grand hôtel particulier, but it is the part that is traditionally used for service, simpler, and stripped back. This is what Véronique plays on.

She references the Parisian tradition: the oak parquet flooring, the glass partitions. But she also transforms it through a contemporary lens. The former stained glass screen is replaced with a fluted glass one, mimicking the verticality of the walnut panel.

Even the constraints are opportunities. The chimney flue running through the living room is not hidden but becomes part of the design as it passes through a bookcase. The spiral staircase is the centerpiece and sits on a marble and wood platform that acts as a seating area and hides the sound system.

With this type of architectural design, a new level is created that is more personal and less controlled. The owners, being art and design collectors themselves, also influenced a rather free-form composition that combines collectible design pieces with more accessible items, such as those from Ferm Living.

The furniture also includes items collected from the owners' travels, including rugs from Morocco, which provide comfort to the area. The final look is one that is very personal and eclectic.

Perhaps the lesson here is that constraints are not the issue. What counts, instead, is how we come to view them. "In this type of space, you need to know how to turn every constraint into an asset," Véronique says.

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Those were the days: Giacomo playing the bass, Davide on the guitar. As bandmates they toured Europe and North America, but then came the moment of reckoning.

"We had to abandon music, our first love, and move on to grown-up jobs because it simply didn’t pay what it should," says Giacomo, now an established interior designer. "Yet my experience as a professional musician was important because it allowed me to travel and be creative. The exposure to new realities helped me develop my own aesthetic language and vision."

A decade later, the two friends have joined forces again, this time to play a very different tune. Davide, now a computer engineer, and his partner, Alice Vanzo, had acquired their first property, in a town in the Alpine foothills of northern Italy, and called on Giacomo’s expert eye to infuse this modern home with personality.

The couple’s brief was simple: they wanted a cool, urban environment, with a showstopping modern kitchen suited to cooking and entertaining. It sounds straightforward, but it posed a challenge because the layout didn’t lend itself to this plan, leaving too little space for a living room. Eventually, the couple gave up on the second bedroom, knocking down walls to turn it into a cozy lounge area.

Then began the fun of adding color, furnishings, and custom-designed pieces. "I like mixing elements from different eras so that they interact in a certain way but also conflict one another, producing dissonances," says Giacomo Totti, who collects lesser-seen vintage designs to use in his projects. "It’s much easier to have them handy than having to look for them."

The palette originates from the Vico Magistretti sofa, reupholstered in purple. It is combined with a mix of vintage and contemporary choices, from the 1950s Gio Ponti armchairs to a cc-tapis rug. Cacti and palm-tree motifs add a hint of California, while a vivid painting reflects the colors of the ceramic vases above the porcelain fireplace.

A fresh teal covers the ceiling. "I love using colors that are in between two primary or secondary colors because, as the hours pass and the light changes, the perception of them evolves," says Giacomo. "It’s an effect that helps create a mood."

In the kitchen, Giacomo convinced the couple to use bleached oak and silver travertine to balance out the other colors in the apartment. The drama of this area is in its high ceilings — nearly 4.5 meters at peak — and it needed very specific lighting, so Giacomo designed some stylish elongated pendant lights to fill the space.

"What is hard to capture in photos — but is striking in person — is the feeling of being submerged, almost floating, when inside the home," says Giacomo. "The beautiful sensation was unintended. So, despite the choice of cooler materials and colors, the soft light that bounces from the walls creates a very relaxing atmosphere."

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Calming and stimulating, grounded and surprising, intentional and alive. Transformed and weightless, skirting heritage integrity without demolition. Creating a home that straddles two opposite worlds takes an expert in the field with an eye for potential. And, luckily for the owners of this two-storey Queen Anne Dame, that expert was found in the form of interior designer David Flack.

Reigning high atop a hill of the Domain precinct in Melbourne’s South Yarra, for all its shine and grandness, the home had become increasingly dimmed by a closed-off, impractical layout.

In addition, it was rendered "nearly subterranean", enveloped in near-darkness by various apartment developments. “Northern and western boundaries were overlooked, whilst the protected façade prevented significant alterations,” says David Flack, founder and principal of Melbourne-based Flack Studio.

While enamoured with their heritage 1930s stone-encased beauty, after eight years of living there, the owners yearned for lighter, more lively spaces. "They sought spaces that felt weightless and properly scaled for modern living," explains David.

A challenge, no doubt, but one that was met with keen innovation. Today, a new addition unfolds at the property's rear, but perhaps not in the way you would expect.

Indeed, the home's reimagining does the opposite of what most aim for: It pulls back rather than pushes toward the boundaries. Flack Studio's takeover minimized the footprint and maximized light, shedding the constraints of "impractical" formal rooms and heritage lock-ins while doing so.

Rising up to meet the light, translucent glass brick walls, inspired by Pierre Chareau's Maison de Verre, resolve privacy, improve thermal performance, and add atmospheric presence in one deft hit.

"Our ethos centers on materials singing and dancing together," explains David, who describes how strategic openings "choreographed" the sun's movement.

"Each choice is intentional, research-based," he adds. "Understanding not just what works visually but why it works; how materials relate historically, culturally, spatially."

Back at the front-of-house, so to speak, Flack Studio safeguarded the home's character, effectively "nesting" a new home within the existing whilst providing a canvas on which to display the owners' extensive and impressive art collection.

Deliberate use of saturated color has been applied throughout these spaces to mark transitions and spatial shifts, while a repetition of elements and an established design language form a continuous thread that runs throughout.

"The cocktail room enveloped in deep, high-gloss red saturates with intensity and drama," describes David. "Across the hall, the library fills with warm almond tones carrying memories and heirlooms. Natural stone, solid timber, patinated metals with expressed detailing link old and new."

As a complete architectural project already recognized with Victorian AIA shortlisting and commendations, Domain, as it was dubbed by the design team, marks Flack Studio's foray into full-service architectural projects.

The result is a home that feels uniquely cohesive, that is both timeless and contemporary, like it's been there all along. "It's a forever home," says David.