Spotted lately: clever plate racks in interiors ranging from mod to traditional. (In my next life, I'm going to install one over my sink to hold just-rinsed dishes.) Here are 10 we like.

Above: Katrin Arens makes custom Pallet Plate Racks. 

Above: A custom shelf by Peter Henderson Furniture features slots for storing plates. Go to Peter Henderson for more information.

Above: A single strip of wood functions as a plate rack in the British Standard Shepherd's Hut kitchen (being featured later today). Contact British Standard for information.

Above: The Raw Oak Wall-Mounted Plate Rack holds 10 plates and is £225 from Burford.

Above: A plate rack in the Hamptons home of designer Tricia Foley. For something similar, consider the Decorative Plate Display Rack ($195) from Etsy seller Nicolet Wood Products.

Above: The Traditional Wooden Plate Rack is available in three sizes from Nutscene; prices start at £89.

Above: The handmade Wall-Mounted Plate Rack with Shelf is $302.50 from Nicolet Wood Products.

Above: The Hafele Kitchen Cabinet Wooden Plate Rack starts at $90 from Kitchen Source.

Above: The handmade Decorative Plate Rack from Devol is available in two sizes: the small is £310 and the large is £360.

Above The Country Pine Universal Wall Plate Rack is £169 from Jeremy Hill.

More ways to stack and store dishes? See our posts:
     • High/Low: The Indian Stainless-Steel, Wall-Mounted Dish Rack
     • 10 Easy Pieces: Countertop Dish Drainers
     • 5 Favorites: Space-Saving Dish Racks

Also don't miss: 11 Kitchen Storage Tricks to Steal from the Bathroom.

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• Trend Alert: 11 Kitchens with Wall-Mounted Box Shelving
• Vote for the Best Kitchen in the Remodelista Considered Design Awards: Professional Category
• Trending on Gardenista: Kitchen Gardens Near and Far

In our quest for more space, most of us will appropriate and convert anything with four walls that doesn't require a building permit. And if it moves, so much the better. The craze for Airstream trailers in the US has its equivalent in the UK—the shepherd's hut on wheels. 

Fulfilling a desire to outfit a rolling hut with one of her own kitchens, Katie Fontana, founder of UK bespoke kitchen company Plain English, sourced a vintage shepherd's shelter on eBay. She then got to work transforming the interior into a traveling showroom for British Standard, Plain English's more affordable offshoot specializing in ready-made cabinets. With plans to tour the showroom around the country, the company is out to fulfill Prince Charles’s mandate of “high-quality kitchens for the people.” 

Above: Historically the Victorian shepherd's hut provided shelter for herdsmen during lambing season, when they needed to be near their flocks around the clock. These days, restored and newly built shepherd's huts are popping up in people's gardens as spare rooms, studios, and offices. If you're a camping enthusiast who likes a little luxury, search "shepherd's hut holiday" on Google and you'll turn up a slew of UK destinations where it's possible to glamp overnight in a shepherd's hut.

Above: Fontana introduced painted wood shiplap paneling on the walls and ceiling of the one-room interior. In The Enduring Appeal of Shiplap, we explain how to achieve this look. And for a economical alternative, see DIY: Beadboard Ceilings and Steal This Look: The Endless Summer Kitchen.

Above: Working with challenging size constraints—the room is a mere 12 feet long and 6 feet wide—Fontana outfitted it with cabinets from British Standard, which offer a range of kitchen items in standard sizes (to make the designs cost-efficient, measuring, ordering, and installation is all done by the customer). The Painted Pembroke Chair is from UK collective the New Craftsmen and the wood-burning stove is by Esse.

Above: A wood rail that runs along the length of the hut does double duty as both plate drying rack and storage. 

Above: Behind the cabinet doors, the shelves are faced with a wood trim.

Above: A Butler Sink by Villery & Boch is inset in the wood countertop. See Remodeling 101: Butcher Block Countertops to determine whether a wood counter is for you.

Above: British Standard kitchen cupboards are designed to work with or without doors, and examples of each are used side by side in the hut. Minus the doors, the shelves work well as open storage. The cupboards are built in the same Suffolk workshop as Plain English's higher priced offerings.

Above: Fontana tracked down an intriguing brass-lever faucet.

Above: The wooden plates and ceramics came from The New Craftsmen. The cabinets and walls have been painted with Farrow & Ball All White (emulsion finish on the walls, oil eggshell on the cabinets); the ceiling is Farrow & Ball Stone Blue in an emulsion finish. 

Above: The exterior of the hut is made of corrugated iron painted in a color matched to Farrow & Ball's Off Black in an oil eggshell finish. British Standard will be holding an exhibition of hut images September 13-20 in the company's Hoxton showroom during the Shoreditch Design Triangle. Read more about British Standard in A Kitchen for the People, Courtesy of Prince Charles.

For another ingenious use of a shepherd's hut, see Kitchen Confidential: Pip's Dish in Covent Garden. In London's Best Below Stairs Lunch, Hoxton Edition, we chronicle lunch at the British Standard showroom. And on Gardenista, read about a shepherd who tweets in Twitter Tuesday: Follow the Herd.

Below: British Standard's showroom is open to the public Monday through Saturday in London's Shoreditch neighborhood.

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One feature of traditional Japanese architecture came in handy when the architectural firm Kennedy Nolan was hired to expand a traditional Edwardian house in Melbourne. Because the old wooden structure was in a historic neighborhood, it couldn't be torn down. So the architects had to create an addition that would meld with the existing building and its surroundings. Add to that a client extremely concerned about keeping costs under control.

Photographs courtesy of Kennedy Nolan.

Above: The fence ties together the traditional and the modern parts of this Melbourne house.

The ingenious project, known as the Westgarth House, involved creating two distinct zones. The old structure became the private area—a sort of dormitory with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a study. The addition that Kennedy Nolan designed became the public area, with a kitchen, living room, and dining room. 

Above: The living area faces north, toward the garden.

The style of the addition is clean and rectangular. Basically, it's a long white box attached to the rear of the old house, sitting unobtrusively behind a tall white fence along the south boundary of the corner lot. The goal was to preserve as much outdoor space as possible. 

Above: The Westgarth House with its wall open to the outdoors.

That's where the traditional Japanese architecture came in. A fundamental Japanese concept is the blurring of boundaries between inside and outside. The Westgarth House garden can be accessed by huge sliding glass doors. Once those doors are pushed back, the entire side of the new wing is open to the outdoors.

The climate in Melbourne is moderate rather than tropical, but Patrick Kennedy of Kennedy Nolan says the feature can be used as much as eight months of the year. In fact, he said recently, "Our client had the doors open just last week, in the middle of winter, because it was a sunny day." 

Above: The architects used a monochromatic color scheme to unite disparate textures and structural features.

Kennedy says that little reconfiguring had to be done to the old house. One major change, however, involved moving the main entrance. In its original location, people would have had to enter the house in the bedroom area and walk the entire length of the building to reach the public area in the addition. 

Above: The new entryway is welcoming—and fun to play on. 

Kennedy Nolan created a handsome new entrance between the old and new parts of the house. It incorporates a stucco wall with a circular opening, or moongate—a classic Asian touch borrowed from the Chinese. 

Above: The clients asked for more room for family life and a beautiful, functional design.

Above: The large island has become the center of attraction in the kitchen. 

Above: The entrance wall, as seen from inside the living room. To save energy, the new pavilion uses principles of passive solar design, including north-facing orientation and cross ventilation that takes advantage of Melbourne's prevailing winds.

Above: The addition doesn't look out of place among the Victorian and Edwardian houses in Westgarth.

For Patrick Kennedy, Westgarth succeeds on a level beyond its physical beauty: "My favorite thing about this house is the sense that it's a synthesis of many things into a single entity—a seamless, calm, and nurturing domestic environment."

For more posts on indoor/outdoor living, see Indoor/Outdoor Living, Napa Style and on Gardenista Steal This Look: An Anglo-Inspired Indoor/Outdoor Kitchen in Sweden.

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• Brick Comeback: A Revived Manse in Melbourne
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• Sunny Side Up: A Victorian Makeover in Melbourne

We've long admired the curatorial eye of Claudia Zinzan and Nick Hutchison of the Auckland, New Zealand, housewares store Father Rabbit Limited. The shop began online and expanded into a storefront next to the owners' own home (see our post Shopper's Diary: Father Rabbit Finds a New Home). Now the duo has taken curation a step further by designing a line of home goods. Our three favorite designs are what we consider absolute essentials: the perfect bed base, wall hooks, and shelf brackets.

Above: Designed by Claudia and Nick and made locally in New Zealand, the Father Rabbit Steel Bed Base has several customizable options. It comes in hot-rolled steel (a black steel with a clear lacquer finish, shown here), a Dulux Appliance White powder coating, or in custom colors. It's available in the following sizes: Single ($1,890 NZD), King Single ($1,925 NZD), Double ($2,042 NZD), Queen ($2,085 NZD), King ($2,120 NZD), and Super-King ($2,150 NZD). The bed is made to order—custom sizes are also available—and takes three weeks to ship.

Above: The bed stands 350 millimeters (about 13.8 inches) tall at its highest point and the legs are 290 millimeters (about 11.5 inches) tall. The base has a small rail at the end for keeping the mattress in place and includes standard, non-flexible wooden slats (flexible slats can be requested, too). Claudia and Nick recommend an inner-sprung or futon-style mattress with straight sides and minimal rounding at the corners.

Above: "Father Rabbit simply can't live without hooks," the designers say. The Father Rabbit Peg Hooks are pine with a white satin paint finish and come in two precut lengths: 700 millimeters (about 27.5 inches), $56 NZD, and 900 millimeters (about 35.5 inches), $64 NZD. Custom lengths are also available.

Above: The peg hooks have holes on either end for screws.

Above: The Father Rabbit shop has a wall of shelves made by Claudia and Nick that they call "our go-to brackets." They've just started selling their own shelving. 

Above: Made of pine and primed in white, the Father Rabbit Shelf Bracket comes ready to be painted to match your palette at home. Each measures 190 by 190 millimeters (about 7.5 by 7.5 inches) and is made from wood that's 30 millimeters (1.2 inches) thick; $17 NZD each.

Interested in peg hooks? Have a look at Christine's solution in Remodeling 101: How Shaker Peg Rails Saved My Summer Sanity. Also see Design Sleuth: Shaker Peg Rail in the Bath. For more design stores in New Zealand, visit our Auckland City Guide.

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When we remodeled our modest master bath, I wasn't prepared for the first decision. It was the biggest fixture and the biggest-ticket item: the bathtub. Did I want a stately freestanding tub taking center stage? Or a built-in tub slyly integrated in a paneled enclosure? Our decision was driven by aesthetics (the built-in won), but there were other considerations, too. Here are some questions to ask yourself to figure out the best bathing solution for you. 

Made this decision recently? Share your experience in the Comments section below. 

Above: A gray freestanding bathtub takes center stage in a house in England. Photograph via Light Locations.

What's the difference between a freestanding tub and a built-in tub?

Freestanding: More like a piece of furniture than a fixture, freestanding baths are finished on all sides, offering flexibility in placement and a strong visual statement. 

Built-in: Integrated into the bathroom design, built-in tubs are unfinished on two or more sides and require installation against a wall or within an enclosure. These space savers are easily paired with a wall-mounted shower to offer both showering and bathing in the same piece of real estate.

Above: A built-in bathtub with shower maximizes use of space in a small-bathroom renovation by San Francisco architect Mark Reilly, a member of the Remodelista Architect/Designer Directory. Note that Reilly inserted a wall-to-wall skylight over the tub alcove to make it feel bigger and brighter. Photograph by Peter Medilek. 

Key questions to ask when deciding between freestanding and built-in bathtubs

1. What are your bathroom's space constraints?

Whether a tub fits—and where—is likely the most defining consideration. And don't forget the size of the bathers themselves: Do you have a tall, lanky family member who loves to bathe? Do you want an extra-deep tub to accommodate your soaking? Or, conversely, are you after a solution that uses the least water? Don't be afraid to go to showrooms and, as you do when mattress shopping, hop in and actually try out the bathtubs for size and comfort. 

It's no surprise that freestanding tubs generally take up more space than built-ins. The selection of tub fillers is also a factor as floor-mount models require more floor space than deck- or wall-mounted faucets. (For ideas, see 10 Easy Pieces: Freestanding Bathtub Fillers.) Built-in tubs, meanwhile, are most often placed flush with two or more walls; this limits their placement to the corners and alcoves of the room. 

Above: Even a smaller bathroom can often accommodate a freestanding tub. Shown here, the Clyde Bathtub from UK bathroom line Drummonds. 

2. What style of tub are you after?

Built-in bathtubs can be dressed in unlimited ways, with custom enclosures that fit seamlessly into the room design or make a bold statement. 

Freestanding bathtubs come in a wide range of styles, from vintage claw-foot to sinuous modern shapes. They lend a spa-like feel to a bathroom, which is harder to achieve with a built-in. 

 
Above: A built-in bath with a white-tile surround set off by black grout in a Minimalist Parisian Loft designed by Régis Larroque. Photograph via RL Interior Architecture.

Above: A modern freestanding tub in a Sonoma farmhouse bathroom by Min | Day, a member of the Remodelista Architect/Designer Directory. Photograph via Min | Day.

Above: A curvaceous black resin bathtub from Aquamass anchors a large room in a vacation house in France. See more options in 10 Favorites: Modern Black Bathtubs. Photograph via Aquamass.

Above: A traditional cast-iron freestanding bathtub with ornate claw feet. Photograph via Aston Matthews.

3. What type of built-in tub will work in your space? 

The Alcove Bathtub

Above: Alcove built-in tubs are unfinished on three sides and slide into a three-wall recess, as shown here in a bathroom by London designer Charles Mellersh. One of the most popular options, alcove tubs are often accompanied by a wall-mounted shower. Photograph by Chris Tubbs.

The Two-Wall Bathtub

Above: Intended for a corner installation, this type of tub is finished on two sides—as shown at Soho House Berlin. Want to Steal This Look? Photograph via Soho House Berlin.

The Drop-In Bathtub

Above: Unfinished on all sides, this variety drops into a deck or custom enclosure, but leaves the edge of the tub exposed. It can be mounted in a corner or in a stand-alone island that mimics the setup of a freestanding tub, often with the added benefit of built-in storage and an enclosure that hides the plumbing. Photograph via Duravit.

The Undermount Bathtub 

Above: Like drop-in tubs, undermount tubs are unfinished on all sides, but they're mounted under a cutout deck that conceals the lip of the tub. Note that this style sometimes gets criticized as uncomfortable because deck edges aren't always rounded. Photograph via Light Locations.

4. Is arm-reach storage important?

The appealing simplicity of freestanding tubs also means little to no surrounding storage, while built-in tubs usually have a deck to accommodate your bathing supplies. And because built-ins are often mounted against at least two walls, introducing a storage alcove or shower shelf is easy.

Above: What to do for towel and toiletry storage with a freestanding tub? Side Tables, Tub Caddies, and Towel Baskets are easy solutions. Photograph via Light Locations.

5. What about plumbing and installation?

On the plumbing front, it's imperative to know your restrictions before your start shopping. Some considerations:

• Are you replacing an existing bathtub and using the same plumbing? Then you need to consider the existing limitations of fixture placement and faucet choices. 
• Freestanding tubs can be very heavy (especially the cast-iron variety), requiring floor reinforcement, or at least a check of the floor's strength before installation.
• Installing plumbing for a freestanding tub can be tricky—concealing it is often difficult—and can be costlier than for built-in tubs. For instance, the plumbing might need to come through the floor rather than the wall. 
• The surrounds of built-in tubs can easily conceal plumbing and heating pipes and wires, but can also be expensive. Be sure to include the enclosure cost in your budget.
• Lastly, there's the matter of filling the bathtub: Whether you go with a freestanding or built-in design, you have to choose a faucet style and type. Your tub selection and the size of your bathroom will help you decide whether to select a freestanding tub-filler faucet, one that's mounted to the side of the tub, or a wall-mounted faucet.

Above: A freestanding tub with a side-mounted faucet in a windowed alcove. Photograph via Aston Matthews.

Above: Freestanding tub fillers aren't just for freestanding tubs. This Malibu spa bath by Michaela Scherrer, a member of the Remodelista Architect/Designer Directory, has a built-in tub with a modern, freestanding tub-filler faucet. Photograph by Andy Kitchen.

6. Do you want to combine or separate the tub and shower?

Most freestanding tubs are independent operators and don't do double duty as showers. It's most common for them to be paired with a walk-in shower elsewhere in the bathroom. Built-in bathtubs, on the other hand, frequently accommodate wall-mounted showers, especially in the three-wall alcove configuration. That said, there are ways to enable a shower and freestanding tub to mingle—and a built-in tub doesn't have to be paired with a shower.

Above L: Shower options with freestanding tubs can include an adjacent walk-in shower, if you have the space. Above R: A rain-style showerhead can be mounted on the ceiling (so the water falls straight down). The example shown here is at the Boundary Hotel in London. For three options at three price points, see High/Low: Rain Showerhead.

Above: Another possibility is to place a freestanding tub in a large walk-in shower, creating a wet-room, as shown in this New York City apartment. Photograph via A Cup of Jo.

Above: How about an old-fashioned handheld shower? This one is in Tiina Laakonen's house in the Hamptons. Tour her whole compound in the Remodelista book. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista.

Freestanding vs. Built-In Bathtub Recap

Benefits of a Freestanding Tub 

• Available in a wide range of materials and styles.
• Flexible in terms of placement (because it's fully finished)
• A strong visual statement in your bathroom. 
• Accessible on all sides, making it easy to clean.

Benefits of a Built-In Tub

• Maximizes space in a compact bathroom.
• Combines easily with a wall-mounted shower.
• More economical than a freestanding bathtub.
• Design of custom enclosure is unlimited, offering a great way to integrate with other cabinetry or tiling.
• Often has lower sides than a freestanding tub, so it can be easier to get in and out. 

For product options, see our posts: 10 Easy Pieces: Classic Freestanding Bathtubs, 10 Easy Pieces Modern Freestanding Bathtubs, and 10 Easy Pieces: Freestanding Bathtub Fillers. 

And for design inspiration, have a look at our roundups of Paneled Baths and Modern Black Bathtubs. 

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Hired by a young family to revive a double-fronted Victorian house in the St. Kilda East suburb of Melbourne, Clare Cousins Architects didn't do the usual tearing down of interior walls and building out. "In contrast to contemporary, open-plan, box-on-the-back additions, the project involves a series of insertions woven into the fabric of the building," Cousins explains. Translation: The majority of the house was preserved, and the spatial planning was "driven by the cellular logic of the Victorian house." But rest assured, the results are far from fusty.

Photographs by Shannon McGrath via Clare Cousins Architects.

Above: The owners wanted to better integrate the house and garden, which had been obscured by tall, sloping brick additions. The architects removed these "lean-tos" and made use of the mottled brick to build extensions on the north and south wings of the house, plus a courtyard. These wings stand in the footprint of the old additions; one of the wings contains the living quarters, and the other, the sleeping zones.

Above: The living area now has a direct link to the garden via a pop-out window and window seat. The decorative porthole windows—a request from the owners—send beams of early morning sun into the living room and kitchen. Landscape designer Fiona Brockhoff created the layered perimeter with an eye toward family-friendly plantings.

Above: What Cousins calls the "threshold space" between the house's wings forms an indoor/outdoor dining area with pivoting glass doors. (For insulation, the windows in the house have double and low-e glazing.)

Above: The living area, with window seat and portholes. "Robust and economical materials were chosen for their familiarity, warmth, and ability to withstand the knocks of family life," Cousins notes. The American oak Toto Stools are by Pierre + Charlotte. Read about the furniture company in Romance as Business: A Melbourne Design Duo. The wood-framed sofa is the Wilfred by Jardan of Melbourne. 

Above: Classic bentwood chairs and, on the floor, the Block 2 Light by Sydney designer Henry Pilcher. (See the light used on the ceiling of a children's room in A Textile Enthusiast at Home in Ann Arbor.)

Above: The dining room "introduces northern light deep into the plan and creates new opportunities for passive cross-ventilation," Cousins says. Open to the living room, the space has a floor of concrete pavers laid in a herringbone pattern.

Above: A lounge off the kitchen is paneled with discreet storage cabinets. The light is the Gubi Grasshopper Floor Lamp by Swedish designer Greta Magnusson Grossman. For flexibility, the architects introduced sliding partitions between rooms in place of doors.

Above: A reminder of the house's historic roots: an old-fashioned study for reading and playing music. 

Above: A narrow space between the house and the property boundary was claimed to create a dressing area—a "walk-in robe" in Aussie speak—off the master bedroom. That's the house's original exterior brickwork.

Above: The dressing room and master bath are linked by Honeycomb Hex cement tiles made in Marrakech from Popham Design. The architects introduced a rainwater tank for toilet flushing and garden irrigation, and the hot water is solar heated.

Above: The front of the house retains its original multicolored Victorian brickwork. 

Above: A floor plan of the remodeled house details the masterful weaving of existing and new elements, and the integration of interior and exterior.

See more Victorian remodels in our posts Saving the Hippie Soul of an Victorian House and Tailor-Made: A Victorian Remodel in Melbourne. And for unexpected uses of brick, go to 5 Favorites: Brick Made Modern. On Gardenista, read about brick patio options in Hardscaping 101.

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Spotted online at stylist Katie Lockhart's Auckland, New Zealand, shop, Everyday Needs: limited-edition, lightweight gray wool blankets with the intriguing label "Woven for Godmother." We had to know more and Lockhart was happy to fill us in.

The blankets are by Kirsty Cameron, a New Zealand director and costume designer (best known for her costumes for Whale Rider) who designs her own line under the name Godmother. The blankets are made of Stansborough Grey, a wool that turns out to have a complex pedigree. Known for its softness and natural grayscale colors, with glints of metallic sheen, it comes from a rare flock of sheep brought to New Zealand from Denmark in the 1970s. Farmers Barry and Cheryl Eldridge of Stansborough, a sheep station and woolens business in Wellington, have spent the last 12 years carefully breeding the flock for its fleece, which they turn into worsted wool. (Previously the exotic sheep had been farmed for their pelts, but use of the wool dates back to the Vikings, who incorporated it into their longship sails.) Cameron works with the Eldridge's signature Stansborough Grey lightweight wool, dying some of the fiber in a chemical-free process. It's then woven at the Stansborough mill and hand-finished.

Above: The blankets are made in limited editions—there are only four to six of each colorway. The shades of gray are natural.

Above: The Godmother Stansborough Grey Wool Blanket in Green is $445 NZD ($376 USD).

Above: Each blanket has a hand-printed label.

Above: The Godmother Stansborough Grey Wool Baby Blanket in a Grey Varied Stripe is $380 NZD ($322 USD).

Above: Cameron is master at achieving muted colors.

Above: The Godmother Stansborough Gray Wool Blanket in a Black Varied Stripe is $445 NZD ($376 USD).

Read more about the Everyday Needs shop in our post Elevating the Everyday in Auckland, New Zealand, and have a look at another of Katie Lockhart's local favorites: Wendyl Nissen's "No Nasty Chemicals" Cleaning Products. Go to Blankets & Throws to see more options from our archive.

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The winner of the Remodelista Considered Design Awards Best Professionally Designed Kitchen is Space Exploration of Brooklyn, New York.

Their project, a loft kitchen created from two classrooms in a former school building, was selected as a finalist by guest judge Diana Darling, who said: "It's a challenge to create an intimate, warm, and inviting space in a large, open room with very tall ceilings. With an extended light fixture and use of vintage furniture, this design utilizes the space well. And the black cabinetry with the gray countertops incorporates well with the classical detailing of the existing space." 

Take a look, and hear what Space Exploration has to say about the remodel, the firm's secret design sources, and its dream project.

N.B.: This is the first in a series of posts spotlighting the winners of the Remodelista Considered Design Awards. We'll be featuring one winning project a day for the next few weeks. Go to 2014 Considered Design Awards to see all the entries, finalists, and winners. And have a look at the winners of the Gardenista Considered Design Awards, too.

Space Exploration's Design Statement: This loft for a young family was formerly two classrooms in a school building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Space Exploration employed a language of light and simplicity to make the most of the apartment’s dramatic 20-foot ceiling height and existing period detailing. Classical architectural elements are distilled to their essence, highlighting the patina of the rich materials employed in both finish work and furnishings.

Q: What were your practical goals for the project?

A: We were charged with creating a functional kitchen for a young family as part of a gut renovation of their Brooklyn apartment. The father of the family is an avid cook, so the kitchen needed to be durable and highly functional. The apartment is a converted loft in a historic building with beautiful period detailing. We sought to develop a material palette that was warm, tactile, and modern, but which still dovetailed with the classical language of the existing construction. Another challenge was making the space, which has very high ceilings, retain an intimate feel. 

Q: What are your favorite features of the project?

A: Henrybuilt of Seattle fabricated the millwork to our specifications and did a terrific job with the custom finish, which was well outside the range of the company's typical finish package. It took a lot of approval samples to get to the final product, but it was worth it. We also love the well-worn Garland stove with its "salamander" broiler, which is the element of the project that relates most to the client's vocation, restaurant owner, and sets the tone for the rest of the kitchen details. 

Q: What advice do you have for anyone undertaking a similar project? 

A: A good grounding element—in this case, the base cabinetry with its solid-feeling concrete countertops—goes a long way in a design like this, which takes the height of the room into consideration. The open shelves and dropped pendant helped create a gradient of mass, from heavy to light, that balances things out. Also, of course, don't forget the importance of lighting! Test the finish palette out under different conditions and at different times of day to see how it affects the experience of being in the space and to make sure it always feels right. 

Q: Who worked on the winning project? 

A: Kevin Greenberg was the lead designer and project manager, assisted by Elisa Iturbe and Jennifer Weaver.

Q: What does your firm specialize in?

A: Space Exploration specializes in the design of residences with great personality regardless of budget, modern restaurants, and retail spaces. 

Q: Who is your dream client?  

A: It would be hard to dream up clients better than those we already work with now. Since Space Exploration started six years ago, we've been lucky enough to cultivate relationships with adventurous clients who have great taste and aren't afraid to take risks to achieve exceptional results. As for dream projects, we would love to design a space for art, like a gallery or museum. Some kind of secluded spa in the woods wouldn't be bad, either! 

Q: What is your best secret design source?

A: The halls of great museums, and books from outside the conventional design disciplines. Our best ideas often seem to come from far-flung sources unrelated to architecture and design.   

Q: What is your favorite local shop?

A: BDDW is a great favorite. So are Mondocane, R 20th Century, Modernlink, Karma, Maryam Nassir Zadeh, and E.R. Butler.

Q: Which architects or designers do you admire?

A: Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Ricardo Bofill, Paul Rudolph, Smiljan Radic, Ryue Nishizawa, and Ward Bennett.  

Q: What's next for Space Exploration? 

A: We have several residential projects under way in Brooklyn, Miami, and Montauk, New York. We're working on restaurants and retail projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Tokyo. 

Congratulations to Space Exploration! See all winners of the 2014 Remodelista Considered Design Awards here: 

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Leave it to the Aussies to make industrial cage lights fresh and interesting via a dose of vibrant color. Steve and Helena Trupp, a Brisbane-based husband and wife team, founded Empirical Style, their online shop, to share their love of "design, travel, creative expression, and being a big different," they say. "Life is too short for dull decor and spaces that lack ambience and inspiration."

Above: A trio of Empirical Style painted cage pendant lights in a high-ceiling hallway; via Show and Tell.

Above: The Paris Pendant features a dusty pink cage shade and a silver cord; AU $147.50.

Above: The Pansy Pendant features an eggplant cage shade and a yellow cord; AU $147.50.

Above: The Green Hornet features a chartreuse cage shade and a dark green cord; AU $147.50.

Turn on the lights: For more Pendant Designs, including a DIY Flowerpot Pendant Light, browse our archive.

More Stories from Remodelista

• Lightweight Wool: Godmother Stansborough Grayscale Blankets from New Zealand
• Announcing the Winners of the 2014 Remodelista Considered Design Awards
• Object Lessons: Classic Summer Stripes

Back in 1995, an Auckland family commissioned architect Pip Cheshire to design a vacation hideaway near Whale Bay, one of the nicest eastern coastal stretches in New Zealand. He modeled the structure after Fijian huts known as bures and similar constructions from Tonga called fales (with some Maori ideas laced in). Nearly 20 year later, the bure, now part of a family compound, is as inviting—and fresh looking—as ever. It was built for a "poet banker," his partner, and their four kids, and functions as a main clubhouse—most of the bedrooms have since moved to separate buildings on the jungly hill overlooking the beach. Here's a look at the cross-cultural compound.

Photographs by Patrick Reynolds, courtesy of Cheshire Architects.

Above: Inspired by huts in Fiji and Tonga that have high, steeply pitched roofs of thatch resting on wooden posts and beams, the Davis Bure, as the house is known, weathers the elements with a corrugated metal roof. Cheshire notes that the young girl shown here is "traversing what might be considered the atea, a space that can be informal for camping and playing, then highly formal for speechmaking—these are Maori/Pacific notions, but I note that I and the clients are pakeha [Maori for European]."

Cheshire designed the structure when he was a director at Jasmax, one of New Zealand's largest architecture firms; he has since founded his own practice, Cheshire Architects of Auckland, and works with his son, architect Nat Cheshire (watch for Nat's own groundbreaking hut design in the coming weeks).

Above: "In the islands woven mats are used on the windward side between the columns to enclose the form and provide shelter, but our somewhat more temperate climate meant we used timber frame infill with big openings to capture the horizontal views out," Cheshire says. The louvered walls are made of macrocarpa, a California pine introduced to New Zealand in the 19th century.

Above: The interior of the hut is a cocoon of plywood. "It's basic New Zealand Pinus radiata—no stain, no finish at all," Cheshire says. 

Above: The main room of the bure has a soaring ceiling and an open second story loft for sleeping. The floor is jarrah, a type of eucalyptus.

Above: "The rafters are a basic truss arrangement made from pinus radiata, which New Zealand grows by the billion," explains Cheshire. "The roof is intended to be expressive of the enclosure of the Pacific way of building—lots of smallish bits of wood supported on a few very big posts."

Above: A family weekend day in the bure. The house is used year-round—the area has a temperate, breezy climate.

Above: Daybeds along the perimeter of the room are made into beds when the compound fills up. 

Above: The custom-built kitchen has cabinets of jarrah with a woven-steel mesh infill. The counter and integral sink are stainless steel. Mounted under the cabinets, a steel rail serves as a utensil catchall.

Above: Floating stairs of plywood with galvanized steel railings lead to the loft. Of the bar railings, Cheshire told us: "They're very steep stairs and I wanted lots to hang on to."

Above: Narrow kids' beds are slotted under the rafters—initially the whole family of six could sleep in the house. Note the inset clothing rod and clip-on overhead light.

Above: The boathouse is one of several outbuildings that the family asked Cheshire to add to the site over the years. Built of dark-stained wood with a metal roof, it initially was built to house boats, but eventually a kitchen, work space, and some beds were added. It became, says Cheshire, "a sort of wharenui, a Maori house on the marae [a communal gathering place] for sleeping and living."

Above: The communal bathroom is made of concrete crowned with a prefabricated, galvanized iron structure. It's located on the uphill side of the boathouse and has two sinks and two showers. The east side wall features a garage door that opens to offer bathers a view of a crescent-shaped bay, plus a few houses, and a shop—"not for the modest," notes Cheshire.

Above: A vast bedroom is located in what's known as Sleepout 2, about 70 yards from the bure. Its mural is by Auckland painter John Reynolds.

Above: A bunk room with built-in metal piping beds and storage shelves.

Above: An outdoor fireplace at the compound's formal entry—for gathering to "stare at the stars, drink whiskey, and argue about Malevich et al."

Above: The beach can wait.

Above: A view of the hillside compound with the bure and the boathouse roofs peeking through the greenery.

Above: Off the main room of the bure, a terrace offers prime ocean views. Whale Bay, the area's crown jewel, is a 20-minute walk through the bush.

Above: Woolleys Bay is one of several beaches just below the compound.

All this week, we've been exploring design Down Under. Looking for more Beach Designs? Explore our archive, including A Pair of Fisherman's Cabins Turned Beachside Cabanas in Portugul and Bathing en Plein Air: 29 Outdoor Summer Showers. On Gardenista, learn how to install your own outdoor shower in Hardscaping 101.

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• Best Professionally Designed Kitchen Winner: Space Exploration
• Brick Comeback: A Revived Manse in Melbourne
• Architect Visit: An Indoor/Outdoor House in Australia

The days are long, the kids are home from school, and routines are thrown off. The summer months are a shift toward ease in so many ways, but a hindrance to one thing we desperately need: sleep. In the cool, dark days of winter, turning in comes naturally, but in the warm weather, we have to make an effort to power down the body and brain. Here, seven suggestions for a better night's rest right now.

Above: A simple bed and a small side table in the Napa Valley home of Remodelista's Sarah Lonsdale. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista from our post Sarah's Refined Rental in St. Helena.

1. Keep it quiet.

Consider some pre-bedtime yoga: The practice of pratyahara involves closing off the senses. Block out sound with earplugs or a sound machine, cover your eyes with an eye pillow, and on hot summer nights, try some calming, restorative poses: Lie supine on the floor with your legs up the wall for about 5-10 minutes, or sit on the floor, hug your knees into your chest and rest your forehead on your knees. Turning in and putting pressure on the "third eye" sends a message to the entire body that it's time to relax and unwind.

Above: An uncluttered and tech-free desk in the Pasadena home of interior designer Michaela Scherrer. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista from A Greek-Inspired Guest Suite in LA.

2. Unplug and log off.

Monitor your online time and turn off stimulating devices well before bed. Consider taking a summer vacation from addictive technology, especially social media.

3. Make it dark.

Consider purchasing blackout shades to block the summer sun. An eye mask can work as a great substitute.

Above: Photograph by Michael A. Muller from A Whiter Shade of Pale: Weaver Caitlin Emeritz at Home in Seattle.

4. Invest in a well-made bed.

An essential step in avoiding sleepless summer nights is to invest in a quality bed: a box spring or foundation, mattress, and bedding. Consider a mattress that uses fiber technologies to pull body heat away from the sleeping surface, resulting in a cool sleep on hot nights. When it comes to sheets and blankets, opt for natural, breathable materials such as 100 percent cotton and linen to keep cool and cozy.

Above: Learn all about roller shades in our Remodeling 101 post. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista from Sarah's Refined Rental in St. Helena.

5. The cooler the better.

The ideal temperature range for sleeping is 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Pay attention to where the heat might be sneaking into your rooms and use shades to filter sunlight during the day. On the hottest nights, do as your grandparents did and move your sleep area to the coolest area of the house, such as the porch. And if that's not an option, consider investing in a window AC unit for your bedroom.

Adverse to air-conditioning? Try taking a cold shower before going to sleep and place a damp washcloth next to the bed. For more relief, make a rice sock: Fill a fresh sock with rice and tie it with a ribbon at the top. Place it in the freezer for a few hours and rest it around your neck or on your forehead as a cooling compress (and, alternatively, in the winter, the filled sock can be heated in the microwave). 

Sleeping in a cooler temperature can boost your metabolic health—see the recent New York Times article Let's Cool It in the Bedroom.

Above: French lavender water is used by Paris designer Lucile Demory at a natural bug repellent. Photograph by Natalie Weiss for Remodelista from Style Counsel: Unfussy French Girl Style with Lucile Demory.

6. Don't let the bugs bite.

Nothing is worse than being kept awake by a pestering mosquito. Be vigilant about keeping the bugs out during the day, and make sure all open windows are well screened.

Above: Photograph by Michael A. Muller for Remodelista from Living in an Architectural Landmark, Seattle Edition.

7. Get up at roughly at the same time every day.

We are creatures of habit and our circadian clocks thrive on regularity. Being consistent about when you turn in and when you get up will help you sleep better. But there's no need to be too rigid—it is summer, after all. 

More Stories from Remodelista

• Steal This Look: The Perfect Bed
• Vote for the Best Bedroom in the Remodelista Considered Design Awards: Amateur Category
• 7 Classic Canvas Cots for Summer Slumber

There's a lot abuzz: This week Gardenista has been spotlighting the lush gardens of Australia and New Zealand—and celebrating the winners of the Considered Design Awards. Plus they've turned up a curious woodland hut balanced on a boulder.

Above: A Summerhouse in a Garden at a guesthouse in Kyneton, Australia, is this week's Steal This Look, rattan armchairs and trellis included. Just add your own gray dog.

Above: See the seven winners of the Gardenista Considered Design Awards—and watch for daily profiles of the winners. The Best Amateur Small Garden shown here, occupies a "skinny and shady" north-facing balcony in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Above: Modern Farmer Tasha Shoo and Her 10 Acres are the subject of this week's Garden Visit. Two years ago Tasha and family fled Melbourne for the nearby countryside to raise their own food. Now, "they're curing their own bacon, eating strawberries that really taste like strawberries," reports Michelle—and sharing the bounty with their neighbors.

Above: To be filed under "Replicate Immediately at Home": the dirt simple displays at Fowlers Flowers, in Melbourne.

Above: Two architects in the Czech Republic not only designed this cabin—see Outbuilding of the Week—but also spent weekends for six months building it. Perched high on a rock, the front window "offers a bird's-eye view of the treetops, a sort of private lookout post," writes Jeanne. 

Above: Barbara reports on the new Aussie Cafe in Brooklyn opened by "a go-getter who thinks he can show New Yorkers how to run a coffee shop." It's filled with notable design ideas, including these DIY: Hanging Garden Shelves.

More Stories from Remodelista

• Trending on Gardenista: Fragrant Gardens and Floral Fabrics
• Expert Advice: Summer Entertaining with Mrs. Robertson
• Trending on Gardenista: Tough Perennials and Other Success Stories

The winner of the Remodelista Considered Design Awards Best Amateur-Designed Office Space is Caitlin Long of San Francisco. 

Her project was chosen as a finalist by guest judge Jenni Kayne, who said: "I was drawn to this office immediately. I love the mixture of dark-painted wood walls and exposed cedar, as well as the warmth and coziness that the plaid pillows, sheepskin, and layered vintage rugs bring. I like the fact that the interior feels as if it's exactly what the exterior calls for."

Take a look at the project below and read what Long has to say about the remodel, her best secret design source, and how to warm up a concrete wall.

N.B.: This is one of a series of posts spotlighting the winners of the Remodelista Considered Design Awards. We'll be featuring one winning project each weekday for the next few weeks. Go to the 2014 Considered Design Awards to see all the entries, finalists, and winners. And have a look at the winners of the Gardenista Considered Design Awards, too.

Caitlin Long's Design Statement: I converted this 100-square-foot backyard garden shed into an office space for late-night studying and early morning business calls. I paneled an existing concrete wall with cedar, installed a portable camping woodstove for coziness, and painted the remaining trim a dark gray.

Q: Where do you live?
A: I live in the Cole Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. Our house, which we built in 2007, sits on a typical 26-by-125-foot lot, and the shed, which holds the office, is at the rear of the property. The house is shingled and looks quite traditional from the outside, but it's an open loft space on the main floor with bedrooms on the two floors above.

Q: What were your practical goals for the project?
A: My goal was to turn a dank garden shed into a warm, cozy office that would be comfortable and practical for multiple users. The office decor couldn’t be too fussy or precious as it gets traffic directly from the yard, yet it had to feel like a bona fide work space. Stylistically, I was shooting for creating a casual gentleman’s space without it looking like a cliché.

Q: What solutions did you find to your design problems?
A: First and foremost, the room needed to be warmed up. Paneling the two walls—which were concrete—with cedar instantly did that, as did painting out the rest of the trim and beadboard (including the ceiling) in a dark gray. Painting the ceiling dark, a trick much advocated by London designer Abigail Ahern, was scary for me, but it really did unify the room and create a cozy cohesiveness to the space. After that, it was all about authentically layering the room with rugs, texture, and objects to finish the look.

Q: What is your favorite feature of the project?
A: The wood stove! I installed the wood stove (a portable camping stove) with my older son who loves to have a little fire going when he uses the office to study at night. We have a carbon monoxide alarm for safety. Obviously, it isn’t freezing here in San Francisco, so the wood stove isn’t a necessity for warmth, but it sure does add magic.

Q: What is your day job?
A: Mother to two, avid DIYer, and writer of the blog The Shingled House. Previously I worked in antiques restoration and as a furniture maker/designer of one-of-a-kind pieces.

Q: What is your best secret design source?
A: Urban Ore, in Berkeley, for architectural salvage and vintage furniture. I’ve scored some great finds there, but you must visit often and do some real digging—and be willing to restore some precious finds.

Q: What is your favorite local shop?
A: Mollusk Surf Shop, in the Outer Sunset. The shop aesthetic is beautiful. They have great art, books, clothes, and surfboards, obviously.

Q: What projects would you tackle if you had an unlimited budget?
A: I’d put in a solar-heated pool in the backyard. It would have to be designed perfectly to work in the space we have, but it could be done.

Q: Where do you get your design inspiration?
A: I am often inspired by visual details rather than the larger picture. I notice and am influenced by patina, color, and texture, mostly in an urban setting. In terms of looking at images of interiors, I get inspired by and am most interested in spaces that reflect the authentic, individual interests of the inhabitant. Some great Internet sources for that are Freunde von Freunden, the Selby, and Orlando and the Fountain. On Instagram my current favorites are @donalddrawbertson and @douglasfriedman.

Q: Which architects or designers do you admire?
A: Mark Cunningham, Steven Volpe, Brian Paquette, Finn Juhl, and Ray and Charles Eames.

Q: What is your next project?
A: An under-the-stairs closet and storage space. I’m striping the walls and sloped ceiling with gaffer's tape and maximizing the storage function.

Congratulations to Caitlin Long! See all winners of the 2014 Remodelista Considered Design Awards here:

More Stories from Remodelista

• Vote for the Best Office in the Remodelista Design Awards: Professional Category
• Vote for the Best Office Space in the Remodelista Considered Design Awards: Amateur Category
• 10 Easy Pieces: Table and Desk Fans

We're endlessly fascinated by interior paint, especially colors from foreign lands (why do they seem so compelling?). Here are five companies worth noting—two of them sell their wares Stateside, and we're hoping the others will soon be available.

Above: Peter Lewis, founder of both Porter's Paint in Australia and Sydney Harbour Paint Company in the US, was inspired to start his business after discovering formulas for Mediterranean paint washes in his grandfather's archives (he was the builder of Sydney's Capitol Theatre and an accomplished colorist). Porter's Paints offers a range of natural, water-based wall finishes, from milk paint to lime wash to mineral paint. Go to Sydney Harbour Paint Company for more information.

Above: Founded by Rachel Lacy, Drikolor is a New Zealand-based paint company offering powder pigments that offer "deeper and richer colors not available through traditional liquid tinting methods." The company holds the exclusive owner of the licensing rights from the Foundation Le Corbusier in Paris (they offer the 63 colors to architects, designers, and their customers in Australia and New Zealand).

Above: Australian designer and self-proclaimed magpie Sibella Court has developed a line for Murobond, with subtly shaded collections including Merchants and Traders, Indigo Blues, and Paper Whites.

Above: Founded by Prue Cook (the wife of architect Marshall Cook) in 1992 when she couldn't find the right color for her house, Auckland-based Aalto Colour says its "complex mixing of pigments produces an added depth and richness to the painted surface, with the intensities and hues of each color shifting with the changing light of the day." The company does custom color mixing and consulting and works with many galleries, museums, and heritage institutions in New Zealand.

Above: Twenty-year-old company BioPaints in New Zealand uses "nature's gentle chemistry" to make a range of products, including interior wall paint, exterior paint, enamel paint, powder pigments, and oil varnishes and waxes. See the range at BioPaints.

Are you color obsessed as well? See all our Palette & Paints posts here.

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• Current Obsessions: August Song
• Mix-and-Match Painted Cage Lights from an Aussie Designer
• Lightweight Wool: Godmother Stansborough Grayscale Blankets from New Zealand

Imagine a Scandinavian seaside fishing village in cool and casual Byron Bay, the historical and spiritual home of surfing in Australia. You'd want to linger in a place like that. And if you did, you’d be following in the footsteps of Kimberly Amos and Stephen Eakin, ex-Sydneysiders who decided after a year’s sabbatical in Byron Bay that they'd settle permanently. She's an artist, he's an ex-banker, and together they founded Atlantic Byron Bay, a boutique hotel with several types of beach cottage accommodations that the pair renovated themselves. Our favorite is an enclave called Driftwood. We’re not sure whether it’s the charcoal gray cottages with their white trim and striped awnings that we're most drawn to or the Airstream trailer set against a backdrop of palms. We propose spending a night in each to find out.

Photographs via Atlantic Byron Bay.

Above: Each room at Driftwood has its own private entry off the deck. A striped awning adds to the crisp aesthetics and keeps the sun at bay. Have you ever considered using awnings on your windows?  In 10 Easy Pieces: Window Awnings, we show you some of our favorite examples. 

Above: A set of hooks in an entry hall provides convenient organization. (See 7 Space-Saving Hallway Solutions for more ideas.)

Above: An all-white studio with its own kitchen is light-filled and airy.

Above: Food and surf are the primary concerns at Atlantic Byron Bay.

Above: A white bench with black-and-white cushions works well against the charcoal gray cottage and white window trim. Shaker pegs stand ready for wet bathing suits and towels. (See more in Remodeling 101: How Shaker Pegs Saved My Summer Sanity.)

Above: The cottages on the grounds are connected by a series of bleached wood decks and boardwalks. (If you're looking for the perfect shade of gray for your house, see Expert Advice: Architects' Top 10 Gray Paint Picks.)

Above L: A surfboard matches the Driftwood black-and-white palette. Above R: Painted bowling pins add colorful beach decor.

Above: Large potted plants on the deck tie into the native tropical floral and fauna.

Above: A perfect outdoor shower comes with the territory.

Above: The glint of the Airstream trailer can be spotted just beyond the Driftwood deck.

Above: The Airstream comes with its own private deck area, striped awning, and surfboard. For more stripes, see Object Lessons: Classic Summer Stripes.

Above: Compact and efficient, the refurbished interior is kitted out for sleeping, lounging, cooking, and bathing—and is air-conditioned.

Above: A view of the adjoining rain-forest reserve.

Above: Some beachside accoutrements.

Got the Airstream bug? See Wanderlust: 10 Airstream Trailers for Living Small and Luxe Urban Camping: The Hotel Daniel Airstream in Vienna. On Gardenista, visit A Modern Farmer and Her 10 Acres in Australia.

Atlantic Byron Bay is located in the surfing community of Byron Bay, just south of the Gold Coast of Australia. 

More Stories from Remodelista

• Dumpling Chic in Melbourne
• Bohemia on the Bowery: A Fashion Photographer Couple at Home
• Get Out of the Heat: Josephine House, in Austin

Here's a look at what's on our radar this week.

• Above: Funded by Kickstarter, Floyd Legs aims to turn any flat surface into a table.
• A look at Brooklyn during the summer of 1974. 
• Today marks the first day of NY Now, a trade show bringing makers and artists from all over the world to the Javits Center and Pier 94 in New York City. 

• Above: We recently wrote about Silvia Song, a Bay Area architect turned woodworker. Her work is being showcased through September 15 at Heath Ceramics in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sausalito. 
• Jute, a member of the Remodelista Architect/Designer Directory, recently sat down with Lonny to talk about design inspiration, favorite movies, and life in San Francisco. 

• Above: We're admiring the residential work of Hecker Gurthie, the firm that designed the chic Chinese restaurant from earlier this week. Photograph by Eve Wilson.
• The most organized people in the world might be chefs.
• We're flattered that Such & Such is obsessed with the Remodelista book. 

• Above: Heidi Swanson shares a peek into Quitokeeto's new San Francisco studio. Photograph by Heidi Swanson. 
• DIY bar carts for the budget-minded. 
• Surprise, surprise: Funny guy Jonah Hill knows how to decorate. 

• Above: We're loving Mother mag's home tour with Kinfolk founding art director Amanda Jane Jones. 
• Have you heard? Here are the winners of Remodelista's Considered Design Awards and Gardenista's Considered Design Awards.
  

To catch up on posts from this week on Remodelista, see Down Under—and don't miss Gardenista's dip into New Zealand and Australia in their Down Under issue. 

More Stories from Remodelista

• 5 Boutique Paint Lines from Down Under
• Mix-and-Match Painted Cage Lights from an Aussie Designer
• Lightweight Wool: Godmother Stansborough Grayscale Blankets from New Zealand

Summer and cottage are two of our favorite words, especially when they're linked. This week we're celebrating warm-weather hideaways of all sorts—plus camp furniture, a tiny kitchen with wine-crate drawers, and other inspirations for the vacation retreat. Also watch for our daily posts profiling the winners of the Remodelista Considered Design Awards.

Above: Photograph of Ilse Crawford's High Road House hotel, in London, from Remodeling 101: How Shaker Peg Saved My Summer Sanity.

Monday

Above: In today's Furniture post, Sarah presents folding designs for stylish nomads, courtesy of a Japanese camping company.

Tuesday

Above: Last week Christine showed us a British Standard Kitchen in a Shepherd's Hut. In Tuesday's Hotels & Lodging post, she leads the way to a shepherd's hut in Somerset, England, that functions as a B&B and camping alternative.

Wednesday

Above: Put time in your hands: In Wednesday's DIY Project, learn how to make a wall clock.

Thursday

Above: A new fashion showroom in Los Angeles—with a tea room—takes inspiration from Irish country houses. Watch for Thursday's The Designer Is In.

Friday

Above: In Shopper's Diary, Sarah drops in on Renee Holguin, proprietor of an LA store with a cult following and an appealing mission: It's all about vacation-style living year-round.

Wondering what's going on this week at Gardenista? Check out the Table of Contents there, as well. 

More Stories from Remodelista

• Form Meets Function in the Great Outdoors: Peregrine Camp Furniture from Japan
• Current Obsessions: August Song
• 5 Boutique Paint Lines from Down Under

When Remodelista's Justine Hand and her husband, Chad, bought a wonky 1807 house on Rock Harbor, she already knew every cobwebby nook: With their two young kids, they'd rented the place for several summers (and her grandparents' house is right across the street). Ownership meant that Justine, armed with little more than paint and fistfuls of greenery, could finally create the "not too cottage-y cottage" she envisioned. 

We featured the Salt Timber Cottage, as it's known, in chapter one of the Remodelista book. But we could only start to show its many corners. Today we're touring the family side of Justine's DIY remodel. 

Photographs by Matthew Williams for Remodelista.

Above: The egg-yolk-yellow kitchen was the one room Justine left much as is—she simply touched up the paint and accessorized well. Justine and Chad's daughter, Solvi, is shown here. Note the black band on the screen door for masking fingerprints, an old idea worth replicating. 

Above: The vintage stove, painstakingly refurbished by the previous owner, works, though Justine finds it finicky: “I’m happy with the way it looks, if not the way it cooks.” 

Above: On arrival at the house, Justine grabs clippers and heads out to gather flowers and leafy stems. "I keep getting more and more minimal with our furnishings and instead decorate with flowers. Every room has a floral accent—not a bouquet, just some sort of life." These nasturtiums are in a cordial glass on top of an icebox (now used for storage). Coin silver, restaurant ware, and other cutlery is stowed in stoneware jars. For polishing silver, Justine swears by the ease of Connoisseurs Silver Wipes, but appreciates a slight patina.

Above: On a side wall, a favorite pan, cutting board and bread knife, and onion basket hang from nails. To source a similar basket, see 10 Easy Pieces on Gardenista.

Above: An old roller shade serves as a cover for pantry shelves.

Above: The dining room is in the center of the cottage—and has seven doors leading off it. Justine had the table custom built for $700: “Since the space is small, I wanted it to be drop leaf, so it could be very narrow. It’s made from old wide-plank barn boards, and each leaf is one board. I love the old-fashioned detailing on the hinge.” The mismatched chairs are unified by several coats of Benjamin Moore Linen White paint.

Above: One of the cottage's most winning features is its original spatter-painted floors. "They're a wonderful way to add texture and interest while still keeping the overall look minimal and clean—and not having to constantly sweep sand," Justine notes. Re-creating the look is surprisingly easy (and an economical alternative to refinishing wood floors): Read Justine's DIY: New England Spatter-Painted Floors.

Above: The room is painted in Tidewater, a pale blue from Martin Senour Paints, that Justine says “makes the space feel like you’re inside a robin’s egg.” Over the gas stove, the mantel displays "a flea market painting subtly suggestive of the sea" and wild Queen Anne's lace in a Vaseline glass vase that was a wedding present to Justine's parents.

Above: A pantry off the dining room displays a well-edited selection of tableware. The bisque hand-shaped vases and black Wedgwood coffee pot came from Justine's grandmother's packed china cabinet.

Above: The favorite hangout, the screened-in porch, is where books are read (shown here, Chad with Solvi and Oliver), lemonade is poured, and bathing suits hang to dry The walls are Benjamin Moore Linen White offset by Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray on the floor—a classic Scandi combination that Justine used in several rooms to inject lightness into the gloom. The wooden fish came from a weathervane on the garage.

Above: The porch has its original wicker chairs. Note the ceiling, painted a yellow inspired by the kitchen.

Above: In Oliver's room, the eagle kite is a gift from his great aunt Sheila's trip to China. (Sheila Narusawa is an architect on the Cape—and a member of the Remodelista Architect/Designer Directory—and she serves as Justine's counsel on design matters.)

Above: Oliver's bedside table is a $15 flea market find. The seaside painting and lamp are placeholders borrowed from a family friend. 

Above: "It's so hard to find good orange pillows," says Justine. A friend stitched this one from an old French linen tea towel.

Above: Because the house almost entirely lacked closets, Justine bought a cedar-lined cupboard from a local antiques shop. It holds the family’s towels and linens, but very little else: “Lack of storage space forces you—in a good way—to think about every single thing that you allow in.”

Above: The first-floor guest room has a green spatter-painted floor and old wallpaper that seems to improve with age (in several other rooms, Justine had a professional strip the wallpaper, "a bear of a job" that she says was her biggest remodeling expense). The iron bed frame was purchased on eBay and the simple tab curtains are from Ikea.

Above: Wild Rosa rugosa and lilac leaves, or bay leaves, are Justine's favorite bedside combinations: "Rosa rugosa smell divine, and I always like to have a bright green that jumps out. This house is so relentlessly cottage-y, but the right acid green tempers that."

Above: The chest is a $50 Cape Cod antiques store piece. Solstice Home, the source of the candlestick light, and one of Justine's favorite local vintage dealers, has since moved to Portland, Oregon; it's now part of the Maven Collective (and also operates as Solstice Home on Etsy).

Above: Robin’s egg blue carries over from the dining room into the pocket-size living room, where Norwegian peasant prints from Justine's grandmother hang over an old Pottery Barn sofa. The coffee table is a workbench that happened to fit. The flower arrangement—lilies and lilac leaves—are in an old glass baby bottle.

Above: Rosa rugosa, Queen Anne's lace, and white lilac leaves—"white lilac leaves have a better light green than purple lilacs"—greet visitors in the front entry. 

Above: To draw in the famous Cape light, the public rooms are curtain- and shade-free. Like a bride, Justine likes to mix, old, new, borrowed, and blue. Here, under a light on "permanent loan" from a friend, an antique wicker chair sits aside an ottoman purchased long-ago from Pottery Barn. The throw rug, from West Elm, replaced a seagrass rug deemed “too quaint”—part of Justine’s job, as she sees it, is keeping her house’s undeniable charms in check. The linocut print, Mark's Dog, is by Hugo Guinness from John Derian, in Provincetown.

Above: Stairs off the dining room lead to the master bedroom tucked under the eaves.

Above: The room is just big enough for a double bed. The hanging light came with the cottage and is a ship's lantern, one side red, the other blue.  

Above: A $15 whitewashed chair serves as a bedside table—"someone sawed off the legs, so it's unusually low." The light, Justine says, is "just a hardware store clip-on that I spray-painted white."

Above: On the second-floor landing, the house painting is by a woman who lived in the cottage in the 1950s. It's a portrait of Justine's grandparents' place, and the children out front are Justine's mother and aunts.

Above: Solvi's room under the eaves has gray floors and a newly painted bed to match—it had been a dark wood that Justine says took courage to cover (but she's glad she did). 

Above: A crucial bit of color is supplied by an orange-striped pillow and a 1970s Gladys the Goose lamp.

Above: A backyard laundry line and hammock hang by the garage.

Above: The cottage dates back to 1807 and was owned for many years by two sisters from Boston who had given it its last major remodel in the 1940s.

Above: The exterior is painted a pale purply-gray called Weathered Wood with White Lace trim, both from Martin Senour Paints.

Justine contributes regularly to both Remodelista and Gardenista—and writes her own blog, Design Skool. Have a look at her DIY: Razor Clam Pendant Light. And, on Gardenista, see her DIYs on How To Turn Flotsam and Jetsam into Wall Art and Pressed Seaweed Prints. We're all still talking about the Bayberry Candles she and her kids made last fall.

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Spotted in the Cobble Hill bath of Jenni Li and Hans Gissinger, a genius idea for storing bath toys. Here are a few options for re-creating the look.

Above: Photo by Brittany Ambridge for Domino.

Above: A striped French Grocery Bag in navy and white is $16 at Brook Farm General Store.

Above: A classic made in France, the Natural Cotton String Shopping Bag is $10.95 on Amazon.

Above: The 100 percent cotton French Cotton Net Bag is $10.95 at Kaufmann Mercantile.

Above: Made in LA, the Small Net Shopping Bag is dip-dyed in yellow and has leather handles; $80 at Spartan.

Above: Better Houseware's green Cotton Net Shopping Bag is $7.15 on Amazon (also available in blue).

For more options, go to 10 Parisian-Style Net Bags.

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The winner of the Remodelista Considered Design Awards Best Professionally Designed Office Space is Egon Walesch of London.

The designer's project was chosen as a finalist by Remodelista editor in chief Julie Carlson, who said, "I love a multitasking room and this one fits the bill: part library, work space, lounging area. I love the salvaged mantelpiece, and the contrast between the pale wood floors and the chalky blue walls."

Take a look at the project below and read what Walesch has to say about the remodel, his favorite sources of inspiration, and a mid-project color swap. 

N.B.: This is one of a series of posts spotlighting the winners of the Remodelista Considered Design Awards. We'll be featuring one winning project each weekday for the next couple of weeks. Go to the 2014 Considered Design Awards to see all the entries, finalists, and winners. And have a look at the winners of the Gardenista Considered Design Awards, too.

Egon Walesch's Design Statement: The project involved turning a little-used upstairs sitting room in an Edwardian house in southeast London into a stylish and practical home office and library.

Q: What were your practical goals for the project?
A: Previously, the space wasn’t a disaster but it lacked a clear purpose and wasn’t used very often. So the practical goals were to provide that clear purpose and focus, improve the layout and flow, install enough storage for a large collection of books and artwork, and create a comfortable and cozy area to read, relax, and entertain. At the same time, the room needed to house a desk/work space without compromising the relaxed vibe. And, of course, it had to reflect the personality of the homeowners.

Q: Who worked on the winning project?
A: I did. I do have a secret weapon, though—my partner, Richard, is an architect, and I can turn to him day and night for advice and support.

Q: What solutions did you find to your design problems?
A: Probably the biggest issue to address was the layout. Previously the space was effectively divided in two by a sofa in the center. In practice, that meant only half of the room was used. Somewhat counterintuitively, opening up the space has made it easier for its various functions to be realized. I had a hunch that would be the case, but the only way to know for sure was trying the furniture in different positions.

Q: Where did you get your design inspiration?
A: Everywhere! I like to take inspiration from nature and art, as well as from traditional interiors. Anything can be a starting point for a design. I like houses that reflect the different periods in which they have existed. This project is in an Edwardian house and it was important to preserve that feeling of a period home, while making it unmistakably contemporary. For me, that tension between the old and the new creates the most interesting interiors.

Q: What are your favorite features of the project?
A: I love the color of the walls, Stone Blue by Farrow & Ball. That wasn’t the first choice, though. I had originally picked Cook's Blue and painted two coats before realizing it just wasn’t right. Important lesson: If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. Take the hit and start again.

I also love the mantelpiece. It’s made from a piece of driftwood that Richard and I found beachcombing on the Thames at low tide a few years ago. Cleaned up and whitewashed with a pair of corbels, it creates a playful echo of the sort of fireplace the house would have had originally, but brought bang up to date.

Lastly, I really like the seating choices in the room: A Nick Munro–designed sofa is paired with a couple of original Ernest Race DA2 armchairs from the late 1940s. And there’s a one-off small sofa, an Ikea prototype that never went into production (on the wall near the desk).

Q: What advice do you have for anyone undertaking a similar project?
A: As with everything, follow your heart. Don’t rush. If you’re not sure about an element of the design, wait. Go to exhibitions. Visit country houses. Walk in the countryside. Wait for inspiration to strike.

Q: What were the hardest lessons you learned along the way?
A: Having to repaint all of the walls!

Q: What was your biggest splurge?
A: The project had a very tight budget, so there weren’t any huge splurges. It made sense for the budget to be allocated according to the main functions of the space. So the most expensive items were the bespoke cabinetry to house the books and the seating. The Ercol desk was quite pricey, but it is a potential heirloom piece.

Q: What does your firm specialize in?
A: Renovating and remodeling slightly tired homes in London, helping to unleash their potential. Commissions in other cities/countries are also considered.

Q: What is your best secret design source?
A: My favorite sources are where I can get secondhand items, whether it’s car boot sales, junk shops, or auction houses. I find interiors that only have new, unused objects are a bit sterile.

Q: What is your favorite local shop?
A: I can’t choose one! Columbia Road is a lovely street in London’s East End that has a great Sunday morning flower market. Flowers can really make an interior sing, and a trip there is a great Sunday morning excursion. The street has cool shops, too, and places to have brunch. 

Q: Which architects or designers do you admire?
A: Innovators like Palladio, Mies van der Rohe, Peter Zumthor. I love the way David Hicks married tradition with innovation—his interiors were often a bit bonkers.

Q: If your room was a celebrity, who would it be?
A: Not sure she counts as a celebrity, but I think Virginia Woolf would find herself at home in a library and writing space like this. Her thesis that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction” seems appropriate.

Congratulations to Egon Walesch! See all winners of the 2014 Remodelista Considered Design Awards here:

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• Best Amateur-Designed Office Space: Caitlin Long
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