Ryan Anderson of RAD Furniture designed the stools as well as the table and benches on the pool deck.

Yang Yeo and his girlfriend Ching Ian relax on the back stoop of their renovated and radically updated Singapore shophouse—an archetypal building type in this busy port city. “Shophouses brought back memories of our childhood,” says Yeo.

The kitchen was custom made by a local carpenter due to its unconventional scale. The appliances consist of a De Dietrich oven, Amana refrigerator, and Imperial microwave.

The beanbag chairs and outdoor sofa and chairs are from West Elm and the Case Study Museum Bench is from Modernica.

Christine (at left), and Amanda (at right) chat with David’s sister Aroha Yates-Smith (center) in the kitchen.

The concrete wall mimics the slope of the hill outside as a reference to early Maori structures that were dug into the land. The simple kitchen has strandboard cabinetry and an MDF island that conceals a fireplace at one end. The ceramic works on the built-in seat at right are by Raewyn Atkinson and Robyn Lewis.

Builder Ross Percival helped finesse the finely tuned detailing that separates the internal slope from the rock outside (opposite). The Pedro wire stool is by Craig Bond for Candywhistle.

Because the house is narrow and long (16 by 68 feet), the design team decided to create a huge open-air space to light the interior naturally. Two retractable motor-driven canvas canopies shelter the space during Singapore’s frequent rains.

A departure from the mod-meets-baroque dining room, Turin’s breakfast area is far more sedate. She and her daughter, Helena, have a chat at a Progetto 1 table by Monica Armani for B&B Italia surrounded by four Lia chairs by Roberto Barbieri for Zanotta. The painting behind Helena is by Ricci Albenda.

The north-facing doors slide completely away to open the house to the outdoors, offering an uninterrupted view of the water. The pendant lights over the table are from Iko Iko.

DIY Furniture 2, a follow-up to DIY Furniture, showcases how to make unique designer furniture using readily available materials commonly found at the local hardware store. Picture courtesy of Laurence King Publishing.

The projects in Stuart's DIY Furniture 2 range from novice to experienced and each design features diagrams with short, easy-to-follow instructions on how to build the piece. Picture courtesy of Laurence King Publishing.

The home’s original living and dining rooms were updated with custom cabinetry and new fir floors. The living room sofa, coffee table, and lounge chair are from Blu Dot.

This is Moritz and Elmar, two DIY chair makers from the Bodensee area of Germany. They had no jobs when they built their 24 Euro chairs, and the experience strengthened their friendship. “They sent this picture in to the Hartz IV Moebel website for my book. This is one of the ways that the Karma Economy has worked for me,” says Van Bo. “The KE concept, developed by Danny Iny, about how to help helpful people so that we create a vibrant community without having to use money—has been great for me. These guys are enjoying their new chairs, and I have a book that elucidates my ideas. Everyone is happy!”

While Brooklyn brownstones conjure up memories of their turn-of-the-century roots, they also remain the modern-day face of New York’s coolest boroughs. With brownstone living, however, comes responsibility—many of these classic beauties are in need of renovation and restoration. Here are 10 standout, renovated brownstones that retain their original charm with added contemporary cool.

The master bath contains all functions in the white fiberglass panel that runs the length of the wall. Lazor designed the vanity; the tub is by Duravit.

“It was a major decision to put the kitchen in the center where everything would revolve around it,” says Lazor. “We did this simply by following what patterns we observed—it was just where people gravitated.” The bar stools are by Blu Dot, and the chairs by Charles and Ray Eames.

In the living area, the wooden bench is part of a set Amanda designed for a 1995 play. The Miss M sofa is by New Zealand designer Simon James.

The formal lounge plays host to Angelucci’s collection of mid-century modern furniture. A pair of Leather Sling chairs by Aussie-born sculptor Clement Meadmore sit under the window; a black Snoopy lamp by Achille Castiglioni for Flos is on the mantle.

Kitchen & Dining Room “This room really became the heart of the space,” Dawn Casale says. “If people are sitting at the dining table or in the living area, you’re able to have a really free-flowing conversation and there’s a nice dynamic happening on the entire floor.”

Morten Bo Jensen, the chief designer at Vipp—whose headquarters are located in Islands Brygge—and his partner, graphic designer Kristina May Olsen, bought a loft space in the former Viking pencil factory in 2011. They bought the loft from its previous owner, one of five investors who purchased the circa-1910 factory building, roughly a decade ago, in a very raw state.

Tagliabue made sense of the soaring volume in the library by installing double-height custom bookcases that can be accessed via a catwalk.

Walsh and Strongin's living room strikes a more rustic note.

The sofa is a prototype that never went into production—the base slides out and the two cushions become flat for sleeping. Today, one can buy Risom furniture from a variety of sources, including Knoll, Design Within Reach, and Ralph Pucci.

A low stone wall surrounds the perimeter, which Jens planted with trees in order to create a buffer between the house and the surrounding vista.

Bill Thompson’s Hollywood home exudes modern cool with a custom walnut dining table and chairs from Modernica.

The clients had an impressive collection of Scandinavian midcentury teak furniture that now pops beautifully against the concrete floors, white-painted brick, and pine v-joint walls.

Salvage Garden Driftwood that Tershy, Zavaleta, and the kids spent years collecting from local beaches makes up the pickets of the backyard fence, a pillar outside the front door, and the railing on the upstairs hallway. But it’s a Pacific madrone that puts a rustic exclamation point on the interior. The tree fell on a friend’s land, and the couple, after hauling the best boughs into town, turned it into the centerpiece of the double-height dining room.

Croyle reclines on a Soft Dream sofa by Antonio Citterio for Flexform. The coffee table is by One & Co, where Croyle was formerly a partner, for Council, the rug is Kymo, and the side chairs are Cappellini.

James's bedroom furniture was custom designed by Hatch Workshop.

When curating the rooms throughout their house, Udechuku and Smith mix borrowed pieces related to the temporary exhibition—such as the playful sculptural lamps crafted from found materials by Brazilian artist Rodrigo Almeida—with vintage American and European classics from their personal collection, such as a Florence Knoll sofa designed in 1954 and newly re-upholstered in a yellow Kvadrat fabric. "We have no opening hours but people call or knock and—if we are home—we welcome them in and put the kettle on." —Ike Udechuku

Any combination of dining tables, desks, coffee tables, credenzas, standing desks, and more, are possible. And of course, the wood can be easily painted for a more colorful design.

Having lived, he says, in “a number of houses where the living room is the most adorned and the least used,” it was important for Lazor to create a functional family living space. As the gathering above attests, it worked. The carpet is by InterfaceFLOR, and the armchairs by Blu Dot.

Tanya, Chris, Jackson, and Zeke spend much of their day outside.

SWENYO and Uyeda are raising $20,000 on Kickstarter to pay for the production tools that would make the UX4 system possible. A pledge of just $45 will get you one UX4 Bracket Kit—future retail value: $75—that includes four brackets and all the necessary hardware and instructions. Bigger packages include more goodies, like other furniture from SWENYO and brackets in more colors!

Most furniture is expensive and inflexible, but the UX4 is a simple, economical, DIY system that aims to fix that.