Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Padova, Italy

Architect: Bongiana Architetture / @bongianaarchitetture

Footprint: 3,229 square feet

Builder: F.lli Schivo

Structural and Civil Engineer: Stefano Debiasi

Landscape Design: Studio Annachiara Vendramin

Photographer: Riccardo De Vecchi / @riccardodevecchi.photo

From the Architect: “Set amid a small valley of vineyards, Texturized House by Bongiana Architetture is an extension of a modest rural building, a contemporary retreat designed to host family celebrations and intimate gatherings, where architecture shapes atmosphere through light and raw materiality. The project is grounded in the principle of raw purity: rough surfaces, exposed materials, and details reduced to their essence. Each wall and floor is the result of a specific interpretation, turning every surface into a visual and tactile narrative. The structure reveals its own body with pride, in a play of textures that multiplies spatial perception.

“At the heart of the project lies the double-height barn, conceived as a large luminous cavity. Here, the intent was to bring in as much natural light as possible, which filters through openings and reflects on the textured surfaces, animating the space with shifting shadows. Within this volume rises a suspended bookshelf, creating a new intermediate, airy, and intimate space that dialogues with the openness below. The theme of fire weaves through the house, connecting memory and the contemporary: in the old part, the original fireplace remains, while in the barn, a cast-iron stove becomes the new focal point. Around it, the walls are clad with split terra-cotta tiles, designed by Bongiana Architetture for Terraformae, where the interpretation of the joint becomes the sole decorative motif.

“The new concrete floor further tells this story of reinterpreted tradition: a surface that recalls the Venetian terrazzo, but instead of marble fragments, it incorporates reclaimed terra-cotta slats, cut from the hollow bricks used to clad the portico’s pillars. A gesture that ties the ground to the structure, weaving memory and material in a contemporary key. The furnishings add another layer of memory: carefully selected reclaimed pieces, such as a 1950s kitchen salvaged from an old house and transformed to begin a new life here. Old and new intertwine naturally, giving shape to a coherent and lived-in narrative.

“The retreat is nestled among vineyards, where raw surfaces and light craft essential atmospheres. The double-height barn hosts a suspended bookshelf and a cast-iron stove, surrounded by split terra-cotta tiles where the joint itself becomes decoration. The concrete floor reinterprets Venetian tradition with reclaimed terra-cotta slats, weaving memory and material. Recovered furnishings, like a transformed 1950s kitchen, complete this story where every surface speaks and every detail lives.”

Location: 334 Wild Horse Circle, Boulder, Colorado

Price: $5,000,000

Year Built: 2009

Architect: Stephen Dynia

Footprint: 2,700 square feet (3 bedrooms, 3 baths)

Lot Size: 35 Acres

From the Agent: “Few locations on Earth offer such strikingly contrasting yet equally breathtaking perspectives—a view of the sun rising over the prairies, and also of glorious sunsets over the snow-capped peaks. The property is large enough, and the house sufficiently isolated from public roads, to feel serene, natural, and wild, yet it is ten minutes from downtown Boulder. (The property has two distinct access roads, leading to two desirable parts of town.) The house is an inspiring and award-winning work of architecture. Stephen Dynia, the home’s architect, has become renowned for such remarkable buildings as the Jackson Hole Performing Arts Center. Bright and airy, the structure affords seamless continuity between interior spaces and the magnificent natural setting. The materials are warm and natural—rusted steel, wood—while the lines are elegant and simple.”

Read more on Dwell

Anyone who has navigated the rough seas of the Los Angeles rental market will tell you it requires grit, persistence, and more than a little imagination. Just ask Hannah Go and Rami Jrade. Between the two of them, the pair have lived in 13 different rentals around L.A. The units themselves? A mixed bag.

“We’ve lived in apartments with features that were just bonkers, like a new range that made it impossible to open the kitchen drawers, and refrigerators in odd locations,” says Hannah, an L.A. native who designs spaces and products.

“I’ve slept in breakfast nooks…second living rooms,” adds Rami, a songwriter and producer who moved to the city in 2004. “I was in a band, so it was typically a bunch of band guys getting creative with how many people we could have in a house to make rent.”

Hannah shakes her head. “It’s a bummer that the market here is so competitive,” she says. “It’s a fairly dehumanizing experience to have to queue up just to seek out something as necessary as housing. Rami and I had probably looked at upwards of 25 rentals over the course of a year. We’d walk into showings with a couple of other people touring the same rental and looking at the same can lights in the ceiling over and over and over again. No shade to the can light—they serve a purpose. But it’s unique to find a unit like this one.”

Welcome to Color Stories, a series where we look at how (and when) to be brave and bold with color—and look at the trends that shape the colors we use and why.

Years ago, during my first attempt at interior painting, I set out to create an accent wall in my home office. I recall wanting a shade that would spark creativity while evoking a sense of relaxation. So naturally, I went with a burnt orange (read: sarcasm). I liked the color well enough, but in hindsight, the paint job fell way short of my expectations. The shade didn’t exactly produce zen vibes, but it was the bland appearance of the result that was the most bothersome.

When I picked out the paint for my dreadful accent wall, I mainly obsessed over the color, squinting through closed eyes trying to imagine how the finished product would look. It would’ve helped if I took time to carefully take into account the differences between paint finishes before making my choice.

In an effort to help any other anxious painters from skipping this crucial step, we tapped interior designer Anu Jain of Atelier Oleana along with Farrow & Ball Brand Ambassador Patrick O’Donnell and Head of Research and Development Gareth Hayfield to highlight the differences between paint finishes, when and where to apply them (or not) and why.

The easiest way to tell one finish from another

A quick side-by-side paint finish comparison will reveal differences in appearances—but that’s just the start. “You’ve got the aesthetic look but there’s also different levels of durability,” Hayfield explains. “The difference is the amount of light being reflected back off that paint surface. For instance, 100 percent of the light that hits a mirror comes back off. With full gloss, it’s got 95 percent reflection so 95 percent of the light hitting it gets reflected.”

Go flat or go matte

For an understated look with a soft, non-shiny finish, choose flat or matte. Either choice is optimal for low-traffic areas and concealing tiny dents but Hayfield says to bear in mind that matte finishes are more difficult to clean and more prone to damage.

“In a classic sense, the higher the sheen level was, the more durable a paint was but more recently over the years, that durability has been extended down into more and more matte paints,” Hayfield adds. “With the launch of our dead flat paint finish—which has a very low sheen level at two percent —you can paint things like baseboards and doors where you wouldn’t have been able to do that previously.” 

Eggshell

Take matte and add some sheen and you’ll have eggshell. You can generally remove stains and scuffs with a damp cloth, making this subtle finish slightly easier to maintain than its less flashy counterpart—just enough to bounce a little light and give your walls, hallways, living room, or office spaces a soft glow.

“I wouldn’t generally recommend eggshell for use or wood and concrete floors or kitchen cabinets but with a flat eggshell (launching in September) we’re able to provide slight nuances in terms of performance,” Hayfield says.

Satin

Smooth with a touch of gloss, satin is another easy-to-clean finish that adds a slight glimmer to your space. Add a coat to high-traffic areas like the kids’ room and common spaces like the kitchen where spills and stains can be removed with minimal effort.

Semigloss

On the shinier end of the spectrum, semigloss works best for bathrooms, cabinets, doors or any other surface subject to stains and moisture. But beware: all those surface flaws will be extremely visible. For instance, if you’re painting, semigloss will make dents, uneven textures, bumps, marks, or brush marks to show clearly.

Gloss and High-Gloss 

I can’t predict the future. But for 25 years, the people featured in Dwell have. Whether they were resurrecting 20th-century modernism at the close of the McMansion 1990s, championing contemporary prefabrication, or proposing new floor plans, new materials, and new design for new household configurations, they all presented possibilities for what a home can and should be. There’s no “Dwell Style”—and I can’t stand any kind of design orthodoxy—though since we launched our first issue in October 2000, many people have found commonalities in the work that we cover and come up with ideas about what a definitive “Dwell Home” might be. (Does it have to have a flat roof? No.) To celebrate our birthday, we asked former editors and homeowners inspired by the magazine for their interpretation of a Dwell Home. It turns out it’s in the eye of the beholder.

We also looked back at how residential architecture has overlapped with contemporary culture in a feature that we cheekily named “The 25 Most Important Homes of the Past 25 Years.” Our editors put their heads together and nominated homes that we think changed the course of home design. Is the list definitive? Definitely not. But that’s the point. We hope it encourages the debate that the topic deserves.

Finally, Dwell is a magazine fundamentally about the future, so it’s appropriate that our anniversary issue includes The Dwell 24, our annual survey of the best emerging designers out there. They represent design from all over the world, from Wknd Lab in Seoul—its copper-and-enamel Beomjong sconce is the most humbly striking fixture I’ve seen in a long time—to Shed in Surat, India, whose baroque tabletop “carousels” have an engrossing sense of narrative, craft, and play. Also, don’t miss New Yorker Kevin Quale’s beautifully lewd ceramics.

Welcome to Origin Story, a series that chronicles the lesser-known histories of designs that have shaped how we live.

Shelter magazines—defined loosely as publications devoted to home-creating and -maintaining, from architecture and interior design to gardening—have never just been about wallpaper and paint colors. Emerging from household advice manuals of the 19th century, they’ve evolved from the Victorian era to the digital age to reflect the changing zeitgeist, both influencing and incorporating architectural journals, housing catalogs, DIY manuals, and other residential-focused media. Because this year’s September/October issue marks Dwell’s 25th anniversary, we thought it appropriate to look back at the rise of the American shelter magazine—and what its evolution reveals about the nation’s identity over its eras.

Domestic Science

Before “shelter magazine” was an industry category—the first-known use of the term was in a 1946 New York Times article—magazines like Good Housekeeping (1885), House Beautiful (1896), and House & Garden (1901) all hit the market as architectural journals, evolving over the early 20th century to reflect the idea that the home was a workplace to be managed, with primarily women doing the managing. The publications embraced the philosophies of domestic science, a movement that treated housework as a professional discipline. Readers could find tips on how to best use and clean new appliances, investigations into the best height for kitchen countertops, and, as workforces shifted during two world wars and the Great Depression, advice on how to manage both a household and an outside-the-home job.

Jimena García Álvarez-Buylla’s studio sits on the same plot as her mother’s home in Tlalpan, one of Mexico City’s southernmost boroughs. The path to the artist’s domain winds around the house and between tepozán trees, a vegetable garden, succulents, and fragrant sage. “I inherited my love of working with plants from my mother, as she did from hers,” says Jimena. “Our homes reflect that. My mother and I literally meet in the garden between us.”

When Jimena’s live/work space, designed by local firm Estudio MMX, finally appears, it does so potently: A tall, latticed, zigzagging screen made of syncopated, sand-colored bricks cuts diagonally across the back of the property, concealing a two-story, triangular structure.

The entrance to the 645-square-foot home/studio is around the corner at the far end, where a shaded outdoor vestibule awaits with yet more greenery. Contrasting with the intricate facade, compact simplicity reigns inside. The ground floor contains a cozy sitting area, a sleeping area, and a kitchenette. A bathroom housed in a small triangular extension features a shower with its own pointy patio.

Every day, Jimena exits her living space to climb a set of steps embedded in the earth and enter the double-height upper level. Since this is where she paints, the handling of light was paramount, as were constant glimpses of the garden. At the same time, the architects wanted to create an introverted, peaceful refuge. The solution was a system of fragmented walls—alternating solid sections with openings formed by tightening or loosening the woven brickwork—that makes the space feel at once open and shielded, artisanal and contemporary, rough-hewn yet sophisticated.

When Marcos Altgelt discovered a run-down property for rent on a sleepy Buenos Aires backstreet, he came up with a novel idea: to create his dream home without owning it. He negotiated to remodel the property if the landlord would agree to 10 years of affordable rent.

Altgelt, cofounder of design studio Ries (and a Dwell 24 honoree last year), thought the property showed potential, given its generous lot sandwiched between two popular neighborhoods, but the house was in bad shape. Back in mid-2022, skyrocketing inflation crippled Argentina’s economy, creating an unpredictable future for tenants facing rent hikes. Yet materials and construction costs were affordable, so Marcos seized the moment.

The house was a casa chorizo, a kind of home built in the Rio de la Plata region from the 1880s to 1930s to meet the demands of a population that was rapidly expanding because of European emigration, with a row of rooms independently accessible from an outdoor patio. Multiple families often lived together under one roof. These constructions are now highly sought after by those wanting to live in a house with outdoor space in an inner-city location. Plus, their sound construction, large rooms with exposed-brick vaulted ceilings, and decorative floors make them ripe for remodeling.

Marcos says that for his home, he wanted “to respect what was already there.… I didn’t want to impose on the existing architecture.” No limitations whatsoever were imposed by the landlord; Marcos had complete freedom to do as he liked.

Chalk it up to the ceilings, which peak at nearly 15 feet, the skylights casting patches of sun on the concrete floors, or windows and doors opening to green vistas, but there’s an undeniable Zen to designer Hannah Go and songwriter-producer Rami Jrade’s home in northeast L.A. Standing in the airy living/dining room, you’d never guess there was an auto shop next door or a busy boulevard just up the street. And that’s just what architect Hunter Knight envisioned. “The focus was on beauty, simplicity, and livability while working within a minimalist budget,” he says.

Searching for a place to build a multifamily compound, Knight, the founder of local firm Weather Projects, landed on a 6,250-square-foot corner lot in Cypress Park that was vacant save for a 1905 bungalow. After purchasing the property for $1.025 million, he prioritized renovating the house and renting it out to shave his monthly expenses while he built a duplex at the rear of the lot. Over the course of the nine-month project, he wore multiple hats: architect, owner, builder, and landscape designer. Saving money was key, but Knight was just as interested in exercising his creative chops. “I’ve been doing architecture for twenty-odd years, and I was construction manager for one of my firm’s first projects,” he explains. “That saved the clients money, and I got to get my hands dirty. So I thought, I can do this.”

From the start, Knight resolved to stay within the neighborhood context of modest, mostly one-story structures, designing a 1,442-square-foot duplex with a single-family dwelling on one side and a slightly larger ADU on the other, where Hannah and Rami live (read more about their home here). To enhance the feeling of space, he vaulted the ceilings and used natural materials where possible. “I have a bias toward wood, so exposing the ceilings was an important design idea,” he notes. Glass sliders open to the private entrance patio along one side of the ADU’s living area and fill it with light. Down what Hannah and Rami call the “tall hall” is the compact bedroom, an office, and a skylit bathroom.