Where Neighbors Saw a Jumble of Blocks, They Saw Tetris Pieces With Potential

The new owners of this patchwork ’70s residence outside Warsaw loved its form so much, they actually spent more on saving it than replacing it.

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: Skubianka, Poland

Designer: SZCZ Jakub Szczesny / @szcz.art

Footprint: 1,744 square feet

Structural Engineer: Artur Wiśniewski

Photographer: Nate Cook / @natecookphotography

From the Designer: "The house is located near Warsaw, close to a river and surrounded by a gently sloping mixed forest. The owners bought it by accident when they met a real estate agent while walking their dog, who led them to a pyramid-like building hidden among the trees. It turned out to be an uninhabited residence. The building was constructed between 1976 and 1981 during a period of crisis and low availability of building materials. It was built from whatever could be obtained from construction sites and renovations of infrastructure facilities: for example, the ceilings were made of tram rails, which were laid at a slight slope above the ground floor as they pierced through the outer wall and became part of the terrace structure. Thanks to its slight slope, the terrace was naturally drained. At the same time, the floor in the living room behind the wall had a noticeable slope, and the wall was blackened by the cold and moisture penetrating through the rails. The original construction documentation consisted of a few pages with very sketchy drawings and a one-page description.

"I made it clear to the clients that renovating this house would likely be more expensive than building a new one, and certainly more labor-intensive. However, the owners wanted to keep the stepped shape of the building, were not afraid of low ceilings, and wanted to be in contact with the green surroundings. We introduced large glazing, specifically operable windows for ventilation and views. The clients decided not to have any railings on the top level. The house was to be used only by the mature couple and occasionally their two adult daughters. Initially, the building was to serve as a second home, but as the interior work progressed, the place was so relaxing that they were less inclined to return to their apartment in Warsaw. The owner is skilled with his hands, so with the help of friends, he built most of the furniture, made metalwork elements, and a door with a hydraulic lift.

"Our goal was to discreetly hide the home among the trees and create a contrast between the camouflaged exterior and the warmth of the eclectic interior. We proposed floor skylights in the terrace to illuminate one of the guest bedrooms and in the living room to illuminate the corridor on the ground floor. The building was to be as simple and subdued as possible. The windows were to attract attention, with additional wide steel frames and red accents in the interior. The house was designed to raise the level of the living area and enjoy a better view: above the low ground floor, where there are two guest bedrooms for the daughters, a study and a bathroom with a boiler room, there is a kitchen with a dining area and a living room with an additional toilet and a new terrace (the old one had to be dismantled). Above, there is the primary bedroom with a view of the forest and the river, a small bathroom, and two terraces.

"During the construction, the clients decided to change the original location of the garage and cover it with a green roof, which can be accessed from the higher part of the plot. According to the residents of the house, people in the area called it a ‘block’ and considered it ugly due to its rectangular shape and lack of at least a gable roof. However, it was precisely this set of shapes resembling figures from the game Tetris that attracted the current owners so much that they bought the house without hesitation and did not even think about replacing it with another one.

"The furniture is a hodgepodge of artifacts, ranging from old furnishings from the previous apartment to so-called ‘useful items,’ or objects that had been lying around indefinitely on shelves in the family's garage and basement. The owner claims that he still has many useful items in his new garage and that they are waiting for their turn when he builds a sauna."

Photo: Nate Cook Photography

Photo: Nate Cook Photography

Photo: Nate Cook Photography

See the full story on Dwell.com: Where Neighbors Saw a Jumble of Blocks, They Saw Tetris Pieces With Potential

Three Award-Winning Tree Houses Hit the Market in England Starting at £2M

Set in a Dorset woodland, the RIBA-recognized retreat is available fully furnished, with 13 acres and a pond.

Location: Woodland Workshop Yonder Hill, Holditch TA20 4NL, United Kingdom

Price: Offers accepted in excess of £2,000,000 (Approximately $2,735,510)

Year Built: 2016 and 2021

Designers: Guy Mallinson and Keith Brownlie

Footprint: 1,130 square feet (3 bedrooms, 3 baths)

Lot Size: 13.25 Acres

From the Agent: "After 15 years of creating our wonderful oasis and welcoming guests to our magical woodland, the time has come to pass it on. Mallinson’s Woodland Retreat is officially for sale! It’s a rare opportunity to take on a truly special place that blends design, craftsmanship, and nature in perfect harmony. Set in 13 acres of peaceful Dorset woodland and meadows, with three award-winning tree houses, the retreat is ready for someone new to write the next chapter. Whether you’re a couple dreaming of a lifestyle business, a hospitality brand looking to expand in the high-end eco space, a course provider looking for a venue, an investor seeking an income-generating asset, or a family wanting your own private escape, this opportunity offers something unique. Nestled in a breathtaking woodland setting, the retreat has been thoughtfully developed and nurtured over 15 years with sustainability and biodiversity at its heart."

Each of the three tree houses has one bedroom and one bathroom.

Photo by Sandy Steele-Perkins

Photo by Sandy Steele-Perkins

Photo by Sandy Steele-Perkins

See the full story on Dwell.com: Three Award-Winning Tree Houses Hit the Market in England Starting at £2M
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You Should Be Taking Reality TV Homes Way More Seriously

In "Dream Facades," Dwell managing editor Jack Balderrama Morley unpacks the deeper meaning of the architecture on your favorite unscripted shows.

What does Lauren Berlant have to do with The Hills? What connects the Kardashians and white flight? What can RuPaul’s Drag Race and Fire Island teach us about the colonial mentality? Dwell managing editor Jack Balderrama Morley’s upcoming book, Dream Facades: The Cruel Architecture of Reality TV, holds the answers. Building from their long-held obsession with reality television, Jack connects the genre’s shows and the architectural styles that populate them to the broader political issues that shape life in the United States.

Throughout there are personalities big enough that they’d make Andy Cohen’s ears perk up. Take Joseph Pell Lombardi, one of the main architects behind the New York loft renovations from The Real World, who declares his renovation for the loft seen in the show’s first season was "the best loft in New York City or in the world." Or Addison Mizner, an architect who traveled with two chow chows and several monkeys in tow at all times, inspired a Stephen Sondheim musical, and helped give Florida its Mediterranean Revival flavor. Grandstanding is not limited to career reality stars, needless to say.

Ahead of the release of Dream Facades on March 3, I spoke with Jack to hear more about what’s so compelling to them about the homes and spaces we see in reality TV. We touch on the long-term effects of home renovation shows like Trading Spaces, get to the bottom of where, exactly, Jack would live if they had to live somewhere in the Bravoverse, and why reality television and everyday architecture finally deserve to be taken seriously.

The cast of Season 1 of MTV’s The Real World pose inside their New York loft, renovated for the show by architect Joseph Pell Lombardi.

Photo © MTV / Courtesy Everett Collection

You’re obviously a big fan of reality television. Was there a definitive moment when you began to think critically about the homes in these shows?

I think the Selling Sunset story that I wrote for Dwell really did kick it off. I remember we were chatting about it in a pitch discussion in 2022, if anybody wanted to write about it. I was like, "Oh, maybe there is something that I could say," because I was a big fan of the show. Obviously the homes are so weird on that show, and it was really a big part of the zeitgeist at that time. But I sort of surprised myself at how much I felt like there was to dig into. It wasn’t like I had this master plan of what the book would be and the arc. It really just unfolded on its own as I went along, which is amazing. It’s really cool.

Yeah, I’ve written a little bit about reality TV design and I had the same experience of being surprised by how much there was to write about it. You use reality TV in this book as a lens to get into so much, like colonialism in America, for instance. What do you think we gain from taking reality television seriously?

I feel like it’s one of those things where it’s not considered a heroic art form that historically has been studied, like art history, as a significant cultural text that can really tell us about how culture works and operates. But I mean, the theorist Sianne Ngai, who I cite a bunch in the book, writes a lot about minor aesthetic categories. Like things that are just interesting, or things that are cute, or these things that are really not heroic. I feel like that sort of analysis of quotidian, almost banal stuff, like reality TV, can say just as much, if not maybe more than more exceptional, heroic artworks. Like just looking at the slop that we’re all wallowing through every day I think can tell us more than the sacred pearls that we come across.

I feel like that was done really well, especially in The Bachelor section and how you link it to other narratives throughout time.

Totally, thank you. On the architecture side, it was really interesting just looking at some of these architectural styles. Like in The Bachelor section, the Mediterranean Revival style, or whatever you want to call it, is a nonheroic architecture style, but it’s so common. It’s around so much of the country, like so much of the country is coated in it. There’s not that much really that’s written about it critically. There are good historians who have studied it, but in terms of cool contemporary architecture theory, it’s not up there, even though it’s a style that more people interact with than heroic modernism, or capital A architecture of any time. So thanks, I was really trying to do something that was relevant to a lot of people.

Bachelor Jake Pavelca is surrounded by bachelorettes at The Bachelor mansion in Season 14.

Left photo by Greg Doherty via Getty Images. Right photo © ABC / Craig Sjodin / Courtesy Everett Collection

Totally, everyday architecture is to capital A architecture what reality TV is to scripted television.

Yeah, it’s like more of the slop, basically. It’s all the stuff that we didn’t choose but is around us and I guess on some level, sometimes we choose it. But I don’t know if, in an ideal world, we would be choosing any of this stuff.

I feel like with architecture, the thinking is like, Well, this is the thing I can afford, this is the thing that’s readily available to me. And with reality TV, it’s a similar dynamic of like, this is the thing that at the end of a long day, I have room for in my brain. 

I was amazed when I was writing the book, interviewing professors who are like chairs of departments at Ivy League universities, and, like, off the record, before the interview, they’d be like, "Well, I do watch this one show." It’s like, you’re the high standard of intellectual discourse and you’re watching this stuff. Most of us are consuming it, so let’s think about it differently.

Silly question for you: after looking at all of these reality TV show houses so closely, if you had to choose one to live in, which would you choose?

Oh, my goodness. Chateau Shereé [from Real Housewives of Atlanta], just because then I could live with Shereé. I think that’s just the first one that comes to mind that was actually like a real home in a real neighborhood. It’s so strange in its own way, but that would be my choice.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta stars from Season 2 gather around a sectional.

Photo © Bravo / Wilford Harewood / Courtesy Everett Collection

See the full story on Dwell.com: You Should Be Taking Reality TV Homes Way More Seriously

It’s a 20th-Century Log Cabin—and Now the Living Room of Their Lake House

"I thought it would either be super weird or super cool."

Welcome to Different Strokes, a look at unique home design choices that beg for further explanation.

In the 1890s, the Great Northern Railway connected St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, stretching through Stevens Pass near Washington’s Lake Wenatchee. It brought more development to the mountainous area, resulting in a construction boom of lakeshore summer lodgings. That history is a point of pride for Pat and Sara, who have cherished memories of visiting their 1915 lakefront cabin for the last 25 years with their two (now grown) children. But staying at the cabin, which lacked a foundation and insulation, and had underground pipes that would freeze in cold temperatures and needed to be drained at the end of the summer, was, as they say, "a step above camping." It was basically unusable outside of summer.

By the time the pandemic rolled around, the rustic structure had fallen into disrepair, and Pat and Sara found themselves wishing the place were in better shape so they could retreat from their primary residence in Seattle. They knew it was finally time to fish or cut bait: They either needed to sell the property or drastically renovate it. Fortunately, the couple got to know architect Todd Smith of Washington firm Syndicate Smith, who’d done their next-door neighbor’s remodel and had worked on many other homes around the lake.  

Todd Smith, founding partner of Syndicate Smith, devised a "cabin in a cabin" for the owners of a dilapidated 1915 structure on Washington’s Lake Wenatchee, constructing a new, contemporary home around the restored log building. 

Photo by Will Austin

"The first conversation I had [with the owners], I said, ‘What do you want to do with this?’" explains Smith, about whether to tear down or work with the existing cabin, which was built with a one-room footprint that had been added to in later years. "Sara said, ‘Well it would be great if we could keep some of it.’ We both agreed that the most special thing was the actual cabin." 

So in spring 2022, they embarked on a plan to encapsulate the pioneer-style cabin inside a new 1,165 square-foot construction, like a diorama at a natural history museum. With the help of general contractor Timberwood Construction, they preserved almost all of the original cabin’s hand-hewn logs and its stone chimney, turning the old, intact structure into the living room of their stately glass, metal, and wood lake home.

Pat and Sara say the "cabin within a cabin" concept felt unattainable until they actually saw the final product, completed in fall 2024. They figured the log structure would fall apart during the construction process, but instead it feels like a cozy, cohesive part of their larger vacation home. We spoke to the owners and their architect about the log cabin turned lake house living room. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

In collaboration with Timberwood Construction, the team stripped away the cabin’s additions (pictured above left before the renovation) to restore its one-room footprint.

Photos courtesy homeowners

How did you end up restoring this property you’d had for so long?

Sara: When we bought it, we had originally thought maybe we’d remodel, but they told us, ‘Oh, this thing won’t last ten years. We don’t even know how the roof is standing.’ And we said, we do, because every winter, they put poles to hold up the roof inside, then we drained the water from the pipes. So it was only usable in the summer. 

As our kids grew up and got really busy with a lot of stuff, we just weren’t there very much. Eventually it kind of fell into disrepair, but we always still loved it. The first remodel had been done in 1947; the new parts [included] a little kitchen and a bathroom, and the rest was just the log cabin. We hated the idea of taking it down, because people always said it’s one of the oldest cabins here, and we just always loved how cozy it was in the one little main room. We didn’t want to take it down, and we thought that was going to have to happen.

How did you land on the idea of encapsulating the old cabin within a new one?

Todd: I first met Sara in the middle of January 2022. It just snowed and there was a massive flood that happened on the lake. The lake rose up and went into their yard, and the biggest tree you’ve ever seen crushed their dock. So she’s arriving for the first time on-site to see this scenario. We agreed that of all the attachments, the most special thing was the actual Walden-style cabin, the log part. I said, ‘You know what a diorama is right? Like in a natural history museum where it’s this little time capsule but very curated. I think you ought to do that with this cabin. You should keep all that original cabin.’

Sara: I thought [the cabin] would be a wing or that it would be connecting two parts. But then when Todd brought the initial plan to us, he explained something that we hadn’t known, that we had this long, skinny lot. We thought we had a big, wide lot toward the street. He explained it very logically, like, ‘If we want to save this, this old cabin is right in the middle…we could put the house around it, and that’s the only way to keep it.’ Then he went through how what he had designed met all the other things we said we wanted, like some small bedrooms. It’s still cozy, but it’s light. We kept saying, light, light, light. When we heard the plan, it was so clearly form following function. But it was shocking.

Pat: I’m more of an engineer, and I thought, Is that thing even going to stand after you take off the add-ons? I thought it would either be super weird or super cool. We trusted Todd that it was going to turn out cool and we could get around all the engineering challenges. 

The original log cabin, which serves as the living room, opens to the dining area and kitchen.

Photo by Will Austin

See the full story on Dwell.com: It’s a 20th-Century Log Cabin—and Now the Living Room of Their Lake House
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Before & After: Near London, a Basic Brick House Breaks Free From the ’70s

"The owners were very keen on bringing more character to what was essentially a bland box," says architect Simon Knight.

For nine years, Simon and Jo Bryant lived on Fishpool Street in the cathedral city of St. Albans, just 20 miles from London. History is everywhere in their town, from the Roman ruins in the park, to a pub called Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, which claims to be one of England’s oldest. Their street was no different—it’s estimated to be about 900 years old, and that’s what they loved about it.

"As one of the oldest streets in St. Albans, it has lots of character and lovely properties," says Jo, but their house there was quite small, and with three children, feeling smaller by the day. "We lasted a bit too long there, considering we had three kids. We were kind of bursting at the seams."

In 2023, the couple found a new property that was quite different from their historic terrace house on Fishpool: a brick home in a nearby subdivision (called an estate) built in 1975. "We were a bit reluctant to move to this type of house, where they all look a bit the same," says Jo. "They’re all sort of modern, just basically a blank box that you can then make your own. That became quite key for us."

Before: Kitchen 

Before: When Simon and Jo Bryant bought this estate house in St. Albans, England, in 2023, the kitchen was at the front of the house.

Courtesy of Simon Knight Architects

After: Boot Room 

Architect Simon Knight relocated the kitchen, and placed a boot room in its place. The painted cabinets are from Alban Furniture.

Photo: Matthew Smith Photography

After: Utility Room 

Knight also found space in the former kitchen’s footprint to install a utility room. The pink cupboards are from Howdens.

Photo: Matthew Smith Photography

See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: Near London, a Basic Brick House Breaks Free From the ’70s
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In Portland, an ’80s Residence Reborn Hits the Market for $1.8M

The revamped Oregon home has a geometric facade, glass bricks galore, and a balcony on each of its three levels.

Location: 2725 SW Sherwood Drive, Portland, Oregon

Price: $1,845,000

Year Built: 1986

Architect: Robert Thompson

Renovation Date: 2019

Renovation Designers: Bright Designlab

Footprint: 3,978 square feet (4 bedrooms, 3 baths)

Lot Size: 0.25 Acres

From the Agent: "This landmark architectural masterpiece is located on a quiet, dead-end street in Portland Heights, just moments from downtown Portland, OHSU, and Council Crest Park, yet worlds away in a coveted setting. The home seamlessly blends natural outdoor elements with calming interiors through expansive windows, balconies, and tranquil sight lines through the trees. The professional-grade kitchen is loaded with custom cabinetry, premium appliances, a massive island, and dual balcony access. The luxurious primary suite offers a spa-like bath, serene spaces, a sauna, and a walk-in closet. Comfortable bedrooms with built-ins, several bonus areas, low-maintenance outdoor spaces, a three-plus car garage, and ample storage round out the package. Beautifully cared for, carefully maintained, and ready for its next steward, this rare offering is both timeless and extraordinary."

Photo by MC Imagery

Photo by MC Imagery

Some of the home’s furnishings are available to purchase along with the property.

Photo by MC Imagery

See the full story on Dwell.com: In Portland, an ’80s Residence Reborn Hits the Market for $1.8M
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Goopy Little Mushroom Lamps—and More Cosmic Objects From FOG Design + Art Fair 2026

A rich walnut table with plug-and-play totems and a tiny precious blue horse added to a spiritual shift at this year’s event at Fort Mason.

This story is part of Fair Take, our reporting on global design events that looks up close at the newest ideas in fixtures, furnishings, and more.

One of the West Coast’s best art and design fairs is hitting a growth spurt in its teenage years: San Francisco’s FOG Design + Art fair is established enough to assert its identity, but still young enough for boisterous experimentation. The 12th edition of the event saw strong showings from established international galleries making encore appearances, but there were also several first-time FOG exhibitors, many of them showing up-and-coming artists from the Bay Area and beyond.

Taking place across two piers at San Francisco’s Fort Mason, FOG also always has familiar faces—and, surprisingly, some new-to-me Bay Area mainstays that I’m delighted to discover. This year it was Crown Point Press and William Stout Books. But I also love finding out about international artists working in mediums like glassblowing, woodcarving, ceramics, weaving, and more. The real magic of FOG is seeing art displayed alongside design, revealing the beauty of craft in all its forms.

Photographer Cayce Clifford and I teamed up again this year to peruse FOG’s opening party in search of the fair’s most off-the-wall showings from near and far. Winding our way through the booths, it was easy to lose track of time as we enjoyed the simple pleasure of leaning in. Here’s an up close look at what we found.

Marta Gallery

Now in its third year, FOG FOCUS, the fair’s platform for emerging artists, had its biggest showing yet with 16 galleries. Located in its own pier at Fort Mason, the exhibition is always buzzing with experimentation. A newcomer to this year’s fair, Los Angeles’s Marta Gallery had one of our favorite FOCUS booths, dedicated to a tandem showing of work by New York–based designer Minjae Kim and photographer and sculptor Dominik Tarabański.

"We wanted to participate in FOG because it’s one of the only fairs that, without arbitrary boundaries or categorizations, places art and design on the same plane," Marta’s cofounder Benjamin Critton told us. The gallery’s booth did just that, with lighting and furniture by Kim sitting alongside photographs by Tarabański, the two in intimate dialogue. Kim and Tarabański are friends and have studios in the same building in Brooklyn, so a joint showing was a natural way to continue their artistic conversation.

Blunk Space

A Bay Area treasure, Blunk Space is a Point Reyes gallery and research center dedicated to the legacy of local designer JB Blunk. Founded by Blunk’s daughter, Mariah Nielson, the gallery first made an appearance at FOG last year in the fair’s retail section, FOG MRKT. This year, Blunk Space had its own booth at FOCUS, with a group show of contemporary furniture by Rio Kobayashi alongside historic paintings by a trio of Blunk’s artist friends. Also on view were a selection of tabletop sculptures by current artists that are part of the gallery’s "100 Candleholders" exhibition, now on view.

Seeing Kobayashi’s blocky chairs and stools next to abstract paintings by Richard Bowman, Fritz Rauh, and John Anderson made them feel even more sculptural, lifting them out of the functional realm into the world of artistry.

See the full story on Dwell.com: Goopy Little Mushroom Lamps—and More Cosmic Objects From FOG Design + Art Fair 2026
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