Marni Elyse Katz

1 week ago | bostonglobe.com | Marni Elyse Katz

Like most young families, the owners of this 1930s Cape Cod-style home in West Hartford, Connecticut, weren’t interested in living formally. Still, they cared about style. Jeanne Barber, founder of Camden Grace Interiors, and lead designer Julia Zajac opened the living room to the kitchen and started layering color and pattern on a neutral backdrop. “We couldn’t use a wallcovering here since there’s no real stopping point in the open floor plan,” Barber explains.

3 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Marni Elyse Katz

The owners of this 1920s Craftsman love to entertain, so they moved to Waltham, their two dogs in tow, for more space and a closer connection to nature. The kitchen, however, was dark, cramped, and closed off from the rest of the rooms. Designer Hannah Oravec took down a wall, replaced the windows, and added an island with an induction cooktop. “The new layout enables both culinary activities and social gatherings,” says Oravec, founder of Lawless Design.

4 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Marni Elyse Katz

“This client would actually prefer to live outdoors, in nature,” interior designer Holly Gagne says about the owner of this circa-1880 Greek Revival home in Newburyport. “Our design concept: ‘elegant outdoors.‘” In reimagining the home to better reflect the owner’s personality and new phase of life as an empty nester, Gagne was tasked with bringing the outside in, thoughtfully and sustainably, with natural materials, clean lines, and an artistic bent.

4 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Marni Elyse Katz

Mahfuza Ahmed’s spice collection was the tipping point in deciding whether she and her husband, Mehran, would move from the Back Bay. “He purchased the apartment next to his a few years back with hopes of one day combining them, but we realized there wouldn’t be enough space for my spices,” Mahfuza says with a laugh.

4 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Marni Elyse Katz

Lyle Bradley (pictured), opened up the second-floor layout to bring in light and showcase the view.Greg PremruIn 2005, Lyle Bradley, then a single, newly-minted architect working at Albert, Righter & Tittmann Architects, purchased an 800-square-foot fixer-upper in East Boston’s Jeffries Point neighborhood. Fast-forward 10 years, Bradley, now a partner at the Boston-based firm, was scratching his head over how to expand it for his four-person/two-pet family.