A Modern Home Camouflaged As A Rural Cottage

Sarah Tolle—Homify Canada Sarah Tolle—Homify Canada
Projekty domów - House x06, Majchrzak Pracownia Projektowa Majchrzak Pracownia Projektowa Modern Houses
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Situated in a dense forest in the Southern region of Poland, this compact home blends in magnificently with its surroundings. The exterior reflects the woodland environs, while the interior creates a vibrant, modern, and positively charged energy. Architects Majchrzak Pracownia Projektowa have done it again: they've created an imaginative, modern home that offers high-quality materials, a convenient floorplan, and generous natural light, making this project yet another of their many stylish modern designs.

A simple cottage

Nicknamed Projekty domów—House x06 , the most striking element of this home's facade is its rugged and simple character. The simple square frame with an angled roof is well-suited to the wooded surroundings, reminiscent of simpler days when a quiet cottage might have been found nestled among the trees in this rural Polish town of Oleśnica. The wood used in its construction adopts an almost mossy tone—a lovely way to reflect the soft greens in the trees that shade the home. 

Here, a simple patio is laid out in the back of the home, with large windows creating a friendly mood between the indoor and outdoor areas.

Puzzle Pieces

The design of the home is simple, yet the way it's been pieced together is quite intricate. The home appears to have been made in pieces and then pieced together by sliding the pieces into their current arrangement. This cut-out design turns a prominent front garage into a visually interesting piece protruding from the home—while some houses can be overwhelmed by garages that have been added as a clunky afterthought, this structure looks as though the house and garage are two pieces of a puzzle that were simply meant for each other. 

The landscaping that surrounds the home is worth noting as well—as the structure employs sharp angles and straight lines, the plants that have been planted in the yard offer fluffy and soft textures that provide a contrast to the angular nature of the home.

For more front yard garden ideas, see this lovely ideabook.

Sneak peek

Never without a sense of humor, these architects have added a fun sneak peek on the side of the home, featuring a horizontal window in an otherwise seamless wall. This horizontal opening provides a eye-catching contrast against the vertical slats of the exterior wall. 

From this angle, you can see how the garage structure has been extended along the entire side of home, finishing in the backyard where it partially shelters the backyard patio. This enveloping structure looks somewhat like a fortress, sheltering the main housing structure that peeks out from the center of the fortress base. A design like this creates a sense of security, incorporating a fence-like feature into the structure of the home itself.

Ground floor

These floor plans give you a better idea of how the home is laid out: the ground floor is larger, as it includes both the garage and the living room that extends in the back of the home before meeting the backyard patio. Included on this floor is the dining room and kitchen, as well.

Upper Floor

Here's the plan of the upper level of the home—this level peeks out from the lower level. This is the part of the home that contains the bedrooms, offering a more private, lofted space.

An eclectic common room

It's not what you're expecting to find in a woodland cottage! This dining room is playful, bright, and full of a mixture of styles, colors, sheen, and textures that give the room an eclectic vibe. From dented metallic lamps to a low profile leather couch to mismatched chairs to a blocky, floating staircase in the background, this living space is full of fun angles and shapes that keep things entertaining! 

On top of being extremely well-lit by large windows, this common area also enjoys large, prominent light fixtures that are sure to keep this room well-lit at any time of day or night.

Soft palette

The room is dominated by white, from the white brick wall to the white dining room table, to the low-lying coffee table in this living room. However, to soften the room's personality and give it a bit of comfort, the designers have chosen a warm yellow couch with lightly contrasting purples and blues. This soft, pastel palette steals the spotlight is such a pristine white space, but the colour scheme is still light enough to maintain an effortless, natural vibe.

Lit from above

This view gives you the full picture—this common room is filled with light coming from everywhere you look, including the ceiling! The upper mass of the home only has rooms on three sides, allowing this courtyard to receive natural light from second-floor windows. The brilliant white surfaces and polished floor work to reflect this light, maximizing the clean, airy, and bright feel that this space creates.

For another tour of a home that plays with levels and layers, have a look at this stylish and innovative stacked home.

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