It may be cold to the touch, but concrete doesn’t have to make a home feel uncomfortable and unwelcoming, even when it makes up most of the surfaces throughout the interiors. In fact, concrete proves to be surprisingly versatile – polished to a mirror finish, molded with wood or given a rocky, irregular texture for visual interest – and setting it off with timber, glass, greenery and natural light strikes just the right balance.

Courtyard House by NOA Architecture

This stunning intergenerational house by NOA Architecture is programmed “as an inhabited landscape contained within a modernist slab,” with a single glass-wrapped layer between a floor and roof plane, so the concrete floors, walls and other surfaces are offset with views straight out onto the lush green landscape of Aurora, Oregon. The best part is that oculus-style atrium in the center of the living room.

Pitch House by Iñaqui Carnicero

The dramatic ‘Pitch House’ of Madrid by Iñaqui Carnicero uses textured concrete to transition visually into its sloped, rocky surroundings. Using wood as formwork for concrete, and leaving the resulting textural imprint behind, lends a richness that the material usually doesn’t have. Glazed walls reflecting a crystal-clear swimming pool on the terrace don’t hurt, either.

Casa Dem by Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti

From street level, this blocky concrete house doesn’t look like much, but its beauty is hidden on the other side of the slope. Casa Dem by Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects was made with several different types of concrete, including smooth, minimalist textures and rougher, more gravelly textures for an unexpected and beautiful contrast. The house is defined by its many square- and rectangle-shaped cutouts, from the smaller ones on the facade to the openings for windows and doors.

Low-Cost Modernist House by Terra e Tuma Arquitetos

Cement blocks are more commonly associated with prisons than residential architecture, and when you hear that they’ve been used to create a remarkably low-cost home, your expectations might be low. But Terra e Tuma Arquitetos pulled off quite a feat with Vila Matilde, an ultra-affordable modernist home in Brazil. Despite these cheap and typically ‘cold’ materials, the space feels comfortable and homey, with special thanks to plenty of natural light and a clever design incorporating a plant-filled courtyard.

Casa Brutale Cliffside Concept

On the other side of the spectrum is Casa Brutale, a residence so luxurious and dramatic it seems like it could never be real. But this modern villain’s lair cut directly into a cliffside by OPA is actually under construction, with most of the interior spaces tucked beneath a glass-bottomed swimming pool for lots of watery reflections.

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Cold Yet Comfortable 13 Surprisingly Inviting Concrete Home Interiors

Short of actually curling up in a relaxing space to get lost in the words on a page, there’s nothing reading enthusiasts love more than gazing at photo after photo of beautiful libraries, especially those they could potentially recreate in their own homes. This inspiration gallery of home libraries runs the gamut between secluded cabins in the woods and clever hammock placement to secret rooms and even bathtub-adjacent mini libraries.

Secluded Library & Guest House in the Woods

If seclusion is what you’re after, this ‘secret room’ in the woods of upstate New York offers an elevated level of privacy as you browse a floor-to-ceiling collection of books. Studio Padron designed the ‘Hemmelig Rom’, a 200-square-foot black cabin made from oak, as a guest house immersed in its woodland environment. The logs that make up the bookshelves and walls came from the forest outside.

Reading Net for Kids

Perfect for homes with mezzanines (especially if you line the walls with bookshelves), this idea from Spanish studio Playoffice would be fun to recreate. The ‘reading net’ is a meshed fabric suspended from the railings of a family library so kids (and adults) can climb in and enjoy a book in elevated comfort.

Dynamic Wall-to-Wall Library in Costa Rica

Architect Gianni Botsford designed this unusual narrow home on stilts for the tropical jungle of Costa Rica, lining an entire wall of it with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves broken up by dynamic diagonal lines that meat the beams of the roof.

Library in the Home of Architect Mario Bellini

Presented as part of a Salone del Mobile exhibition called ‘Where Architects Live,’ this photo lets us peek at Mario Bellini’s home drafting table in his mezzanine library, as well as the piano and record room below. What you can’t see in the picture is that the bookshelves in that library continue nearly 30 feet into the air, accessible by sliding ladders.

Wraparound Home Library

Books are the primary focus in the entire common area of ‘Hendee-Borg House’ in Sonoma, California by William O’Brien Jr. The living and dining area is flanked by wall-to-wall bookshelves on three sides.

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Check Out These Books 18 Home Libraries For Ravenous Readers

If you don’t have a Narnia-themed playroom hidden behind a wardrobe, a zombie-proof shelter accessible via your kitchen island or a gun safe under your 900-pound bulletproof couch, you just aren’t living. Some of these hidden rooms, secret passageways and cleverly concealed storage spaces are probably a bit excessive, but who doesn’t wish their house contained at least one of these cool features?

Real-Life Bat Cave: Hidden Garage in San Francisco

In San Francisco, where private parking spaces are just as rare and precious as affordable housing, one house in Haight-Ashbury took the situation into their own hands in a way that wouldn’t upset the city council. The base of the Haight-Ashbury house is indistinguishable from the rest of the historical Victorian facade, but at the push of a button, it reveals a hidden four-car garage.

Narnia-Themed Playroom Hidden Behind Wardrobe

When building a new house, the parents of one particularly lucky nine-year-old girl realized there was some extra space next to her bedroom and decided to have a bit of fun with it instead of just using it as storage or sealing it up. A tiny doorway concealed in the back of a wardrobe leads to the small Narnia-themed playroom complete with a mural that stretches up onto the ceiling.

Storm Shelter Under a Kitchen Island

In some parts of the country, having a storm shelter is just as essential as having a bedroom. A company called GFS Storm Shelters came up with a brilliant way to fit one into a home – by placing it under the kitchen, with the entrance hidden under an island. While its actual usage might be a bit mundane, it’s fun to imagine it functioning as a hideaway during the zombie apocalypse or just a fun secret. Hopefully there’s another exit that leads directly outdoors in case a real tornado takes the entire house down on top of it.

Porthole to a Playroom

A circular porthole that blends right into the faux wood floor of this modern home spits you out onto a slide that curls down into a colorful playroom.

Covert Concepts: Fireplace Door & Storage

Anyone searching your home for valuables probably wouldn’t think to check the usually-decorative panels on a wooden fireplace surround, making this a pretty safe place to keep items you’d like to conceal.

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Hiding In Plain Sight 17 Secret Spaces From Safes To Pubs

Never-updated interiors may be considered ‘dated’ within a decade or two of being in style, but give them some more time and they become vintage time capsules capturing the essence of their particular era, from swinging ’70s penthouses and pristine ’60s kitchens to luxurious Parisian apartments abandoned during World War II. Frozen in time, some of these interiors lay abandoned for decades before being rediscovered, while others have finally been sold after never being updated by their elderly original owners.

Chicago Condo Untouched Since the ‘70s

Untouched for decades, a swingin’ 70s penthouse in Chicago’s Winston Towers condo recently went up for sale for just $158,000, with the original furniture, decor and even bottles of perfume on the bathroom shelves still intact. The 1,877-square-foot three-bedroom condo would have been considered garishly dated in the ‘80s, but over forty years after it was furnished and decorated, it’s like a living snapshot of the tastes that were popular at the time and has big appeal for vintage enthusiasts.

Paris Apartment Untouched for 70 Years

Thanks to a wealthy estate that paid its bills without checking on anything too carefully, an apartment in Paris was left isolated for 70 years after its owner fled the city during World War II. The interiors are exactly as she left them, full of vintage Parisian treasures, including a 19th century painting by celebrated Italian artist Giovanni Boldini of the owner’s grandmother, actress Marthe de Florian. The time capsule was discovered after the woman’s heirs decided to take an inventory of her possessions.

Scott’s Hut & Shackleton’s Hut, Antarctica

100 years after explorers built their own wooden shacks on the freezing, windy, desolate continent of Antarctica, the structures are exactly as they left them. British adventurers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott and their crews created the dwellings and stocked them with whiskey and brandy, which can still be seen on the shelves and tables today. It’s a wonder that the shacks – made to be temporary at the time – are still standing, but conservators have restored the landmarks to eliminate damage from decades of water seepage, age and abandonment. The extreme cold preserved artifacts like newspapers, scientific equipment and cans of food.

Garage Full of ‘Brand-New’ ‘60s Cars

Imagine opening an old, seemingly forgotten garage to discover a treasure trove of ‘50s and 60’s cars in near-perfect condition, some of them driven less than 10 miles. Long time owners of a dealership in Pierce, Nebraska, a couple who are now in their nineties had been storing the vehicles for decades, and finally decided to liquidate their inventory in 2013. The collection includes Impalas, Chevelles and a 1956 Chevrolet Cameo Pickup. All were ultimately auctioned off to the tune of $2.8 million.

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Time Capsule Apartments 10 Perfectly Preserved Interiors

Origami-inspired folding screens stretch and retract in many different ways to transform one 312-square-foot micro apartment for a variety of uses, separating the spaces for different functions or opening to create one big room. The Biombombastic project by Madrid’s Elli Architects offers an innovative and affordable solution to customizing existing apartments so they’re more livable despite their small size.

In a mission to renew an aging flat in the center of Madrid, the architects combined two strategies: knocking down the existing walls to create an open space that can be divided as desired, and creating an L-shaped arrangement of built-ins holding a complete kitchen, fold-down table, fold-down bed, washing machine and access to the bathroom.

The system revolves around a three-paneled folding door reminiscent of a shoji screen, with diagonal timber supports and a translucent upper portion for the transmission of air and light. The door is designed to work in conjunction with other hinged and foldable elements in the space, hooking onto wooden rails in a variety of configurations.

Even the lighting is strategically positioned to work with the system, illuminating the various ‘domestic stages’ even when the partitions are closed. Create a cozy bedroom with the screen pulled tight around the bed or a larger sleeping and lounging space, and pack it all away to transform the apartment into a social space for hosting parties.