“I’d like to think this house mirrors my personality,” said designer Daniel Sanderson. “It’s playful in places and it reflects my philosophy towards sustainability.” Taking inspiration from the post-modern period and Ettore Sottsass, Daniel used responsibly sourced materials to build this extraordinary home from scratch, which he sold on The Modern House earlier this year. Every inch of the woodwork inside the house, from the staircase to the kitchen cabinetry and even the furniture was hand-made in his on-site workshop. “I try to be as sustainable as possible – I never throw a piece of wood away,” he told us when we visited. For instance: “The staircase is made of Douglas Fir, which is leftover from the construction of the house’s structure.”

In search of a calming sanctuary after months of touring, the pop duo Anthony and Josephine Vander West – better known as Oh Wonder – bought a beautiful Victorian home in south-east London. They fell in love with its high ceilings and spacious garden – where they would build their music studio – but the interiors needed some love. With a little help from their friends, the couple employed a peaceful colour palette, culminating in a dreamy oasis that enables their creative juices to flow. “The interiors – in particular the living room’s – reflect the type of music we make,” said Josephine. “It’s often described as a musical comfort blanket: it’s pared-down, soft electro-pop. Our house is calm and gentle, but that means we can use it as a springboard for crazy ideas.”

When Jo Sindle and Kyle Stewart, the couple behind the lifestyle store Goodhood came to adapt their house for their growing family, they knew exactly where to look for inspiration. “It goes back to all our experiences in Japan and seeing how people live in much smaller spaces than we do – and live happily,” said Kyle. Taking cues from the space-saving interiors of Tokyo, the renovation of their home, just around the corner from Columbia Road, required a playful and creative spirit. As Kyle said: “Everything became a bit of a game – how can we fit everything in?” The answer, we discovered, was through nifty storage systems, handy room dividers and a smart upstairs conversion.

Over the course of a two-decade renovation, diversity consultant Natasha Landers transformed her dilapidated Victorian home into a colourful place with plenty of personality. Eclectic features now run throughout, from the mix of mid-century furniture to a light installation that Natasha created herself. “It was inspired by the London Underground map,” she said. “If I can’t find something that I want, I design it myself.” What makes the walls shine even brighter is Natasha’s sensitively curated collection of work by Black artists. “One of my favourites is The Black Queen, a fine-art print by Tamara Natalie Madden that’s in my hallway. I was struck by the piece – the royal Black woman really resonated with me.”

The renovation of photographer Jackie Dewe Mathews’ Peckham home pays homage to the poetic legacy of South American brutalism. “My husband, Alex, and I wanted to live in something dramatic. We spent a few months in São Paulo in Brazil where modern architecture is the norm,” she told us when we visited. Alongside their architect, Hugh Strange, they balanced industrial concrete floors and steel beams with tactile, cloud-like plastered walls and light wooden surfaces. “I was terrified that the space would feel too much like an austere gallery,” said Jackie. But, to her delight, the finished project was quite the opposite: “When everything was finally assembled, the space felt so warm, spacious and even cosy.”

Architect Jonathan Ellis-Miller is known for his trio of striking RIBA-award-winning “little white houses” – his single-storey homes composed of expansive glazing and galvanised steel, that are, as he says, “in the idiom of Mies van der Rohe and the Californian Case Study Houses”. We sold the third this year, which was 30 years in the making (he built the first in 1980s; the second in the 1990s.) It was arguably his best yet, the intervening years having given Jonathan the opportunity to elevate and evolve his design. “These aren’t houses to be looked at – they’re to be looked out from,” he told us when we visited. “All this glass really connects you with your environment. You can see the weather change, the direction of the wind – your senses are really heightened living here.”

For work-and-life partners Gill Lambert and Geoff Shearcroft, directors of the architecture practice AOC, the inspiration for their Victorian home is rooted in the nearby ancient woodlands of Epping Forest. “When we were starting to get really obsessed with the forest, we began to think about the house,” explained Gill. “The triple-height space mirrors the tallness of the trees and the way light pours in from different directions means you get different qualities – just like you do in the woods.” Plus, by reimagining how they’d use the living spaces, the couple were able to replicate the kind of freedom they feel in Epping Forest. As Geoff added: “We feel joyful in our home because we associate it with doing things you might not expect. In the kitchen, for example, we dance, skateboard, paint and make a real mess.”

Drawn to the rural romance of the Scottish Highlands, academic Helena Webster – who had previously penned pieces on the modern architectural vernacular of the area – and her partner decided to build a home here. Enlisting the assistance of architect Mary Arnold-Forster, an expert in building on remote and wild sites, the couple set about creating a modest home that would sit in harmony with the surroundings. The result, which we sold on The Modern House, was a contemporary take on the traditional black sheds often seen in the area. While the exterior was constructed from black corrugated aluminium, the interior was made almost exclusively of local timber. “When the sun hits the Douglas fir, you become gloriously in tune with the passage of the light in a way that you never could be if you lived in a glass box,” said Mary.

Falling for its light-filled living spaces and south-facing balcony, ceramicist Andrea Roman jumped at the chance to move into her maisonette in Bethnal Green as soon as it became available. Filling the white-walled space with graphic art and self-designed objects has since made it reflective of her own artistic personality. Andrea celebrates, for instance, the juxtapositions between “the playfulness of plastic objects and the elegance of natural materials. Traditional versus modern. Old versus new. Rural versus metropolitan. Patterns versus solid colours.” What are some of her favourite pieces here, we asked? “I’m obsessed with this block-printed chequered fabric by Lousia Loakes,” she replied. “It was the first thing I put up on the wall when we first moved in. It elevated the space immediately.”

Perhaps the only thing we love more than selling design-led homes is visiting our buyers to see how they’ve made their mark on them. Konstantinos Lazarou and Johannes Roponen bought theirs from The Modern House four years ago after they fell in love with its history. “It’s a 1960s Span house by architect Eric Lyons, who formerly worked with Walter Gropius,” explained Johannes. “There’s a lovely principle that underpins it: the houses were built for the community.” But how have they put their spin on it since they moved in? Scandinavian furniture pieces that reflect Johannes’ own Finnish heritage are complemented by vibrant art objects, courtesy of Konstantino: “It’s important for me to be surrounded by colour – it’s a Greek thing.”