A vintage 1950s credenza discovered in Paris supports three works by Aumas and two Sol LeWitt–inspired cubes used in one of his window displays. The daybed is an eBay purchase reupholstered in fabric from Kvadrat and the dark paint is from Dulux Valentine. Aumas found the photographer’s lamp at a Brussels flea market.

Decorate the mantle. MÜZO COLLECTIBLESCanadian ceramicist Paige Russell's Müzo collection features a mix and match of porcelain and wood figurines—woods, caribou, sheep, and polar bear—that make a wintry, minimalist statement on your mantle.

The Collect cabinet from A2 is available from sondotter.com for $1,840.

Dump Truck by Green Toys, $20.

Another one of Lexier's collectibles.

And here's a church dating from the 1800s.

An underground cistern collects rainwater to irrigate the yard and rooftop solar collectors heat water for domestic use. The panelized wood structure was prefabricated to reduce construction time and material waste.

Collect 2012 Cabinet Collect 2012 is a distinct little cabinet for your favourite things designed by Sara Larsson. It is far away from any anonymous storage system and is characterised by its beautiful doors in leather. Collect 2012 is a limited edition of 81 cabinets. The cabinet has a fish scale patterned front made in Tärnsjö leather and comes with a signed and numbered metal plate.

Solar power cells on top of the building collect energy that’s used for both water systems and electricity.

The studio is clad in corrugated tin, echoing the adjacent water-storage tanks, which collect and filter rainwater off the roof.

30E Design transformed a hallway in a Boston brownstone from a “dumping ground for all the plumbing and utilities with an existing metal ductwork laundry chute” into a modern space that houses the laundry, furnace, and boiler.

Collect 2010 is made of oak and painted MDF, and is constructed in Småland, Sweden.

Best mini-modern design: Capsule Wallets' new Minimalist cash carrier, which was funded on Kickstarter and made its retail debut at Dwell on Design.

On the outskirts of Austin, Texas, author Chris Brown and his dog Katsu head to the river; the path was once a dumping ground on top of a long-defunct underground oil pipeline. The green roof was conceptualized by John Hart Asher of the Ecosystem Design Group at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin.

The young Meffans relish playing in the creek’s adjustable dam, made from poured concrete. The nutrient-rich silt that collects over the summer is dumped on the vegetable garden in the winter, when the creek flows freely.

A can of Reading Brewing Co.'s light beer from Philadelphia dating to the 1970s.

Doubling the footprint of their home and adding a pool could have placed Shah and Suttles on the wrong side of the city of Austin’s strict impervious cover rules, which set square-footage limits and are intended to protect local water quality. So they installed high-tech Eco-Priora pavestones in their driveway to help capture rainwater runoff. It’s not quite as fancy as the underground storage tank they sought at their first collaboration with Alterstudio, but the strategy allowed them to go green and stick to their design.

Here's another view of the mid-century ceramics the couple collects and displays around the house.

Resident Brian Whitlock saved some serious cash by taking on much of the construction work himself. By wiring his house himself, he saved around $30,000. “People have a visceral fear of electricity, which is healthy in some ways,” he says. “But I think it gets a bad rap.”

Casa Dosmurs is decorated sparsely with furniture by friends and local designers. The couple also collect prints from Benjamín’s brother, who works as a photographer.

Cash and Rock are shown here in front of a blackened steel “fireplace wall” that was designed by Hufft Projects. Matthew explains how he’s learned to design things that are durable and safe. He continues, “You never realize how destructive kids are until you have them. I’m continuously learning from them and how they interact within architecture.”

A wine refrigerator and wet bar with the same finishes as the kitchen for cohesion brings more function for entertaining. “We use it more than we've ever used it before,” says Shawn. “It is no longer a dumping ground.”

Resident Brian Whitlock saved some serious cash by taking on much of the construction and electrical work himself.

An Introduction to Modern Textiles: Kit out your furniture in luxurious silk or no-frills leather,; textiles can add just as much dimension to room as art, and can be equally collectible.

A can of Duke beer—brewed by the Duquesne Brewing Co. based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—dating to the 1970s through 1980s.

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If you’re traveling to Puglia in Italy, one of the most iconic sights are trulli (trullo is the singular), an ancient hut that's specific to the Itria Valley in the Apulia region of Southern Italy. Made with dry stone, trulli date back to medieval times.

To date, the pair and their pals have built a compound complete with sheds, tree decks, a pavilion, a wood-fired hot tub, an outhouse, an outdoor shower, and, now, a redwood cabin where an ever widening network of friends gather for skill-sharing workshops and events.

“The house was designed for a family with young kids—it’s a place to get outside, collect specimens along the shore of the lake, play in the dirt, and spend time with family and friends,” explain Taylor and Morris. A glimpse of the detached two-bedroom guesthouse can be see behind the great room building.

Hiring a general contractor (GC) may not be as exciting as picking an architect, but it’s definitely as important. After all, this is the person who will determine whether you’re sleeping in a beautiful new bedroom or a motel when your projected move-in date rolls around.

Le Corbusier visits Rodrigues in Rio, date unknown. Photo courtesy Espasso.

Italian prefab company LEAPfactory built this alpine shelter off-site and had it flown in via helicopter. Cantilevered off the edge of a mountain, the structure features a living room, a dine-in kitchen, bunk beds, storage closets, and an integrated computer to keep mountaineers and climbers up-to-date on the weather conditions.

They kept the original hardwood floors in the dining area, but brought them up to date with a deep indigo stain and a sturdy Minwax finish.

Rittenhouse Square, an idyllic, multiblock park dating to the late 17th century, is reliably populated with sunbathers and summer music festivals.

2004 Nymphenburg Sketches brings the porcelain animal figures of the German pottery up to date.

The 301-square-foot cabin is situated on 99 acres on Bruny Island, an island off the coast of Tasmania. For the exterior, the architects have chosen materials that "comply with the Bushfire Attack Level of 19," they explain, including bushfire resistant wood and zincalume metal. The cabin collects its own rainwater—storage tanks are underground for an uncluttered look—and the roof sports solar panels.