“So many houses seem like they’re completely still and heavy,” says Dencity architect Staffan Svenson. Inspired by his client’s role in the airline industry, Svenson relished the chance to create a home that evokes motion and lightness.

On an agricultural estate in Portugal, blaanc studio designed a simple retreat that does its utmost not to interfer with the scenic backdrop.

On the roof, Geller takes in the night sky with his telescope.

To stock Hugh's shelves, proprietor Joe Posch relies on local resources: "I look anywhere there's a chance I'll find something—a garage sale, a Salvation Army," he says, "never online and I don't do Craigslist. The trick isn't that there's a single special source for vintage; the trick is persistence." The pieces are heavily 1950s and 1960s with a bit of 1970s thrown into the mix.

Detroit design shop Hugh sells vintage and vintage-inspired contemporary furniture, housewares, and grooming items.

Kolleketed By Jannicke Kråkvik and Alessandro D’Orazio are Oslo's leading interior stylists, their work regularly gracing the pages of Elle Decor. Now, in Kråkvik's words, they decided to create their own "playground"—a marvelous new shop that features classic Scandinavian designs, carefully curated vintage pieces, and works by young Norwegian designers like the marbled ceramics of Günzler Polmar.

A Kalmar bar set.

A love of midcentury design marks the couple’s choice of living room furnishings, which include an Eames lounge chair and a Noguchi coffee table, paired with a sofa from HD Buttercup. The arching neck of the Prouvé Potence sconce mirrors the home’s exterior form, while the large Fleetwood sliding door extends the space to the outdoors.

As grand as it ever was this renovated Eichler home in San Rafael, California, exudes warm light into the California hills. Photo by: Scott Hargis

Looking into the warm, brightly lit house at night offers a different kind of view, one that charmingly recalls the cutaway dioramas in Wes Anderson’s films.

A compact and vertical guest tower is sited at the western corner of the lot amongst tall evergreens, allowing for a more private guest experience, more compact floor plan, and the ability to effectively shut off (socially and energy-wise) the guest spaces zone by zone during typical daily use.

An Eames lounge and a rug from HD Buttercup.

In the living area of actor Vincent Kartheiser’s Hollywood cabin, redesigned by Funn Roberts to maximize every last inch of space, an Eames lounge chair and ottoman mix with a couch and coffee table by Cisco Home from HD Buttercup. The table in the main room is from West Elm.

Shop / Garage

Heart Shaped Pond & Shop

Shop

A RH Fulham leather sofa, a Garza Marfa striped blanket and HD Buttercup cushions.

This "local prefab" home on the Isle of Skye is made mostly from materials sourced in northern Scotland. The timber-framed model, meant to evoke the simple agrarian barns of the area, can be constructed on-site in as little as a day and is designed for affordability.

Set amongst the trees, with its simple form and earthy adherence to wood, the home fits in well. "Veronica and I walked the land for many months before we decided where to put the house," says Hirsh. "We had picnics there. We sat looking east. We sat looking west. We sat looking south. The site felt wonderful." Photo by Ron Johnson.

The wares have been expertly styled into a playful display that transforms the store's London showroom into a mecca of Memphis.

The main hangout space, the living room, is full of fun finds including a Total Design Company rug, local foliage, an HD Buttercup hoop chair and pillows and rugs from The Garage Collective.

Black and white kitchen cabinets painted with a triangular pattern add a whimsical touch to this funky kitchen.

Here's the entrance to H.D. Buttercup, located in the former Limn space in SOMA in San Francisco.

The Min Bed from DWR sits across a dresser from HD Buttercup in San Francisco. The rug is from Crate + Barrel, and the ceiling fan is by Haiku.

These steep pitches let snow slide off the roofs and create enough room inside for both men and their families to stand up and stretch.

At Detroit's Nora, find a curated selection of modern housewares and accessories from local and international designers including pieces by Ferm Living, Kaico, Soma, and Artek.

Filipino designer Eric Paras curates A11, a concept shop that fills a series of 1950s homes in Manila with local and international designs.

The shop has an especially strong selection of tableware: glasses and utensils from Iittala, Hasami porcelain, and a bar board from Michigan designer Jose Regueiro are standouts.

When Abbie and Bill Burton hired Marmol Radziner to design their prefab weekend home, their two requests were “simple-simple, replaceable materials,” says Abbie—such as concrete floors (poured offsite in Marmol Radziner's factory) and metal panel siding—and “the ability to be indoors or outdoors with ease.” Deep overhangs provide shade and protection from rain, so the Burtons can leave their doors open year-round and hang out on their 70-foot-long deck even in inclement weather. They visit the house once a month, usually for a week at a time, with Vinnie and Stella, their rescue Bernese Mountain dogs. Their two adult children occasionally join them. The couple hopes to one day retire here.

A small recess is built into the wall, acting as a side table.

Oakland–based Building Lab effortlessly connected the patio to the living and bedroom areas just beyond the striking wall of windows.

HD = Mark Nunez

The outer wall means residents don’t have to worry about privacy when the sun goes down and the house’s windows begin to glow.

HD = Tim Braun

“It’s easy to be in the honeymoon phase. But too often people skip important conversations, and things can go badly.” —Architect Michelle Kaufmann