The planks inside the house blend into those on the small porch just outside. It's a nice touch that helps marry the outdoors with the home's interior.

Texas. The Cricket Trailer, made in Houston, can sleep up to two adults and two children. With integrated fresh water and greywater tanks along with a water heater, campers can live off-the-grid in the easily towable unit.

Ryan Anderson of RAD Furniture designed the stools as well as the table and benches on the pool deck.

A rather good looking trio of American-made extension cords by Best Made Company.

Verheyden works at his desk in the home office; over-flow projects are tackled in the workshop adjacent to the house, which is covered in black wood.

In the living room, spare Scandinavian design takes center stage. Hans Wegner’s Wishbone chairs surround an Essay dining table by Cecilie Manz for Fritz Hansen; a mostly wood palette is enhanced by slate-gray brick around the fireplace. The paper lanterns throughout the home are a mixture of classics by Isamu Noguchi alongside those picked up in Japan and France.

Cedar slats help this Ontario lake house float soundly atop still waters. Photo by: Raimund Koch

Built-ins reduce the need for furniture.

At the client’s request the kitchen contains neither upper cabinets (Shino can’t reach them) nor an oven (they only used the old one once—to reheat a pizza). A modular Roche Bobois Mah Jong sofa adds a decorative flourish to the living area while maintaining as low a profile as the traditional Japanese furniture.

Yang Yeo and his girlfriend Ching Ian relax on the back stoop of their renovated and radically updated Singapore shophouse—an archetypal building type in this busy port city. “Shophouses brought back memories of our childhood,” says Yeo.

The beanbag chairs and outdoor sofa and chairs are from West Elm and the Case Study Museum Bench is from Modernica.

Two San Francisco art and travel addicts overhauled a loft—and customized a pair of shipping containers—to accommodate their collection and reflect their passions.

By merging typical Saigon architectural and stylistic details, architect Toan Nghiem of a21 Studio created a space that brings family together. Stacking roof layers, open flowering balconies, and an alleyway that serves as a living room, dining room, and outdoor playground are all filled with colorful, rich materials. Inside Saigon House, reclaimed and second-hand furniture lend history and spirit to the home. With so many small interior rooms and divisions between spaces, the addition of a net ceiling brings openness to the back alleyway, where the family often gathers to eat dinner. Not only does the net allow for ventilation and light, but it offers a place to play for the children, who love to climb and lounge above their parents.

Exposed American oak was used to create sightlines that capitalize on England’s notoriously fickle light.

To highlight the existing architecture of the home, Hill retained the dark polish of the casement windows, which she finds enhances period details instead of undermining them. In the rear sunroom, the vintage Case Study furniture pieces with Plexiglas bases are from Metro Retro in Houston. A Bourgie lamp by Kartell is atop an old marble end table by Knoll, and the Gan kilim rug pictures a branch motif echoed in the kitchen and breakfast room.

Builder Ross Percival helped finesse the finely tuned detailing that separates the internal slope from the rock outside (opposite). The Pedro wire stool is by Craig Bond for Candywhistle.

Alex enjoys a sun-filled breakfast at the built-in dining table and bench, one of many space-saving designs.

Signal Lamp by Travis James for May Furniture Co. Blending science fiction, Futurism, and minimalism, the 12-inch-tall table lamp made in Brooklyn references radio towers and transmission devices.

Materials are at the core of everything the various firms produce at the shop. Leftover scraps from Tektonics's commercial projects are often recycled an reused in pieces for Fern & Roby, while the imperfections in wood and cast metal are celebrated. "Revealing the origin of material and narrative of the process is central to our life and our pieces," say the brand's husband-and-wife co-owners Moriarty and Hildebrand. "Wood and cast metal—these materials naturally have flaws and imperfections. They are the result of processes that leave traces behind. The pine beams that were reclaimed have holes where there were once nails, and cracks where the wood has settled and split. Those aren’t things to hide, they are telltales of the material’s origin."

Micky Dolenz making the Shabby Chic Picture Frame in his home workshop.

Sara Moriarty, Christopher Hildebrand, and Hinmaton Hisler pose outside the workshop of Tektonics, a Richmond, Virginia, design and manufacturing group based in the city's historic industrial hub of Manchester. Founded in 2003, Tektonics is also home to bicycle product lines Stijl Cycles and LocoMachine, as well as the furniture, audio, and hard ware line Fern & Roby. It houses a design studio, metal fabrication shop, CNC machine shop, and woodworking shop in a sunny 20,000-square-foot building built in the 1930s by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Luxe sofa by Goodman Charlton for American Leather. The top-grain leather sofa’s biscuit-tufted detailing takes its cues from 1940s designs. Made in Dallas.

Quiubox is a floating workshop

Shaun Moore is co-owner of MADE, a retailer that specializes in furniture created by Canadian designers.

Visitors learn about energy and water conservation as they climb outdoor staircases that lead from the forest floor to the 125-foot-high rooftop rising above the leaf canopy.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, food scraps and yard waste make up 20 percent of what we throw away. Composting organic materials keeps them out of the landfill, which cuts down on greenhouse gases, and enriches the soil. To compost at home, make a pile in your backyard, or introduce an indoor bin for throwaways like apple peels and eggshells.

Ziger/Snead Architects constructed this ode to rowing in rural Virginia for a Baltimore couple who share a love of sculling. “Everywhere in the house you can see the moment where land meets water,” says Douglas Bothner, an associate at the firm.

Though only two feet deep, the Ikea cabinet Azevedo bought for the guest bath didn’t quite fit, so she sliced off eight inches with a table saw. “It might be unorthodox, but it was just easier, faster, and cheaper to do it myself,” says the former furniture designer.

“Gatherings here can be a very rich experience, a dis-cussion around art history, music, food, and fashion.”—Kenneth Montague

Instead of purchasing Memorial Day party or cookout supplies, consider donating those funds to a veterans charity. Charity Navigator lists some highly rated military and veteran organizations to help make sure your contribution goes to a trustworthy program.

Simple utilitarianism at its finest: Takagi's Simple Machines series of stools, benches, and tables in white oak.

While traveling on a train or plane, ditch the iPad and revisit a classic analog game, like this Domino Set from The Principals. Sculptural and refined, this set is as attractive as it is fun to play. The dominoes come in a soft cloth bag, making it easy to travel with the game.

The Wilson’s living and dining rooms are outfitted with furniture from B&B Italia, Fritz Hansen, Modernica, and Knoll.

A departure from the mod-meets-baroque dining room, Turin’s breakfast area is far more sedate. She and her daughter, Helena, have a chat at a Progetto 1 table by Monica Armani for B&B Italia surrounded by four Lia chairs by Roberto Barbieri for Zanotta. The painting behind Helena is by Ricci Albenda.

Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia (1788) Designed by Thomas Jefferson, and constructed while he was Minister to France, the Virginia State Capitol underscored Jefferson's permanent repudiation of the monarchy (as well as the prevailing Colonial architecture he loathed). Its form ignited the American tradition of modeling government buildings on Roman and Greek temples.