Tanya Wexler and Amy Zimmerman linger in the breezeway designed to draw eyes, and footsteps, from the driveway through the house to the gently sloping backyard and swimming pool beyond.

Though most of the home's interior comes without a splashy designer's name attached, the bathroom is kitted out with a toilet, sink, and bath/shower from Jasper Morrison's line for Ideal Standard. The cabinets are from an Ikea kitchen system.

Light floods the living and dining rooms, meaning Schneider rarely needs to turn on a lamp during the day.

Tom Givone's current weekend abode, nicknamed the Floating Farmhouse, is—so far—his capstone project, a synthesis of personal taste, material experimentation, and historically sensitive restoration: a living laboratory for how to bring the vernacular past into the present.

If sleek storage is what you're looking for, consider a long and low platform bed. At a New York apartment that's just over 500 square feet, the wood platform bed features storage panels under the mattress.

Adrian Jones and Allison Silverman sit at their reclaimed wood dining table. Eco-mindedness is a matter-of-fact part of everyday life for the couple and the designer, Garrick Jones. “Sustainability comes from flexibility and planning for the long term,” Garrick says. “This is not a glammed-up loft.”

Custom built-ins were essential in defining and maximizing the 520-square-foot space. Greg Dufner designed the rift-cut white oak bookcase that separates the sleeping area from the rest of the studio.

A tiny outbuilding offers a cozy living space inside a simple shell.

The core in the middle of the apartment contains the staircase, two bathrooms, and a laundry area on the lower floor, and a small workspace upstairs.

Living small is par for the course in New York City, but accommodating a family of four in under 700 square feet rarely looks as effortless as in this storage-smart renovation. Scott Oliver and Margarita McGrath of noroof architects created many clever built-ins and transformable furniture in this apartment. Photo by Raimund Koch. See how the rooms transform in this extended slideshow.

As the facade of a Bates Masi-designed home in Water Mill, New York, rises from eight to 14 feet high, the mahogany planks subtly widen. “It was quite a demand to make of the contractor,” architect Paul Masi says. “But the design was so much about traveling through the site and weaving [the house] together with the deck.”

Though the daughter didn’t want all-glass walls, natural light and airflow were key. Levy and Connect:Homes fellow cofounder Gordon Stott used an LED system to offset light from windows and doors. Says Stott, “It’s about 150 watts to light the whole house.”

A 606 Universal Shelving System by Dieter Rams for Vitsoe hangs tough on the only opaque wall of the living room. Russell-Clarke and Moolsintong designed the coffee table, and Marcel Wanders gets credit for the Bottoni sofa for Moooi.

In the kitchen, the cabinetry is walnut veneer with a weathered finish applied by cabinetmaker David Rogers. “The process involved sanding and rubbing in stain as well as adding a clear finish,” project architect Eero Puurunen says.

A 17-foot-tall freestanding play structure that designer Sharon Davis designed for her family in upstate New York can only be entered by climbing taut netting and entering through a trap door. Descending requires sliding down two structural-columns-turned-fire-poles.

Alan Orenbuch and Bryan O’Rourke bought a house and shed, both designed by John M. Johansen, north of New York City in 2009. The shed became a refuge for their many houseguests after an extensive renovation that trimmed the structure to 385 square feet.

Despite the economic downturn, the city is still booming with construction—as evidenced by the fleet of cranes on the horizon.

New York City, population 20,300,000. New York City was the world's first megacity and remains America's largest.

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 03: (L-R) Alexandra Lange, Galia Solomonoff, Marion Weiss, and Claire Weisz speak at the New York Magazine And Dwell Women In Design Panel Discussion on October 3, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for New York Magazine)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 03: (L-R) Alexandra Lange, Galia Solomonoff, Marion Weiss, and Claire Weisz pose at the New York Magazine And Dwell Women In Design Panel Discussion on October 3, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for New York Magazine)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 03: Guests attend the New York Magazine And Dwell Women In Design Panel Discussion on October 3, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for New York Magazine)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 03: A general view of atmosphere at the New York Magazine And Dwell Women In Design Panel Discussion on October 3, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for New York Magazine)

The wood-frame residence and studio are clad in vertical cedar siding—back then, a daring competitor to clapboard—instead of concrete to save costs. The effect is equally seamless, however: “If you drive by it fast enough,” Charles Gwathmey once said, “you still might mistake it for a concrete house.” Photo by Norman McGrath.

“There is a lot of glass so you can enjoy the view and the outdoor lifestyle even inside,” Henrik explains. “You live in the middle of the weather somehow. It’s a really harsh environment, as you have these southwesterly winds blowing through the house. But it is really beautiful as well.”

A vintage stool, a design that once was a staple of Greek classrooms, is tucked under the office desk on a landing leading to a balcony. The visual theme of the vertical wooden slats repeats itself here, including on a closet door. “They have no handles,” Ritenour says of the closet doors. “The lines are the door handles; you have to know to grab them.”

Fed up with flashy, environmentally insensitive beach homes, architect Gerald Parsonson and his wife, Kate, designed a humble hideaway nestled behind sand dunes along the New Zealand coastline. Crafted in the image of a modest Kiwi bach, their 1,670-square-foot retreat consists of a group of small buildings clad in black-stained pine weatherboards and fiber-cement sheets.

Nicknamed the Floating Farmhouse, this 200-year-old home inspired one former copywriter to delve into architecture as a living. Inside, renovator and owner Tom Givone mixes vintage and industrial decor. Photo by Mark Mahaney.

Jay Kelly (Queens, New York) “Artists tend to build their spaces on really small budgets or by trading, so these incredible places are actually super low budget,” Hollander says. “I get a lot of comments about how I'm photographing the upper middle class, and it couldn't be farther from the truth. I think when you know how to make beautiful things, it doesn't matter if it's a painting or a dining room table.”

Houldin, 10, curls up in the playroom nook which is directly under a side skylight that Pulltab added in order to make the interior rooms inhabitable, as per New York City building code. The custom millwork around the window seat is painted in Rainy Day by Fine Paints of Europe.

The great room in the 2,800-square-foot house that architect Drew Lang designed for his family in the Hudson Woods development north of New York City features generous amounts of white oak, which he says is his favorite material.

The Langs use an outbuilding as a rec room of sorts. "We call that the Grace Studio," Lang says. "It's designed so a car can pull in there, but we use it as more of a rec room and work space."

Kayak in hand, Tom and Will make a break for the beach.

A yellow Pedestal filing cabinet by USM is tucked under a built-in desk in the guest bedroom. The leather-back chair was designed by Michael Robbins, a furniture designer based in New York's Hudson Valley.

Despite a tight site, light floods into every room, including the restroom in the guesthouse.

The master bathroom features a cedar screen and quartzite tiles by Walker Zanger.

White oak makes a return appearance on the ceiling in the master bedroom.