When designer Hilton Carter furnished the industrial-style Baltimore apartment and work studio he shares with his wife Fiona, their dog Charlie and two cats Zoe and Isabella, he created a wondrous indoor woodland that offers all the benefits of being outdoors without leaving home.

Maggie Treanor waters plants around her rural home.

A succulent sits atop a stool from Zone Maison, juxtaposed against a warm brick wall.

Plants thrive on the sheltered terrace.

Each cell interlocks to form a continuously planted surface.

Untreated for forms a sunshade on the exterior.

La Casa Nell' Orto—House in the Orchard—was a unique architectural project from the onset. Clients Spartaco and Cinzia, both Tuscan dentists, desired a little home where they could occasionally reside and grow vegetables and other plants. They engaged LDA.iMdA Architetti Associati to create a house capable of cultivating their favorite hobby.

An artist and an architect built their home, studios, and an exhibition space inside a lushly landscaped Antwerp warehouse.

In the back, ferns and other shade-friendly plants thrive beneath the home’s deep overhangs.

The headboard in Hansen’s bedroom echoes the 2013 side-board. The wallpaper is from Arte.

There are two zones in the house. One side, which the architects refer to as the "buffer zone," faces north, capturing the sunlight in the winter and pulling it into the house. In the summer, it traps the harsh sun so less gets into the living space. Edible planters adorn the wall.

In the kitchen, a Dornbracht faucet joins a Silestone countertop. Paint in All White by Farrow & Ball—a shade used throughout the house—provides a crisp backdrop for a print from Thomas Demand’s series The Dailies, while a vintage Boris Lacroix lamp hangs ready to illuminate the scene.

Plants wrap around the perforated aluminum railings for a natural touch.

One of a kind pillow made of reclaimed wool kilims, fabric and trims with removable cover and hidden zipper.

Usha and Mike Kreaden had a virtually blank slate when it came to the garden outside the 1958 Joseph Eichler house that they bought in Silicon Valley two decades ago.

Plant Pedestals by Peter Oyler for Areaware, $50 at areaware.com Give your houseplants a lift with these beech wood perches designed to show off planters, flower arrangements, and other accessories.

Landscape designer Bernard Trainor’s creative use of poured-in-place concrete pavers—such as off the living room, where they break up a low-maintenance lawn of June grass—give the irregularly shaped lot a sense of order. Foxtail ferns and blue chalk sticks, a succulent, lend dashes of color to the entry courtyard, while thyme makes for a fragrant accent between the pavers.

Grey Matter pillow by Nathalie Du Pasquier for Wrong for HAY. Sebastian Wrong’s new collection for the Danish design giant includes textiles from the archives of one of the Memphis group’s founding members.

Tip seven: Getting Serious "If this is a man cave or a woman cave, there are further things you can do," Bush says. "One is to buy already fabricated fiberglass absorber panels in the cloth color of your choice. I would stick with four-inch-thick or thicker panels as the thin ones, like thin foam, just absorb highs and leave you with an overly mid-rangy room. If you are a craftsperson, you can make these types of panels by ordering Owens Corning #703 in four-inch thickness or in a two-inch and glue two layers together to get four inches. I use 3M spray 77 glue but others might work as well. This will need covering so I recommend a thin layer of polyester batting and your choice of upholstery fabric to cover. This can be inserted into frames or glued to a backer board to hang. Specially made diffusors work well, but tend to be very spendy. Let your budget be a guide here and remember that plain old bushy plants work well and spruce up a cave well." "I would tend to stay away from the acoustic foams available unless they are at least four inces thick," Bush says. "Thicker is better. A thin layer of acoustic foam used as a cosmetic treatment over a four-inch-thick Owens Corning #703 fiberglass panel is a nice finish and works very well. Spend some time listening and let your ears be your guide."

Pillow by Joel Karlsson and Krook&Tjäder for Karl Andersson & Söner $255 each Acoustic wall tiles, made of recycled fabric and PET bottles and covered in wool, are available in eight different colors, with or without a button.

The Virtue Pillow by Mary features positive messages in Icelandic. Sayings include: patience, honesty, faith, positivity, integrity, and friendship. According to the designer, the virtues are a reminder of the intangible things that matter in life. Available in three colors, the pillows are made from undyed Icelandic wool.

The spring 2015 ollection also includes six new Fauna pillows, which feature animals inspired by 19th-century illustrations. Head to areaware.com for more information on how to shop the new releases.

At its waterfront location along San Francisco's Embarcadero, The Plant is a comfortable coffee shop by day and a sleek restaurant/lounge by night. The cafe preserved the 18-foot exposed timber ceilings and 16-foot casement windows typical of the historic 1900s warehouse. Conceived and executed by CCS Architecture, The Plant prides itself on being one of the greenest cafes in San Francisco. Solar panels on the roof power the kitchen and cafe, while a water Electrolyzer converts tap water into acidic and alkaline cleaning fluid for the cafe's surfaces. Other standout green materials include reclaimed wood, recycled tiles, and energy efficient lighting, all complemented by the living wall art of Flora Grubb. Pier 3, The Embarcadero #108

Infinite Glass: Pattern+ by 3Form, $48 per square foot The gradient in this pressed-glass product offers privacy while still allowing light to shine through. It’s available in a wealth of customizable colors and patterns.

Overall, the plant wall covers over 1,200 square feet of surface area.

Boskke's Clear Cube Planter only requires watering once monthly. Giving a clear view of plant growth as it happens, Boskke's planter brings transparency to gardening.

The Hyde Collection comes in six color ways and are meant to fill up a windowsill with light-loving plants. $175.

Nitin Barchha and Disney Davis of the architecture firm The White Room are known for designing organic, curvaceous homes and private gardens. They were approached by a couple seeking to renovate their one-bedroom apartment in the charming suburb of Pali Hill, just outside the bustling city of Mumbai—and the result is a vibrant urban oasis.

Since the house is edged in by homes on the east, west, and south sides, the architect punctuated the gabled roof with large skylights to bring daylight into the home.

Once past the main threshold, the house opens up to the outside, literally and figuratively. Three courtyards built around existing trees flow seamlessly into a series of rooms with glazed walls and sliding glass doors.

Ballantyne House by Warren & Mahoney (1959)

This circa-1958 Eichler in Silicon Valley makes a mesmerizing first impression with its combination of ipe wood and neon-yellow resin. A garden, courtesy of landscape designer Bernard Trainor, fosters the illusion of more space.

“Who better than the farmer and the farmer's family to know how most effectively and easily to find efficiency?” says architect Alan Barlis. Regional architecture inspired the barn-life structure of the house, an open volume that aides in efficient heating and cooling of the space.

Plants found in the surrounding landscape were used to obscure the lines between designed and natural worlds.