Kate Santos

"In Rock Chair by Fredrik Färg, four pieces are together to become a low-level rocking chair that is really comfortable. Fredrik become the designer of the year in Sweden last year," says Färdig.

Whimsical design company Note created this Step sink to split the level of your sink so you can forget about soap residue on the counter.

Weave cupboard, 2012.

Designed by Mârten Claesson for Swedese, the Gran Turismo Easy Chair features a houndstooth-like pattern over a solid wood and steel frame.

The duo's F-A-B chair series is "based on the idea of the chair acting as a body," say the designers. "The chair can be used nude and bare, but also reveals a whole new personality when dressed in something a little bit more extravagant." Customers can choose from a selection of different garments for their chair, from a simple leather back to an intricate quilted pattern.

Swedish outfit Claesson Koivisto Rune were inspired by a nearby department store when they created these plush wool carpets.

The Swedish WHATSWHAT Collective, founded by John Astbury, Bengt Brummer, and Karin Wallenbeck in 2010, creates pieces around encouraging user interaction. We love: This Greta lampshade in green features a drawstring that allows you to change the direction of the light.

The cord—usually the afterthought of any lamp—shines in this simple, clever lighting solution. Supported by a near-invisible clear frame, the orange cord offers shade, base, and power to this unexpected piece. You can find this minimalist fixture here.

ILLUSION TABLE Designed in 2005 by Danish designer John Brauer, the Illusion table is made out of 3mm-thick acrylic. It gives the impression that there is a tablecloth over a desk.

The angular two-legged Ply side table by Ronan Copia, founder of Valencia-based outdoor furniture company Axthor, is made of heavy-gauge powder-coated steel—a departure from the company's usual repertoire.

This Illusion Lamp designed by Hareide Designmill for Northern Lighting seems to be suspended in mid-air.

Created by Umbra, the walnut Suspend Clock mysteriously floats in a glass casing, leaving spectators bewildered.

The off-kilter construction of this tripod side table from new Singapore-based brand, Foundry, achieves an almost improbable balance, but its equilibrium is no illusion. Its angled walnut—or oak—legs effortlessly support the painted ash surface.

Finnish designer Eeva Jokinen created a porcelain cup with false holes, a necessary piece of tableware for any Alice in Wonderland tea party.

Thanks to IKEA, Pande and Misra were able to furnish their new home after construction took most of their funds. The light and airy bedroom, however, would make great spaces regardless of furnishings.

To stay within budget, Han and Mihalyo spent seven months and all of their free time building the house. As a result, the couple is well- acquainted with every square inch of their home. As Han says, “If there’s a nail in the wall, we know exactly what’s behind it.”

The prohibitive cost of outfitting the structure with radiant heat led Dunbar and Astrakhan to pull down the solid south-facing rear wall for additional sunlight and solar gain.

Surrounded by the books they love, Apurva Pande and Chinmaya Misra are finally settling in to their new home.

"Small IKEA kitchens drive me crazy, but six kitchens' worth of IKEA cabinets can be made into something beautiful," says homeowner Andrew Dunbar. Staggered by width, the cabinets have exposed kick-plate gaps for storing CDs.

The angular wood-clad addition offers a sharp contrast to the concrete masonry exterior of the rest of the house.

Even in ever-gray and gloomy Seattle, the 24-by-10-foot front window lets in enough light that the couple rarely needs to turn on any lamps inside the house.

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.

Sheets of hot-rolled steel were used as exterior cladding—as well as for parts of walls and countertops indoors—to heighten the industrial effect. “When hot-rolled steel comes out of the factory, it’s a very even-toned, blue-gray color,” Han says. “But we wanted to have a pattern. So we stacked the sheets of siding outside in the rain, and let it sit there so that the water would create texture.” Putting up the siding was messy, since each sheet had to be carefully dried before installation and then covered with a water-based clear coat to prevent surface oxidation. The result, though, is a quietly mottled surface that Mihalyo says “looks like slate” and will change color over time as dark brown tones begin to appear beneath the basic steel gray. Like the circular windows that seem stolen from the airplanes flying over the house, the steel siding is an architectural element made possible on a small budget only by Han and Mihalyo doing it themselves. As Han exclaims, “Can you imagine specing this out for a contractor?”

The property has multiple leisure amenities, including a spa, a fitness center, and two heated outdoor pools surrounded by cabanas. The outdoor fireplace, which is located right off of the bar, is made even warmer with the color of Red Desert Globemallow. The base is painted the color of Scarlet Hedgenettle, and the orange outdoor seating from Sunbrella rests on a tailor-made purple indoor/outdoor carpet.

The lobby is a mix of various hues and color palettes.

The design and colors of the hotel are inspired by the destination—a graceful melding of Missoni and Kuwait’s aesthetic. The Arabian Sea is reflected by the cool turquoise, bold fuschia, and gleaming golds in the hotel lobby. Photo by Gerry O'Leary.

Walking in the bar feels like walking into an old Western saloon, reimagined in a modern way. The walls are paneled with weathered barn siding, with niches painted with wildflower colors like Desert Mariposa Lily, California Poppy, Sunflower, Red Desert Globemallow and Staghorn Cholla, adding an element of excitement and depth to the space. The bar’s sitting area is made extra comfortable with plush loungers upholstered in Knoll Textiles.

The Pantone Hotel in Brussels was designed by Michel Penneman and architect Olivier Hannaert. Like the Pantone brand, the hotel is color-obsessed and the hues pop even more when placed over a white-walled background.

The sliding window screens are made of afzelia wood. "I like the way the façade interacts with the street as the clients open and close their sliding wooden screens," says Crasset. Photo via designboom.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Rosita Missoni compared the Edinburgh property to this one: "The country likes gold, so there is more gold around the hotel including golden fringes around the corridors and chandeliers." Photo by Gerry O'Leary.

One of Signora Missoni’s pet peeves is carpeting in hotels. For her, there is a cleaner feel without them, which is why the guestrooms and suites are all outfitted with hardwood floors. Photo by Gerry O'Leary.

The design is based off of the ryokan, Edo-period Japan's version of a motel. Traditionally, these simple accommodations consisted of small tatami-matted rooms, a communal gathering area, and shared bath. Crasset also says that the design takes its cues from youth hostels. Photo by Simon Bouisson.

By the "Picante Pool," the walls are painted the colors of Desert Mariposa Lily and Red Desert Globemallow. The landscaping furthers the feeling of oneness with nature, which is most evident here. The architects noted, "Our brilliant landscape architect, Chris Winters, incorporated indigenous plants to the property with a focus on sustainable succulents and the flowers from which the colors were inspired." In many ways, Stamberg and Aferiat made sure that the Saguaro Hotel "belongs" in its surroundings as much as the cactus it is named after. In turn, its playful aura surely inspires optimism, fun, and joy from its guests, just as the designers hoped for. Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

Each of the hotel's seven floors are dedicated to a different color including blue, yellow, green, purple, brown, red and orange.

Another cozy seating "pod" in the lobby, complete with reading material stowed in the cubbies below. It, like all of the furnishings, was designed by Crasset. "The project is a renovation so the main challenge was not to break any walls or change the structure of the building," says Crasset. "All of the rooms are different and I had to develop a concept that could adapt to any of them." Photo by Simon Bouisson.

This high chair, created by Nanna Ditzel in 1955, is still in mint condition more than half a century later.