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A mysterious-looking staircase leads up to the bedroom.

This backyard home office for a couple in London is constructed with all-timber structural framing and is clad in cork and topped with a vegetated roof. These eco-friendly materials make for a delightfully sensory space with lots of lighting provided by the skylight and glass and oak door.

Choosing a kitchen or bathroom countertop can be nerve-wracking, and we understand why—they can be one of the most expensive aspects of a renovation, with the added responsibility of impacting the aesthetics of a space. Read on as we work our way through the pros and cons of seven of the most common countertop materials.

The wooden box is as functional as it is finely crafted, with room for clothes up top. Each niche holds treasures from travels, family keepsakes, books, and more.

Architect Tamira Sawatzky and artist Elle Flanders get an awfully good view of their busy Toronto street from their office and dining room.

In the master bedroom, the couple opted for Artemide lighting: Vintage Eclisse table lamps by Vico Magistretti hang over the nightstands and a Tizio table lamp by Richard Sapper rests on a side table. The lounge chairs are vintage finds, and the rug is a Bedouin design purchased in Jerusalem.

Sawatzky designed the bookshelves along the living room wall out of Ikea components: one-inch Lagan butcher block countertops and inexpensive Ekby Lerberg brackets. She also used pieces of the strong and attractive countertops for built-in shelves in the upstairs lounge as well as for trim in the kitchen.

An expanse of windows along the transparent, glass-filled southern facade keeps the main living area well-lit during the day; a grid of Buschfeld Shop-V 100 lights illuminates it by night.

The windows on the right look out to Manhattan. The blue Acapulco chair echoes the aquatic tones of the bathroom tiles.