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If you love the look of candlesticks but are cutting down on burning wax indoors (or run out of tapers), Fríða Karlsdóttir has a solution. She carves twigs, branches, and bits of driftwood into curvy wooden candles.

“We are all going to die,” says Heidi Einarsdottir. Her company, Aska Bio Urns, seeks to produce sustainable solutions for memorializing loved ones—and it just launched a biodegradable urn made from recycled paper that’s modeled after Iceland’s famed basalt columns.

The communal dining table in the main house was custom-made by a local woodworker and island timber mill owner, Joe Romano, in collaboration with WindowCraft. Raw metal supports for the table were fabricated by Salish Metalworks on Orcas Island, a sister island to San Juan.

Calacatta Superwhite Quartzite and white oak decorate the kitchen, as well as (

Thanks to an existing functional layout and adequate size, there wasn't much need to change the plan of the kitchen and the placement of appliances and plumbing.

Designed by midcentury California architect Charles Du Bois (known for his A-frame homes in Palm Springs), this residence on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles is the new and “forever” home of designer Leonora Mahle and her family.

Top 10 Most Shared Stories of 2020: Our readers couldn’t resist passing these articles along to family and friends.

An oversized soaking tub awaits in the spacious master bath.

"The house is designed to change with the family's needs and weather with the elements,

Reflecting the diversity of the Maine forest, the kitchen island and floors are maple and the stools are oak. A colorful painting by Jenny Prinn provides contrast.

The renovation of this midcentury home in Falmouth, Maine, incorporates a modern aesthetic while preserving the home's midcentury character, as well as making it more energy efficient. Now, the bright and spacious kitchen opens to the dining and living spaces. The additional row of windows follows the roofline and fills the space with natural light.

"For this home, I took down the walls, which closed off the kitchen and dining areas, and magically the sunshine and palm trees appeared," Perry explains of her Pop Art-inspired renovation.

For the kitchen, master bath, and kids’ bathroom, the designers chose three different hues of Savoy stacked mosaic tile from Portland-based manufacturer Ann Sacks. Tractor barstools by BassamFellows pull up to a PentalQuartz countertop. The gas cooktop, oven, and dishwasher are by Miele.

For the renovation of this Portland midcentury kitchen, Risa Boyer started by removing a wall and converting the former galley kitchen into an open plan that shares space with the living and dining areas. Now, the centerpiece of the kitchen is a generous island with plywood cabinetry veneered with vertical-grain Douglas fir and a Caesarstone counter with a waterfall treatment at one end.

Wise maintained the footprint of the kitchen, which is roughly 125 square feet, then maxed out the storage. "Our goal here was to create a sleek and minimal kitchen respectful to the era of the home that was hyper-functional in a small space," says Wise. The black stools are from IKEA.

"We designed a fully-custom, expanded chef’s kitchen featuring European-style cabinets, a large island with waterfall countertops, and hardwood floors," say Sommer and Costello. The light and bright kitchen has cabinetry by Gilbert Sojo, quartz counters, and a streamlined black GE range hood that syncs with the black finger pulls from Cosmas.

SHED added oversized sliding glass doors which allow for indoor/outdoor living during the warmer months, while new wood cabinetry establishes a clean, minimalist aesthetic, and an oversized, marble-topped island with a table extension provides room to cook, eat, and entertain. Oversized sliding doors open to the expansive deck, while skylights fill the space with natural light—a necessity with Seattle's gray winter skies.

Portland-based pastry chef Andrea Nicholas purchased a 1953 midcentury ranch whose 2,500 square feet needed "a lot of TLC." Nicholas hired architect Risa Boyer to design the renovation, which involved opening up the kitchen to the dining room and creating a contemporary open-plan living space.