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Almost everything about Bob Butler’s Nashville home is unexpected. Its sunken living room, open beams, and carport hark back to the 1950s, yet it’s barely more than a year old. The breezy, rectilinear residence transports visitors to midcentury Hollywood Hills or Palm Springs, though it’s located in a city known for Craftsman bungalows and the rococo mansions of country stars. Most surprising of all, Bob designed and built it himself, with only a few years experience under his belt and no formal training, and on a budget that would get the attention of many area residents: $115 per square foot.

Keiko and Takuhiro Shinomoto have filled their Southern California home with furniture by Taku and pieces by some of the artists and craftspeople whose work they also showcase at their Tortoise General Store shops and showroom. The couple worked with architectural designer Ken Tanaka to remodel the house, once a cramped, two-bedroom rental. A sofa and tables by Taku join Jasper Morrison’s Three Sofa De Luxe sofa for Cappellini. The sliders are by Western Window Systems.

When attorney Trey Berre and his wife, photographer Maria Ponce Berre, began searching the Chicago real estate listings in 2014, they were looking for land, or at least something to tear down. They imagined building a "forever home