In the master bathroom, a matte Ove tub from Wetstyle is one of Maca’s favorite getaways. The angle of the custom window, designed with a minimal frame to maximize the view, mimics the roofline.

Some 35 percent of the materials from the renovation were resurrected in the yard: Redwood panels became fencing. Blocks cut from original concrete patios form the snake wall. And Purdy plans to crochet colorful cozies over various branches and stumps.

Angled beams are a fixture of the structure, both inside and out. The beams “are an expression of the design, so they’re reinforcing view lines,” Winkelman says, “but they’re also weaving together the different axes of the site."

“The steep site lends itself to the ‘upside down’ configuration,” Harkness explains. “It certainly wouldn’t work as well if you could only access the house via the lower level, as this is through the bedroom zone, so we included two entrances. The upper one involves walking across a little bridge.”

At a wider shot, the long millwork is designed to be as long as the building length itself providing the owner with an immensely amount of storage.

Shibata wanted more shelf space in her home office, so she added a plywood door with built-in bookshelves that opens into her bedroom to form a reading nook. Glimpsed from the adjacent room, the space looks larger than it actually is, thanks to the bright green walls.

The custom island also features a cut-out shelf.

A central challenge of the renovation was to integrate lighting into the architecture in such a way that “even if the space had no furniture, you could turn on the lights and instantly get a cozy atmosphere,” says Bjerre-Poulsen. After Europe banned incandescents in 2009 Bjerre-Poulsen turned to halogen fixtures, which are more energy-efficient and give off a similar quality of light. (He won’t use LEDs until their ability to render color is further developed, he says.) In Østergaard and Olofsson’s kitchen, he embedded a halogen strip in the underside of the wooden shelf over the countertop to direct light onto the work surface.

Initially built for Widdicomb-Mueller in the ‘60s, these Mondrian-like forms draw inspiration from Japanese architecture.

Useful Living is a continuation of Lee’s original project, “Useful Arbeitsloser (Jobless).” The line came out of the theory that “While life becomes heavy and our space of living gets more spacious, the furniture we have around us are getting lighter and feels more indifferent. The form and structure of 'Useful Arbeitsloser (Jobless)' is a story of nomad, imperfect lives and furniture of the contemporaries.” (shelf from 'Useful Arbeitsloser' shown).

Vera & Kyte's set of shelves, exhibited at 2013 London Design Festival, resemble a small postmodern landscape. Photo courtesy of Vera & Kyte.

This wall shelf, made of powder-coated steel and oak, is available in different sizes and colors, all of which give an almost invisible, shadow-box effect when mounted.

A new pantry wall in a teak wood veneer supplies all-but-invisible cabinet space with the help of touch-latch door hardware. Perched atop the existing terrazzo flooring, the underbelly of the kitchen's central island, painted with Benjamin Moore paint in the Midsummer Night shade, is visible beneath the reclaimed American elm countertop.

A wider look at the open-plan dining room and kitchen.

The courtyard offers a glimpse of nature from nearly every angle, including up.

Buckner and Roberts both expressed admiration for Jones’s thoughtful details—including the sloping glass, angled columns, and Wrightian light shelf.

Kansas. Nicole and Robert Boles of Same Tree draw upon their backgrounds in fashion design and engineering to create appealing, multifunctional furniture such as the Angle, a Douglas fir coffee table that contains storage space and can be used as a bench.

Inside, Paul often dispenses whiskey to friends from behind the rustic bar.

For the past three months Sanghyeok Lee has refined his line, “Useful Living,” at the Danish Art Workshop. He was influenced by classic Danish furniture as well as his once-transient lifestyle to create the series of oak and brass furniture: a bookcase, a rack, and a chair.

The home’s emphasis on light and linearity is evident even from the street, where carefully placed windows and a combination of stained cedar and Eternit cement-fiber panels create a stunning silhouette.

An elegant built-in shelf lies above the bed.

The Shelf from Sabi is a simple floating shelf designed to provide flexible storage solutions. The Shelf can be installed above a bathroom sink, on a bathroom wall, shower wall, or in another interior space within the home. Available in two sizes and colors, Shelf can be grouped with others to create more storage space, or used on its own in a smaller space.

Israeli studio Producks and textile designer Mika Barr collaborated on Poli, a seating system upholstered with synthetic patterned textile that produces eye-catching folds and angles once it's been occupied.

Available in both emerald and clear glass, the recycled bottle shelf lighting is stabilized by 10cm of hardwood.

The easy-assembly Flip Shelf.

Small kettles and metal pots rest and hang on a wooden shelf in the kitchen.

In the master bathroom, we went for a much more earthy, and rustic look. Using a porcelain slate tile with lots of nice variation in it, we made this the element that connected both the vanity area and the shower room, and used it on the floors as well as the walls. The sink vanity was a custom designed and built unit with a Brown Forest Marble top and lots of storage space! Minimal, white vessel sinks completed the look, and added a more modern touch. The pocket door was added, and stained to match the vanity area. Moving into the shower and toilet room, the main element here was the highly textured and varied tile. We accented this with a teak floor in the shower, and some rustic, live edge wood shelves above the toilet. Again, we used more modern fixtures and lighting to contrast against the rustic materials.

Board By Design's handmade shelf lets you hang your bike by its saddle, handling any and all bike shapes and sizes. Your bike will look as if its floating elegantly by the wall. Better yet, The Bike All shelf has two hooks for your helmet and bag. Place your smaller belongings on the top shelf—there's even an opening for your cell phone charger. The all-wood unit is especially handy for the space-deprived, measuring in at only 20-inches long and 7-inches tall. Photo by: BBD

Andreas Engesvik, cofounder of NORWAY SAYS alongside Anderssen & Voll, established a solo studio in Oslo in 2009, creating offbeat updates of ordinary pieces. We love: The Shelf lamp, meant to nestle amid books like a sculpture.

Here's a shot of the Floyd Shelf ($85) in action. It supports up to 50 pounds and, like the Floyd Leg, it's 100 percent made in the United States from steel sourced Stateside.

Belgian studio Ateliers J&J exhibited furniture and shelving with an industrial aesthetic.

The Flip Shelf, designed as a companion piece for the chair, uses three foldable plywood planes to create a lightbox-like lamp or wall decoration.

Powder coated metal shelf, $160.

Made from hardy powder-coated steel, the Umbra Conceal Book Shelf transforms books into a decorative element. Light, simple, and wall-mounted, it's another versatile tool for blurring decor and storage in small spaces.

Book storage is notorious for consuming precious space. Free up some room with Booken by Raw Edges Design Studio, which stores less frequently read novels and doubles as a shelf.

From Plywood Office, the Rack of Coats takes a necessary household accessory—a coat rack—and reimagines it as sculpture. The Rack of Coats is defined by its graceful curves, which are created from steam-bent solid wood that is sourced domestically from a small Wisconsin mill. Beneath the curved wood coat hooks, the Rack of Coats includes a convenient table, providing storage space for keys, coins, mobile phones, or even a purse or work bag.