LOTTA JANSDOTTER'S SIMPLE SEWING Lotta Jansdotter is an icon of DIY design, and her Simple Sewing book is a resource of unintimidating patterns for newbie and veteran seamsters and seamstresses.

A 24-by24-foot Cor-ten-clad pavilion tops the three-story addition.

In the kitchen area and throughout the home, Mads Odgård, shown here, and Mette Lyng Hansen mixed Odgård’s pieces, such as the Odgård kettle for Raadvad and custom table, with Ikea basics and the Workshop pendant lamp by Louis Poulsen.

At a seaside New Zealand house, the simple kitchen has strandboard cabinetry and an MDF island that conceals a fireplace at one end. The bright green cabinetry of the island are a happy pop of color that references the native greenery outside.

A small terrace outfitted with an H55 easy chair by Björn Hultén offers a view of the San Francisco Bay.

The owners of this home selected a geometric-patterned glass tile backsplash by Island Stone. The glass tile keeps the space bright, and the pattern adds interest.

This Duffel Bag is designed with the traveler in mind. Crafted from heavyweight canvas, the bag is roomy enough to accommodate a couple of days of clothing, but small enough that it is not too obtrusive. Simple and refined, this bag is an easy-going travel accessory.

A peek inside the master bedroom, with touches of marigold yellow throughout.

Twenty-foot-wide doors from Solar Innovations offer easy access to the deck. “Solar Innovations was the only manufacturer at that time that had a pocket multi-slider with a good ADA threshold,” says architect Erick Mikiten. “They almost look like steel, but are thermally broken aluminum.”

A PK 22 Easy Chair by Poul Kjaerholm for Fritz Hansen adds a dash of yellow to the breakfast room.

Set of two kitchen tea towels, radish pattern, by Lotta Kühlhorn, Available at fromSthlm.com

Benedetta's son's bedroom, which is on the second floor of the villa. The bed is her own design.

Master Bath Casale and Crofton’s bedroom is configured as a casual open suite, with a sliding aluminum screen as the only barrier separating an adjacent bathroom and walk-in closet. The screen’s dappled, lacelike pattern was designed by Fiyel Levent, a local artist and architect. Bischoff handed her design to a metalworker, who then carved it into aluminum with a digital laser cutter. It runs on a track in front of a partial wall covered in wallpaper by Neisha Crosland. The vanity, designed and built in the MADE studio, sits atop the legs from an antique refrigerator that Bischoff and his team found in a junkyard. Calacatta mosaic tile, another MADE leftover, lines the floor of the shower (not shown). The firm had a limited surplus, so the amount of tile available dictated the shower stall’s footprint. “We have a keen understanding of the challenges presented by integrating the new with the existing,” Bischoff says of his approach. “We took this blank canvas and tailored it to the needs that Dawn and Dave had for their home. The result is fresh and unique but retains the patina of the many parts from which it was made.”

Marimekko's iconic Unikko pattern celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

A patterned steel frame serves as a front wall to the street, allowing for light and noise to penetrate the interior. The owners were adamant about the importance of integrating the culture and traditions of Saigon into their home, hoping their children would grow up with a knowledge of and appreciation for the city.

The Cobb Haus, a wood-sided, 700-square-foot cabin in Cobb, California, features a large wood deck surrounded by towering trees.

The Alizé Sunlounger XS from Fermob combines a traditional design with functional advances. The fabric of the lounger is an outdoor technical fabric, making it extremely durable and resistant to weather damage. The canvas is also comfortable to the touch, so the Alizé can be used without a cushion or covering. The gently curved frame and bed add a sense of lightness to the Alizé, making this design from Fermob a refreshing option for outdoor spaces.

Swedish designer Lotta Kühlhorn

The kitchen cabinets and fixtures are all sourced from Swan Cuisines. The trashcan is by Vipp. The architects opted to install only a small stove with no oven, as the garden already has a fireplace.

In the backyard, Kunigk “montaged” what she admired in the work of John Pawson, Tadao Ando, and Piet Oudolf, the Dutch garden designer who collaborated on landscaping for New York’s High Line. She plans to reconfigure the plantings again with the landscape designer Rina Zweig, who worked on the front yard.

Although toilet paper rolls are often overlooked in terms of style, they are necessary household accessories. Sabi takes this item and recasts it with a modern look. Featuring a high-quality spring loaded roll mechanism, the Roll is easy to use—attaching and detaching toilet paper can be done in seconds. Unlike other spring-loaded holders, the Roll is a secure and stable option for a bathroom wall.

The hardware is my favorite part; it's simple, clean and easy to adjust.

In the Spotlight“I’m a huge proponent of lighting as architecture,” says Nix, who suggests illuminating objects instead of empty space. “Light on an object creates ambiance.” In their apartment, they’ve trained track lights from the Polish company LightArt on the Cube, as well as on the handmade cabinetry. The fixtures, which Novak-Zemplinski describes as “good quality and inexpensive in comparison to more well-known brands,” are also installed at the MoMA in New York. lightart.pl Practical DecorationOne of the secrets to living neatly in a small apartment, says Nix, is lots of storage space. To that end, the couple built big cabinets along the walls. To create a sense of visual unity throughout the eclectic but compact space, the couple hand-carved the tree pattern from the kitchen into these cabinet doors (from a template) using an electric router. It’s more than ornament: The cutouts eliminate the need for jutting cabinet pulls. biolinia.com

Soren and Annika share a lofted bedroom and a pair of bunks. In Barker and Inzunza's house, this space is used as an office and music room.

From urban-dwellers to empty-nesters, many are now embracing the movement toward smaller, more sensible living. Bosch's new line of 24" kitchen appliances is designed to help them save space without downsizing on style.

In the kitchen, the showstopping ceiling’s herringbone pattern is echoed by the terra-cotta tiles on the floor. Architect Michael O’Sullivan, who designed the steel-and-glass kitchen cabinets, the table, and the pendant lights (made by Lava Glass), further amped up the richness of the room by specifying an onyx kitchen island. Interior designer Yvette Jay, a collaborator and classmate of O’Sullivan, kept her material palette “tight and limited. I had to restrict myself so that everything here ties in with the architecture.”

Close up of the sewing machine stitches.

Project Projects is helmed by Rob Giampietro (on left), Adam Michaels (on right), and Prem Krishnamurthy (not pictured).

Located beneath a netting, Wolberg's multifunctional LIVE IN project packs a range of personal configurations into a 131-square-foot unit, including work, play, and sleep.

Swingtones Project Campers at Beam Summer Camp in Strafford, New Hampshire, built the Swingtones swings during a three-and-a-half week period last summer. Image credit: Juan Ude

Pro and Con(crete) For Whitlock, using concrete for the first floor was an inexpensive alternative to stone, wood, or tile. “I just poured the foundation and it gave me my finished floor,” Whitlock says. “Way simpler!”

Swingtones Project Mock-up and installation during camp. “The best part for me was when the kid’s starting seeing the swing come together and really understood the whole picture,” says Cha. image credit: Supermass Studio + Sage & Coombe Architects

The holistic LIVE IN also incorporates space for practical necessities, like sleep.