Focusing on products made Stateside wasn’t Danny Seo’s first priority for his kitchen renovation—instead, he had one specific requirement: stainless-steel cabinets to replace the original, musty wood ones.

Onstage, green lifestyle expert and media personality Danny Seo will speak about sourcing American kitchen products, and preview the kitchen renovation inside his 1950s rural Pennsylvania home, to be featured in the July/August issue of Dwell. Photo by David Englehardt.

Hailing from Seoul, Jeonghwa Seo studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

Antarctica - Setting foot on the 7th continent Private tour groups have been visiting Antarctica since 1969. Today there are lots of choices among operators sending ships, planes, and helicopters to Antarctica between November and March (the summer season). Many trips start in Southern Argentina, and ship-bound journeys include on-board lectures and access to experts on the ecology of the Antarctic during the cruise. Passengers can kayak around icebergs, or spend a day watching penguins, seals, and whales off the coast. Photo by: Christopher.Michel

North America - Biking the wine valleys of Northern California Almost half of the wineries in the United States are located in California, and many of those are in the valleys north of San Francisco. Wine tasting and winery tours are a drunkenly entertaining way to learn how grapes become wine, but the process involves more than crushing and fermenting grapes. One needs to see the agriculture that goes into America’s wine making, and touch the grapes on the vine, to really appreciate the drink. Work off that hangover by cycling along the winding roads of Napa and Sonoma. Photo by: needoptic

South America - Volunteering in the Peruvian Amazon The Peruvian Amazon is only home to 5% of Peru’s human population, but about 5,500 plant species and 760 animal species unique to Peru live here. Animal rehabilitation centers protect sections of this diverse ecosystem, and trained conservationists help create a safe place for wounded and sick animals. The goal of these reserves is to release healthy animals back into the jungle and teach visitors about the importance of the Amazon. Many encourage volunteers to become involved in the care and preservation of the Peruvian Amazon, giving them a firsthand understanding of the region's ecological diversity. Photo by: cavallotkd

Europe - Touring the cultural centers of Central and Eastern Europe Paris and Rome are beautiful, but there's more to Europe than taking the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower and eating gelato at the Colosseum. Eastern Europe is home to castles, cathedrals, world-famous symphonies, modern art museums, and great beer, wine, and pastries. The cities of Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, Prague, and Budapest are important cultural centers with citywide art and architecture dating back to the Renaissance. Charles Bridge in Prague has been standing since the 12th century, and Vienna’s city center is home to both Habsburg architecture and modern design. Photo by: Dimitry B

Africa - Summitting and safariing in Tanzania At 19,341 feet, Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa. It takes a minimum of six to eight days to reach the summit, during which climbers contend with not only changes in altitude, but changes in climate as well (snowstorms occur close to Kilimanjaro's peak). But reaching the top via one of six routes is a serious achievement, and offers the chance to see both Tanzania and Kenya from above. Serengeti National Park is a five-hour drive, or short flight, from Kilimanjaro airport and is home to some of Tanzania’s biggest animals, including lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, and rhinos. The park has safari lodges and campsites, and tour operators organize excursions throughout the park. Photo by: Tambako the Jaguar

Asia - Exploring nature and culture in China The Chengdu region of China is home to the world's largest population of Giant Pandas. Panda reserves in and around Chengdu focus on protecting the bear’s natural habitat and researching their behavior (best job ever?). Certain reserves allow volunteers to interact with and care for these endangered species. Elsewhere in China, Beijing has some of the country's most important cultural landmarks. Principal among them is the Forbidden City, built during the Ming Dynasty and now home to the Palace Museum. Xi’an, located between Beijing and Chengdu, has the Terra Cotta Warriors archaeological site. This necropolis was originally built for Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, and is thought to have contained over 4,000 life-size soldiers and other figures sculpted out of terracotta. Photo: Chi King

Australia - Transitioning from Outback to tropics by train Riding the Ghan makes for a three-day transcontinental train journey over the plains, deserts, and mountains of central Australia. The route starts either near the beaches of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, or north in Darwin. In between, travelers get a sense of the continent's changing environment as they trundle to Alice Springs, from which a six-hour drive will bring them to Uluru (Ayers Rock). Near the top of the Northern Territory, travelers can stop at Katherine and spend a day at nearby Nitmiluk National Park, a tropical counterpoint to the arid Outback. Photo by: huskyte77

Not everyone has a credibility bookcase. Your kids’ discarded toys and jackets may be strewn on the floor, or your roommate is in the throes of an online boxing class. Perhaps your cat is licking its unmentionables, and it’s not quite the scene you want to set for your one-on-one. Luckily, Zoom makes it easy to manifest the environment we want if the environment we have isn’t ideal. If you’ve ever wanted to dial in from a Dwell house, now’s your chance.

For a concrete guesthouse in Stone Ridge, New York, LevenBetts designed an onsen-inspired bathroom with a steam room and a hinoki tub.

A primary suite was created on the new second level, complete with a freestanding tub.

Robertson restored the existing rooms in the front of the original house, and redesigned the back of the home to have a much more modern, indoor/outdoor living experience.

TG Bed

The bedroom is located on the uppermost level that connects to a small outdoor balcony.

Rocks dug up during construction were saved and incorporated into the poured-concrete floors and walls. Hydronic heating coils in the floor are augmented by a wood stove during the damp winters.

Three interconnected structures—one for communal spaces, one for the master suite, and one for the three children’s bedrooms—are linked via a glass-enclosed breezeway that also serves as the entrance and dining area. - Leelanau County, Michigan Dwell Magazine : September / October 2017

“I didn’t want marble or granite because they aren’t sustainable,” says Seo. “Laminate is one of the few surfaces recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council toward LEED certification. Plus it’s affordable and I liked the way it looked—a triple whammy.”

Danny Seo replaced the wood cabinets of his kitchen with stainless-steel models. As a professional photo stylist, he needed to accommodate a vast collection of kitchen items, such as multiples of plates, wooden bowls, and utensils.

The Material Container series also includes tables.

The microwave gets a very simple makeover, with typography that matches what appears in iOS 7. Photo by: Justin Wagoner

Jeonghwa Seo's Material Container stool in brass.

Rosewood Material Container stool.

The Obstruction tea set in brass by Jeonghwa Seo.

As its name suggests, the Obstruction series two-spouted pitcher is deliberately difficult to use.

The bedroom barndoor and the bathroom pivot door are sided in the same pine T&G as the walls and ceiling.

The design of this Australian houseboat features a soft, modern color palette. Here, light sage laminate kitchen cabinets are paired with leather recessed pulls.

Using the same materials inside and out: Cedar T&G siding, buff sandstone and bronze accents the line between inside/outside is blurred.

The simple wood deck features innovative cutouts that allow full-grown Yucca trees to peek through.

Home Renovation Tip: Get an Understanding of What’s Already Around

New Mexico ponderosa pine T&G ceiling installed before the strawbale walls were put up

Another simple, white kitchen with black countertops is this diminutive kitchen in Singapore. Light pours in through the large window, and a tiny but tasteful farmhouse kitchen table rests in the middle of everything.