The planks inside the house blend into those on the small porch just outside. It's a nice touch that helps marry the outdoors with the home's interior.

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.

Cedar slats help this Ontario lake house float soundly atop still waters. Photo by: Raimund Koch

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

By merging typical Saigon architectural and stylistic details, architect Toan Nghiem of a21 Studio created a space that brings family together. Stacking roof layers, open flowering balconies, and an alleyway that serves as a living room, dining room, and outdoor playground are all filled with colorful, rich materials. Inside Saigon House, reclaimed and second-hand furniture lend history and spirit to the home. With so many small interior rooms and divisions between spaces, the addition of a net ceiling brings openness to the back alleyway, where the family often gathers to eat dinner. Not only does the net allow for ventilation and light, but it offers a place to play for the children, who love to climb and lounge above their parents.

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.

Inside the studio

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

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.”

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!”

"A lot of people were skeptical about the idea, even though it wasn't the first time I pulled off something crazy," Cadena says. "I just trusted my intuition and the philosophy of the chef."

As for the interior detailing, “In contemporary construction you have a layered approach to materials. Everything is on top of something else. We tried to avoid that.” Indeed, the house’s materials are few and hardy: polished concrete, maple, and Douglas fir, and white walls with a few bold accents of green and blue.

An aluminum-framed door leading to the terrace provides an added sense of depth, integrating outside with inside. Here, the metal contrasts sharply with the natural birch flooring.

LLaumett refers to the extended patio as its own entity—a calm place to sunbathe or stare out to the ocean at any time of day. It is made of pine and covered in an opaque Osmo glaze. The chairs were constructed by the owners.

A closer look at a Wallpiercing.

A closer look at the typography.

The view inside an Armadillo.

The cover of Inside Tracks.

The view from inside the Floating House's boat dock.

Love the tile, and great solution for a small space - put the tub in the shower !

Church and Jett's bed is splashed with eclectic textiles and linens.

In the master bath, the architect managed to combine privacy and a view by adding a horizontal-line pattern to the glass wall.

Here's a nice-looking sectional, priced at $3,795. I'd lose the patterned pillows.

pattern instructions for needlepoint for Xenia

The home created by Patternity, the design duo comprised of Anna Murray and Grace Winteringham, plays with geometric shapes.

Marimekko: In Patterns (Chronicle Books, September 2014). Marimekko is widely celebrated for its recognizable patterns. This volume overviews the Finnish brand's over-50-year history as a powerhouse in the design world.

Here's a look at the honeycomb-like pattern created by Sasaki on the Dwell on Design Show Floor.

Santtu Mustonen created the IOM Pattern for the International Organization for Migration's visual identity.

Diana: Drawings Made with Fingerprint Patterns Fingerprints are classified into three patterns: arches, loops, and whorls. In a style somewhat reminiscent of Pointillism, artist Nicholas Jolly has used these shapes to create a series of drawings. Very cool!

The Medina pattern by Paul Schatz.