Davor (with his wife, Abbe, and son, August) designed the main living and dining pavilion as a double-height space to increase its perceived volume, and added high cubbies for extra storage.

Parson Russell terriers Pepper and Trixie get a glimpse of the large courtyard through a glassy expanse by Marvin Windows and Doors.

In the kitchen, the couple found barely used appliances instead of new ones to save money. The cabinetry and butcher block counters are from Ikea.

Designer Christiane Hogner, Bruxelles

Privacy and respect for the natural environment was foremost in the new owners’ mind when conceiving the home’s redesign. The placement of the addition limits direct sightlines to neighbors and offers unbroken views of the surrounding area. The aluminum frame and glass walls create a light, airy atmosphere.

Simultaneously sculptural and pragmatic, the undulating form of the W Magazine stand’s molded plywood is both pleasing and useful. It’s compact enough for small spaces, though you may be loath to cover up the figurative grain pattern of the walnut with your magazines. $119-$129

This simple plastic-and-aluminum bottle rack, designed with a small footprint and made to be easily stacked, is about as straightforward and crowd-pleasing as a bottle of good cheap merlot.

On an agricultural estate in Portugal, Blaanc Studio designed a simple retreat that does its utmost not to interfere with the scenic backdrop. The home was built with rammed earth, which is known for its thermal properties that help maintain a mild temperature all year long. A large, open fireplace with plenty of wood storage is used to warm the living area in winter. The firewood storage's open shelving is carefully located on the side of the island that doesn't face the living room, making sure that it is only visible in certain locations.

These gold plated steel cheese knives from Anthropologie will add a modern Midas touch to any cheese board.

Maple Spread Knife, $100. Photo by Nikole Herriott

Wasabi Knife, Spoon, and Fork by Sohdo, $16 to $18 each. (Hint: For more cutlery, skip over to a recent Dwell.com post on new modern flatware designs.)

For the snowy season, a Rais stove provides extra warmth.

Last but not least, the western-facing master bedroom captures stunning sunsets from its wall-to-wall windows.

Furniture with emphasized linear elements helps prevent the appearance of clutter in small spaces. It's particularly effective when highlighted in playful colors like the blue bench storage rack in this London guesthouse. Photo by Ben Anders.

Kitchen: It's finally time to free up counter space that's been hogged by the bulky knife block. Move the knives to the wall with the elegant 9.2.2 Box: Walnut Knife Rack designed by Geoffrey Lilge for On Our Table.

Magazine rack, $400.

The owners are car collectors, especially of “vintage American Mustangs,” Simpson says, so a nearly 23-foot-wide garage door opening was created at the rear of the building to access a space made for six prized rides.

A built-in closet and chalkboard surface in the entry keeps things tidy and the couple's to-do list in order.

The house is also Build it Green Certified, beating the sustainability requirements of Title 24 (guidelines issued by the California Energy Commission Building Energy Efficiency Program) by over 50%. The house’s laundry is hooked up to a grey water irrigation system and its gutters drain rain into barrels for reuse. The concrete also incorporates 25% fly ash.

Bike rack by Artifox, $250 The sleek, narrow profile of this wall-mounted bike rack, designed by St. Louis–based studio Artifox, makes for both a space-efficient storage solution and a display unit for a proud bicycle owner. Made of solid hardwood and stainless steel, it comes in white maple (shown) or walnut.

Time to Design was established in 2008 to help young designers launch their career. Partners the Danish Art Workshops, Normann Copenhagen, the Danish Architectural Press, the Danish Association of Wood and Furniture Industries and OeO provide funds, training, mentorship, and accommodations for the winner.

“Get a hanging pot rack. It frees up more than one cabinet’s worth of space,” Perelman advises. The Enclume Contemporary Oval Pot Rack is available from Williams Sonoma ($700). For a more affordable option, consider this forest green rack by Old Dutch International ($80).

The racks are carefully designed with SatinGlide™ technology for smooth motion.

Folio magazine rack.

Large gum trees offer a natural barrier for the house. Harkness designed the house's footprint in order to minimize the effect on tree roots. “The retained trees offer a sense of layering and age that new vegetation won’t be able to for a long time,” Harkness says.

This dorcas knife holder from Lostine is double sheath for kitchen knives—stitched leather attaches nicely with with copper nails for use with butcher block tables

Murren chose maintenance-free materials, such as Stepstone precast concrete pavers for exterior decks and river-rock-covered flat roofs. He recalls his neighbors’ astonishment and delight when “we went from a giant hole in the ground to a two-story house in just four days.”

The stunning retreat is centered around a serene swimming pool with natural stone touches.

The large terrace on the upper level, which contains the house's bedrooms, is nearly 968 square feet.

After entering through the front door, visitors pass over the large koi pond on a cast-concrete footbridge chiseled to look like stone.

The 82-foot-long pool gets quite a lot of use by Jeff and Millie, and especially by the kids, who are both on the local swim team.

The pergola overlooks the pool with the Baltic Sea in the distance. The couple built the home so that there would be as much outdoor space as indoor space.

During the historical review period of the permitting process, Curtiss learned the house was previously owned by three generations of the same family — a fact that deeply informed how she approached the remodel. “We wanted [the family] to drive by and feel like, ‘Oh cool, look what they did to our old house,’” she said, explaining her decision to preserve the house’s original shape. As a reminder of its previous life, workers sandblasted the original floorplate and left it exposed to reveal “the history of little conduit holes drilled before.” They also utilized old framing members when molding the concrete retaining walls in the yard, literally “imprinting the building’s history into the walkways.”

The view from the indoor pool.

The large saltwater pool is ringed by concentric circles.