Black and white kitchen cabinets painted with a triangular pattern add a whimsical touch to this funky kitchen.

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

It might not make you popular with your contractor, but for a more streamlined look, Chris recommends forgoing trim. "It lends a clean look with less visual clutter," the architect says. In their house, the doors, lights, cabinetry, and even wall sockets (all 22 by Bocci) are installed without trim. This allows the planar surfaces to recede and do their jobs without unnecessarily distracting the eye.

Abutting a costal reserve, the property has uninterrupted views of the Snowy River and surrounding wetlands

Measuring only 180 square feet, this exquisite, off-grid tiny home features a big sense of style.

A salvaged 19th-century soaking tub wrapped in stainless steel is topped by Hudson Reed faucets.

This 19th-century New York factory houses the apartment of Brandon and Amy Phillips as well as the workshop for their company, Miles & May Furniture Works.

A simple kitchen includes a traditional wood stove, but much of the cooking is done outside, on the outdoor wood-fired grill.

Keeping the original mottled, worn-brick walls and outfitting the kitchen with their own custom cabinetry were among this couple’s cost-saving measures.

Bocci's 22 Series offers stealthy electrical, cable, USB, and phone outlets.

The bathroom evokes the building’s industrial bones. The pendant light is from Ikea, and the towel racks are repurposed train car luggage racks. The Carrara tiles are mismatched seconds. “It works if you let yourself not try to fix it,” says Brandon.

The three arms of the Apfel House stretch out to catch the best views of Ranco Lake and the Andes Mountains.

Mary and Kundan Bhullar built a shipshape country escape that sits lightly on the land in the Aravalli hills near Gurgaon, India.

The Armadillo is parked on a 1,000-square-foot lot that gives the couple ample outdoor space.

The home office of 19th St. Residence by Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects peeks into the lush side yard.

Sustainability and forward-thinking architectural techniques merge in this experimental tiny cabin clad in 3D-printed tile.

The dining area, with a table and hickory chairs from Miles & May, opens onto a kitchen the couple created as part of a DIY gut renovation. The result, says Amy, is an “intentional raw and polished combination.” The lamp is from M&M Electrical Surplus.

'Vega Cottage' by Kolman Boyle Architects. The foundations of this timber cabin are integrated perfectly into the craggy shoreline of the Norwegian island of Vega. The design was inspired by the fisherman's boathouses that line the island's shore.

"Shane enjoys both cooking and entertaining so we maximized the counter space to make meal prep and hosting easy," Priftaj says. "It was also very important that the kitchen include a gas grill so he could quickly and conveniently grill without having to climb up five flights of stairs to use the bbq on the patio." Priftaj selected high-gloss acrylic white cabinets from bulthaup's b3 line with an aluminum backsplash and b3 prism drawer system to keep things tidy. A Wolf hood and gas cooktop with chargrill give Carslake the flexibility he desired for indoor grilling. The counters are polished white quartz.

“Every time you challenge a basic assumption, there needs to be some method of expressing the fact that there’s new logic at work.”—Omer Arbel, creative director at Bocci

PeaceBOMB Bracelets by Article 22 "A22PeaceBomb3" $38.00 for three A special product with a special story. PeaceBOMB bracelets are crafted from the reclaimed metal of Vietnam-era bombs dropped on Laos during the United States' conflict in Indochina. Developed through a social enterprise that supports sustainable development through design thinking, its collaborators include Naphia spoon makers, Helvetas’s Rural Income Through Sustainable Energy Project and ARTICLE 22. These bracelets not only represent an opportunity for artisan families to generate income, but also tell a story about their makers and the legacies of a shared history. Buy the bombs back!"

We snapped a shot just as workers poured the copper-brass alloy over a Bocci 19 series mold, click through the slideshow to see the rest of the process.

Farnley Hey’s heart is a large, double-height living area, dubbed "the dance floor

Inspirational spaces

This award-winning home by New York–based West Chin Architects is situated on a narrow corner lot in a Long Island neighborhood. The cedar-clad residence features a garage-style glass door that opens to welcome the salty sea breeze from the neighboring beach.

Despite the cast-on-site concrete dividers, there's still an airy sense of space; the dividers support, instead of overwhelm. This approach came from the architects' constant sense of experimentation and playfulness, a deliberate approach that helped them find new ways to use recycled and salvaged materials.

Lyng Hansen steamed and framed remnants of 19th-century wallpaper found during the renovation.

Summer time in the woods

"It was supposed to be as naked as possible," says Alexandru Popescu, one of the members of R3Architetti who helped design and build the 3 Vaults apartment. "The furniture is absolutely included in the architecture; it’s more like an indoor landscape instead of a typical open plan." The kitchen exemplifies their approach, with textured concrete walls contrasting with wood panels and salvaged industrial lighting. The table, custom built by R3Architetti, is made in part from pipes procured from one of their fathers, a plumber.

Grant Mudford, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Kinisi by Katia Vega (2013) An “e-makeup” application, the Kinisi systems flashes different lights based on facial muscle movements. Image courtesy of Katia Vega