The Bank in the Form of a Pig was designed by Harry Allen as a part of his Reality Series for Areaware. The cast for this piggy bank was developed by casting polyester resin in a silicone mold from a real pig that died from natural causes. Available in two finishes, this bank makes a distinctive accent for kids or teens.

This bathroom, tiled in bright blue mosaic to offset the home’s limited materials and color palette, calls for a simple vanity. The sinks, toilets, and tubs are by Villeroy & Boch, while the faucets and towel rails are by Grohe and Avenir, respectively.

Talo Mini chrome sconces from Artemide installed atop the mirror in the master bathroom effectively disappear, becoming what Maca calls “subtle 3-D sculptures.” The Neo Blanco vanity, from Porcelanosa, is clad in the same Douglas fir as the ceiling. The IQ faucets are from Jado.

Mays chose Graham & Brown’s Verve Stripe wallpaper for the downstairs bedroom. The chrome lamp is vintage.

The budget was nearly as tight as the space in this cheerful renovation of a 516-square-foot flat in Bratislava. The centerpiece of Lukáš Kordík’s new kitchen is the cabinetry surrounding the sink, a feat he managed by altering the facing and pulls of an off-the-rack Ikea system. The laminate offers a good punch of blue, and in modernist fashion, Kordík forwent door handles in favor of cutouts. “I wanted the kitchen to be one simple block of color without any additional design,” he says.

From above and below, the blue foam models of these unused Dutch buildings form a beautiful landscape suspended in mid-air.

The children’s rooms, which are reserved for family and an extended network of friends, feature more custom Crasset-designed beds set against a vivid blue backdrop, courtesy of the French paint brand Zolpan.

A sky-blue vintage trailer blends in with the sky.

Frames chair by Jaime Hayon for Expormim. See it at Salone in Hall 06, Stand C36.

In such a small space “you have to organize, and every piece takes a decision,” says resident Heidi Wright. The couple keep things they use less frequently, like guest bedding, in the higher cabinets.

Bold color is embraced in the home’s first bathroom, with tilework by Trend Mosiacs. Faucets are by Grohe and vanities are by Hastings. A Flos Glo-Ball pendant light illuminates the space.

Here, laminate kitchen cabinets are topped with Corian in Glacier White for a fresh and fun color-blocked look.

Short StackA tiny cabin in the Wisconsin Woods makes a big impact with Johnsen & Schmaling's innovative stacked design. The resulting cozy abode is stylish and durable, with stunning views of the surrounding landscape.

The kitchen window was designed to look into the Goodchilds' daughter's home. Photo credit: Dale Christopher Lang PhD AIAP

Preservation Props Since the house is in a historic district, Beebe and Skidmore’s interventions were constrained by local guidelines, including a stipulation that the walls of the addition couldn’t line up with the walls of the existing house. They bumped the walls in by five feet on either side and painted the addition, clad in siding from Capital Lumber, a color complementary to the original building’s deep, bright blue. “A guy from Boise’s preservation office came by and said, ‘This is a perfect example of how we’d like people to build additions,’” says Dana. “We were pretty proud of that.” beebeskidmore.com capital-lumber.com

Untreated for forms a sunshade on the exterior.

Rock stands in the doorway to the boys’ bathroom, which is lined with semi-gloss Modern Dimensions tiles from Daltile. “We wanted it to be playful,” Hufft says, “so we chose each color and laid out the tile distribution in Photoshop.”

The bathroom, located just adjacent to the kitchen, features a pattern of gray and turquoise tiles that climbs from the floors up the walls. They serve as a burst of color among the predominately white walls elsewhere, transforming the bathroom into one of the apartment’s most striking spaces.

A mosaic tile wall softens the laboratory-like effect of the glossy kitchen cabinets.

Dunbar describes the bathroom as an outside-in room because it has light, air, and sometimes, when it drizzles and the skylight left open, even rain. Designed for exactly these circumstances, a blue-glass mosaic tile floor is laid at an angle to drain with ease.

Designed in 1937 by acclaimed designer and architect Alvar Aalto, the A330S Pendant Lamp is a sophisticated ceiling light. Aino and Alvar Aalto were commissioned in 1936 to design the interior of the Savoy Restaurant in Helsinki. Made from a single piece of brass, the A330S Golden Bell Pendant was a part of the restaurant’s interior design. This lamp was also shown in the Finnish Pavilion of the 1937 Paris World Expo. The A330S is 15% off until October 22, 2015.

Muehle Shaving Kit, $239 from store.kaufmann-mercantile.comMade in Germany, the Muehle Shaving kit consists of a chrome-plated badger-hair brush, safety razor, and stand. If the gent in your life insists on his Gillette's, consider a gift card to a barber shop to accompany the shaving kit and perhaps he'll learn a thing or two about how it was done in the good old days. Fellow Barber has locations in San Francisco and New York. Harry's Corner Shop recently opened in New York and features a Fort Standard–designed interior.

Shannon and his wife, Amy, take the air on a small patio in two Acapulco chairs.

The finished product (in blue)! Clad in elegant bamboo, simply pluck out the soft nylon bristles when its life is over to recycle.

Five new models from the Natural collection, exhibited at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, draw their inspiration from Japanese Tatamis. Photo courtesy of Nanimarquina.

In the kitchen, a Dornbracht faucet joins a Silestone countertop. Paint in All White by Farrow & Ball—a shade used throughout the house—provides a crisp backdrop for a print from Thomas Demand’s series The Dailies, while a vintage Boris Lacroix lamp hangs ready to illuminate the scene.

Chalk Piggy BankFar more sophisticated than the plastic pigs of yore, the smooth ceramic piggy bank features a leather tail and comes with its own chalk. $85

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.

"There is a triangle in projects between budget schedule and design," Curtiss says. "The common wisdom is you can hit any two but hitting all three is hard. We tried to hit all three." The raw space featured concrete floors and since it was formerly industrial, had oil spills on the slab. To create a floor that was safe for the kids, Curtiss opted for an epoxy. "Epoxy floors are used in hospitals and labs and are super easy to clean. We also knew it was an economical way to coat concrete." Custom colors are available, but for an extra charge. To rein in expenses, Curtiss chose a blue hue that's normally used for ADA striping. Natural light floods the interior thanks to Solatubes. Barn lights from HiLite offer additional illumination. Curtiss left the Ultratouch blue denim insulation exposed in the ceiling. "We asked the insulation supplier if we could check the denim batch colors," she says. "We didn't want black mixed in with the washed blue color. He thought we were crazy."

In the living room, a warm woodsy palette reigns, with a few blue-gray notes to create a serene mood.

Infinite Glass: Pattern+ by 3Form, $48 per square foot The gradient in this pressed-glass product offers privacy while still allowing light to shine through. It’s available in a wealth of customizable colors and patterns.

Aumas outfitted a vintage steel-frame sofa by George Nelson in navy blue fabric from Kvadrat and hung one of his own photos just above it. The lamp to the left of the sofa is a 1960s design found at a Lisbon flea market, and to the right of the sofa is a Two-Arms rotating sconce by the mid-century French designer Serge Mouille.

The windows on the right look out to Manhattan. The blue Acapulco chair echoes the aquatic tones of the bathroom tiles.

The first ice cream scoop, or “mold and disher,” dates back to 1897. The design has remained largely unchanged for over a century. One modification was the Belle-V, which used aluminum’s thermal conductivity to transmit the warmth of a hand to the ice cream. Unlike the Midnight Scoop, the Belle-V is not symmetrical and must be ordered as a right- or left-hand version.

2) Materials Materials are a crucial element of the modern kitchen. They should be durable, with an ability to hold up over time, but also easy to clean. It’s also important that the materials selected complement the rest of a house's design scheme. Chrome inlaid frames on KitchenAid’s ovens, ranges, and refrigerators are an example of how every material is chosen thoughtfully in the modern kitchen. Read our post about kitchen materials today for more information.