Tom Givone's current weekend abode, nicknamed the Floating Farmhouse, is—so far—his capstone project, a synthesis of personal taste, material experimentation, and historically sensitive restoration: a living laboratory for how to bring the vernacular past into the present.

Overhead cabinets now can be easily swung open for ease of access. The kitchens are priced at IKEA’s usual retails. A 10 by 10 foot kitchen fitted with Sektion cabinets will range from around $1,300 to $2,200, excluding appliances.

The materials palette that I chose is light in color with a few splashes of color. This lightness holds the space open and gives it a contemporary feel.

Black and white kitchen tiles add visual interest to this stunning modern kitchen by IKEA.

In the kitchen, Walker continued an earthy color scheme. The range and wall oven are by BlueStar, the hood is from Zephyr, and the island is Caesarstone.

The color of the Fishers’ front door was inspired by an old Land Rover Defender’s hue, which Charlie had Benjamin Moore custom-match.

As Art Director for Vitra, Jongerius oversees the colors, materials and surfaces of established classic pieces in the inventory—Eames, Prouve—as well as newer pieces by Morrison and the Bouroullecs. Here we share the new color library, Hopsak, that she unveiled at the 2014 Salone del Mobile in Milan.

The couple snapped up a 2,600-square-foot late-18th-century flat, which they’ve since filled with vintage finds and Hayon’s own designs and prototypes.

Yolo Colorhouse / Paints Poster-sized sample swatches, a host of attractive colors, and nontoxic paints let pint-sized paint company Yolo Colorhouse handily compete with their mega-sized corporate competitors.

A tiny outbuilding offers a cozy living space inside a simple shell.

Xystum Color Block vase by CB2. Postmodernism appropriates classical cues in a Pop-y, contemporary manner. Therefore, this vase’s name, a Greek architectural term loosely translated as “portico,” is apropos.

As the facade of a Bates Masi-designed home in Water Mill, New York, rises from eight to 14 feet high, the mahogany planks subtly widen. “It was quite a demand to make of the contractor,” architect Paul Masi says. “But the design was so much about traveling through the site and weaving [the house] together with the deck.”

Fed up with flashy, environmentally insensitive beach homes, architect Gerald Parsonson and his wife, Kate, designed a humble hideaway nestled behind sand dunes along the New Zealand coastline. Crafted in the image of a modest Kiwi bach, their 1,670-square-foot retreat consists of a group of small buildings clad in black-stained pine weatherboards and fiber-cement sheets.

The family spends summers and school vacations at the bach. New Zealand's relatively mild winters mean they use the house year-round.

Tanya Wexler and Amy Zimmerman linger in the breezeway designed to draw eyes, and footsteps, from the driveway through the house to the gently sloping backyard and swimming pool beyond.

Kayak in hand, Tom and Will make a break for the beach.

The new Cheer packaging (right) earned a seal of approval from the critics at Brand New.

Images by Raw Color hang in a room upstairs.

Here's the weathered wooden dining table where the family gathers for meals and conversation.

Three’s Company Inspired by the minimal color scheme of a hotel they stayed at in Bali, Winterhalder and Ehlers decided to limit their palette to three colors: anthracite black, concrete gray, and a light larch wood. The first move was to paint the backyard wall gray. Next up for a coat of dark paint was the villa’s old-fashioned wooden staircase, which the couple didn’t like but didn’t have the budget to replace. The consistency works to unite the different styles found in the house. “Somehow,” says Winterhalder, “it all fits.”

A view across the display island to a breezeway betweent the house and the garage that Pacek and Roynon created as part of their home addition. They use the space for entertaining and food service when the weather cooperates.

A Lakeside Prefab in New Jersey A New Zealand expat and her son use their prefabricated lakeside New Jersey retreat as an outdoorsy counterpoint to city life. Photo by: Mark Mahaney Curious on what was popular last week? Click here!

IKEA chairs join a table from CB2; a Kawneer triple-sliding door opens to the family’s new ipe deck.

The Irwin pool house designed by Landis Gores in 1957 boasts a central room with high ceilings and an unobstructed view of the landscape. In 2005, the Town of New Canaan purchased the property and added exhibition spaces, as well as rooms for lectures and events. The small pavilion also houses an oversized, monumental brick fireplace design that divides the main space from the kitchen area.

The exterior mixes pale gray wood on the vertical volume, and fiber cement and black brick on the horiztonal volume. The three trees in the front yard were maintained during the renovation process.

Using natural materials is one way of bringing nature indoors. Oiled white ash floors and ceilings, along with Italian poplar and Lawson cypress joinery, are found throughout architect Andrew Simpson’s 538-square-foot home outside Wellington, New Zealand.

In the kitchen, the cabinetry is walnut veneer with a weathered finish applied by cabinetmaker David Rogers. “The process involved sanding and rubbing in stain as well as adding a clear finish,” project architect Eero Puurunen says.

Induction cooktops, growing steadily in popularity due to their energy efficiency and speed, are part of the offering as well as as a selection of exhaust hoods.

A 17-foot-tall freestanding play structure that designer Sharon Davis designed for her family in upstate New York can only be entered by climbing taut netting and entering through a trap door. Descending requires sliding down two structural-columns-turned-fire-poles.

Much of the cooking and cleaning takes place at the rear counter, which is outfitted with an Evoke faucet by Kohler.

The wood-frame residence and studio are clad in vertical cedar siding—back then, a daring competitor to clapboard—instead of concrete to save costs. The effect is equally seamless, however: “If you drive by it fast enough,” Charles Gwathmey once said, “you still might mistake it for a concrete house.” Photo by Norman McGrath.

New York's taxi cabs have never been a uniform shade of yellow. Instead, certain cars are practically orange, others almost pastel.

Marbelous Wood by Snedker Studio. Danish designer Pernille Snedker Hansen’s custom installations involve treating local Nordic wood with a marbling effect in toned-down hues.

A color swatch and color chip of Pantone's 2013 Color of the Year.

Poodle by Devine Color.

Flamingo by Devine Color.