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.

These cool pixelated patterns from Trend USA's FEEL collection, featuring tile mosaics made from post-consumer recycled materials. In addition to the six shown here, there are 22 more motifs that will work on walls and floors throughout your home.

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.

The tile is by Carter.

HEXAGON WALL TILES

Van Beek’s extra space is home to her office. She works on a Tense table by Piergiorgio and Michele Cazzaniga and Flow chairs by Jean Marie Massaud, both for MDF Italia.

He worked around existing oak and eucalyptus trees for the new building, and retained the vernacular of an original barn, at right, where Frankel hosts concerts. Check out MVRDV's Balancing Barn.

Located in Aarhus, Denmark, Villa R is a minimalist, serene structure clad in zinc panels. "The objective was to create a house that brings the forest inside through large glass panels—and create an ever-changing seasonal backdrop for the interior living spaces," stated the architecture firm, C.F. Møller, of the 3,200-square-foot abode.

The Parisian flat that American-born architect Michael Herrman shares with his wife, Cécile, and their 2-year-old daughter, Rose, had been nearly untouched since the 1790s, when it was built. “But I wanted to try and reveal some of its age in a fresh new context,” Herrman said.

The outdoor fire pit.

The dramatic bathroom features a glass sink and vanity designed and cast by Mies Grybaitis of OIA. The etched glass shower is accented by green glass tile.

The Salvatori marble tiles in the bathroom were added at the last minute, once everyone was confident that they would not put the project over budget.

The second-floor office is housed inside a rounded rectangle of concrete that the architect inserted on top of the old farmhouse.

The new volume houses the dining area, which includes stairs to the bedrooms. The table is from Blake Avenue and the walnut chairs are from Room & Board. “You don’t want bright colors to take away from that relationship between the interior and the exterior,” Walker says.

The blue-tiled master bathroom stands in contrast to the muted tones of the rest of the house. The tile is recycled glass from China.

The entire room is surfaced in white mosaics from Hisbalit; the bath fixtures are brass and sourced from a local Czech retailer.

The kitchen opens to the elements thanks to sliding doors from C.R. Laurence. The anigre in the kitchen is the same employed in the master bedroom.

The subway tile-lined bathroom was kept as simple as possible, with Hansgrohe fixtures and cabinets made of vertical-grain Douglas fir above a top-mounted Duravit sink. Since installing a window was unfeasible given the bathroom's proximity to other properties, Storey added a skylight over the shower.

Homeowners Cecilia Tham and Yoel Karaso renovate their home in Barcelona, harmoniously overlapping elements of the old and the new. Photo by: Gunnar Knechtel

The Heath tiles in the bathroom were hand-selected from boxes of factory seconds.

The bedroom is enclosed with a glass wall. A blackout curtain can be drawn closed for privacy. An IKEA cabinet and white lacquered shelves help to provide plenty of closet space.

One major directive was to “honor the tree,” referring to a particular 85-year-old cottonwood on the property. Photo by: Kirk Gittings

Renovating the old mill was a family effort, and Blee called on his sister Kate, a textile designer based in London, to lend a helping hand with the tile work. Kate's repertoire also extends to building installations, including a ceramic wall in the City and Islington Center for Lifelong Learning in North London. "She had several boxes left over," Blee recalls, "which meant another opportunity to use something that was lying around." The tiles, with finishes ranging from heavy glazes to matte coats, offered textural variety, which brother and sister used to "play around with the idea of reflection from the roof light."

In New York about two hours north of New York City, architecture and interiors firm BarlisWedlick created an eclectic compound designed to suit a client with an idiosyncratic wish list. In the kitchen, a custom Stickbulb LED lamp hangs above a kitchen island topped by concrete from Get Real Surfaces. The cabinets and island feature a modern version of a traditional board and batten siding that are given an even more contemporary feel with the concrete countertop.

The ensuite master bathroom features Ann Sacks slate floor tile, contrasted with white Carrara marble that wraps the Kohler Tea for Two tub. The shower features tile from Heath Ceramics.

Tiles from Ramacieri-Soligo brighten the bathroom, off the hall. But when it comes to modern bathroom vanities, gray, as seen here, is a popular choice.

The master bath is clad in Area tiles from Mirage.

In the shower: custom Carocim tile, created in Morocco.

In the bathroom, plain white tiles line the walls and ceiling. The floors are natural stone and the fixtures are by VOLA. Lassen built the sink himself.

One-way mirrored glass wraps around a portion of the home. "We wanted it to reflect like glass so that when you sit on the terrace, you see trees or the view in all directions—including when you look towards the house," says Larsen. The mirror effect is slightly distorted, and no birds have flown into the glass.

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.

A carpet of custom tile created by Navone punctuates a corridor on the first floor.

A double-height space encompasses the kitchen, dining and living area, and features 36-feet-wide glass doors that pocket into southern and northern walls.

For a San Francisco couple living on a hill overlooking the Mission District in San Francisco, glass walls were a must. Indoor louvers allow the residents to frame their view of the city, much like the aperture on a camera.

The custom cedar tub, fabricated by Dovetail, elegantly fits into the master bathroom.