The kitchen table.

The courtyard acts like an outdoor living room, where the Arnolds’ daughter, Josie, plays freely, safe from nearby traffic. The family dines here most of the year at the custom-designed wood-and-steel table. The picnic table set reappropriates the century-old eucalyptus tree that once grew on the site.

The papercraft-inspired Origami Chair, made from plywood and piano hinges, folds flat and rests comfortably on a steel frame.

ORIGAMI TABLE Designers Jaime Salm and Young Jin Chung translated the beauty of origami to this small side table. The two laser-cut steel sheets ship flat, then the simple folds will slot them together.

“Papercraft in general can be pretty spectacular,” says Kordos, speaking of the product’s origami inspiration. “It was inspiring that you could take something cheap and ubiquitous and fold it into something amazing." The chair comes in walnut veneer and three bright-color laminates.

A Bay Area landscape designer works her yard like a jigsaw puzzle, packing a bevy of distinctive destinations into a steep and diminutive plot. Photo by: Morgan Rachel Levy Read the entire article here.

The table’s base, which itself is an additional storage container, rolls easily into place to support the surface.

Located just off the kitchen, this room was originally designed for dining—the adjustable Ligne Roset Crescendo coffee table can be raised to 28.75 inches—but most days Bill and Abbie prefer to eat outside or at their casual Caesarstone-topped kitchen island. Today the space serves as a sunny reading spot and guest room, with a convertible futon (from Ligne Roset, since discontinued) and a set of leather-and-steel Paulistano armchairs from Design Within Reach.

Since they aren’t including more complicated processes such as upholstery of bended plywood, the pieces are relatively easy to produce, and the ability to fold and ship dramatically reduces shipping costs.

The Cut and Fold line was developed by architects Andrea Kordos and Tony Round, a married couple and half of the Toronto firm blackLAB architects, to adapt to small spaces.

The Pixo Desk Lamp is a consistent Dwell Store best seller. Designed by Pablo and Fernando Pardo with sustainability in mind, the lamp was created with a small footprint and a compact, energy-saving LED light. The ultra-efficient lamp features a swiveling light shade that makes it easy to focus and redirect light as needed. The Pixo Desk Lamp is currently on sale for 15% off at the Dwell Store until 10/23/2014.

The ground floor’s adjoining staircase, as well as the kitchen cabinets and tables, can be adjusted depending the homeowner's preferences. “The design of the house is an attempt to respond to [French novelist] Georges Perec’s question, ‘We should learn to live more on staircases. But how?’” Simpson says.

Elsewhere, the blocks accommodate other uses, like support for a built-in table and benches in the kitchen and a rooftop observatory (next slide) for watching the sun set over the Ilaló volcano.

If their everyday mantra sounds something like "reduce, reuse, recycle," these eco-conscious gifts won’t weigh on their conscience.

A black side table rests outside the bedroom hallway.

Archifold Architectural Origami Set, $15 at the Dwell Store Archifold is a series of sheets of origami paper that are set in a modern black and white palette. Each patterned sheet is based on the framework used by architects to create plans. The set includes a diagram for structuring the paper into a small house, but the Archifold set can be made into many other designs.

A cluster of black and white houses gives a view of the possible origami creations from the Archifold Architectural Origami Set.

From Brooklyn-based Souda, the Mitre Stool is at once simple and complex, harnessing a basic form with unexpected visual details. Constructed in hard maple wood, the stool includes four slightly flared legs and an angular seat.

For Gabriel Ramirez and his partner Sarah Mason Williams, following the Sea Ranch rules—local covenants guide new designs—didn’t mean slipping into Sea Ranch clichés. The architects love Cor-Ten steel, with its ruddy and almost organic surface, and they made it the main exterior material, along with board-formed concrete and ipe wood. The Cor-Ten, which quickly turned an autumnal rust in the sea air, and the concrete, with its grain and crannies, mean the house isn’t a pristine box, Ramirez says. His Neutra house “was very crisp and clean,” he says. “This house is more distressed, more wabi-sabi.”

In the living room, guests gather on a matching ebony sofa and daybed from Hudson and a pair of Jorge Zalszupin lounge chairs. An Yves Klein coffee table—filled with the artist’s signature International Klein Blue pigment— provides a vivid burst amid otherwise organic tones. The walnut-and-bronze cabinetry is a custom design.

A New York City apartment with walnut upper kitchen cabinets has a stainless-steel backsplash that ties into the finish of the fridge and the lower cabinets. The walnut dining room table does quadruple duty as a work station and storage unit, and an eating and entertaining area.

In the kitchen area and throughout the home, Mads Odgård, shown here, and Mette Lyng Hansen mixed Odgård’s pieces, such as the Odgård kettle for Raadvad and custom table, with Ikea basics and the Workshop pendant lamp by Louis Poulsen.

The dining room leads onto a terrace with a built-in concrete table and barbecue that are original to Raman and Schaffrath’s design. A pair of Hardoy butterfly chairs from Knoll are positioned by the pond.

A custom table surrounded by NET’s Museo chairs and poplar stools provides a space for the Sarmiento Tovo boys, Manuel, 5, and Julián, 3, to play with the toys their mother makes.

On his patio are a table and chairs from the 1968 Ozoo collection by Marc Berthier for Roche Bobois.

You'd never designed for special needs children before the Bancroft residence, how did you interpret the clients' needs? Jack Hawkins, architect: I would like to say I did tons of research, but I didn't. I went with the parents' lead. I took most of my design cues from them. They're the immediate caregivers, they know their children and about autism. They did all the research and told me what was important.

“There are a lot of well-loved, well-used pieces that were destined for this house,” Andrea says of the couple’s furniture collection. They placed a solid alder Homestead table from Whittier Wood Furniture in the office, which also overlooks the pond.

Jasper and Maeve take five. One of their requests was for their dad to create a secret door to connect their bedrooms together.

When the family wants to eat meals inside, they can sit around the dining table on Eames chairs.

Often, the text that accompanies the images will provide information that is otherwise unable to be communicated through a photo—the thickness of a mattress, the way a fabric shimmers in sunlight, even suggestions on how to pair the item with other pieces.

In the kitchen, a custom composite dining table is paired with bright plastic Ikea chairs. Crasset’s Evolute pendant lights for Danese Milano, with origami-esque folded shades in maple veneer, hang above.

An adjustable dining-room table is relatively common in Europe, according to the couple, who ordered their hydraulic legs from Switzerland. They allow for up to four presets, so the Garneaus have one for dining, one for working, and two for cooking, depending on who’s the chef. The table itself was designed by Robert’s firm, Studio Garneau, and has five drawers in it, some big enough to store Robert’s oversize flat artwork. skf.com Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

Designer Christiane Hogner, Bruxelles

The kitchen is “the most exciting room [in the house],” in Sofie's mind. However, the minimal gray interior makes choosing furnishings and accessories extremely important. “You have to be very careful setting the scene, like in a theater.” The dining table and chairs are by Poul Kjaerholm and the light is Ingo Maurer's Zettel’z chandelier.

While Aumas designed the gilded table, Warren Platner gets credit for the vintage lounge chair for Knoll.

In a space measuring just 650 square feet, multifunctionality is key.