5. "What are the top 10 most important things I must have in a home?" "If there are two people buying the home, write your answers down separately, starting with your absolute must-haves," Hoffman explains. “Putting together a list separately can give both parties and the realtor a clear picture of what the perfect home will have for both of you."

The planks inside the house blend into those on the small porch just outside. It's a nice touch that helps marry the outdoors with the home's interior.

The wooden box is as functional as it is finely crafted, with room for clothes up top. Each niche holds treasures from travels, family keepsakes, books, and more.

The couple stockpiles wood under the deck.

Made of stainless steel and TEKA hardwood, a Curzon dining table by Modloft is surrounded by a quartet of Victoria Ghost dining chairs by Philippe Starck for Kartell. A striped Missy pendant light by Filipe Lisboa hangs overhead. Four Chill White media consoles from CB2 line the western wall.

In Hungen, a lakeside town, regulations require homes to occupy a footprint of no more than 538 square feet, and be only one story tall. NKBAK worked around these limitations by designing a modern home with only a partial second story.

Pine was used for the exterior siding and the lower perimeter base is lined in reinforced concrete.

Even in cold weather, they open the sliding doors to let the fresh air in.

Clothing can play a vital part in post-disaster comfort and survival. Be prepared with lightweight, versatile items that are appropriate for the highs and lows of your region—bonus points for bright colors like neon yellow or orange that might help emergency workers spot you. Make sure you have clean underwear, layers (including a light jacket), and a hat that would protect you from the sun. Extra blankets, shoes, boots, socks, and bug spray might be necessary depending on where you live.

HotBox: Michaela MacLeod and Nicholas Croft (Toronto) A mysterious monolith on the landscape, this warming hut, a cubic room wrapped in rubber and egg shell crate foam, provides a space for socialization.

When the Casali family gave Michael Krus and Prishram Jain of TACT Architecture free rein to work with unconventional materials, the architects responded by creating a geometric 4,300-square-foot smart home encased in aluminum panels by Agway Metals. The front facade features Cor-Ten steel fabricated by Praxy Cladding.

The resident, a Tokyo transplant, commissioned architect Tadashi Murai to create a fully-equipped structure that comes with its own power, heating and cooling, water, and waste-disposal systems.

An outdoor shower tucked behind a screen off the master bedroom neutralizes this threat. “We thought it sounded great for muddy kids to run up and shower off there,” Coco says.

Cal and Macy jump rope with mom and dad.

Made from birch plywood, the Planters are stained then cut to reveal the stack of the timber. No two are alike since the stain takes differently to each piece of wood.

This "local prefab" home on the Isle of Skye is made mostly from materials sourced in northern Scotland. The timber-framed model, meant to evoke the simple agrarian barns of the area, can be constructed on-site in as little as a day and is designed for affordability.

The second Jean Nouvel-inspired staircase lives outside, clinging to the side of the house and leading up to the roof deck, where there's a hot tub shaded by sun sails.

Architect Joaquin Castillo blends inexpensive materials, the odd splurge, and a refined modernist sensibility to create an affordable weekend house for brothers Alfredo and Guillermo Oropeza. The facade is a juxtaposition of rough-hewn local stone, smooth concrete, glass, and steel—the material palette used throughout the structure.

Light Box Peter created a simple uplight at the top of the wood box by wiring together energy-efficient fluorescent fixtures typically used under cabinets and countertops. “The cheaper magnetic models hum unacceptably loudly, so make sure you get the electronic ballast types,” he warns. He then painted the cavity white to reflect light and covered them with quarter-inch-thick acrylic from TAP Plastics. homedepot.com tapplastics.com

Narigua House (El Jonuco, Mexico) Architect: David Pedroza Castañeda Category: House

The Cardboard Cantilever Chair performs a bit of structural sleight-of-hand, creating a daring form out of a weak material.

Modern Sprout’s planters were designed by Nick Behr and Sarah Burrows, two Chicago apartment dwellers who wanted to grow their own garden, but didn’t have the space. Struggling to maintain plants in their apartment, they tried hydroponic planters, which yielded results, but were expensive and unappealing to look at. As a result, they designed their own planter—a hydroponic, self-watering system that hides its mechanism beneath a reclaimed wood planter box.

Shigeru Ban, Cardboard Cathedral A testament to the strength, skill, and poignancy of the Pritzker winner’s “emergency architecture,” this A-frame marvel of cardboard tubing and shipping containers served as a potent symbol for Christchurch’s recovery after an earthquake. In another symbolic touch, the stained glass triangle at the front of the church incorporates imagery from the former cathedral’s famous rose window.

North Carolina firm Skram Furniture Company has created a flexible and functional line of containers that can be utilized in various spaces, from offices to kitchens.

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

“We edit to what’s most essential and what will highlight the product best.” —Pearl Schenkel, graphic design manager at Finell

In the backyard, Kunigk “montaged” what she admired in the work of John Pawson, Tadao Ando, and Piet Oudolf, the Dutch garden designer who collaborated on landscaping for New York’s High Line. She plans to reconfigure the plantings again with the landscape designer Rina Zweig, who worked on the front yard.

Architect Bruno Despierre built a deck for outdoor activities from pine wood.

The house is surrounded by buildings on all sides except its south facade, which faces the street. An expansive operable window is key for effective ventilation during hot summer months. Additionally, a cantilevered balcony shelters a carport, bike storage, and even a playful swing.

The bach’s beachfront site is nestled behind sand dunes with views toward Kapiti Island, a nature sanctuary.

Original Planter Box Yield Design Co.

These sweet little planters are brand new from San Francisco design outfit Yield, a company that also brought us the ingenious Picnic Bags we fetured recently.

Dotted with colorful footholds, a climbing wall covers one side of the home, allowing roof access.

A basic box that’s as tall as it is wide (28 feet) and 16 feet long, this Portland, Oregon house consists of rooms stacked vertically: an unfinished basement on the bottom, a kitchen-living area and a bathroom in the middle, and a bedroom on top, with the stairwell hinged onto the front of the home. The only interior doors are those to the bathroom, basement, and root cellar, leaving the rest of the space open and unfettered. At just 704 square feet, Katherine Bovee and Matt Kirkpatrick's home is a great lesson in making the most out of every inch. Click here to see the interior.

The transformed facade features dark gray stained-masonry.