When designer Hilton Carter furnished the industrial-style Baltimore apartment and work studio he shares with his wife Fiona, their dog Charlie and two cats Zoe and Isabella, he created a wondrous indoor woodland that offers all the benefits of being outdoors without leaving home.

A lofted sleeping pod offers a bit of privacy and helps maximize space. Beneath it is a zippy yellow bathroom.

For those who need design pieces to be multifunctional, the Pedal Pod boasts ample cubby space to stash odds and ends along with a rubber-lined roost that suspends your bike, freeing up desirable floor real estate.

Power Pod Convenience and functionality blend into elegant design with Coalesse’s PowerPod. Designed by Scott Wilson and MINIMAL, PowerPod delivers two functions in one. When needed, the PowerPod houses six power outlets with built-in surge-suppression. When not needed, the outlet is converted to a sleek pencil organizer and accessory tray. Energy-saving on/off switch reduces vampire power consumption.

Maggie Treanor waters plants around her rural home.

A succulent sits atop a stool from Zone Maison, juxtaposed against a warm brick wall.

Plants thrive on the sheltered terrace.

Alexander walks from the bedroom pod into the living room under her freeway-inspired sculpture, titled Run A Way.

Headspace, a website and app for teaching self-care and mindfulness, has teamed with Californian architect duo Oyler Wu to design an experience that embodies the spirit of meditation and enhances its practices. What they came up is a simple pod, hollowed out with a curvilinear interior made of layered, machine-cut wood that rests on a steel frame.

Launching later this year, with price upon request, the Meditation Pod aims to trigger a reevaluation of how the built environment supports mental well-being. Learn more at Headspace.

Inside the Headspace Meditation Pod, a discreet built-in screen leads practitioners through the company's library of guided meditations via headphones. Its organic forms provide a comfortable position for repose.

The project addresses an age-old conundrum of meditation, says Headspace co-founder Rich Pierson: "How do you make an intangible exercise, tangible?" Oyler Wu responded with a characteristically forward-thinking concept, one that envelops users in undulating folds that were inspired by natural geological formations.

La Casa Nell' Orto—House in the Orchard—was a unique architectural project from the onset. Clients Spartaco and Cinzia, both Tuscan dentists, desired a little home where they could occasionally reside and grow vegetables and other plants. They engaged LDA.iMdA Architetti Associati to create a house capable of cultivating their favorite hobby.

An artist and an architect built their home, studios, and an exhibition space inside a lushly landscaped Antwerp warehouse.

In the back, ferns and other shade-friendly plants thrive beneath the home’s deep overhangs.

The headboard in Hansen’s bedroom echoes the 2013 side-board. The wallpaper is from Arte.

There are two zones in the house. One side, which the architects refer to as the "buffer zone," faces north, capturing the sunlight in the winter and pulling it into the house. In the summer, it traps the harsh sun so less gets into the living space. Edible planters adorn the wall.

Plants wrap around the perforated aluminum railings for a natural touch.

Large and small Natural Pod made from black ash and cassein paint. From $6,000

Usha and Mike Kreaden had a virtually blank slate when it came to the garden outside the 1958 Joseph Eichler house that they bought in Silicon Valley two decades ago.

Landscape designer Bernard Trainor’s creative use of poured-in-place concrete pavers—such as off the living room, where they break up a low-maintenance lawn of June grass—give the irregularly shaped lot a sense of order. Foxtail ferns and blue chalk sticks, a succulent, lend dashes of color to the entry courtyard, while thyme makes for a fragrant accent between the pavers.

Plant Pedestals by Peter Oyler for Areaware, $50 at areaware.com Give your houseplants a lift with these beech wood perches designed to show off planters, flower arrangements, and other accessories.

At its waterfront location along San Francisco's Embarcadero, The Plant is a comfortable coffee shop by day and a sleek restaurant/lounge by night. The cafe preserved the 18-foot exposed timber ceilings and 16-foot casement windows typical of the historic 1900s warehouse. Conceived and executed by CCS Architecture, The Plant prides itself on being one of the greenest cafes in San Francisco. Solar panels on the roof power the kitchen and cafe, while a water Electrolyzer converts tap water into acidic and alkaline cleaning fluid for the cafe's surfaces. Other standout green materials include reclaimed wood, recycled tiles, and energy efficient lighting, all complemented by the living wall art of Flora Grubb. Pier 3, The Embarcadero #108

Overall, the plant wall covers over 1,200 square feet of surface area.

Boskke's Clear Cube Planter only requires watering once monthly. Giving a clear view of plant growth as it happens, Boskke's planter brings transparency to gardening.

The Hyde Collection comes in six color ways and are meant to fill up a windowsill with light-loving plants. $175.

Nitin Barchha and Disney Davis of the architecture firm The White Room are known for designing organic, curvaceous homes and private gardens. They were approached by a couple seeking to renovate their one-bedroom apartment in the charming suburb of Pali Hill, just outside the bustling city of Mumbai—and the result is a vibrant urban oasis.

Since the house is edged in by homes on the east, west, and south sides, the architect punctuated the gabled roof with large skylights to bring daylight into the home.

Ballantyne House by Warren & Mahoney (1959)

This circa-1958 Eichler in Silicon Valley makes a mesmerizing first impression with its combination of ipe wood and neon-yellow resin. A garden, courtesy of landscape designer Bernard Trainor, fosters the illusion of more space.

Plants found in the surrounding landscape were used to obscure the lines between designed and natural worlds.

The limestone-clad volume at the east end of the house extends to the second story, housing Shino and Ken’s master suite, which opens onto the planted roof deck.

This ingenious mug handily brings together what is, perhaps, the greatest, most comforting, and perfectly delicious duo of our time: tea and biscuits. Eliminate the need for a pesky plate and just stick your cookies beneath your brew and you're good to go.

The main living area is flanked by green spaces, with custom sliding doors made from materials sourced from a metal warehouse. The ceiling is corrugated sheet metal, a “common and cheap but noble” construction material, Teresa says.

Sheltered behind the fence that runs along the sidewalk, the plantings give the courtyard the feeling of an urban oasis.

Jon Ahrens of Madrone Landscaping, who layed out the plantings around the container, implemented a green roof on a drip watering system. The cantilevered overhang at rear is planted with cacti.