Pavers and succulents in a yard in Malibu, California, help save water.

Succulents are not always meant to sit by your windowsill or office desk. This hand-printed design by Mary Kysar for makelike will be a bright addition to any wall.

Pacek and Roynon peeled away wallpaper to reveal layers of old paint that serendipitously complemented the color scheme of their new kitchen, and used a circular frame to preserve a section of it. The matte-chrome handles and pulls are by Mockett.

Maira wallpaper from the 70s adorns the guest bathroom. When they knocked down several interior walls, Sawatzky and Flanders were left with tons of lath—the thin, irregular strips of softwood that provided the base for wall plaster. With the help of a demolition contractor, they sorted out the cleanest pieces to reuse. The couple clad the box on the second floor that contains their bathroom and closets with the lath, nail-gunning each piece to the walls.

Another water-saving project in Menlo Park includes a rock bed with succulents.

The typewriter shown here was a flea-market find.

The once public hallway between the two apartments now boasts a bold wallpaper by Kravitz Design for Flavor Paper.

One of the hardest things to do when looking at potential homes is to overlook existing finishes, colors, and materials.

Simon and Eva Luna play in front of a wall covered in Daks wallpaper from Walnut.

The Lotus wallpaper pattern by Galbraith and Paul is produced in-studio with the help of a digital printer.

Calico nabbed a 2015 ICFF Editors' Award for its painterly wallcoverings. (Long live gradients!)

The Sill, dedicated to providing houseplants and plant consultation services, would be easy to mock if their plants and pots weren't so attractive. Plus, options to handwrite messages and deliver as gifts make this a more sustainable option over delivering bouquets. With clients like Kate Spade Saturday, Vine, Warby Parker, and Twitter, The Sill is au courant, if limited to New Yorkers only.

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

#midcenturymodern #office #smallspaces #bedroom #desk

The editors' pick for Best Wallcovering went to Trove. Here's a selection of their new Redux wallpaper, which is PVC-free and made from 31 percent post-consumer recycled material.

I could have spent all day in the Succulent Garden (and I ended up visiting it more than once during my trip). Here's a close up of one of the many varieties on display.

A teal terrarium "stalagmite" by Lauren Coleman.

Playful wallpaper from Graham & Brown livens up the house’s otherwise staid powder room, which also contains a pint-size Ikea sink.

Parisian design company, Élitis, began designing wallpapers because they felt the industry didn’t offer enough colorful and innovative selections. Their latest Kandy line, inspired by the ancient city Kandy in Sri Lanka, is just that. Painterly yet structured, this paper is strong enough to make a statement and subtle enough to paper a whole room without overwhelming it. Bonus: the thick vinyl coating makes it easy to wash. $700 per panoramic (Each panoramic can be hung like a pattern drop, cutting marks are provided).

So what music do designers listen to when work? “It depends who's in charge of the Sonos device that day,” Nick says. While his preference tends to be towards Chopin or Max Richter, it’s not uncommon for hip-hop or 80s music to fill up the studio.

Groupings of succulents accent the home’s entry path and pool area.

More patterned wallpaper in the bathroom.

Degrado Amarillo wallpaper by Eijffinger. The Dutch company’s Ibiza collection saturates walls in degrees with a photorealistic paper that adds an of-the-moment gradient effect.

Sherman recommends reflective materials for smaller spaces. "Metallic materials and colors to add light movement and mirror effects, immediately making a space feel more dynamic and larger," he says.

Trove’s founders, Jee Levin and Randall Buck, made over 100 light “paintings” by exposing photographic paper to flashlights and fiber-optic toys. Then, they distilled their favorite elements across all of the paintings and created two patterns: Heze and Nimbus.

Husband-and-wife founders of Calico Wallpaper Rachel and Nick Cope show how easy it can be to put a personal, design-led touch on loft living—even when it’s a rental. When the Copes rented a Red Hook loft in an industrial 1860s warehouse, the couple turned their rental into a testing ground for their marbleized wallpaper business and installed wallpaper in each of their rooms. The custom pieces take inspiration from the loft’s immediate surroundings and characteristics—from the silver-and-gold marbled mural that complements the loft’s exposed structural beams to a color-gradient wallpaper in the primary bedroom that takes cues from the sunset seen from Red Hook.

Heze connects circles with blurred strokes of color that is supposed to display the “mathematical impossibility of the circle.”

Designers can enjoy a coffee break on the sofa. It certainly beats gathering around the water cooler.

The master bedroom features a Case Study bed from Modernica.

For Afghan Made, Wallpaper paired modern rug companies with manufacturers from Afghanistan as a way to jumpstart the industry.

Winter takes care of chores like tree trimming and the tending of his succulents.

The Extrusion pieces are built by hand and run about $75. Find them on bkbceramics.com.

Sedums seem to encroach on white Napa Cast Stone pavers. As one moves from the poolside courtyard to the secluded deck below, the landscape transitions to larger succulents and then to sculptural South African euphorbias and podia.

From in-person visits to digitally created imagery, these tools will work for everyone from the tech-savvy to the analog-inclined.

The Dwell on Design 2012 booth of BKB Ceramics.