Too often, doors are more of an afterthought for designers, even though they are the first piece of a home we are confronted with, and the last impression when we leave.

Dubbed Hidden House by Teatum+Teatum (images by Lyndon Douglas), there is a stark austerity to this structure, making the decorative perforations in the butterfly-winged pair of front doors all the more apparent as a decorative touch.

Limited windows and a light well bring in illumination from above and behind, but to maintain privacy the side openings, front and back, are dotted with small openings in larger steel panels.

The structure itself acts as neutral infill between two older buildings, deferential and dark while also comfortably modern.

Do you think wood counters in the bathroom or kitchen and kids don’t mix? Well, it ain’t necessarily so. I decided to do some research on what people with wood countertops really think about their care and maintenance. I went to several discussion threads on multiple websites and read through all the comments. Of the people who have had wood countertops in a kitchen or bathroom, around 90 percent of the comments I read were positive, and many of those commenters have kids of every age. It was surprising, given how many folks are afraid to put wood in a kitchen or bath. In reading through all of these people’s comments on their personal experiences I found two common things that contributed to success or failure:

The kind of sealer used

The type of wood and the quality of construction

Wood is such a beautiful material and adds such visual warmth. If you are longing to incorporate wood into your kitchen or bath, but fears about care and maintenance are keeping you from it, there just may be a solution for you in here.

These three projects — a house, a yoga studio and a workshop in a garden — have one important material in common: wood. Each space derives its character from wood, and in the process the three projects share commonalities that go beyond the way the spaces are aligned with wood.

The material choice seems to be derived from the location, something each designer takes advantage of. Inside and outside are strongly linked in each case, a result of wooded sites and the decision to build with wood.