Wood

One of Ulysses Davis' granddaughters has said the artist used to sit in front of the television on election night, a block of wood in hand, ready to start carving a bust of the winner once the election was called. Until his death in 1990, Davis added each new president to the collection of 40 busts that has become his best-known work. The works are part of an exhibition called "The Treasure of Ulysses Davis" at Atlanta's High Museum of Art.

Looking back, the challenges San Diego architect David Lorimer faced when designing this English Country home in La Jolla's renowned Barber Tract 20 years ago were numerous: getting all the roof lines to intersect properly, adding dormer windows on the second floor, having the garage doors face the street and making new construction look Old World. "It came out very authentic, and I like how it's so intimate," says Lorimer, whose work spans more than 40 years. The steep, 45-degree roof pitches and the use of brick and dark wood make the house stand out in a neighborhood of ocean-close storybook homes, whose owners have included actors, producers and politicians dating to when the tract was developed by Phillip Barber in the 1920s.

It's a sad truth of the urban landscape: Today's street tree is tomorrow's mulch. But in the foothills of Santa Barbara, a former stuntman and onetime sea-urchin diver named Rob Bjorklund turns fallen city trees into flooring, mantels, plaques and massive, irregularly shaped conference tables that appear to be suited for a wizard's laboratory.