The materials palette that I chose is light in color with a few splashes of color. This lightness holds the space open and gives it a contemporary feel.

Their creative confections may ruin our diets, but we’re happy to be their taste testers anytime.

A 500-square-foot outdoor space with a grill, a table, and a hammock sits just off the entrance level of the townhouse, offering extra room for dining, relaxing, and entertaining. The corner couch is a custom piece inspired by the large cushions of Moroccan sofas. The Fermob table is paired with Hay Hee dining chairs by Hay.

Fir plywood from Freres Lumber joins IKEA cabinets. The figure painting is by Dylan Dean.

The bookcase delineates the two areas.

Davor (with his wife, Abbe, and son, August) designed the main living and dining pavilion as a double-height space to increase its perceived volume, and added high cubbies for extra storage.

The glass-enclosed master bedroom floats above the corrugated, oxidized steel exterior.

This dreamy, glass bedroom by the lake was created as an early prototype for the prefabricated greenhouse/she kits known as the Kekkilä Green Sheds.

A guest bedroom, with furniture from Room & Board, overlooks the bridge above the dining courtyard. The home’s landscape architecture is by Ventura, California–based Jack Kiesel. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

A small, dilapidated 10' x 12' neighboring structure was brought back to life and is now used as an art studio and guest cottage with a Murphy bed. In total, the property can sleep 10 people comfortably.

Marco V. Morelli says his Studio Shed is the perfect refuge. “It’s changed my life for the better,” he says. “I’ve gotten so much more work done, and I think my marital relations are much better because I have a place of my own.”

The bi-level car barn, a spare, timber-clad structure with an A-frame roof, nods to traditional farmhouses, but is “sleek and contemporary in spirit,” says Geremia. Inspired by an old photo of a porcelain farmhouse sink, it features polished concrete floors.

Inside, playful pillows can be rearranged in any manner, and are often used as mock beds for relaxing and looking at the canopies above.

Working with his colleagues at Austin Maynard Architects, architect Andrew Maynard added a 184-square-foot, sun-saturated greenhouse extension to his existing 364-square-foot home, and the new space serves as an office for him and his team.

In the kitchen, Walker continued an earthy color scheme. The range and wall oven are by BlueStar, the hood is from Zephyr, and the island is Caesarstone.

A double-height space encompasses the kitchen, dining and living area, and features 36-feet-wide glass doors that pocket into southern and northern walls.

Of the seven steps in Michael Pozner’s not-quite-500-square-foot aerie in Greenwich Village, five contain drawers. His small set of table and chairs is from CB2.

By creating a desk out of roof beams, this home office perfectly integrates into an open-plan renovation of a Northern Italian farmhouse.

The color of the Fishers’ front door was inspired by an old Land Rover Defender’s hue, which Charlie had Benjamin Moore custom-match.

Once a dilapidated garage, this flexible garden studio in Seattle now serves as an all-weather hub for Ella Dillon, and her 10-year-old daughter, Isabelle. After moving into the Craftsman-style home in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood in 2006, Ella was ready to expand into the garden studio—envisioning it as a place for Isabelle to do arts and crafts, for friends and family to gather—and as additional storage for games, gardening tools, and exercise equipment.

The couple snapped up a 2,600-square-foot late-18th-century flat, which they’ve since filled with vintage finds and Hayon’s own designs and prototypes.

The original run-down shed wasn’t very functional: The roof leaked, the carpet had sprouted mold, and the narrow quarters were sectioned off as two parking spots and two office spaces. So Ella engaged Mutuus Studio to help figure out an optimal design for the 360-square-foot shed—one that would encompass garden shed, exercise room, office, playroom, and outdoor dining space all while staying within a modest budget of less than $40,000.

Yolo Colorhouse / Paints Poster-sized sample swatches, a host of attractive colors, and nontoxic paints let pint-sized paint company Yolo Colorhouse handily compete with their mega-sized corporate competitors.

The built-in nook is the perfect spot to read, while the shelves mimic the shape of the hideaway staircase on the left side.

Shiplap pine walls, primed white, complement unfinished concrete floors and a wood stove by Jotul.

Xystum Color Block vase by CB2. Postmodernism appropriates classical cues in a Pop-y, contemporary manner. Therefore, this vase’s name, a Greek architectural term loosely translated as “portico,” is apropos.

A smaller, rectangular building between the two blocks that's equipped for surfing-related activities.

Helsinki architect Ville Hara and designer Linda Bergroth collaborated on a prefab shed-meets-sleeping cabin, which can be assembled with little else than a screwdriver. Bergroth, inspired by nomadic yurt dwellers, wanted an indoor/outdoor experience for her property in Finland.

The home’s interior design, featured in Vogue and widely celebrated, was an unusual foray into residential surrealism by Le Corbusier and his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret.

A spacious deck and large glass doors allow for seamless indoor/outdoor living.

Architect William Carpenter, glimpsed in his second-floor design studio, built Lightroom 2.0 to sit unobtrusively among its 1920s neighbors in Decatur.

Using natural materials is one way of bringing nature indoors. Oiled white ash floors and ceilings, along with Italian poplar and Lawson cypress joinery, are found throughout architect Andrew Simpson’s 538-square-foot home outside Wellington, New Zealand.

The former dining room is now home to Russell and Fontanez’s custom kitchen, designed by LOT-EK and fabricated by Chef Restaurant Supplies. “We love to entertain,” Russell says. “Before, the galley kitchen was in the hallway; now we can cook and still be a part of the party.” The space-saving setup, which adjoins the living room, features stainless steel–paneled cabinets, DuPont Corian countertops, Onda stools by Jesus Gasca for Stua, and fixtures and appliances by Grohe, Liebherr, and Miele. To maximize space, the designers specified that the cabinets be built around a former fireplace in the kitchen. “Because there’s a bump out where the chimney is, we turned the sink lengthwise,” Lignano says. “The cabinet directly overhead is only four inches deep, so it’s just a huge spice rack.” The island provides ample additional storage.