"The most challenging part of the design was fusing the old part of the house with the new addition," says principal architect Alex Terry. The character and architectural integrity of the single-level 1950s ranch house was thoughtfully reconsidered during the addition and remodel. The home’s front porch, typical of the period, was refreshed with Ipe decking and railing.

IKEA chairs join a table from CB2; a Kawneer triple-sliding door opens to the family’s new ipe deck.

The larger volume of the addition, consisting of kitchen, living, and dining spaces, loops around to the smaller bedroom through a wooden passage. The same ipe, with differing finishes, is used for both the interior and exterior. Expansive sliding glass doors by Fleetwood dramatically open up the living space to the outdoors.

A small terrace outfitted with an H55 easy chair by Björn Hultén offers a view of the San Francisco Bay.

Birdsall and Atticus are seated on an ipe bench designed by Anna Boeschenstein; the stucco exterior cladding was matched to Cast Iron 6202 paint by Sherwin-Williams.

A landscape of native grasses designed by GSLA Studio complements the raw textures of the concrete-and-ipe front facade.

The landscape design, by Anna Boeschenstein of Grounded, followed a 2,200-square-foot extension by Formwork architects Robert and Cecilia H. Nichols. The front door is painted in Chinese Red by Sherwin-Williams.

Protected by an overhang, and floating above ground level, this tertiary space is known in traditional homes as the "engawa." To sustain a unified look throughout, the floor and ceiling are clad in ipe wood.

To combat the site’s steep, uneven grade, Boeschenstein staggered a series of ipe decks around the two main volumes of the house. Atticus joins his brother, Bodhi, on the zigzag decks.

An eight-foot-high sliding glass door leads to the backyard's ipe deck, ideal for informal gatherings. The bench cushions are custom from Studio Collins Weir and the tables and chairs are from Design Within Reach.

There are no paints, lacquers, or polyurethane finishes used anywhere in the house. Indoors and out, the materials were kept simple: The exterior walls and roof are oiled ipe, selected for its hardness and weather resistance.

After years of visiting the area as vacationers, one couple builds this striking home for their retirement outside Greenwater, Washington. A fireplace can be used on the rear patio and in the living room, making it feel like one cohesive space. Ipe planks, the same wood that’s used in the front courtyard, cover the floor.

An outdoor shower in the lower courtyard includes most of the materials that define the project, including Cor-Ten steel posts, horizontal ipe slats and decking, a custom seat and towel shelf set into a natural boulder, and concrete pavers. The yard includes many elements built for play, like a water feature embedded in a concrete wall that is fed by runoff rainwater collected from the breezeway roof.

Leading from the communal pool area to the more intimate olive tree grove, the intricate “woven” ipe boardwalk plays with a variety of lineweights and patterns. All of the wood used for the project is reclaimed.

Because the house is located in a historic area, the exterior updates were limited to new windows and ipe cladding around the front door.

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.

Trellis-like balcony railing cue the exposed timber frame extending over the house. The balcony and fence are made from sustainably harvested ipe wood.

The Babat residence in Nashville is blessed with a big backyard; however, the blistering Tennessee sun once made it feel more like a broiler than a place to kick back and relax. Enter architect Michael Goorevich—then on staff at Manuel Zeitlin Architects—who devised a wood-and-steel trellis to cover part of the space.

Board-formed concrete retaining walls double as ramps from the deck to the garden’s highest point.

Ipe decking extends from the actual deck to the home's interior.

The outdoor deck is made from ipe. The wood was selected to complement the fumed oak flooring inside the house. “We carried the level of design detail throughout [the property] because we wanted the exterior to feel like an extension of the living space, especially for entertaining, but also as a connection to the coach house,” Dubbeldam says.

Cox initially conceived the deck as a conventional surface for relaxing and entertaining. With the bench, however, he seized an opportunity to create something both functional and visually arresting. “You go down these paths and, as the design mutates, other ideas attach themselves and make it stronger and more interesting,” he says.

An ipe deck slopes sharply skyward behind Amy Persin’s house in Menlo Park, California, creating a secluded backyard getaway that feels like an outdoor extension of her living room. A single step on either side leads to patches of gravel, which her children have claimed as areas for unstructured play.

Different exterior finishes demarcate each section of the building; the client’s home is identified by rich ipe wood with windows that fan outwards to allow fresh breezes inside. The other two parts are clad in stucco, a challenging material to work with, O’Neill says, because they had to scaffold and apply it in a single day to create a seamless look.

In keeping with the home's seasonal purpose, Gane's layout privileges outdoor space. The transition from inside to out is demarcated by a switch from Douglas fir to ipe wood.

A custom lid for the hot tub doubles as a deck that can travel all the way to the outdoor shower on a track.

In a Manhattan Beach home, homeowner Matt Jacobson and architect Michael Lee designed the long steel-and-Ipe bench surrounding a square, concrete outdoor fire pit, which suspends from the low concrete wall in their outdoor space. Dukes relaxes on a Willy Guhl Loop chair with her German Shepherd, Major.

Located in Los Altos, California, Curt Cline's modern house seeks to respect the neighborhood fabric. By keeping the abode low-slung, using a few simple geometries, and the leaving the facade spare, Cline helped the structure blend in with the 1940s and 1950s structures around it. The materials—board-formed concrete and cedar slats—instill a contemporary California aesthetic.

Cline incorporated a number of green features into the design including a super-insulated envelope, ultra-efficient heat pump, and skylights for natural daylighting. "It approaches standards," he says. Pavers lead to the front door.

Working with Ryan Moody Design on the backyard, the couple cleared out the weeds, leveled the space, and added a new ipe and galvanized metal fence. A fire pit designed by David Cooke is surrounded by a bench of ipe. Concrete pavers make up the patio.

Here's the rear of the residence.

With one half covered in light brick and the other in ipe, the SPLIT house in Toronto reveales two distinct personalities.

Cox says he and Persin “went on an ipe run” after committing to the material for the deck, using it to build the slatted fence around the backyard. Rainbow Warrior New Zealand flax, a perennial, complements the material, while off-the-shelf pavers helped keep costs down.

“When you enter the courtyard, you realize that you have left the forest and entered the house,” Hutchison says. “We spoke often with [the clients] about the quality of this courtyard. [The client] likes to call it his own Zen garden, although I think that he also likes that the courtyard facade serves to keep the numerous elk in the area at bay.” Concrete pavers, gravel, and ipe decking cover the ground.