Indoor-Outdoor Dining Rooms

Almost every room in this Venice, California retreat opens to the outdoors, including the bedroom. The home is designed to complement the existing trees on the site as well as a new landscape design by Jack Kiesel.

The living and dining room look out to the central courtyard, promoting indoor/outdoor living. Here, five doors slide into a pocket in the wall to create a nearly 23-foot-wide opening on one side looking into the garden. Another set on the opposite side enhances cross ventilation.