Exterior

Yuan reconfigured the balcony layout and pulled the stairs to the side for safer circulation.

Practicality and ease of install can directly impact on-site workflow—creating timing and cost implications. The Marvin Skycove—a one-of-a-kind suspended window that Leavitt discovered while visiting Marvin’s showroom at 7 Tide in Boston—provides an install-ready window bench option. “That's always been a challenge for us,” Leavitt says of the pop-out window. “It’s always been hard to build, whereas we could buy that whole unit from Marvin.”

Composed of a durable wood and aluminum frame, Marvin’s Ultimate Multi-Slide door can be configured in widths as large as 60 feet. Generous overhangs can help shield these large expanses of glass from solar exposure.

Wall-to-wall glazing on multiple sides of the home helps create a fluid indoor/outdoor experience, expanding the home’s usable square footage. For ultimate transparency, eliminating the corner post is also an option.

The sprawling property includes an infrared sauna just outside the house.

Sitting jauntily on its block, this renovated residence in Seattle’s Mount Baker neighborhood retained the original home’s footprint. The architect (and daughter of the homeowner) opened up the living spaces inside and overhauled the exterior and landscaping to give it a more contemporary presence. Cambium Landscape created the outdoor spaces which perfectly balance hardscape with greenery.

Perched on a steep hillside, the Matanzas Maralto Cabins blend into the rugged landscape of Navidad, Chile. The two cabins—both of which are available to rent on Airbnb—are elevated on wooden pillars about 260 feet above sea level.

This award-winning home by New York–based West Chin Architects is situated on a narrow corner lot in a Long Island neighborhood. The cedar-clad residence features a garage-style glass door that opens to welcome the salty sea breeze from the neighboring beach.

Aamion and Daize Goodwin’s radical, triple-decker digs in Hanalei, Kauai, can best be described as "Peter Pan" meets "Swiss Family Robinson."

"The reason we bought the property was purely for the location—we can walk everywhere," says Rebecca Leijer, who built the 2,152-square-foot timber dwelling with her partner, Damien. "The neighborhood is very special, and we were drawn to the relaxed coastal lifestyle we knew we wanted for our kids growing up."

"Giulietta Carrelli of Trouble Coffee says, ‘Build your own damn house,’ and I agree wholeheartedly with that," says Mason St. Peter, who crafted his dream surf-inspired cabin in Los Angeles’s Topanga Canyon with his partner, Serena Mitnik-Miller.

Architect and surfer Kenichiro Iwakiri transformed a 40-year-old cottage into his own beach house in Shonan, Japan. This region, located south of Tokyo, is known for its surf spots.

Reilly, pictured here, deleted the original front door in order to create an expanse of uninterrupted wall in the living room. The existing slider is now the main entry point. She clad the exterior with planks marketed as a shou sugi ban product that reads as burned, knotty cedar. A new, corrugated metal roof replaced asphalt shingles.

HGTV stars Robert and Cortney Novogratz transformed a "generic white box prefab" into a cozy surfer paradise for a family of four in Montauk, New York. The clients’ paddle collection and surf art are used as interior decor, while large windows and sliding glass doors emphasize the indoor/outdoor living experience.

Lauren and Brittan Ellingson, the owners of Notice Snowboards, a custom snowboard and wakesurf company in Whitefish, Montana, approached Workaday Design and builder Mindful Designs to concoct a new lake home for their family. The brief was, perhaps unsurprisingly, focused on getting the family outdoors as much as possible.

On a rustic strip of coastline near Puerto Escondido, Mexico, S-AR designed a beach getaway with an open concrete grid that frames its natural surroundings.

Part surf shack, part modernist dwelling, this 2,500-square-foot house on Sweden’s southwestern shore is no fussy show home. Board storage is integrated into the design, so residents just grab and go—and nobody worries about sand or wet footprints brought in from the beach on the concrete floor.