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After staying in a tree house listed on Airbnb, Remo Kommnick and Emi Moore wanted their own getaway in the woods. "It was amazing being up in the trees,

Large windows wrap around the floor-apartment, enhancing the home's airy aesthetic.

The three-story, cedar shingle-clad house is just two blocks from the beach.

In the British countryside, Stirling Prize nominee Michael Dillon builds a tiny office as an exercise in low-carbon, low-cost construction.

No whiteware here. In this moody apartment in Berlin, multi-toned charcoal gray subway tiles make up the backsplash, which contrasts with the pop of rosy color on the kitchen cabinets.

AbleNook is a Florida-based prefabricated, flat-pack home kit made from aircraft-grade aluminum framing and structural insulated panels (SIPs). Although it started out as an architecture school project, it was later patented through the University of South Florida and makes for an affordable ADU starting at $75,000. Use it as a main residence, eco-friendly second home, or Airbnb. They’re also designed to be potential disaster relief, as they’re ready for just about any terrain or weather conditions, including Florida’s hurricane winds. It’s also expandable to accommodate a range of sizes.

Becky, a Pilates Instructor, and Rob, a Trading Manager in leisure, fashion and lifestyle, turned a tired Victorian Hayloft into a home with personality and an exceptional interior living space. Becky plans to convert the garage at the front of the property into a pilates studio for her company Dalby Pilates.

The fenced-in yard includes an outdoor dining area and another seating setup with a fire pit.

The primary bedroom windows frame up-close views of the boulders on the site.

From lighting to plumbing, here’s what you should know before you start your next update.

Alex the Great The custom white-oak desk that Kurath designed for the office ably houses both Paul’s and Shoko’s computers with support from a decidedly off-the-shelf source: Ikea. Paul replaced the casters on two Alex drawer units with short legs from an Ikea kitchen system. Tucked beneath the desktop, the standalone storage divides the desk into work stations, houses office supplies, and shows how high design plays well with a bit of DIY ingenuity. ikea.com

Very few things are as rewarding as transforming a fixer-upper into the home of your dreams. Yet, anyone who has traveled down the path of renovation knows how windy that road can be. To help combat unforeseen challenges, we asked expert renovators what all they would consider before investing in a fixer-upper.

The outdoor areas were designed with two perspectives in mind. “Typically people focus on making the house look beautiful from the outside,” says Briana. “Because of all the windows, I wanted to also consider how we experience the outside from the inside.

Painted Aluminum Tryptic by Tony Mullin; Pankow side table by Civilian; Wood Sculpture by Harbert Reinhold (1960’s); Capsule Mirror by Bi-Rite Studio; Phillips yellow table lamp (rare); Vintage Phillips blue table lamp (rare)

Black cedar siding gives way to bright interiors in the idyllic Highland Bungalow.

This 195-square-foot, shingled studio includes a library, reading nook, and workstation—and it’s totally DIY. Creative couple Michael and Christina Hara built the retreat just steps away from their back door, in order to carve out "space for creativity and respite from our chaotic, toddler-filled house," as Michael explains. The project, called the Fish Scale Studio, took eight months to complete, with Haras doing all of the design and construction themselves—for just $18,275.

Eng-Goetz hand-painted a magical mural of sword ferns around the kitchen to give the room a "forest view." The tiles are from Tempest Tileworks; the wall sconce and sink pendant lighting are from a collaboration between JHID and GKA Lighting. Adding another metallic accent, a brass faucet from Waterworks rises from a rich western walnut countertop. The room is painted with Benjamin Moore’s Storm Cloud Gray.