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Bob sits in the entry courtyard with his dog, Goya.

The Light Shed is wrapped in bituminous fiberglass corrugated mini profile cladding on battens with an UV open cladding membrane behind.

Stepping into the guesthouse’s hot tub brings the eye to ground level, providing a new vantage on landscape designer Marc Peter Keane’s mix of Japanese greenery and native mosses. “We minimized visual cues from the house so that when you’re experiencing it, you’re not thinking about the building, you’re just in life. The reduction of signals creates tranquility,” says Andrew.

A window in one of the bedrooms frames a view of the garden. The wallpaper is from Superflower, a company run by the couple. It uses Andrew’s images of flowers, which Niki says have a beauty in their “formal and objective” quality, adding depth to traditional patterns.

A vegetable garden is on top of the structure. Placing the garden up a flight of stairs—the form of which shapes one of the house’s openings— protects its plantings from hungry fauna.

This area between the living area and private bedroom acts as a study and storage station.

Wood adirondack chairs surrounding a stone firepit.

The home boasts numerous outdoor spaces, many protected from unpredictable rain showers.

The cool, shady seclusion of Mount Tantalus has made it the ideal summer retreat for Oahu city dwellers since the early 1900s.

A peek inside Gill's "utility drawer."

Modern larch interior woodwork combines with retro furniture and lighting pieces.

Recycled Altrock work surfaces and larch cabinetry define the kitchen design.

The original structure was built by relatives in 1979.

The guest loft features a bed from West Elm and custom plywood casework by Kansas City artisan Haynes Nichols.

Architect David Dowell and his wife, Kathy, took a decade to determine what they wanted to do with the historic 12-acre property they bought in eastern Kansas. The couple eventually opted to renovate and expand the modest limestone cottage that was already there. The resulting 1,250-square-foot getaway sits on the rolling plain amid elm, silver maple, and eastern red cedar trees. “You don’t have to choose between old and new,” says David. “It’s a false construct in our brain to even think that way.”