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Niki Weber and J.P. Guiseppi were booted from their rental in Venice, California, with only a month’s notice. In the frantic search that followed, the pair bought the first property they visited: a hillside residence in the Silver Lake neighborhood of L.A. The plot had enough space down slope to install an ADU. Putting their hard years of renting to good effect, the pair hired Cover, a Los Angeles-based start-up specializing in prefab backyard homes, to build the rental they wish they had lived in as tenants.

Floor Plan of Casa Cantellano by Omar Vergara and Renata de Miguel

During: Holly and David’s teenagers help with the deconstruction process.

Cornuelle, who’s from Hawaii, chose both older and contemporary Hawaiian art for the walls.

The house was designed to minimally interfere with the hilltop vegetation, which is what attracted the family to the site.

At Las Rocas, you always have two views: the lake and the rocks, which was the impetus for erasing the corners of the home. “The corner openings were a must for this project, because they really connect you to the outside,” says architect Ignacio Urquiza.

Fully integrated with nature, the four homes that comprise Las Rocas complement rather than compete with nature. "We spent a week sitting there discussing if this project had to be super light and floating or heavy," says architect Ignaciou Urquiza. "And we decided to go heavy to generate lightness at the very end—trying to make the volumes floating."

The owner, a school teacher, reads with her child on the banquette, which is bathed in rare London sun.

Mary Blodgett and Carlton Calvin initially approached Fung + Blatt to design a ceramics studio on their Southern California property, which contains a 1950s house by modernist architect Calvin Straub.

Fields of native grasses connect the main residence, situated at the top of the slope, to the new structures scattered below. A pergola extends from the post-and-beam structure that was maintained during the remodel of the midcentury home.

The couple redid the kitchen without enlarging it, in an effort to stay true to WInter’s plan. “We were trying to do a modern version of what would feel right in a house designed in the ’70s,” explains Rick.

In the living room, soft-hued seating arranged in a circle is perfect for entertaining. On the far wall, Sunrise Over the Hudson, by Erik Koeppel, competes with the stunning scenery outside. “Charlie was interested in skewered views, like looking straight up at the sky and then out to the woods,” says Rick.

A brick hearth designed by Winter was updated with a gas fireplace. The couple redid the kitchen without enlarging it, in an effort to stay true to Winter’s plan. “We were trying to do a modern version of what would feel right in a house designed in the ’70s,” explains Rick.

Before: The 1970s home had been updated in the 1980s.

Stair and front door