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“We always want to feel the carpentry in our projects. Our goal here was to show the wood of the structure as much as possible,” says architect Jean-Baptiste Barache.

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 oak cabinet in the living room was another secondhand find. “It had the exact measurements of the wall,” says Annemie. “We just needed to hang it.” The throw blanket is from La Femme Garniture while the pillows and pendants are custom.

Since moving in three years ago, the family has adapted to the smaller size of the home, especially as the children have become teenagers. “There's a shed outside that was for our gardening tools and surf boards and stuff, and we've just converted that into a living room for them,” says Maclean.

The original Doug fir floors were revealed, cleaned, and refinished, as were the crossbeams at the ceiling.

In the kitchen, the cabinet boxes are Ikea, fitted with sawn-cut natural oak fronts by Reform, specifically the Surface line from Norm Architects. The matching oak counter is by Portland studio MADE. The pendants are from Schoolhouse Electric, and the counter stools from Design Within Reach.

With a home for his family along the Mississippi River waterfront, architect Barry Yoakum aimed to achieve the highest standards of energy performance and carbon mitigation without compromising on design. A modern anomaly among its historically styled neighbors, “the house is a fresh, authentic approach to climate change but also a piece of architecture,” he says. Its Pac-Clad aluminum panels with Bone White Energy Star coating reflect light differently from minute to minute while reducing solar heat gain. “The house will age well over time,” says Barry, who expects the cladding to have a long life span.

The Connect 4 Floor plan

The Loggia Retreat is the smallest of the four homes, with two bedrooms on the upper floor and an open-plan living and dining space on the ground floor.

The homes are 3D-printed using Lavacrete, a proprietary material that is a cement-based mixture with superior durability and resilience.

Ray sits at the central hearth on the north end of the comfortable sunken living area. From this perspective, you can see how the interior spaces flow into one another, passing one half-level up into the breakfast nook and kitchen and out from there onto the overgrown hillside. The various built-in furnishings have all been there since the house's construction.

“We call it the Traveler because it will travel to you, you can travel to it, or you travel within it, into your own healthy world," says the Coexist team.

The cabin is available to rent all year long, and only accessible by foot, skis, and snowshoes. Transport carts or sleds are available to bring in gear.

Joshua Skirtich’s pegboard wall and pulley-system closet serve as clutter control in his Bushwick live/work space.

Undeterred by the pandemic—and with their one-year-old daughter in tow—Danielle and Ely Franko spend seven months overhauling a former hay barn.

A striking compound in the 9,500-acre Galisteo Basin Preserve acts as a refuge for a retiree with her family and friends. It even has a stable for her treasured horses, too.

A custom concrete planter is now home to a 70-year-old olive tree. The couple reconfigured the front porch to allow for a straight path between the front door and the driveway for better circulation.