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In turning the second level of the garage behind their duplex into a multifunctional workspace without breaking the bank, Kyle Huberty relied on friends, family, and the community at large.

“We wanted to make it feel like a surf shack. It was important to us to have a low-key, slow, easy lifestyle,” Kyle says.

Once a dilapidated garage, this flexible garden studio in Seattle now serves as an all-weather hub for Ella Dillon, and her 10-year-old daughter, Isabelle. After moving into the Craftsman-style home in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood in 2006, Ella was ready to expand into the garden studio—envisioning it as a place for Isabelle to do arts and crafts, for friends and family to gather—and as additional storage for games, gardening tools, and exercise equipment.

A cedar-clad ceiling emphasizes the dramatic volumes of the combined living spaces, and the windows bring in the “dappled light” from the trees, says Rogers. The new plan makes entertaining much easier for the couple, with easy flow from the interiors to the roof deck and yard.

“I envision people writing their books, music, refuelling their creative flow,” says Castillero. He should know about its energizing power more than anyone, really: it brought him back to his love of architecture, after all. “It’s truly my new happy place.”

Floor Plan of Woodlands Hideout by Further Society and Arbor and Co.

An 11-foot-wide trifold glass door opens the art studio to the landscape, where rolling hills surround a large glassy pond.

Floor plan of Dutchess County Painter’s Studio by GRT Architects

Installing the shelving unit proved to be an unexpected challenge. Because the building is so old, the floors aren't perfectly even, so the vertical 12' slabs didn't all fit. "We ended up having to cut some of them down,

Bronte made the 10-foot long desk out of a slab of butcher block and IKEA drawers.

The wood-burning fireplace was a big selling point for the couple. The nook, outfitted with leather armchairs from Danish design dealer Saasaan and a cowhide rug, is Jordan's favorite place in the apartment.

A Hay pendant hangs above the bed, which is from the Brooklyn-based studio Akron Street. Jordan's friend, furniture designer Pete Deeble, made the record credenza, and the artwork is by photographer Slim Aarons.

A white gravel allée leads to Onur and Alix Kece’s weekend retreat an hour outside Paris. The couple, a pair of creatives, oversaw the renovation of the long-neglected 1892 structure themselves, with Onur designing the living spaces and built-ins and Alix responsible for everything else. “We were looking for something that was in bad shape, a place we could completely tear apart and renovate from scratch,” says Onur.

Nathalie and Greg perch on the front steps on a sunny summer day.

Another side of the home opens up onto a large lawn.

To his credit, the original owner and builder of an ’80s-era home in Byron Bay, Australia, kept it “in pretty good nick,” as designer Micka Etheridge puts it. “He’d dusted the window frames once a week for thirty-five years.” Etheridge took that same care expanding the house for its new owners, Cheryl and James Kitchener, who love its greenery and mellow, vintage vibe.