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The cottage is located on a site just over an hour from Gothenburg and two-and-a-half hours from Oslo, Bohuslän was the ideal location. “We immediately fell in love with the slightly hilly site and its location along a narrow dirt road with cows grazing on the other side,” says Helena. “Until then, I had never thought of building a summer house but when we got the chance, we just had to take it. Especially when my old friend Susanna said she could design a house for us.”

The black paint on the exterior timber cladding is similar to “falu red”, a permeable red paint commonly used on wooden cottages and barns in Sweden, Finland, and Norway. The paint consists of water, rye flour, linseed oil, silicates, iron oxides, copper compounds, and zinc. When it is time to repaint the house, the old paint is simply brushed or scrubbed away.

Floor plan of Sunflower by Christopher Strom Architects

To make an open-plan kitchen and dining area feel both connected and distinct, Dublin suggests using lighting from the same collection, but with different finishes—or furniture with the same materials, but different designs (like these Rye stools at the island and Kelso chairs under Rejuvenation’s new Oatfield table). Another new piece, the Illingsworth rug under the table creates a visual separation between the dining area and the kitchen.

James Veal and Christine Stucker are coprincipals of Stewart-Schafer.

Floor Plan of House by the Cautín River by Iragüen Viñuela Arquitectos

"We love Snowbound, and we are never surprised when we specify this color and show up on the job site to review, and that’s a very good thing,” he says.

The couple chat with Kerwin on the home’s new deck. Lisboa chairs by Joan Gaspar for Design Within Reach surround a table designed by Louis. The ceramic vessel is by Pilar Wiley and the lantern sconces are from The Home Depot.

Although it’s just 924 square feet, Maria and Louis Gabriel’s Los Angeles back house, designed by Jason Kerwin of OKB, packs in a lot of program, including a family room on the ground floor and an office and a guest suite upstairs. The siding is by James Hardie and the stairs are painted in Celluloid by Dunn-Edwards.

“We didn’t want to wedge something into the site that was out of scale—everything had to just slot in,” says architect Jason Kerwin.

The modernist-inspired Pond Ave House by Hundred Mile House features elevated living areas with a direct connection to the shady pine forest.

“There’s a presence to that place—it’s vast, and constantly shifting,” Moffitt says. “It was clear that this house should be an observation shed for the changing landscape beyond.”

“I love the idea of hidden gems and an element of surprise,” says architect Kirsten Johnstone. “In this project, the application of a consistent material across the front facade provides ambiguity; the front door is clad in the same timber as the walls and doesn’t have a door handle. It is a quirky element that lends the opening of the door a sense of drama.”

The living room is warmed by a Morsø 1440 cast-iron stove and features a pair of calfskin folding seats that are original to the house.

After: Pink-toned terrazzo tile counters and a backsplash and olive green-painted cabinetry enlivens the kitchen, where the designers created open shelving using leftover plywood from the mezzanine ceiling panels.