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In the living room, a new wall of glass connects the house to its landscape, while a family-heirlume Persian rug adds softness to the new ceramic tile floor.

To most eyes, Ezequiel Farca’s 1970s-style concrete home in Mexico City looked like a teardown. Even the lot itself—shallow and crammed against a steep hillside—wasn’t particularly alluring. But Farca saw through all the restraints to create a spa-like refuge in one of the world’s most energetic cities. "It’s is such a hectic place. You’re bombarded by so much information the moment you step into the streets," says Farca, who first gained prominence as a furniture and interior designer. "So we envisioned this house as a retreat, a kind of a temple." The rooftop courtyard is lined with a verdant mix of indigenous plants, including banana trees, palm trees, lion’s claw, Mexican breadfruit, and native vines. The chaise longues were designed for Farca’s EF Collection.

Off-Grid Guesthouse by Anacapa Architecture

The outdoor living space of the Birch Le Collaboration House features a wood-burning fireplace under large, covered porch.

The guest bathroom features bright turquoise Arcilla Field tiles by Ann Sacks and brass fixtures and fittings that will develop a patina over time. A skylight above the shower provides natural light and brightens the room.

The pool and covered patio sit on the corner opposite of the entrance courtyard. The patio can be accessed through sliding glass doors from both the dining room and kitchen, and the master bedroom. Having lived on the site for so long, designer Jamie Chioco was able to quickly make informed decisions about the design—for example, one of the neighbors uses his backyard for large family gatherings and barbecues, and so it was decided early on to not to have many openings on that facade in order to give both homes privacy.

Home Renovation Tip: Get an Understanding of What’s Already Around

Practice good hygiene (and get a mini spa treatment in the process) with these luxurious liquid hand soaps.

The 260-square-foot Hytte module features tall ceilings of up to nearly 12 feet. Multiple windows fill the interior with natural light and frame views of the outdoors.

A family’s getaway in the California desert includes a spa-like main bath with a large soaking tub that connects to an outdoor shower.

On one side of the house, a white central staircase leads to a split-level landing the Robertsons call "the reading room." "We needed a place to hang out and for the kids to read," explains owner Vivi Nguyen-Robertson. Awaiting the birth of the couple's son, she relaxes in a built-in reading nook in the library.

Silvano Zamò, third-generation winemaker at Le Vigne di Zamò winery, and his wife Brigitte tasked architecture firm GEZA with a holiday home on a hilltop location in the tiny northern Italian village of Camporosso, not far from the ski resort Monte Lussari.

The black slate staircase draws the eye upwards to the wooden ceiling, which took six months to restore. Dodi Moss “treated it just like an intervention on a work of art, as a testimony of and investigation into the skill with which it had been created.”

The husband is a psychoanalyst who attends to patients in São Paulo as well as in the home—hence the generous proportions of the library and office.

Architect Charlie Lazor designed this peaceful, lakeside prefab in Ontario, Canada, with a Japanese-style bathroom clad in richly stained teak with a matching tub and sink by Bath in Wood.

On Bainbridge Island, Jim and Hannah Cutler created a cabin for reading and working. Sited just steps from the main house, it’s a welcoming retreat that the father and daughter share.

Requirements for licensed contractors depend on the scope of work and the location of the project.

The ribbon-like design affords the building three different gable profiles—one is symmetrical, while the other two lean in opposite directions.