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Situated underneath the wood ceiling, the upper-level apartment’s living room is elevated by a petite, functional kitchen.

The fully detached home—with front and back patios—was built in 1872, and it’s still packed with period detail after a top to bottom revamp.

“That swoop was my least favorite thing about the house,” admits Fred. “I was looking forward to an angular, Craftsman-type thing. But I said, I’m going to trust Kristin.”

The owner was motivated to build his own home to avoid a mortgage and to gain the know-how to undertake his own maintenance and repairs. “I was craving the personal challenge to cultivate a home for myself,” he says. “As it was the beginning of a new adventure, I wanted it to be personal. Also, practically speaking, if I built each piece of the home by hand, I would have a good sense of how to solve problems or improve it, without having to ask anyone else to journey through the forest, down the trail, and up the cliff to make an adjustment.”

Built just a few years ago, this black Catskills cabin has 30-foot ceilings, 10 acres of land, and it comes fully furnished.

Set high in the hills above Portland, this home has a stately turret, vibrant interiors, and 200-year-old terra-cotta tile floors.

The house clearly displays its Sea Ranch–style touches.

This 1893 Philly building—with tall, tinned ceilings and an open-plan second floor—has lived past lives as a bank, library, boxing gym, and recording studio.

Located in Marrakech, Morocco, the riad features two bedrooms and three bathrooms.

The dropped ceiling conceals mechanical systems and defines the dining room area, drawing the eye to the fabric chandelier by Pinch, and BDDW bronze trestle table with bleached maple top. The table is surrounded by Soft Edge 60 Chairs by HAY.

The unit's extra high ceilings and large windows are remnants of its former life as an artist's workshop.

Velux skylights open the home's interior to natural light, and the couple cut a hole in the second level so that the sun's rays could reach all the way through the home.

The pilot home on Whidbey Island demonstrates the system’s potential: a 600-square-foot interior paired with nearly equal covered outdoor space, set lightly on a pin foundation that protects tree roots and cuts carbon by 77 percent. "Puzzle Prefab can be modified according to each site,