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Glass folding doors from Panoramic Doors reach nine-and-a-half feet high to open the kitchen to the courtyard. “It's such a unique feature, especially in Brooklyn,” says Slocum. “You rarely ever see that type of thing.”

Adam and Karyn Bechtel tasked architect Emily Jagoda with renovating the 1960 home they share with their two daughters in the hills of Woodside, California. A curvilinear, built-in sofa with integrated storage sits below a lofted art studio and angular clerestory windows that frame views of the surrounding trees.

In the living room, a Malm fireplace sits on a yellow powder-coated steel table that matches the bookshelf ladder leading to the loft. Jagoda designed the table with space underneath to store firewood.

A Nelson Bubble pendant from Design Within Reach hangs above a dining table and chairs by Jasper Morrison for Maruni.

Jagoda installed two Velux skylights in the kitchen and one apiece in the kids’ bathroom and the parents’. “Ideally, every room in the house has enough natural light that you don’t have to turn on the lights during the day,” says the architect. The frost bathroom tile is from Heath Ceramics, while the faucet is from Vola

A sensitivity to color and texture drove many design decisions. In the family room, a plywood climbing wall adds a playful touch.

Looking down from the upstairs loft, the original post and beam structure defines the grand open space.

A couple renovated an old farmhouse in Quebec to serve as their vacation home—and didn’t stop there. They looked to the old dilapidated barn on the property, and transformed it into a sprawling 4,500-square-foot guest house for their adult children.

The interior glows like a lantern at night, as does the new backyard pool.

Courtesy of La Firme

Though the original house offered finite space, a decorative stained-glass transom features an infinity symbol used in the couple's wedding invitations.

The second kids' bedroom, featuring a wall of storage clad in new wallpaper

One of two children's bedrooms

The renovated second bedroom, outfitted with a wall of storage

The original second bedroom prior to renovation

The bathroom was enlivened with a wall of hexagonal blue Pratt & Larson tile.

The original bathroom, which stayed the same size in the renovation but called for stylistic reinvention

The former laundry space was refashioned into a windowside booth, its built-in shelves, walls and ceilings painted red. It's become popular with kids and visitors.