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The rear curtain wall system opens to an outdoor patio raised above the tree-covered landscape.

A closer look at the expansive reflecting pool, highlighting the numerous floor-to-ceiling windows lining the home's side facade.

A floor-to-ceiling white ceramic brick fireplace helps section the living room from the main-floor bedroom. Mint-green pocket doors slide up or down, creating both privacy and openness.

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Completed in 2008, the rectilinear home features a roofline with a dramatic parabolic curve that creates two bulbous volumes inside the home, one of which houses a curved skylit shower.

The cabin has charcoal-colored metal siding and a punchy yellow-green front door for contrast.

Michele Karpé and her husband, John Andrews, spent years dreaming about building a retreat on their remote Santa Ynez property.

"The combination of the low, sprawling midcentury ranch with a more than one-acre expanse of mature palms just spoke to us. Everything felt like it belonged right there and nowhere else," explains the owner.

The kitchen anchors the home as the central hub — cementing its importance in the family’s life. With light streaming in from the skylight above, a circular island includes recessed Bocci outlets at the perimeter to power dedicated workstations for Meera’s baking classes. “I love the kitchen. It’s probably my favorite spot,” she says. “Baking brings me joy.”

Completed in 2018 on a 2.6-acre site in the San Juan Islands, the two-bedroom modular home was installed in a day.

Constructed from a single repurposed shipping container, the one-bedroom VMD model includes an open-plan kitchenette, a dining area, and living space on one end. A bathroom and storage space are located in the middle, and the bedroom is on the opposite side.

Owner Stacey Hill was instantly drawn to this shipping container’s existing blue color and chose to leave it unchanged. Architect Jim Poteet added floor-to-ceiling sliding doors to allow light in, as well as a cantilevered overhang to shade a window on the left side, which houses a small garden storage area.

Built on a tight budget of $120,000, a retirement home in the mountains delivers unexpected contemporary design to a rural township.