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The landscaped yard with multiple “living areas” provides outdoor relief, made possible by the Napa Valley climate.

The little house has a firepit surrounded by a steel bench that McWhirter designed, and the couple grow vegetables in raised beds. They “sped up the process a little bit,” McWhirter says, on the corrugated steel fence’s patina by using hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, and salt.

To save space in the bedroom, Molly and her partner, Ryan Scott, designed a bed frame that nests into the corner. Drawers at the foot of the bed add storage, and a bench doubles as a side table.

In Joshua Tree, Tyler Quinn built a tub—which looks like a mirage you’d stumble upon while wandering the landscape—right into the bed rock next to his off-grid house (and very first build). “I accomplished this with a concrete saw, with my cuts about four to six inches deep. I would then remove the entire layer of granite with hand tools; chisels and hammer,” says Quinn.