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“Those living rooms are always a challenge in brownstones, to furnish in a thoughtful way,” says Cuttle, pointing to the narrow dimensions of the room, the low window sills, and abundance of woodwork taking up wall space. A curving Carl Hansen sofa floats in front of the bay window, so as not to block the light and allowing easy sightlines. The chairs and coffee table are from Lawson Fenning and the rug is Jardan.

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.

Inside, Pine walls and ceilings received a dark stain, as did Oak floors.

The bi-level car barn, a spare, timber-clad structure with an A-frame roof, nods to traditional farmhouses, but is “sleek and contemporary in spirit,” says Geremia. Inspired by an old photo of a porcelain farmhouse sink, it features polished concrete floors.

To avoid excavating the land, Pang and Boyle designed a structural platform to keep the cabin level.

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.”

"We were interested in this idea of treading lightly on the site. Using a green roof is a logical extension of that. When you introduce a building that supplants a little piece of the forest floor, it's nice to replicate that on the roof as a return gesture to continue to create habitat for birds, animals, and plants, and to help manage the flow of storm water," explains McFarlane.

Less than 100 square feet, Studio Puisto’s new modular cabin can be configured as a home office, gym, or forest retreat.

Entry & Carport

Residents enter the house from the street through the upper level, which contains the bedrooms. The rafters were removed to create additional loft space.

Exterior at Dusk

MWArchitekten utilized local wood to harmonize the home's interiors with its facade.

The roughly 5,000-square-foot Lens House renovation, which was finished in 2012 and just won a 2014 RIBA National Award, required six years, major remedial work on the roof and walls, approval from the planning committee, and even a sign-off from a horticulturalist to guarantee the backyard excavation didn't interfere with a walnut tree. "These things aren’t for people who are in a hurry," says architect Alison Brooks. The focus is the ten-sided trapezoidal office addition. "It wraps itself around the house with a completely different set of rules than the Victorian building," she says.

Located on a sloped wooded site, the 7,500-square-foot Bridge House encompasses two stories and a finished basement. The multigenerational abode by Höweler + Yoon Architecture embraces its sylvan setting through floor-to-ceiling glass walls and generously sized terraces on the first and second stories.

This young family of four has fully embraced life on the road with their newly revamped skoolie.

A tiny outbuilding offers a cozy living space inside a simple shell.