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Back yard and lap pool at the 1917 Bungalow by Miró Rivera Architects

Spurred by the city’s generous ADU incentives and a desire to reduce their environmental footprint, a couple—he an architect and she a construction engineer—designed and built an elegant, 624-square-foot backyard home with sustainability at its core. Scott Mooney and Lauren Shumaker’s compact backyard home is located in the back half of their 5,000-square-foot lot in the Richmond neighborhood of Southeast Portland. The couple plans to track the energy use of their new-build’s electric equipment and appliances. The data will inform the size of their photovoltaic array they'll add to offset the energy costs of the ADU and the bungalow.

Architects Sara and Jeremy Imhoff and their son Jonah use the renovated kitchen in their 1918 bungalow in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood.

Rumor has it that these old L.A. bungalows were built by silent movie studios to house visiting filmmakers.

Lap pool at the 1917 Bungalow by Miró Rivera Architects

The bungalow's bathroom has been updated with a custom vanity and copper light fixture.

Tracy O’Brien sits in her renovated bungalow in Venice, California, where a multi-slide panel door by Fleetwood Aluminum opens up to what she and her husband, Thaddeus Stauber, refer to as their “outdoor living room.” Inveterate art collectors, the couple own several works, including a Paul Heyer painting and a framed piece by Shana Lutker displayed near the staircase.

In this three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom bungalow, farmhouse style meets Spanish villa. Barn doors complement the earthy red-tiled floors. Share an al fresco meal with friends and family next to the roaring outdoor fireplace, or read amongst the cacti in the shaded garden.

Each bungalow apartment is fully furnished, bright, and airy with pitched ceilings that feature original Douglas fir beams.

1920s Los Angels bungalow

Merritt Amanti Palminteri and Rogers Hawley revamped their Monterey bungalow without expanding its footprint.

A custom, steel-framed window and door system reinforces the horizontal lines of the existing bungalow. Just outside the kitchen, Contreras can entertain guests on the patio—warmed on chillier days by a low, rectangular fireplace.

For the the living room, the architects designed a cluster of picture windows that frame unique views—a jacaranda tree or a patch of sky—and block out neighbors from a nearby apartment building.

With the house often open to the outside, dust easily drifts in. Fortunately, the concrete floor, speckled with white aggregate mix, is easy to clean.

Engelsman gave the kitchen an L-shaped layout with a large island workspace at the center, and pushed the tall storage into the garage, to create a wide circulation space to access the dining room and backyard.

The design team restored the cork floors. The island lights are Sven Middleboe for Nordisk and are original to the house. The counters are Ceppo Di Gre Marble and the door to the restored pantry is painted Tarrytown Green by Benjamin Moore, and given a porthole window with reeded glass.

Rachel and Joe relaxing with their dog Camp around the fire pit in the outdoor space. The fire pit was purchased on Facebook Marketplace and the seating is from Oasis Imports in Malibu.