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Chickens foraging in an enclosed garden with vertical planters.

The kitchen looks out onto a broad patio and backyard through floor-to-ceiling glass, while the upstairs balcony provides shading to allow in only diffuse daylight.

The driveway has a permeable surface.

David Sarti's little red house in Seattle's sleepy Central District proves that a bit of land, ambition, and carpentry know-how can go a long way. photo by: Misha Gravenor

West Elevation - Mirror and Hemp Shake Siding

Exterior with cedar siding and large windows

The accessory dwelling unit behind the home of Sonja Batalden in Saint Paul, Minnesota, has cheery yellow siding that the entrance appears to carve into. “If the yellow of the siding is the wrapper on the candy, this is kind of like the gooey middle,” architect Christopher Strom says about the thermally modified ash lining the entry.

Best Practice added a new roof but kept the existing siding. A fresh coat of paint helps the casita pop, and a new window opening next to the entrance frames a new kitchenette inside.

Black-painted window and door frames contrast with the white-painted steel siding and offer a crisp, clean aesthetic for the exterior of the cottage.

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Preservation Props Since the house is in a historic district, Beebe and Skidmore’s interventions were constrained by local guidelines, including a stipulation that the walls of the addition couldn’t line up with the walls of the existing house. They bumped the walls in by five feet on either side and painted the addition, clad in siding from Capital Lumber, a color complementary to the original building’s deep, bright blue. “A guy from Boise’s preservation office came by and said, ‘This is a perfect example of how we’d like people to build additions,’” says Dana. “We were pretty proud of that.” beebeskidmore.com capital-lumber.com

The sauna door handle is a simple piece of driftwood. “One principle rule I followed,” says Kiehl, “was: Don’t build on outdoor space if it can work as outdoor living space. Norwegian summers are short. We want to be outdoors as much as possible.”

Bert and Yves decorated Hektor with artworks from their own collection, and pieces from visiting artists as well.