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A 1899 photo of a family standing on the front porch of their Wisconsin home.

The living room has a gray rug by Tai Ping Carpets, rust-colored B&B Italia sofas, a pendant by David Weeks, and a frieze of butterflies by artist Kirk Maxon inspired by birds that flutter in the treetops outside Roberta’s balcony. Blinds, pocketed in the soffit above the doors, come down automatically when the sun is too bright.

Elemental House featuring yakisugi (shou sugi ban) japanese charred wood siding

Rachel and Joe around the kitchen island they had custom built by Tom Adams Woodworking (who also made the custom spice rack above the kitchen backsplash). The chairs are by CB2 and the pan rack was made by repurposing an Umbra shower curtain rod with hooks from Amazon.

A large overhang and sliding glass door make the home's great room an ideal opportunity for indoor-outdoor living.

The second bedroom does triple duty as a guestroom, office and Adi's sewing room.

Chris and Adi's bedroom takes advantage of its tall ceilings to add extra storage cabinetry above the closet.

A bed and nigh tables by Willie Willette and a Frank Gehry Wiggle chair are joined by Frank Lloyd Wright lamps in the primary bedroom.

As a nod to the textured limestone at Bear Run, Sara and Jeremy chose concrete masonry blocks for both the interior and the exterior of kYodai. The club chairs are from Restoration Hardware and the windows and doors throughout are by Andersen.

The office occupies a loft space off the entry.

Alicia and David bought their kitchen from Jan Cray, a studio they discovered while living in Hamburg.

Work It “We wanted to open up the back of the house, but there’s nothing to look at,” says Dana. “So we decided to put something in our yard as a focal point, to create our own view.” The architects came up with a glass-walled studio, which Dana uses as her home office. The architects mounted a steel I-beam that spans the yard, with holes drilled at eight-inch intervals for maximum flexibility of use. Right now it’s used for Ikea play equipment, but later they plan to hang a hammock and a movie screen. ikea.com