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"The house meets all the requirements for being a Greenbuilt Home,

Hanging bookshelves in the writing nook add another element of warmth to Julie's special place.

The hallway looks out onto a small alcove beside the wrap-around deck.

One of the building challenges was transportation through the steep and windy roads to the isolated site, which is 0.5km away from Cornwall, one of Connecticut's smallest towns.

This Cypress-clad farmhouse by Workaday Design nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia was a family affair.

For this kitchen, the architects paired slate-gray HPL (high-pressure laminate) cabinets by Henrybuilt, cool Basaltina countertops, with custom shelving and a white Corian backsplash.

This Denver kitchen sets a marble backsplash, that continues up the wall as the backsplash for a display shelf, against walnut cabinetry and countertops of an alternate gray material.

While the owners really liked the idea of shou sugi ban, they opted for a more cost-effective black stain. The random-width, reverse board-and-batten siding reflects the wabi-sabi concept. “The builder said the math for the random siding was torturous,” the wife said. “We didn’t know how hard it was to make things look simple.” DeNiord planted hay-scented fern and lowbush blueberry sod around the house. “We didn't want any side of the house to feel unconsidered,” he says. As for the local boulders he placed around the house and terrace, he says, “They give the feeling that the house grew up around the outcroppings.”

SHED borrowed space from the front porch to increase the size of the living room by four feet and create a lounge spot in front of the fire.

After buying an Echo Park bungalow, the homeowners, who originally intended to renovate the small home, realized the potential of building an entirely new dwelling in place of the existing garage. It offered better views of the neighborhood and the opportunity to design exactly what they wanted.

"The cedar siding is simply stained with a black semi-transparent oil stain [from Cabot], which allows the color of the wood to still emerge through,” architect Robert Hutchison says. “We love how the black color makes the building recede into the background, and how it in turn allows the trees on the site to emerge as the highlight.”

The back of the property has a relatively private feel for a downtown location. The living room opens out to the garden through two glazed walls, while the trellis cladding of the mudroom echoes the screens at the front of the home.

The children’s rooms both feature custom, built-in desks for studying and homework. “There’s a language of reveals and quirks and integrated pulls—handleless drawers and doors—that is consistent even if the form and function of the particular detail is different,” says architect Nicholas Fiore.

The wallpaper in the formal entry space is Blackthorn by House of Hackney. The pattern—which features hawthorns, daisies, and tulips forming a skull of foliage blooms—is part of a collaboration with the William Morris Gallery, and it was originally created by Morris in 1892.

The mudroom offers plenty of built-in storage, which was essential for the family with young children. The bold panoramic wallpaper is Forêt Noire by Nathalie Lété for Moustache.

A hefty portion of the budget addressed the exterior, including new siding ($30,000), exterior paint ($4500), and windows ($14,000), or less flashy, but important, interventions, like new interior drywall ($8300) and updated electrical work ($14,450).

Built-in window seats and library shelving provide storage and a place to sit.

The kitchen features custom cabinetry and Caesarstone countertops.