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"In the bathroom and ensuite Louis convinced me about micro cement,

Reilly, pictured here, deleted the original front door in order to create an expanse of uninterrupted wall in the living room. The existing slider is now the main entry point. She clad the exterior with planks marketed as a shou sugi ban product that reads as burned, knotty cedar. A new, corrugated metal roof replaced asphalt shingles.

The rear curtain wall system opens to an outdoor patio raised above the tree-covered landscape.

Exposing structural materials as finish materials created valuable cost savings. The structural concrete floors and exposed second floor framing strengthen the overall aesthetic, while eliminating the need for drywall or additional flooring.

The main entry flows into the living room, which now accesses the outdoor terrace via the door to the left.

The firm relocated the bedroom and removed the wall in order to cluster all the living areas together. Black-framed windows emphasize the stunning views.

Shane came to the project with a "lifetime of ideas," he says, although the prospect of taking on an entire property's renovation was daunting. He kept the kitchen simple and used drywall and oak for much of the detailing.

The lounges on the patio are from Skargaarden.

Pale hardwood floors complement pared-back wall tones in mushroom and off-white.

At 23 years old, self-taught designer Mariah Hoffman set out to craft her own 156-square-foot sanctuary.

The house is hidden from the road and sits on a hilltop clearing that overlooks the rolling farmland of the Mississippi River bluffs in Western Wisconsin. From this vantage point, there is a 270-degree view, with dramatic sunsets over the distant hills.

The floor-to-ceiling sliding doors and windows were the most expensive line item in the renovation. “The house would simply not be the same without them,” says architect Miguel Rivera. “When you are in the living area with the doors open, it creates one large indoor/outdoor space that is simply stunning.” Just beyond the kitchen, a bookcase in the hallway is painted to appear red from one side and gray from the other.

The kitchen now occupies the addition, and the island was detailed to look like a piece of furniture to better meld with the living room. The cabinet colors are Farrow & Ball’s Skimming Stone and Sherwin-Williams’s Garden Gate, and were handpainted instead of spray-finished, so as "not to have something too slick or sterile," says VW. "We wanted them to be warm and have personality."