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The great room is designed for indoor/outdoor living. The floor-to-ceiling glass wall at the back of the space (which is just a slice of the all-glass rear) includes a bi-fold NanaWall door system that opens the home to an outdoor terrace and the lush surroundings.

The back of the house showing the warm-hued Cumaru wood cladding with garden design executed by Jane Brockbank.

Visual artist Amélia Marta enlisted Portuguese architecture firm Madeiguincho to design a space where she could stargaze, make art, or just sit and think. To create the multipurpose but still economical interior, the designers got inventive with windows and wood.

Working with salvaged and donated materials (and without ferry service), the Stinn Family assembled this dreamy getaway piece by piece.

Set on a storied site, the Colorado Camelot Tree House offers a place to rest after traipsing through the pines, wildflowers, mushrooms, and moss-covered rocks.

Sunshine flows through a large gridded skylight to illuminate an atrium at the heart of the home.

One of the first Dwell Houses, built by Abodu, was installed at Leslie Scharf’s vineyard home in Healdsburg, California. Norm Architects led the design of the 540-square-foot prefab, which is wrapped in Real Cedar siding.

The master bathroom has a floor-to-ceiling windowed corner that holds a Belle freestanding tub by Progetto and in-wall fixtures by Copper Bath.

The detached screened porch sits out in the landscape, not unlike a Japanese teahouse.

Lane also designed a detached screen porch for the property. Its orientation captures the view of a small mountain across the lake. “A New Hampshire lake house always has a screened porch,” he says. “This one allows for a separate experience that connects you to nature.”

“They’re well-traveled New Englanders who had always lived in older, traditional homes,” Lane says of the clients. “They wanted a contemporary home with warmth, texture, and craft.”

Modern Windsor chairs by Hay surround an oak extension table by Ethnicraft. “You flip a lever and it gets larger,” Lachapelle says. The original plan called for a center island, but the owners wanted the flexibility of a table they could also use as a prep surface. The oak cabinet behind the sofa is on casters for additional utility. “We can even use it outside,” the husband says.

In the entry, a high interior window borrows light from the bedroom wing and a woven wood screen in the kitchen lets the owners see who’s at the front door. Kalon Studios crafted the bench from a single ash log. “It will split a bit over time,” Lachapelle says.

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.”

A floor lamp nearly eight feet tall anchors the seating area in the living area. Ceilings that are 12 feet tall at the highest point help the room feel expansive. “We needed to find a way to define different areas in a relatively tight space,” Lachapelle says. It’s the clients’ first experience with an open floor plan. “We raised our kids in an old Victorian, and the farmhouse we live in now is chopped up into tiny rooms save for the studio we just added,” the husband says.