Favorites

The northern façade of the main house is set at an angle to the barn

Selin + Selin Architecture's floor plan for the farmhouse.

In the master bathroom, a matte Ove tub from Wetstyle is one of Maca’s favorite getaways. The angle of the custom window, designed with a minimal frame to maximize the view, mimics the roofline.

Ipe decking extends from the actual deck to the home's interior.

The new, stepped decks run the length of the house, visually and physically connecting both sides of the building.

A series of long stairs leads to Maison Amtrak, which is set below street level. The entranceway demonstrates Cohen’s love of Japanese design with a geometric simplicity matched only by the formal elegance of the stained Douglas fir two-by-fours.

Like the pavilion holding the public spaces, the structure containing the bedrooms is clad in glass on the interior sides facing the courtyard, allowing a constant connection to the outside. Rodriguez (with dog Lupe) designed the steel stairs leading from the mezzanine-level home office to the master bedroom below. The stairs were fabricated by Austin-based Steel House MFG.

The new bedrooms in the addition have a playful ceiling treatment. "We took advantage of the shape of the building to give them a whimsical ceiling form," says VW.

The couple defined spaces with cabinetry throughout the first floor, like this new shallow cupboard by the front door. This side holds mail, keys, and dog leashes, while the other side has a bar for the room behind it. The openings at the bottom are for the HVAC to vent.

The architects removed the shutters and swapped in casement windows. Benjamin Moore Gray now coats the brick, and a metal roof protects the porch.

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."

The Bracy Cottage — Kitchen + Dining Room

The only furniture in the bedroom is the bed and a side chair. Light pours in through the angled sky-light and oversized window to the street.

The half-wall makes furniture arrangement in the living room a bit easier, as a couch can be placed against it to create a conversation area near the preserved window seat.

Now, an eight-foot sliding door brings light into the kitchen and enables fluid movement between inside and out. The wider steps can serve as seats during a party, and they make for a graceful transition to the yard.

A slatted screen and stacks of firewood shield the front of Ryan Post’s cabin in Little Compton, Rhode Island, against the north wind and snow in winter. As the cold temperatures wane, so does the firewood, in what designer Jason Wood calls a “seasonal striptease.”