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Working with his father, Anton designed and built a custom loft for the boys in the upstairs addition.

A covered boardwalk connects the mudroom and guest bedroom structure (left) to the gathering pavilion with the living room, kitchen, and dining area (right). The boardwalk in the foreground leads to the primary bedroom cabin.

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Natalie and Lauren opted for high-quality finishes to ensure the kitchen would stand up to many years of use.

Natalie and Lauren wanted to replicate the feel of a Zen garden with their home’s central courtyard. The garden features a Japanese maple that pops against the charred timber cladding, while structurally, the U-shape design ushers light right through to the back of the house.

“Our drive to have a landscaped garden was for the kids to be able to have a space where they could adventure around the place,” says Natalie. “And part of what we enjoy is being able to sit and admire something that’s so beautiful.” They chose hardy Australian native plants to make the garden easy to maintain with minimal water.

Olive-green Fireclay tile creates a spa-like experience in the bathroom and fluctuates in tone throughout the day.

A pink-painted front door and fascia enliven a 500-square-foot backyard ADU in Mountain View, California, designed by Shin Shin Architecture.

The kitchen is adorned with Fireclay olive-green tile on the backsplash that ties to the green-painted custom millwork of the lower cabinetry.

"You can see that language is still there with the sort of two pitched roofs. There is another pitched roof behind that as well, which is the main extension at the back of the house, but you can't really see it from the street,

View into the open-plan kitchen and living room in the bungalow's newly built back end. "T

Peekaboo windows continue on the first floor, where an expansive, light-flooded primary bedroom connects to the elements under an angular pitched roof.

The mid-section of the siding was done in a shou-sugi ban method. Custom brass was used for the awning, alongside a standing-seam metal roof.

Though the living room only has large windows on one side, an upper window at left helps create what the clients call double sunrises and sunsets, by creating reflections on the larger windows at right.

A simple kitchen gives way to a vintage dining table, one of many pieces Zara and James found online. Sliding glass doors help bring the outside in.