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The diminutive Morsø wood stove and its hearth of local Criehaven beach stone gives off enough heat to warm the entire cottage.

After renting in San Francisco for a decade, DIY couple Molly Fiffer and Jeff Waldman bought 10 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the pair and their friends built a cabin compound complete with sheds, tree decks, a pavilion, a wood-fired hot tub, an outhouse, and an outdoor shower. The cabin is made from locally sourced, rough-sawn redwood, which the couple stained with nontoxic Eco Wood Treatment to give the panels an aged appearance and a dark patina.

"We did our best to tuck the buildings into the site—the goal was to get up high on a perch. It was a matter of setting that elevation and working back down with the topography," says architectural designer Riley Pratt.

Two smaller, adjacent structures house autonomous bedrooms, each equipped with a full bathroom.

The cabinetry, made from softer-patterned plywood stained with pink linseed oil, is topped by terrazzo and stainless steel countertops. The dining area has similar cabinetry, stained green.

The screen porch serves as an auxiliary dining area and extends past the house to capture views and cross breezes.

overall with old and new

The couple added the wainscot, installed by Seamus, and painted in Farrow & Ball Red Earth to continue the “color story” from the breakfast room. The white oak built-in has much needed storage behind the cane cabinet fronts and display. The Caitlin couch by Everygirl for Interior Define sits atop a vintage checkered rug with an Anthropologie coffee table and Hay Paper Shade overhead.

“Sometimes you go with emotions rather than logic,” says Woodhull founder Caleb Johnson. “I just wanted to renovate the little Pizza Hut look-alike my son told me looked like a blowfish.”

Owner Kristine likes to spend her weekend mornings in the kitchen, under the skylight.

Now the ceiling framework gives the room more height, and two taller window units flank either side of the bed, adding to the illusion of more height. Pendants by Poul Henningsen for Louis Poulsen hang above the custom white oak bed designed by Lake Flato Architects.

The team removed the brick at the fireplace and added a terrazzo hearth with custom brass. The angles of the walls made a traditional furniture layout awkward, so the designers opted to float the custom sofa in the center so circulation flows easily around it. Art by Carrie Crawford and pendants by Sistemalux.

A family room also overlooks the backyard.

In his renovation of Kate Brien Kitz and David Kitz’s Los Angeles home, architect Andrew Hall reinterpreted the original gable roof and siding. Landscape designers Mary Lange and Molly Funk transformed the yard with drought-tolerant plants. The walkway decking is from Kebony kebony, the Seaspray paint from Benjamin Moore, and the front door hardware from Emtek.

Emilio Fuscaldo sits in the garden outside the brick house that he designed for himself and his partner, Anna Krien, on a small subdivided lot in Coburg, a suburb north of Melbourne, Australia. Photo by Nic Granleese.