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The entrance was place at a diagonal that's parallel to the road leading to the house.

A see-through entry hall joins the living areas with a bedroom wing.

The Villacarillos freshened up the exterior with a sleek two-tone facelift. The wood siding is painted Sherwin-Williams Caviar, and the brick is painted Sherwin-Williams Pure White.

DeNiord designed a simple concrete bench with a honed top to run parallel to the randomly sized concrete pads that lead to the covered entry. He planted blueberry bushes behind the bench and a river birch tree behind the boulder. To conjure a wabi-sabi feel outdoors, diNiord poured concrete around a boulder. “It represents the interruption of perfect geometry,” he says.

Architect Robert Swinburne deploys a collaborative building approach and hyperlocal materials to craft a Passive House–certified home that celebrates the land it’s built on.

Back of home with outdoor living area

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.”

The heavy guardrail on the mezzanine ties into the black kitchen cabinets below.

The master bath also received a new materials palette, including tile from Mosaic House, lights from Apparatus and Workstead, and tadelakt plaster walls and ceiling, which the designers say "feel simultaneously consistent with other home elements, yet fresh and forward."