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“They also identified that they enjoy eating outside, so the relationship to the garden was really important. To enhance this, we incorporated a kitchen window that opens to become a servery and large glazed doors that allows the dining to flow out onto the deck,” said the firm.

Outdoor living area in covered porch.

Fashion designer Josie and her husband Ken Natori are big fans of traditional Japanese architecture, so when Brooklyn-based practice Tsao & McKown Architects designed their home in Pound Ridge, New York, they used a heavy, exposed-timber structure, and included Japanese-style gardens and landscaping.

On approach to the guesthouse, the family keeps an edible garden in concrete planters by the property’s landscape designer, Cielo Sichi of Landfour.

The courtyard acts like an outdoor living room, where the Arnolds’ daughter, Josie, plays freely, safe from nearby traffic. The family dines here most of the year at the custom-designed wood-and-steel table. The picnic table set reappropriates the century-old eucalyptus tree that once grew on the site.

A dramatic departure from your typical cabin on the lake, this unique retreat adds shades of black to a tiny island awash with local color. A modern brick outdoor fireplace, tall and slim, is flanked by Philippe Starck’s outdoor chairs for Kartell for cozy fireside seating.

A collection of vintage furniture, including a rattan armchair and a drafting table, is gathered around the terrace fireplace, which shares a volume with the hearth in the adjacent living room behind. Outdoor sconces are from iGuzzini.

See Arch restored the exterior fireplace wall and painted it a deep blue hue to match the repainted blue timber cladding.

The outdoor fire pit.

Helen Street by mw|works

The planks inside the house blend into those on the small porch just outside. It's a nice touch that helps marry the outdoors with the home's interior.

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.

Muennig’s Green House utilizes the western sun of the dramatic Big Sur coastline.

In the outdoor dining room, wire chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll surround a mango wood table made by a local carpenter, Diego Madrazo.

The Opdahl House, designed by Edward Killingsworth for Richard and Joyce Opdahl, is located on the island of Naples, in Long Beach, California, and the design responds to the constraints imposed by the compact site.Unlike the neighbors, whose homes unflinchingly abut their property lines, Killingsworth set the Opdahl House 42 feet back from the street, dedicating half of the lot to a dramatic entryway that includes a carport, garden, and reflecting pool. The effect is one of entering a private sanctuary.

The living area, which is connected to an outdoor terrace, provides ample room for entertaining.

Entry Court