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The mezzanine daybed is set in a windowed nook within shelves recycled from a Lundia system. Peta Tearle designed the color scheme and chose the black Melteca kitchen cupboards, which echo the exterior.

The residents wanted their house to sit within the bush, not above it. Two decks made of local purpleheart enhance the feeling of sitting among the trees, while the structure’s Dimondek 300 steel cladding provides a backdrop that makes the foliage stand out. The couple landscaped the site themselves, keeping as many native plants as possible while adding a few bromeliads, cycads, and fruit trees near the decks.

In the dining area, Cassina chairs hug a Henrybuilt table. The kitchen features a concrete counter by Ryan McPhail and an Elio faucet by Dornbracht.

"In some ways the strongest attributes of the house are probably the outside spaces,” says Court. The original cedar deck was replaced with Kebony decking that wraps around a century-old cherry tree. A pair of Andy rockers from Mamagreen face an ottoman by Kenneth Cobonpue. The accordion doors are a NanaWall SL-60 system that allows the main room of the guesthouse to open completely to the deck.

The eponymous founder and principal of Michael K. Chen Architecture resuscitated a four-story, 3,600-square-foot home in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood that was built in 1895 and had been abandoned for 20 years. Its newest owners—a tech investor and an art teacher at a public school—were inspired by the playful color palette that was still apparent underneath the building’s decay. "We had epic color palette meetings, looking at deck after deck for paint colors that spoke to us or provoked a particular sensation,” says Chen. “You don’t look at the color, you inhabit it.”

The living room opens out to a small patio, which is screened from the street for privacy.

New custom walnut cabinetry syncs with the rest of the built-ins throughout the home, to create a pleasing rhythm in the open plan. The backsplash is Heath Ceramics tile, and the counter is Pental Quartz. Open shelves at the rear overlook a cozy den, and allow sightlines out the new windows at the front of the home.

We receive thousands of Add a Home submissions each year—and these inspiring residences racked up the most views.

Now, there are sightlines from the entry to the backyard. The dining table, surrounded by Wegner Wishbone chairs, is by Campagna, a Portland-based design studio.

A house in Greenmeadow, a Joseph Eichler development in Palo Alto.

In 1958, Eichler resigned from the National Association of Home Builders when they refused to support a nondiscrimination policy. This 1964-home was designed by Jones & Emmons with Claude Oakland and is in the Fairhills tract in Orange.

This 1962 Eichler home designed by A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons is in the Fairhaven tract in Orange, California.

The Bracy Cottage — Kitchen, Dining Room, Living Room

With windows facing the lake, Donna and Oliver have a front-row seat to the action every day. "It’s water that you just want to look at every day because even though it's a vast plane it changes all the time," says Lolley.

INAX tile is paired with walnut cabinets by Bellwether Millworks in the master bathroom, which also features Ladena sinks and Purist faucets from Kohler. The tab pulls are from Häfele, the Syncro floor tiles from Century, and the Niveous pendant from WAC Lighting.

SHED replaced the windows with new wood units of the same style. Note how the shelving at the half-wall aligns perfectly with the window mullions.

A vaulted ceiling interspersed with skylights, in tandem with floor-to-ceiling glass, fills the home with natural light.