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Inside, rustic elements (like wood beams and whitewashed wood) nod to the structure’s former life, while walls of glass, black metal accents, and sleek furnishings give it a fresh, new look. After the renovation, the couple loved the guesthouse so much they decided to make it their full-time dwelling.

A view showing how the addition meets the original home. The exterior is clad in a European-style rain screen, a new product to the couple that they now recommend to clients. "We were eager to try out stuff and get to experiment a little bit in our own house," says Catherine.

Once home to a cow named Sivk—Lavender, in English—a refurbished barn is now a homestead on a hill above the Slovenian city of Trieste. The updated structure retains many of its original elements, like stone window and door frames, oak roof beams, and a time-worn facade. Across the garden, a new single-story in-law unit in iron and concrete supplements the existing structure. In time, and as the garden grows, the project will age into the landscape—with the patinated barn from yore melding old and new against the Mediterranean landscape.