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“When we first drove by the house, I saw the front and said, ‘No way,’” remembers Braitmayer of initially seeing the home, which was advertised as having a level entry. “But then we discovered the alley leading to the back of the house and the garage, which already had a ramp, as the previous owner’s wife also had a mobility limitation.” After the family settled in, Braitmayer began working in the garden, which she says “can never really be finished—there always has to be something left to do.”

The overall home is constructed with larch timber, a British wood, and features a central ridge beam that gives it a butterfly-shaped roof. Shou sugi ban was done on the wood to give it a charred finish.

The backyard ADU that Bo Sundius and Hisako Ichiki of BunchADU designed for Laura Cowan Higuchi and Clifford Higuchi is filled with bright colors that help to designate the spaces. "The client chose a color for each room,

“Certain people don’t feel comfortable camping alone. But in a space like this it feels much safer, and having the amenities — a hot shower, a wood stove, the ability to do some simple cooking — is just perfect," says Castillero.

"I wanted to see what it felt like to use the very best materials on this small, originally very modest house,

Floor Plan of Ridge House by Henrybuilt

The cabin at night, with what Jenny and Shawn call the "magic woods

Floor Plan of Beaver Creek Cabin by Outside Architecture

With its large covered porch and glazed walls, the Beaver Creek Cabin frames the forest like a picture.

Their daughters, Annapurna, left, and Siddartha, play with their dog, Anouck, beneath the kangaroo paws in the entry garden courtyard.

In their concrete-walled courtyard, Yuka and Aaron watch as twins Emerson and Jasper, daughters Maude and Mirene, and Alfie the dog play. The house is painted in Black Bean Soup by Benjamin Moore, a color in keeping with the period of the original architecture. The garden was designed by Lauren Hall-Behrens of Lilyvilla Gardens.

Artwork by Octavia Tomyn adorns the living room, where Huggy faux-shearling chairs flank a Chub coffee table, both designed by Sarah Ellison. A neutral rug from Nikau ties the pieces together. The artwork is by Octavia Tomyn.

The window and door frames have also been built from untreated yellow cedar, which will weather to a gray patina.

“Brick was such a good material for this project,” says Hughes’s partner, architect Heather Rowell. “It creates a rhythm and simplicity on the outside—a mathematical rigor—but on the inside, it’s so easy to set up a playful contrast with bright white drywall.”

Rachel and Sasha relax in their backyard garden.