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Portuguese ceramic tile with a matte finish lends texture in one of the bathrooms.

Clairmont Kitchen and Dining

A central staircase eliminates the need for long hallways, maximizing the few on each floor.

The home is meant to be a gathering place for friends and family, making it so groups of three to 20 can feel at home. A long banquet of seats makes that possible, too.

Well-placed skylights flood the built-in desk and workstation with natural light. The elegant desk lamp, which Hara calls the Sunset Lamp, has a maple base and bowl-like shade, the latter finished with gold leaf for a warm glow.

Now more than ever, having a sustainable home that conserves resources and energy usage is paramount. Sustainable design and architecture has seen tremendous growth over the last decade—as has the number of professionals who specialize in designing and building green homes. While major sustainable features pertain to the initial design, planning, and building stages, there are still plenty of changes to make in your home for a greener lifestyle. Have you covered all your bases?

A maple tree grows through an ipe deck in this garden that Mary Barensfeld designed for a family in Berkeley, California. A reflecting pool separates it from a granite patio, which is furnished with a Petal dining table by Richard Schultz and chairs by Mario Bellini. The 1,150-square-foot garden serves as an elegant transition from the couple’s 1964 Japanese-style town house to a small, elevated terrace with views of San Francisco Bay. Filigreed Cor-Ten steel fence screens—perforated with a water-jet cutter to cast dappled shadows on a bench and the ground below—and zigzagging board-formed concrete retaining walls are examples.

"Like the roots of a plant, the reflective cladding anchors each cabin to the earth, while the pine shingles allow the structures to blend into the surrounding nature," explains ZJJZ Atelier.

A narrow staircase connects the main floor with the pod’s upper level and intersects the entryway to form another captivating, carved-out space.

The vibrant tiles in one of the showers were left as is, an homage to their predecessor, the ceramics studio J.Schatz.

The Pierre Frey mural of an 18th-century French countryside scene is visible to passersby when the blinds are open. The bottom half is clad in ribbed tambour wood giving the space a more modern feel.

Practice good hygiene (and get a mini spa treatment in the process) with these luxurious liquid hand soaps.

A Workstead brass chandelier, a Signal pendant, and an Urban Electric Rex table lamp have been used in the master bathroom.

The expansive new kitchen has a generous sliding glass door to the yard and cabinetry is outfitted in plain-sawn walnut. "The wood is close in tone to the existing mahogany woodwork, but it has a more expressive grain," says Chadbourne. "We used it at all new cabinetry in flat, flush panels. The walnut’s grain character is the design element rather than the cabinetry construction details."

In the living room, a new faceted, blackened-steel fireplace surround is juxtaposed with leaded glass windows. "The existing portions of the house offer more formal and internal spaces for cozy entertaining and lounging," says Chadbourne.