Inspiration

Oversized windows look out onto up-close views of the neighborhood's most iconic sights, including Brooklyn Bridge park and the Brooklyn Bridge itself.

Frequent visits to Calistoga Ranch left a Los Angeles couple hankering for even more time amid Napa Valley’s tranquil vineyards, so they realized it was the right moment to build their post-retirement dream home in California Wine Country. Wade Design Architects and Geremia Design knew exactly how to bring it to life.

Drawing inspiration from the farmhouse vernacular, the Clinton Corners Residence features gabled structures clad in western red cedar and topped with standing seam metal roofing.

GreenSpur and McAllister Architects imagined a cabin sided with Cor-Ten steel, glass, and shou sugi ban–treated cedar for a wooded property outside of Washington, DC.

The Japanese "no-brand" masters of minimalism unveil the first single-story design in their line of prefab homes.

“We chose a gray veined marble (Vermont Royal Danby, from ABC Worldwide) for the kitchen counter,” Barker says. “We found bleached walnut floors from Madera to tie the parlor floor together.”

Ten minutes from British Columbia’s prized Whistler and Blackcomb ski areas, this house is located on a small lot atop a hill. Embracing a vertical layout, the upper level is where the open living area, complete with sectional, wood-burning stove, marble island, and spacious dining table, is found. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the forest views are especially heady.

The living room offers a touch of Nordic simplicity with a combined steel TV unit and fireplace from Space Furniture, rattan chair from IKEA, C-shape gunmetal table from Casalife, and art from Cocoon Furnishings.

The crumbling stone walls of a 17th-century farmhouse in the remote countryside of Dumfries, Scotland, presented a unique renovation opportunity for Lily Jencks Studio and Nathanael Dorent Architecture, the teams behind this project. Rather than demolish the old walls, they inserted a crisp, modern home within them, so as to emphasize the site's history and passage of time.

The architects worked with the natural, six-foot slope of the site and built the Granny Pad into the hill to gain the needed interior height. The volume on the right is the original garage footprint, which now houses a kitchen and sitting room. The added volume on the left hosts the bedroom, as well as a bathroom beneath the loft space.

Klopf Architecture updated this Eichler with a radiant floor heating system, re-stained paneling, and a new office/guest room filled with Eichler hallmarks like dark bronze door handles.

The bedroom wing steps out to the pool. Cor-Ten steel encases the doors and windows, and forms the custom cantilevered canopies.

"The exterior cladding of the house is custom-made, a play on board-and-batten siding organized into patterns that suggest varied depth and texture," notes the firm. "Painted in subtle gradations from white to gray, the striped shadows of the board-and-battens shift throughout the day. "

Black-framed windows and doors tie in with the black metal roof and dark chimney.

A young Finnish designer bypasses building permits by creating an affordable tiny home under 100 square feet.

Conceived as an escape from city living, this 2,580-square-foot prefab comprises two primary and 11 secondary modules, while the 290-square-foot guest cabins consist of single modules craned into place atop concrete piers.

Enclosed in glass and elevated in the tree canopy, the living room is furnished with midcentury modern classics including a Case Kelston sofa from DWR and a Knoll Womb chair and ottoman. The custom red wool rug is from Driscoll Robbins.

Materials such as unpolished stone, used for the interior walls speak louder than statement furniture or décor.