Modern Single-Story Homes Built with Accessibility in Mind

The living room, with vintage furnishings by Harry Bertoia, Paul McCobb, and others, overlooks the heavily wooded site, which adjoins a protected watershed. Goddard and Mandolene replaced the original tile floor with a glossy coat of resin and restored the original ceiling.

The front entrance of the Miller House is flanked by a series of glass screens, designed by either Dan Kiley or Girard.

The landscaping appears to be based on the mullet principle: business in the front, as seen here (manicured grid lawn, with native vegetation sprouting in careful symmetry), party in the back (sunflowers and wild mountain grass growing in harmonious chaos).

Among the few new pieces the couple acquired for the house is a blue Bantam sofa from Design Within Reach, which complements the Westnofa Siesta chairs by Ingmar Relling in the living room. The kitchen includes a Jenn-Air refrigerator and a Bosch oven.

The bank of windows on the rear facade faces a lush hillside. "The prototypical country house wants to look over and out on the land," says Rappe. "This house looks at the slope upward. It makes for a different sense of space." Rappe was very careful to ensure that the house would not be visible from the existing properties and that neighboring houses would not be visible from within his design. "We wanted to do a home that was attractive to our clients but not too obtrusive to neighbors," he adds. "We wanted to be good modernists."