Remy . Podes

The front door opens to the step-down living room.

Set on a storied site, the Colorado Camelot Tree House offers a place to rest after traipsing through the pines, wildflowers, mushrooms, and moss-covered rocks.

The remote location is only accessible by a narrow road, which the architect believes strengthens the owners' bond to their environment.

While the owners really liked the idea of shou sugi ban, they opted for a more cost-effective black stain. The random-width, reverse board-and-batten siding reflects the wabi-sabi concept. “The builder said the math for the random siding was torturous,” the wife said. “We didn’t know how hard it was to make things look simple.” DeNiord planted hay-scented fern and lowbush blueberry sod around the house. “We didn't want any side of the house to feel unconsidered,” he says. As for the local boulders he placed around the house and terrace, he says, “They give the feeling that the house grew up around the outcroppings.”

The "bird's nest

The exterior of the home is clad in Norway spruce. All of the windows are from Velfac, with the sliders from Schuco.

The kitchen window frames views of old-growth olive trees and massive boulders.

A fireplace near the bedroom area provides warmth during the winter months.

The bedroom area in the pink house is framed by an arch opening.

The walls, floor, and ceiling of one of the Olive Houses is enveloped in a pale pink tone—the color found on the leaves of the olive trees that dot the landscape.

Nix and Novak-Zemplinski, founders of the design firm BioLINIA, in their 1,000-square-foot apartment’s open-plan kitchen, dining, and living space. They had the decorative cabinets and ceiling panels CNC-milled by a Polish subsidiary of the Finnish company Koskisen. Photo by Andreas Meichsner.

The couple designed and built every piece of furniture in the apartment except for the Mezzo sofa from BoConcept. The coffee table can be flipped on its side to serve as a barstool. How did they test it to make sure it would support a person’s weight? “Olek jumped and sat on it,” says Nix, before adding, “He graduated from an engineering program.”