SubscribeSign In
All Photos/exterior/roofline : saltbox/siding material : wood

Exterior Saltbox Roofline Wood Siding Material Design Photos and Ideas

Jeff Waldman and Molly Fiffer built this 200-square-foot cabin on the site of their 10-acre property in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Their previous cabin, which they also built by hand, was destroyed in a forest fire in 2020.
After finding paradise on a Hawaiian papaya farm, filmmaker Jess Bianchi and jewelry designer Malia Grace Mau tapped San Francisco artist Jay Nelson to design and build their dream home in just five weeks. Located just one block from the beach, the home takes inspiration from laid-back surf shacks and is mainly built with reclaimed wood.
After a forest fire destroyed their cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Jeff Waldman and Molly Fiffer built a new retreat with salvaged, charred timber and a community of friends.
With the nearby coastal cliffs reflected in their sharp rooflines, a vacation home and guesthouse play on the gabled structures of Canada’s Magdalen Islands. Residents Vincent Morel and Jan-Nicolas Vanderveken adapted a local custom by installing recessed entrances to keep strong winds at bay.
The design for Tind, the new tiny home by Norske Mikrohus, was inspired by the Norwegian mountains and woods and features slow-growing Norwegian spruce for the exterior cladding.
The power for the tiny home–on–wheels comes from a standard RV-style hookup.
Ala Köl, the most recent design imagined by Tiny House Baluchon for a couple who love to travel, is clad with black aluminum, cedar, and glass.
French builder Baluchon created Ala Köl for their clients’ life on the road.
The Nook exterior features shiplap cypress siding, a reclaimed oak deck, and an entranceway of oak blackened in the traditional Japanese method.
Nestled between a forest edge to the southeast and the Pacific Ocean to the west, the home offers two distinct, panoramic views.
The all-wood Opperland is the newest all-season structure on offer from Dutch company Haaks. The company started by challenging what the outdoor experience can be—and it later transitioned to tiny homes. In less than 100 square feet, their smallest design embodies both the spirit of the outdoors and the functionality of a compact home.
The cabin was designed in 1973 by Charles O. Matcham Jr., a local Tahoe architect.
Karen and Brian’s home is a vibrant new addition to a block of midcentury bungalows in Vancouver, British Columbia. One of the volumes is clad in untreated tongue-and-groove Western red cedar. The other is covered in multicolored cedar shakes, which are skewed at an angle that aligns with the slope of the roof. Architect Clinton Cuddington of Measured Architecture worked with the owners to fine-tune the unconventional pattern and color palette. Concrete from the building that formerly occupied the site was repurposed for the stoop.
In thinking about the worldwide lack of reliable water, sanitation, food, and electricity—and the fact that housing sector contributes more than a third of global greenhouse gas emissions—the Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture and the New Haven, Connecticut–based architecture firm Gray Organschi Architecture designed and constructed a 230-square-foot home called the Ecological Living Module (ELM). The construction is a fully off-grid housing prototype that was designed to take advantage of sustainable materials, green technology, and simple construction methods. There's a a rainwater harvesting system, a solar system that provides 100 percent of the building’s energy needs, and a graywater system that irrigates food-producing plants that mark the building’s west facade.
The owners of Kew East House, a triple-story, 2,853-square-foot home in the Melbourne suburb from which it gets its name, are a couple with two teenagers who sought to maximize their wonderful, parkland views and add an internal "granny flat" on the ground floor.
The alleyway facade reveals the contemporary addition with cedar-framed windows and a hardwood battened screen. The clerestory window glows at night behind the battens.
A layering of old and new, solid and transparent are evident in the play of materials and form. The original brick walls remain, wrapped by the wood- and metal-clad addition.
Floor-to-ceiling glass windows with sliding glass doors allow access to the decked outdoor space. Because the area is covered by the roof's overhang, the family can enjoy the new bright and airy environment, no matter the weather.
The home's modular design is composed of an outer shell and an interior core unit that contains essential living functions, such as a bed, bathroom, and a small kitchenette.
Architects Jaakko and Elizaveta Parkkonen designed and built Savukvartsi as their own city home, which they share with their parents and children.
Overall, the design strove to preserve some of the character of the original front facade while allowing a contemporary structure to unfold.
The design of the remodel negotiates a 12-foot drop from the front of the lot to the back with a modified roof form that allows for three stories.
A close-up of the brickwork which is broken up by the unique, randomized brick coursing to help blend old and new bricks.
Bricks from the original bungalow were salvaged and repurposed.
The Portola Valley Barn blends into its rustic setting.
Previously, the home had been "a dim, dark, clunky disaster that had been built apparently in direct opposition to light patterns and to views of the lake," says Buhler. Now, the renovated home takes proper advantage of its lakeside setting.
Nicknamed the "lake of a thousand colors" for its brilliant coloration, Kalamalka Lake was a driving inspiration behind the home’s redesign. In a playful nod to the lengthy renovation process, the remodeled house, which now embraces views of the lake, has also been dubbed the "house of a thousand alterations."
The facades of Kew East House are banded with interlocking, metal panel fascias that weave it into the streetscape.
Located in California’s Sugar Bowl neighborhood, this shadowy lair by Mork-Ulnes Architects looks like something out of fairy tale. "We call the house Troll Hus, with a reference to the otherworldly beings in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore that are said to dwell in remote mountains," architect Casper Mork-Ulnes says.
Estate Bungalow in Matugama, Sri Lanka, by Narein Perera as published in Cabins (Taschen, 2014).
This stunning forest retreat in England uses prefabricated panels to minimize site impact, shorten construction time, and protect against weather.
Built for $148,500, Casa Montaña was manufactured in a Madrid factory before being assembled in a mountainous, coastal region in Northwestern Spain.
A polychrome facade made of salvaged, 100-year-old barnwood gives this small, lofted cottage space its unique character. Its copper roof is also reclaimed, a lucky Craigslist find from a local remodel. Though the structure has a footprint of just 11' x 14', it provides a useful space to entertain, catch up on work, or relax.
The structure appears to float above the ground. Wood stilts gently touch upon the earth, minimizing the building's footprint on the landscape. The brick chimney can be seen as it passes from the interior living spaces to the ground.
Built on stilts, the dwelling appears to float gently on top of the landscape.
Natural materials - Wood and slate
The interiors of the upper level and annex building, which includes a garage below and office-bedroom above, are lined with bleached ash.
In reference to the dense aggregation of New England’s farm complexes, the architects placed the studio and the house barns close together, creating an outdoor space between the two structures that one approaches before arriving at the entrance to the house.
The Chilmark House exterior is clad in shou sugi ban siding and roofed with zinc.
Western Red Cedar with a clear vertical grain was paired with vertical and horizontal shiplap for the exterior siding.
In contrast to its heavily glazed north facade, the home's other three sides are closed off from view for privacy.
"Both the deep-set windows and the brise soleil, in addition to the back canted wall, help to control solar gain."
A glimpse of the entrance at dusk from the south elevation. To the right is a swimming pool shielded behind wooden fencing.
A view of a gravel walkway and the entrance that leads to a covered pathway. "The entry side is hyper minimal and mysterious with slight glimpses out from within, providing only a tease on approach from the road," says the firm.
"The dark silhouette of the fortress-like structure [is] one of few things seen through the thick fog," add the architects.
Extra-dark bronze standing-seam metal partly clads the home and creates an armored appearance.
Located on the southern shore of Nova Scotia in Kingsburg, Treow Brycg is set in wild landscape of rocks, the sea, and tall grasses.
Because the unit was temporary, it didn't follow the typical permitting process of a micro-unit or home in New York City; what's more, because it was installed on land owned by the United Nations, local and federal codes and permits did not apply.
Manufactured in a factory offsite, the 370-square-foot house can comfortably fit two people.
"We took a 1970s kit greenhouse off the west side of the house, which was making the home overheat, and replaced that area of footprint with a covered porch that shades the western glass," Thompson says.
12