Mint green-painted ironwork and tiles connect the indoors to the outside more fluidly.

The Max-A studio is also built with a pine frame, though it has pine panelling on the ceiling, while the main house ceiling is painted a warm white.

CCS Architecture designed this 5,800-square-foot home for a family of five in Palo Alto, California. The home’s bent, linear configuration divides the site; the public-facing, street sides wrap the corner, creating a more private interior. A breezeway leads to the entry and the yard beyond, while also separating the main house from the garage and guest studio, which opens directly out to the garden with large sliding doors.

A modular shelf system by Alu provides a more sculptural take on the classic bathroom vanity in this Toronto home.

Though only two feet deep, the Ikea cabinet Azevedo bought for the guest bath didn’t quite fit, so she sliced off eight inches with a table saw. “It might be unorthodox, but it was just easier, faster, and cheaper to do it myself,” says the former furniture designer.

Beyond the guest bedroom lies the rocky shore and the coastline's dramatic landscape. A 20-minute walk takes Schneider and her guests to small ponds (and calmer waters) in which to swim.

Maira wallpaper from the 70s adorns the guest bathroom. When they knocked down several interior walls, Sawatzky and Flanders were left with tons of lath—the thin, irregular strips of softwood that provided the base for wall plaster. With the help of a demolition contractor, they sorted out the cleanest pieces to reuse. The couple clad the box on the second floor that contains their bathroom and closets with the lath, nail-gunning each piece to the walls.

Maja demonstrates another use for the guest bed: a trampoline. Behind her is a wall of storage, an essential attribute in the 1,260-square-foot house. Extreme editing of material possessions also helps.

Green tea and a sweet for a guest.

Courtyard

The vacation complex is designed to promote an easy flow between the two families' spaces, which include guest cabins and a shared porch for hanging out and eating.

Maybe the most enviable bunk in the house, the downstairs guest room has an unadulterated view out into the trees.

One of two charming guest houses tucked away on the property.

99 by Von Tundra and Lydia Cambron $13,000 Oregon-based Von Tundra’s unit combines three different storage options—a rack, drawers, and boxes—into a multipurpose dresser.

Guest House + Courtyard

Guest House Living Room

The kitchen appliances are by Mora and the sink is by Franke.

Guest House Entry

Sleek and streamlined, THIN by designer Peter Bristol for Juniper is an innovative task light that generates the maximum amount of light while using minimal materials. The result is a powerful lamp that can produce over 500 lumens of warm white light while remaining modest in size. The ultra-thin body can be extended to three feet, allowing it to stretch over most work surfaces.

The cabinet under the built-in desk opens to reveal a fold-out bed for guests.

Lightroom 1.0, a photography studio, is a freestanding structure on the property. “Together, they represent an autobiography of my career,” Carpenter says.

Both the sitting and standing versions of DESK 01, a collaboration between Artifox and IdeaPaint, are outfitted with dry erase surfaces for recording sudden bursts of creativity.

The juxtaposition of black and white is perhaps the most notable detail of the home’s interiors. In the guest bathroom, black and white tiles provide visual interest.

Style: "#1"

Feigen House

Yellow Brook Farm Poolside and Pool/Guest House

Vintage bent plywood stacking chairs by Roland Rainer are purposeful and can be moved to suit any situation.

A guest bedroom leads to a private deck.

The rooms, featuring sloped ceilings, feel small and intimate. In the guest bedroom, there is a custom bed and a Swedish school desk found on eBay.

The guest room cleverly shoehorns four bunks into a small footprint.

Boxy Rebellion “I like simple shapes, and for a house,” says Winterhalder, “a box is very good.” The two downstairs bathrooms are located in freestanding larch-covered cubes; the kitchen island is resoundingly rectilinear; and a square-shaped area in the guest bedroom serves as a home office, where Winterhalder designs UV-blocking children’s beach wear for her label, Beach Heroes. Measure Twice When determining the height of the concrete blocks that form the outer wall of the kitchen island, the couple took a hands-on approach. “We measured our coffeemaker and a bottle of oil, and that’s how much higher we made the concrete blocks than the counter,”Winterhalder says. The blocks themselves were made to measure by a concrete supplier.

An alcove above the kitchen discreetly houses a sleeping space for guests.

On the house’s lower level, Schicketanz’s guests have a bathroom complete with a steam shower to themselves. Anodized aluminum windows pop against white subway tile from Waterworks. The vanity is from Ikea and the fixtures from Hansgrohe.