The large windows let in fresh breezes and provide an opportunity for the owners to jump out of the house and into the water.

Due to the lot’s small size, Cloud9 placed the garage beneath the house.

Keeping the home cozy in winter is as easy as snuggling up near the Rais stove or the fluffy pooch.

Maja's room is filled with toys and includes a little desk area for drawing and writing.

In Vancouver’s Strathcona district, two side-by-side lots now hold seven residences—thanks to a thoughtful renovation of a pair Edwardian houses and the addition of a laneway, or alley, building by Shape Architecture. The team salvaged as much 120-year-old siding as they could for use on the street-facing facades.

The children’s bedroom features NET bunk beds and storage baskets from Mono, the design shop of Sticotti’s wife, Mercedes Hernáez.

Apolo's bedroom is unmistakably that of a young boy, as the old-school computer font and clear debt to NASA suggest.

Toronto designer Julia Knezic built this house for her own family in a narrow lot next to her mom's house. Photo by Sean Galbraith. Check out the interiors here.

Delightfully simple, yet wonderfully functional, the rainbow-hued trivet offers an attractive way to protect tabletops from hot pots. $20 from areaware.com.

Chicken under glass? Apolo will settle for eggs for breakfast.

In the home of Dwell founder Lara Hedberg Deam, her child's room features Maija & Kristina Isola's Sola bedding for Marimekko.

Urban Renovation (Foster Dale Architects) Created from composite materials, the deck gives this modern home a desirable outdoor space in a crowded city lot.

Paul spreads out his toys on a rug from Pottery Barn.

Lots of fun finds in the lighting department.

A little fun with orange paint.

When Cathy and Craig bought the land, it was completely bare. With plenty of sun and rain, these palms have grown a lot in the last two years.

The kitchen features custom cabinets with Caesarstone countertops. The appliances are Bertazzoni and Whirlpool.

A field now occupies where the building once stood.

Curator Marianne Bernstein and Penn Design students produced Not a Vacant Lot, a five-day exhibition re-imagining a vacant lot in the middle of Center City for DesignPhiladelphia 2011. Photo by Kevin Monko.

With little beach to speak of, sunbathing is confined to a craggy bit of rock just above the water at this house near the town of Las Caletillas. Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

Patterned Shoe Pots by Wyatt Little, $50 at wyattlittle.com Wyatt Little's playful ceramics transform everyday objects—like the humble sneaker—into delightful vessels perfect for holding plants.

Lange reads the newspaper in a vintage Pierre Paulin Little Tulip chair for Artifort.

The Little Bird Swing by Christopher Campbell

New Mexico Pillow by Little Korboose “These are the most luxurious pillows, really simple and soft, made from organic speck cotton. An accent pillow can make more of a statement when it’s something so soft you want to touch.”

Here's the little guy, all finished.

Just inside, Pippa, one half of the ever-entertaining twins, goofs around on the stairs leading from the entrance to the main floor and the bedrooms below.

Thanks to its translucent envelope of polycarbonate plastic, the house glows like a firefly at night and is so bright during the day that resident Daisuke Tokuyama says he rarely turns on a light.

Accessory dwell units (ADUs), compact spaces built on home lots, would allow for room for extended family visits or rental spaces. This plan by Gans Studio took advantage of the CHCP’s competition as an opportunity for architects to disregard city regulations when innovating housing solutions. An Array of Bungalow Additions. Queens, NY. Gans Studio. Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

Clayden made the most of his modest lot by building as close to the perimeter as local zoning codes allow.

Number Wood Blocks, $19 at Little Sapling Toys.