Architectural designer Sebastian Mariscal and project manager Jeff Svitak created a house in Venice, California, for Michael and Tamami Sylvester. Known as Dwell Home Venice for its role as an exemplification of modern architecture, the house is an homage to indoor-outdoor living. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

“The home is quite small, but designed in such a way that you don’t feel it,” Herrin says. Lift-slide openings by Quantum Windows & Doors, which were fabricated fewer than 50 miles from the house, make the main living space seem larger.

A guest bedroom, with furniture from Room & Board, overlooks the bridge above the dining courtyard. The home’s landscape architecture is by Ventura, California–based Jack Kiesel. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

A 500-square-foot outdoor space with a grill, a table, and a hammock sits just off the entrance level of the townhouse, offering extra room for dining, relaxing, and entertaining. The corner couch is a custom piece inspired by the large cushions of Moroccan sofas. The Fermob table is paired with Hay Hee dining chairs by Hay.

The living and dining room look out to the central courtyard, promoting indoor/outdoor living. Here, five doors slide into a pocket in the wall to create a nearly 23-foot-wide opening on one side looking into the garden. Another set on the opposite side enhances cross ventilation.

Requirements for licensed contractors depend on the scope of work and the location of the project.

The homes were designed to maximize the indoor/outdoor experience. “On long weekends, we sit in the garden, invite friends, and make a barbecue. It’s like we’ve gone on holiday without leaving home,” says resident Luca Pagnan.

Michael and Tamami brought greenery to the master bath courtyard, which is lined with Eco Arbor Designs deck tiles, in the form of succulents in a ceramic Peanut planter by John Follis for Architectural Pottery from Vessel. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

The knotty cedar cladding from Crenshaw Lumber was pretreated with an ebony stain from Timber Pro UV—twice on both sides—prior to being brought to the site, where it was left for eight weeks so that it could adjust to the moist seaside air before installation. “Cedar siding swells or shrinks when it gains or loses moisture while it reaches equilibrium with the content of the surrounding air,” says Michael. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Once through the street-level entrance, the property's modern garage door comes into view. Stairs lead up to the kitchen.

“It’s never static or solid here—with thelight, there’s always some sort of movement.”—Austin Lowrey, resident

Designed by Hawkins, the Perch by Canary 3 offers additional outdoor seating. The 22-foot-long triple slider facilitates indoor/outdoor access.

Ong refers to the open space between the old and new structures as “the void,” and he says it's meant “to enhance the ‘pavilion’ concept" of the dwelling. Four sets of sliding glass doors surround the space.

The sauna is a decidedly Scandinavian touch.

A dramatic departure from your typical cabin on the lake, this unique retreat adds shades of black to a tiny island awash with local color. A modern brick outdoor fireplace, tall and slim, is flanked by Philippe Starck’s outdoor chairs for Kartell for cozy fireside seating.

Mandel designed a six-by-eight-foot extension for additional space on the ground floor.

The house rises to nearly the height of the neighboring structure. The plantings on the bridge, which connects the guest pavilion with the master bedroom and media room pavilion, will eventually grow in to create a privacy screen. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Mandel mounted the fireplace in a blackened-steel frame, which echoes the window and door treatment on the house’s new facade.

A 22-foot-long door allows easy access to the backyard. "We paired the lift and slide door with a retractable screen for insects and a retractable canopy above, to shade the deck and control heat gain into the house," Horowitz says.

On the rooftop deck is an outdoor fireplace clad in cement board panels, plus a custom wych elm table by Arnold d’Epagnier and Charles Outdoor sofas by B&B Italia.

"When I was furnishing the place, I made sure it’d also be a good place for art," Judin tells FvF. "After that, I considered my other passions: cooking, for example. My kitchen is the heart and center of the house."

The home’s living room can be kept open to the elements, or sectioned off with sliding glass walls. A natural concrete slab acts as an exterior barrier, and freijó wood and track lighting define the interior space. C10 sofa by Marcus Ferreira and vintage Poltrona Molé chair by Sergio Rodrigues provide casual seating. Across the partition wall, a Jader Almeida table anchors the dining room.

“From the beginning we knew we needed to remove the rear 80s extension and preserve the front Edwardian home,” architect Michael Ong says. “So, we were interested in how the two different architectural styles would work together.” The old Edwardian home can be seen in the center of the frame, through the dining room and kitchen of the addition. Merbau Decking extends into the garden, which became the focal point of the home.

“Natural light was not great in this house,” Ong says. “So it was important that we came up with a concept that allowed natural light to flow through the new extension and also to the existing front part of the house.”

Architect Gregory Phillips connected the original house to a new modern extension that doesn’t interfere with the surrounding houses. “I try to be true to the location,”he explains, “so it doesn’t seem like some spaceship has landed.”

To blur the line between indoors and outdoors, San Francisco–based Klopf Architecture integrated glass doors that organically separate the living area from the patio.

Architecture firm NADAAA planned a striated addition to a brick neo-Georgian house in Boston with the owners’ primary goal in mind: to engage with the outdoors year-round. The walls of the rear kitchen and living space are virtually all glass, allowing sight lines to the existing gardens and new pool house through a series of framed vignettes onto the backyard landscape. The glass box is bookended by uniform “fins” that mark the edge of each picture window, as shown here. Photo by John Horner.

A movable island, set on stainless steel casters, sits in the center of the kitchen. The Panasonic microwave is built into the cabinetry and the August pendant lights illuminating the island are by Uberhaus.

Architect Drew Mandel updated a house in Toronto to look modern and cozy. The clients desired a warm material base for the interior so Mandel used American walnut for the flooring, millwork, and staircase. Loire limestone covers the landing below the steps and Calacatta marble clads the kitchen counters and island.

The outdoor shower situated off of the master bedroom is enclosed to offer privacy and features a courtyard garden. Michael Arp of Lanoha Nurseries designed the house's landscaping.

Architect Janna Levitt devised a creative emellishment for a residence in Canada. Photo by: Philip Cheung

The house’s slatted, anodized aluminum canopies and indoor-outdoor spaces flow into one another. The resin Opal lounge and Square Cube table, with pillows and cushions covered in Sunbrella fabrics, and the teak and powder-coated cast aluminum Silver Dining swivel rocker, are all from the Veneman Collections.

An enormous bi-fold door from Sun Paradise peels back to open the upgraded kitchen-dining area to a new raised terrace. The home's exterior is wrapped in an insulated render system.

"The house plan is composed of a grid with alternating interior and exterior spaces, so that every interior space is adjacent to at least two exterior ones," architect Roberto Javier Dumont says. Designed as a weekend house for a family that lives in San Salvador, the retreat totals 3,500 square feet.

A doormat at the front door can tell a lot about the personalities of the people who live inside. Instead of a simple “Welcome” mat or neutral doormat, consider Umbra Shift’s Above Home Floor Mat, a hand-woven mat with abstract illustrations. Meant to depict a backyard, the image is largely geometric and provide a colorful accent for a doorstep.

The rear facade. A system of sliding glass windows and doors underscore the indoor/outdoor nature of the house.