During construction, Mariscal’s team adjusted the design to accommodate the boughs of an old pine tree in the backyard. The unique detail imbues the home with a spirit of wabi-sabi—or beauty through imperfection.

A small country road borders the property to the west.

In the master bath, the architect managed to combine privacy and a view by adding a horizontal-line pattern to the glass wall.

The couple asked for a “no maintenance, not low maintenance” backyard. However, Shino tends to “Carlsbad's largest public bathroom for cats” (otherwise known as their Japanese-style rock garden) about once a month. Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

The first thing landscape designer Laura Cooper asked Devis and Purdy was to recall childhood gardens and outdoor play. In that spirit, she designed their backyard, integrating the high ground with the low just outside the “kids’ wing.” The resulting series of outdoor rooms on this quarter-acre is full of memory and play.

The once-sloping space now has climbing vines, a slatted fence, and foxtail agaves.

The exterior of the Housemuseum has something of a Darth Vader look to it, without directly mimicking the brutalism that exemplified much of Melbourne’s modernist architecture of the 1960s. The street names that form the corner on which it sits—Cotham and Florence—are marked out in the chocolate-brown brickwork fence.

HEXAGON WALL TILES

Located in Aarhus, Denmark, Villa R is a minimalist, serene structure clad in zinc panels. "The objective was to create a house that brings the forest inside through large glass panels—and create an ever-changing seasonal backdrop for the interior living spaces," stated the architecture firm, C.F. Møller, of the 3,200-square-foot abode.

The living room leads to a private outdoor patio. Before the renovation, the slightly below grade area was in plain sight to passersby, as it lays adjacent to the public walkway into the building. This less-than-ideal setup was addressed in the redesign by adding a slatted cedar perimeter fence, along with tall trees and shrubs. Clever hidden doors conceal patio storage under the entry walkway.

Near the house, Cooper clustered lush, big-leafed plants philodendron, purple heart, and flowering canna. Farther out, vegetable gardens sprout in raised beds, and thyme and mint thrive beneath citrus trees. Native California silver wild rye and matilija poppies bind the slope, bordering the low “snake wall” that winds around the yard, narrowly ducking beneath a big ficus tree with just enough clearance for a sprinting kid. Wide stadium steps connect the garden levels, turning the steep hillside into amphitheater seating.

To access a secret play area in the 2 Bar House by Feldman Architecture, children clamber up climbing holds purchased from a local sporting goods store.

Arbel’s “14” sconces spot the wall to ethereal effect in the master bedroom. “I wanted this place to be habitable. One of my greatest criticisms of modern architecture is that it often forgets to make things cozy.”

Hynam built additional storage along one angled wall of the bedroom loft and beneath the skylight.

Six-year-old twins Nicolas and Constanza use Pentimento as their “little battleground,” says Pasternak. “They have some options here that they will not find anywhere else.” Among those options are a climbing wall offering easy access to the roof.

A slatted Western red cedar fence screens a neighbor’s yard, adding a measure of privacy while permitting branches from their Japanese maple to cross the property line.

An IdeaPaint wall in full effect in a family's kitchen. The company, which is exhibiting at Dwell on Design (booth #1009), is recruiting their onsite artist, Derek Cascio, to create a special wall for kids to color and scribble on in the Modern Family Pavilion (booth #901) Saturday and Sunday, May 30 and 31.

Plant Wall Design created a custom, self-sustaining vertical green wall for the show.

Graphic Novelty A textile designed in 1998 by Scandinavian designer Carl Johan Hane serves as an artful accent to the guest bedroom. Neely found the patters--Mobile, created for the Swedish textile company Kinnasand--as Skandium, in London. "I wasn't sure how best to display it. Then a painter friend of mine suggested I have it stretched across a wooden frame, just like artists do with raw canvas," he says.

The couple initially painted partition walls between the children's room and their own with black metallic paint creating both a writing surface for the children and a magnetic bulletin board for notes. However, "the black looked too oppressive," Astrakhan says. So they applied several coats of lively lime green paint to brighten up that section of the house.

A good dose of inspiration from Luis Barragán turned a dark and beleaguered midcentury house into a family home for the ages. The paint colors chosen by the residents and architect Linda Taalman are American Cheese and Blushing Bride, both by Benjamin Moore, creating a tapestry of color and texture.

A wall of bamboo adjacent to the atrium floor provides a dramatic and seductive green entrance—“natural art,” Eric calls it.

Wright and Keffer (standing) hang out on their deck with Bolander, who lives just across the road. The chairs, designed by Bolander, are upholstered in Sunbrella fabric.

The Heath tiles in the bathroom were hand-selected from boxes of factory seconds.

Sherman’s friend Anna Chang prepares tea in the kitchen. The range is by Wolf. Walls are coated with parging, a type of concrete made with sand instead of gravel—-more typically used in an industrial context.

Wenes and Lens conceptualized a gradation of white to gray hues for the walls of the 1,500-square-foot gallery into the 4,000-square-foot home, culminating in a deep gray for the master bedroom. The room is reserved for meaningful pieces from the couple’s collection, such as a figure they found at a market in Beijing and lamps by artists Wenes represents.

Front Fence

Renovating the old mill was a family effort, and Blee called on his sister Kate, a textile designer based in London, to lend a helping hand with the tile work. Kate's repertoire also extends to building installations, including a ceramic wall in the City and Islington Center for Lifelong Learning in North London. "She had several boxes left over," Blee recalls, "which meant another opportunity to use something that was lying around." The tiles, with finishes ranging from heavy glazes to matte coats, offered textural variety, which brother and sister used to "play around with the idea of reflection from the roof light."

This circa-1958 Eichler in Silicon Valley makes a mesmerizing first impression with its combination of ipe wood and neon-yellow resin. A garden, courtesy of landscape designer Bernard Trainor, fosters the illusion of more space.

Seen from a distance, the farmhouse has a time-honored quality, though it’s still clearly a product of the 21st century.

If letting your bed linens drape onto the floor or the platform bed frame just isn’t your style, keep your bedroom feeling sharp and tidy by tucking your sheets under the mattress and removing any extra blankets or fluffy comforters. A slim, white bed frame such as this one feels skeletal enough to still convey airiness.

Trellis-like balcony railing cue the exposed timber frame extending over the house. The balcony and fence are made from sustainably harvested ipe wood.

The two wings of the addition are connected by a central “void space.” The glass walls visually draw the garden and greenery into the living space. Both East Coast transplants, the couple wanted to more easily take advantage of favorable gardening conditions in the mild Northern California climate. With this in mind, they used the renovation to bring the outdoors in, as well as encourage easy and direct exterior access for gardening.

Armed with a keen eye for design and a yen for vintage furniture shopping, Glee star Jayma Mays and actor Adam Campbell revitalize a formerly jumbled Los Angeles house. On an outdoor deck space, the couple placed their fire engine red fireplace, found at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

It is all very mindful. “We proceeded with a philosophy and a vision,” says Chamberlin. “All of us understood that the poetry of what you look at is very important.”