Key to the space-efficient floor plan is a strategically placed set of recessed areas, includingthe sleeping nook and writing desk.

The skylights are constantly changing the home's interiors. It's "not just day/night, or dark/light," says Bernheimer, "but the quality of light...changes at any given hour, depending on where clouds are, where the sun is, whether the moon is full or not, all dependent on the time of day, time of year, and so forth."

Light streams from above into the living room and kithen thanks to the home's largest skylight. This skylight isn't one large window but two: one on the eastern side of the double-height volume, and one on the western. In between them are sculptural, pyramid-shaped forms that block and diffuse the sunlight throughout the day. In the words of the architects, they "add to the unexpective quality of light" in the space.

Tom Givone's current weekend abode, nicknamed the Floating Farmhouse, is—so far—his capstone project, a synthesis of personal taste, material experimentation, and historically sensitive restoration: a living laboratory for how to bring the vernacular past into the present.

A writing desk is paired with a classic Series 7 chair by Arne Jacobsen.

An artist by trade, and gardener by passion, Allison Paschke commissioned Providence-based architecture firm 3SIXØ to build a modest cottage that would allow her to reconnect with nature. She landscaped the home’s lush gardens herself.

A tiny outbuilding offers a cozy living space inside a simple shell.

As the facade of a Bates Masi-designed home in Water Mill, New York, rises from eight to 14 feet high, the mahogany planks subtly widen. “It was quite a demand to make of the contractor,” architect Paul Masi says. “But the design was so much about traveling through the site and weaving [the house] together with the deck.”

Tanya Wexler and Amy Zimmerman linger in the breezeway designed to draw eyes, and footsteps, from the driveway through the house to the gently sloping backyard and swimming pool beyond.

The family spends summers and school vacations at the bach. New Zealand's relatively mild winters mean they use the house year-round.

The kitchen contains an island countertop made of Corian in Glacier White.

In the kitchen, the cabinetry is walnut veneer with a weathered finish applied by cabinetmaker David Rogers. “The process involved sanding and rubbing in stain as well as adding a clear finish,” project architect Eero Puurunen says.

A 17-foot-tall freestanding play structure that designer Sharon Davis designed for her family in upstate New York can only be entered by climbing taut netting and entering through a trap door. Descending requires sliding down two structural-columns-turned-fire-poles.

The deck is furnished with pieces from Design Within Reach.

The wood-frame residence and studio are clad in vertical cedar siding—back then, a daring competitor to clapboard—instead of concrete to save costs. The effect is equally seamless, however: “If you drive by it fast enough,” Charles Gwathmey once said, “you still might mistake it for a concrete house.” Photo by Norman McGrath.

A water collection system and solar panels keep this home self-sufficient. "This is a retreat that provides shelter, warmth, and comfort to engage with the wilderness and isolation of the remote setting," the architects add.

The roof deck, anchored by a gas fire pit from Paloform, boasts an incredible view of the water.

Suzanne and Brooks Kelley at the back of their 1,100-square-foot guest cottage.

An Alcova bed from B&B Italia dominates the master bedroom. A niche behind the bed holds Berenice wall lamps by Luceplan, and the walls are painted in Cornforth White and Charleston Gray from Farrow & Ball.

Sited on a 12-acre lot, the structure peaks at 25 feet at its tallest points, providing spatial balance to its compact, 530-square-foot footprint. Large windows, a skylight, and a discrete chimney were all factors that contributed to its faceted form, which project architect Jack Ryan describes as a “carved gemstone.”

White-and-blue, wood-grain–patterned UonUon tiles by 14oraitaliana line the bathroom walls in a loft above the garage.

The modest entry to the cottage opens up to steeply angled ceilings for dramatic spatial effect.

Nicknamed the Floating Farmhouse, this 200-year-old home inspired one former copywriter to delve into architecture as a living. Inside, renovator and owner Tom Givone mixes vintage and industrial decor. Photo by Mark Mahaney.

Native New Yorkers, the Merola family have long held a tradition of spending summers in Rhode Island. When they learned the costs of renovating their existing cottage would significantly outweigh the benefits, they instead opted to build new. The result—a distinctively modernist box structure clad in milled slats of charred, brushed, and oiled cypress manufactured by Delta Millworks—sits nestled within the marshy landscape of Quonochontaug Pond.

The east-facing pool terrace is outfitted with a series of Eos lounge chairs (and plenty of inflatable swim toys).

The home is defined by two types of windows: large punch openings for views onto the landscape and vertical windows everywhere else.

The great room in the 2,800-square-foot house that architect Drew Lang designed for his family in the Hudson Woods development north of New York City features generous amounts of white oak, which he says is his favorite material.

The Langs use an outbuilding as a rec room of sorts. "We call that the Grace Studio," Lang says. "It's designed so a car can pull in there, but we use it as more of a rec room and work space."

Give your IKEA furniture a quick facelift with these DIY tips—guaranteed to transform your basic pieces into custom, eye-catching furniture in less than an hour, tops.

A yellow Pedestal filing cabinet by USM is tucked under a built-in desk in the guest bedroom. The leather-back chair was designed by Michael Robbins, a furniture designer based in New York's Hudson Valley.

A custom entry door by Creekside Millwork is positioned diagonally from the home’s rectilinear form.

Clad in rough-sawn timber, a series of folding metal screens open the interior to the deck.

The master bathroom features a cedar screen and quartzite tiles by Walker Zanger.

White oak makes a return appearance on the ceiling in the master bedroom.

The home is embedded in a hillside with five feet of soil above it. In addition to blending the structure into the landscape, the surrounding earth provides natural insulation.

After months of arduous design and construction, Marmol and Becket are thrilled to escape Los Angeles for their idyllic desert retreat.