Taking cues from this home's Japanese-influenced slatted screen, Hufft Projects applied a ring of ipe wood around the perimeter of this outdoor fire pit.

A covered porch on the south side provides comfortably shaded outdoor space, and its roof keeps the high-angle summer sun out of the house.

5. "What are the top 10 most important things I must have in a home?" "If there are two people buying the home, write your answers down separately, starting with your absolute must-haves," Hoffman explains. “Putting together a list separately can give both parties and the realtor a clear picture of what the perfect home will have for both of you."

Miha hangs out with Kea, the dog, on the wooden deck that extends the living space outdoors.

The planks inside the house blend into those on the small porch just outside. It's a nice touch that helps marry the outdoors with the home's interior.

A maple tree grows through an ipe deck in this garden that Mary Barensfeld designed for a family in Berkeley, California. A reflecting pool separates it from a granite patio, which is furnished with a Petal dining table by Richard Schultz and chairs by Mario Bellini. The 1,150-square-foot garden serves as an elegant transition from the couple’s 1964 Japanese-style town house to a small, elevated terrace with views of San Francisco Bay. Filigreed Cor-Ten steel fence screens—perforated with a water-jet cutter to cast dappled shadows on a bench and the ground below—and zigzagging board-formed concrete retaining walls are examples.

The engawa deck is a traditional Japanese feature. It's a place where guests are often greeted to sit with a casual cup of tea. The David and Mayuko also uses it as a viewing porch toward the back yard for when the kids play in the grass.

The house is oriented to maximize views of the ocean and Edgartown to the west, and Nantucket and Cape Pogue Bay to the east. Natural sea grasses sourced from the surrounding area cover the roof of the building, providing thermal insulation while also dampening the noise of rain, improving air quality, and helping to manage rainwater flow.

A spacious deck was created as part of the addition. A cantilevered concrete bench stretches out to the rear garden and complements the adjacent concrete wall.

One major directive was to “honor the tree,” referring to a particular 85-year-old cottonwood on the property. Photo by: Kirk Gittings

From the deck you really get a sense of the two main volumes of the house. One faces inward and the other out, a fine representation of Boone's ideas about the division between work space and living space.

Glass walls fence in an outdoor deck without obstructing spectacular views of the mountains and valley.

Jacobs transformed the roof into a series of decks, this deck features Crate & Barrel’s Dune sofa and coffee table.

After years of visiting the area as vacationers, one couple builds this striking home for their retirement outside Greenwater, Washington. A fireplace can be used on the rear patio and in the living room, making it feel like one cohesive space. Ipe planks, the same wood that’s used in the front courtyard, cover the floor.

Built to go off the grid, this remote beachside cottage can open up completely to the outdoors with its series of movable wall-sized glass panels and screens. Designed by Herbst Architects, the modest New Zealand bach comprises two rectangular pavilions built with mostly natural materials chosen for their durability, texture, and weathering characteristics.

A rear deck is nestled behind the central cabin, flanked by the sleeping quarters. Inside, the dining table sits beneath a single hanging lamp.

Dunlop demonstrates the deck’s secondary use: as a launching pad into the concrete plunge pool on the first floor.

Ipe decking extends from the actual deck to the home's interior.

The house is divided into three sections connected by a series of outdoor galleries. “When I walk from one room to another, I have to go outdoors and feel the weather and nature—rain, cold, and sun,” says Sævik. Instead of emphasizing the expansive panorama of oak, pine, and aspen trees, the house frames select views—a move inspired by Japanese design.

IKEA chairs join a table from CB2; a Kawneer triple-sliding door opens to the family’s new ipe deck.

The deck off the front is also minimally furnished with elegant lines of beach rock and two Leaf chairs by Arper.

The top floor holds two offices—one for the husband, the other for the wife. Hers opens out onto a small private deck furnished with wire Eames chairs.

The roof deck is a place for entertaining, and offers scenic hillside views. During the design process, the team was challenged with preserving these views while adhering to the required 3.5-foot railing height mandated by building code, a height that would block all views while seated. As a solution, the team came up with open metal railings that would maintain safety while preserving the view.

A section of the roof reaches over a rock outcropping—a detail that visually connects the house to the landscape and offers a handy way to climb up to the roof deck without using a ladder.

The cantilevered deck juts out from the home. “You really feel like you’re floating,” Harnkess says.

The mix of stone, masonry, and wood in the south-facing terrace replicates the style of the original house. In order to ensure the space felt warm and inviting, the architect replaced the existing steel structure with solid cedar, adding cedar posts and shutters to unite the wood ceiling with both the interior and with nature outside.

Large canopies shade the retreat’s southern elevations, rendering the interior and ipe wood patio comfortable in the Texas heat.

“We have all these different destinations,” says Sardinas, a writer who works from her home office. “I’ll be working, get stuck on a passage, and take a break to go read outside.” On the lower roof, red Vegetal chairs by Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec for Vitra provide moments for repose.

The interior is furnished with contemporary pieces that don’t detract from views of the surrounding valley.

The master suite is a large space anchored by a custom-built "island" that holds the bed on one end and bathroom vanity on the other (see next slide). “Since we didn’t want to push the whole house out to open up more space, I added a deck instead of altering the footprint,” says Juilland. The result, he says, is a cozy bedroom that doesn't feel confined.

The new patio space is used as a semi-enclosed yard, allowing for privacy within a comfortable, urban space. The terrace is covered in light gray marine plywood, which is resistant to Quebec’s harsh seasons. The orange Chaise Solaire chair is by Fabio Fabiano and Michelange Panzini.

A small terrace outfitted with an H55 easy chair by Björn Hultén offers a view of the San Francisco Bay.

One North Face tent sits atop a deck; another caps the main building, which contains a kitchen and dining area.

Preservation Props Since the house is in a historic district, Beebe and Skidmore’s interventions were constrained by local guidelines, including a stipulation that the walls of the addition couldn’t line up with the walls of the existing house. They bumped the walls in by five feet on either side and painted the addition, clad in siding from Capital Lumber, a color complementary to the original building’s deep, bright blue. “A guy from Boise’s preservation office came by and said, ‘This is a perfect example of how we’d like people to build additions,’” says Dana. “We were pretty proud of that.” beebeskidmore.com capital-lumber.com

When building such a modest structure in a large landscape, designer and client often had to defend their vision to their collaborators. “We knew this house was going to be for Maggie and she would live there alone,” designer Lauren Moffitt says. “But people are always projecting for future resale. Putting in the smallest size of anything—to any subcontractor, it’s just not reasonable.”

The sliding doors to the deck are made by Dynamic Architectural Windows & Doors and the sofa, on which Chapoton and Buser sit is from Dellarobbia.