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.

Completed in 2013, the roughly 1,500-square-foot cabin provides an open living area framed by white trusses and concrete floors. The dining table was acquired by the owner from a local inn, and is surrounded by the Eames molded plastic Eiffel side chairs from Design Within Reach. The kitchen features a Grohe faucet, a wood bowl from a shop in Harbert, and an Ikea vase.

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.

A spacious deck and large glass doors allow for seamless indoor/outdoor living.

The living area opens beautifully into the outdoor area, which is a key design element of Eichler homes. Photo by Mariko Reed.

Inspiration crowds Alexander’s studio desk.

A Movie sofa, by CB2, and a Rais wood-burning stove are in the living room.

The single main room features ample glazing to provide natural light for cultivation of artistic endeavors. In the words of Witt, the “studio is the anchor for the backyard."

Fir plywood from Freres Lumber joins IKEA cabinets. The figure painting is by Dylan Dean.

In the living quarters of Lightroom 2.0, Carpenter’s daughter Esme chats with her boyfriend, who is seated on a Milo Baughman Case Sofa.

Leo Marmol and Alisa Becket enjoy one of their home’s many outdoor spaces.

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.

Rodriguez, a designer and architect who runs the studio Agi Miagi, created the pendant lamp and terrariums in the dining area. The space is open to the living area, where Brown’s son, Hugo, sits on a Living Divani sofa. The countertop-table is by Bercy Chen Studio.

This dreamy, glass bedroom by the lake was created as an early prototype for the prefabricated greenhouse/she kits known as the Kekkilä Green Sheds.

The combination of high ceilings and a cathedral-style design add character to the kitchen area. Photo by Mariko Reed.

Rachel Nolan and Steven Farrell’s weekend house is located a couple of blocks from the beach on Australia’s Mornington Peninsula. Built with passive principles in mind, the low-slung structure features double-thick brick walls for thermal massing.

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.

In the living room, and throughout the home, recessed "book nooks" are used to provide space-saving storage. The only seating in the room is a sleek black faux leather and steel daybed, fabricated by Montreal-based Surface Jalouse. Walls were removed to cohesively unite the living space and kitchen.

A small, dilapidated 10' x 12' neighboring structure was brought back to life and is now used as an art studio and guest cottage with a Murphy bed. In total, the property can sleep 10 people comfortably.

Marco V. Morelli says his Studio Shed is the perfect refuge. “It’s changed my life for the better,” he says. “I’ve gotten so much more work done, and I think my marital relations are much better because I have a place of my own.”

“The backyard, which was kind of the focus of the project, was overgrown and quite disconnected from the house itself,” said architect Nigel Parish. The glass doors of the addition open onto a patio and lawn where the kids can play.

Farca furnished the living room with a Serge Mouille three-arm floor lamp, custom sofas from EF Collection, and Surface tables by Vincent Van Duysen for B&B Italia.

The dining table in the open-plan space is custom, and the fireplace is from Napoleon.

With 5,000 square feet on the ground floor, the structure boasts two capacious exhibition spaces, which the couple use to show their own work, as well as rent out to others for private events.

Working with his colleagues at Austin Maynard Architects, architect Andrew Maynard added a 184-square-foot, sun-saturated greenhouse extension to his existing 364-square-foot home, and the new space serves as an office for him and his team.

In the sitting area, two leather Paulistano chairs by Paulo Mendes da Rocha top a rug by Yerra; the wall paint is Comex.

Darcy Miro and her son, Lucien, enjoy a moment in their new double-height living room. The Charlotte Perriand wall sconces are vintage finds.

The home’s living room is located on the lower level, opposite the kitchen. The herringbone-patterned brick floor is partially covered by a carpet purchased in Istanbul. A sofa and Muuto sideboard anchor opposite sides of the space.

The walls of the cinema room/guest bedroom are covered with Seasons Autumn Cloud Forest. Because it’s a cinema room, Zeng and her husband knew they wanted a dark colored wallpaper to help minimize the light reflection from the projector. "We immediately thought of our Cloud Forest design. Full of drama, the surreal composition of plants floating between the clouds seemed like the perfect fit for a cinema room," she says.

Zebra-print cushion covers from H&M Home and a pair of tables by Patricia Urquiola for B&B Italia provide a colorful counterpoint to the neutral palette of the living area’s B&B Italia sofa and Pernilla 69 armchairs by Bruno Mathsson for Dux. A Lotta Döbling painting from Domeij Gallery hangs on the wall.

The architects dubbed the detached backyard unit the "cube." A staircase with floating tread leads up to a rooftop deck.

Architect Tamira Sawatzky used Ikea components—one-inch Lagan butcher block countertops and inexpensive Ekby Lerberg brackets—when designing the bookshelves along the living room wall in the home/studio he designed for himself and his wife in Toronto.

The walls of the nest room "are custom-designed panels with a linear stitch pattern (to mimic the groove patterns in some of the millwork) that follow the curvature of the wall," says Thomas. The cozy spot suits many different needs: it can act as dressing room, clothes storage, media room, and extra sleepover space. A custom-made felt curtain allows for privacy or connection as needed.

This nook was also engineered to function as a mini-singing hall so the grandparents can engage in vocal practice. The rammed-earth wall extends to the bedroom to soundproof this area, and the ceiling was tilted for acoustic purposes. "The narrow space gains a perfect effect of reverberation," says the firm.