Laura C. Mallonee

Light streams in through the kitchen from massive, floor-to-ceiling windows that offer peaceful views of the outside foliage.

In the dining area, Emeco Navy chairs tuck into a custom fir table with metal legs. Lapalma Thin bar stools offer extra seating around the kitchen counter. Appliances include a Wolf propane range, integrated Subzero fridge, and Miele dishwasher.

Canvas Butterfly chairs on the outside porch offer a place to chat into the late night hours.

The bathroom was similarly designed to make the most of exterior views.

The path stops at the master bedroom, where a completely glazed end wall frames the wildflower clearing. “This pathway purposefully links together the architecture of internal rooms and outdoor spaces with discoveries of the site’s varied landscape,” the architects say.

The house cantilevers out over the landscape for unimpeded views. “It’s canted wall defines the main entrance and creates a covered space for unpacking and packing—a familiar family ritual,” Howat says.

The switchback path continues inside, leading up the stairwell alongside a central concrete wall and then curving around to the bedrooms.

In the living room, a Minotti Held lounge and ottoman center around a Rumford fireplace with a custom metal surround. Fir millwork warms the space.

The site needed a path that would let residents easily ascend from the bank to the house. The architects created one by simply replicating the way they had naturally walked up the site the first time they visited. The result is a meandering trail that directs visitors to the landscape’s different features — whether a majestic Arbutus tree, a private stone beach, or a wildflower clearing.

The exterior materials reflect the surrounding environment. Vertical, stained cedar siding, installed in a random pattern, echoes the dark bark of nearby douglas firs, while horizontal, clear-stained red cedar siding similarly recalls the lighter trees. The metal roof and aluminum curtain windows add a modern edge.

From the street, the house’s decorative facade reveals nothing of the dramatic contemporary extension at the back. But architect Hannah Tribe says its two faces have more in common than a first glance reveals. Its basic forms were delineated in sharp black paint that highlights their geometry. She calls the effect “suburban uncanny”—“clean, blunt modernism that is slightly odd and familiar at the same time.”

The clients had an impressive collection of Scandinavian midcentury teak furniture that now pops beautifully against the concrete floors, white-painted brick, and pine v-joint walls.

The custom kitchen cabinets sit on legs for easy sweeping underneath. They’re topped with white Corian counters and paired with sleek Brodware fixtures.

For the the living room, the architects designed a cluster of picture windows that frame unique views—a jacaranda tree or a patch of sky—and block out neighbors from a nearby apartment building.

Modern bathroom vanities in white bathe the room in light, creating a relaxing atmosphere. Mirroring the kitchen of this home, the bathroom features custom wooden cabinetry and Brodware faucets.

The bungalow had beautiful bones but some major problems, including a poorly designed addition to the back that had to be removed. In its place, Tribe Studio designed a gray brick box that connects directly to the garden. “The owners love the fact that the extension is compatible with the old part of the house, and is completely different from many renovations of this type, which simply open up the back in a single move,” Tribe says.

“It’s a great house for a young family—playful, practical and different,” Tribe says. “You can sit on the windowsill in the sun and feed the baby, kids can climb in and out, often through the windows, and you can see everything that is going on.”

A small dining room occupies the space just beyond the living room. It’s furnished with vintage folding chairs designed by Danish architect Mogens Koch that are easily stored for more space.

Danish architects John Lassen and Joanna Tench renovated the interior of this quaint 1960s thatched-roof cottage in North Jutland, giving it a clean, modern face-lift.

Douglas fir lines the walls of the entryway. A narrow striped rug adds texture to the white-painted wooden floor from Dinesen.

The kitchen cabinets and fixtures are all sourced from Swan Cuisines. The trashcan is by Vipp. The architects opted to install only a small stove with no oven, as the garden already has a fireplace.

Lassen says the biggest key for designing a small space is to keep things as minimalist as possible. “Don’t try to make anything bigger or build an addition. Just remove all bad architecture and create clean, simple rooms.”

Lassen designed all the furniture with the exception of a few items, like the vintage Chairman armchair by Henrik Tengler and white IKEA sofas. “To keep it simple, we only used natural colors from wood inside, with everything else being white,” Lassen says.

White plaster walls and a curved ceiling play up natural lighting, while minimalist decor and furnishings (many of which they designed themselves) make the small space feel larger.

In the bathroom, plain white tiles line the walls and ceiling. The floors are natural stone and the fixtures are by VOLA. Lassen built the sink himself.

A modern stone fence made of galvanized steel mesh filled with stones surrounds the house. “We got the stones from the local stonecutter—they use the stones washed up on the beach, not the stones from the fields,” Lassen explains.

To increase the illusion of space, the architect raised the ceiling height and installed window treatments that let in plenty of light. “The singular use of [pine wood] also enhances the perception of space and provides dual cost-benefits,” Cousins says. “Plywood is affordable and readily available, and much of the joinery was designed to be constructed by a carpenter, further minimizing construction costs.”

Whimsical salmon accents play favorably against the pine floors and plywood joinery. A ladder in the living room leads up to a mezzanine loft guest room while also creating a compact work nook below.

The full-height cabinets offer plenty of nooks and crannies where household goods can be hidden away. “Carefully considered storage provides space for each family member’s essentials, yet limits consumption and places greater value on the objects that they have chosen to live with,” Cousins says.

Keeping the white walls mostly bare also helped the apartment feel less cramped. Instead, a vintage Danish credenza offers a contained space on which to display small framed art works and other unique objects.

The bathroom was creatively composed using inexpensive Quarella Calacatta floor tiles, a Villery & Boch wall-mounted sink, and a Reece Sabine bath. Brass electroplated fixtures and FLOS Mini Glo Ball wall lights add a touch of sass to an otherwise understated space.

Carefully chosen furniture and fixtures make every square foot count. In the dining room, a Muuto Unfold pendant hangs above an Artek Aaldto dining table. The track lighting is by Masson for Light Comet. The living room features a gray Nook Sofa by Jardan and a red Eames Molded Plywood Chair that contrast playfully with the Baltic pine floors.

The new floor plan maximizes social areas and minimizes sleeping spaces through the creation of “micro” bedrooms that fit a single bed. The rooms were sectioned off with full-height, pine plywood joinery — a nod to Shigeru Ban’s Furniture House. Sliding doors reminiscent of Japanese Shoji screens can be drawn closed for intimacy or opened to extend the visual space.

“High-density living achieves numerous social, environmental and economic benefits,” architect Clare Cousins explains. “[Our clients’] decision to remain in a small space allowed their modest budget to be maximised by efficient spatial planning and a creative composition of commonly available materials.”

The kitchen features oyster gray Laminex countertops, an Astra Walker brass-plated sink, and a Miele oven.

The kitchen enjoys plenty of natural light, thanks to a narrow glass window above the kitchen sink that effectively continues onto the roof as a skylight.