Modern Rustic Exterior Lounge with Fire Pit
Example of a large mountain style backyard patio design in Seattle with a fire pit and no cover

Photo: Jason Snyder © 2013 Houzz
Inspiration for a farmhouse three-car garage remodel

Example of a large trendy mudroom design in San Francisco

Susan Schwab James Maynard from Vantage Imagery James@vantageimagery.com
Arts and crafts two-story exterior home photo in Denver

Extensive valley and mountain views inspired the siting of this simple L-shaped house that is anchored into the landscape. This shape forms an intimate courtyard with the sweeping views to the south. Looking back through the entry, glass walls frame the view of a significant mountain peak justifying the plan skew. The circulation is arranged along the courtyard in order that all the major spaces have access to the extensive valley views. A generous eight-foot overhang along the southern portion of the house allows for sun shading in the summer and passive solar gain during the harshest winter months. The open plan and generous window placement showcase views throughout the house. The living room is located in the southeast corner of the house and cantilevers into the landscape affording stunning panoramic views. Project Year: 2012

Sited in a well-treed urban neighbourhood, the early 20th century yellow-brick structure was completely stripped down and refitted with steel sash windows, bleached oak floors and cabinetry, and elements in steel, oak and glass. The front facade was completely restored but untouched in its original design because of the houses designation as an Ontario Heritage Property Credit: Philip Castleton

Perfectly settled in the shade of three majestic oak trees, this timeless homestead evokes a deep sense of belonging to the land. The Wilson Architects farmhouse design riffs on the agrarian history of the region while employing contemporary green technologies and methods. Honoring centuries-old artisan traditions and the rich local talent carrying those traditions today, the home is adorned with intricate handmade details including custom site-harvested millwork, forged iron hardware, and inventive stone masonry. Welcome family and guests comfortably in the detached garage apartment. Enjoy long range views of these ancient mountains with ample space, inside and out.

Traditional blue two-story exterior home idea in Denver

Art Gray
Photo of a rustic landscaping in Austin.

3rdSpace have created a Contemporary Garden Gym for the home of a London-based interior stylist. The design is based on the 3rdSpace Modular system, using off-site construction to allow the space to be installed in a matter of days. The structure is created from laminated wood posts and beams, into which wall panels and full-height glazing panels slot in. The walls arrived to site pre-fabricated, with insulation, membranes and both interior and external finishes on.

jeremy bittermann
Inspiration for a contemporary exterior home remodel in Portland

Jim Westphalen
Example of a mid-sized trendy brown two-story wood gable roof design in Burlington with a metal roof

Photo by Eric Rorer
Contemporary gray three-story mixed siding exterior home idea in San Francisco

The building is finished externally in black larch rain-screen cladding. Sited at the end of a long garden, the gym sits low in the landscape, providing a backdrop for plants and trees. The roof is a single-membrane EPDM rubber system with a living green roof of sedum installed on top - which can be viewed from rooms at the top at the house.

This house west of Boston was originally designed in 1958 by the great New England modernist, Henry Hoover. He built his own modern home in Lincoln in 1937, the year before the German émigré Walter Gropius built his own world famous house only a few miles away. By the time this 1958 house was built, Hoover had matured as an architect; sensitively adapting the house to the land and incorporating the clients wish to recreate the indoor-outdoor vibe of their previous home in Hawaii. The house is beautifully nestled into its site. The slope of the roof perfectly matches the natural slope of the land. The levels of the house delicately step down the hill avoiding the granite ledge below. The entry stairs also follow the natural grade to an entry hall that is on a mid level between the upper main public rooms and bedrooms below. The living spaces feature a south- facing shed roof that brings the sun deep in to the home. Collaborating closely with the homeowner and general contractor, we freshened up the house by adding radiant heat under the new purple/green natural cleft slate floor. The original interior and exterior Douglas fir walls were stripped and refinished. Photo by: Nat Rea Photography

Alex Hayden & Kozo Nozawa
Inspiration for a large contemporary rooftop exterior home remodel in Seattle with an awning

Photographer: Dan Piassick
Large elegant formal and open concept porcelain tile living room photo in Dallas with blue walls and a standard fireplace

Joe Fletcher Atop a ridge in the Santa Lucia mountains of Carmel, California, an oak tree stands elevated above the fog and wrapped at its base in this ranch retreat. The weekend home’s design grew around the 100-year-old Valley Oak to form a horseshoe-shaped house that gathers ridgeline views of Oak, Madrone, and Redwood groves at its exterior and nestles around the tree at its center. The home’s orientation offers both the shade of the oak canopy in the courtyard and the sun flowing into the great room at the house’s rear façades. This modern take on a traditional ranch home offers contemporary materials and landscaping to a classic typology. From the main entry in the courtyard, one enters the home’s great room and immediately experiences the dramatic westward views across the 70 foot pool at the house’s rear. In this expansive public area, programmatic needs flow and connect - from the kitchen, whose windows face the courtyard, to the dining room, whose doors slide seamlessly into walls to create an outdoor dining pavilion. The primary circulation axes flank the internal courtyard, anchoring the house to its site and heightening the sense of scale by extending views outward at each of the corridor’s ends. Guest suites, complete with private kitchen and living room, and the garage are housed in auxiliary wings connected to the main house by covered walkways. Building materials including pre-weathered corrugated steel cladding, buff limestone walls, and large aluminum apertures, and the interior palette of cedar-clad ceilings, oil-rubbed steel, and exposed concrete floors soften the modern aesthetics into a refined but rugged ranch home.

Photo: Rikki Snyder © 2014 Houzz
Eclectic home office photo in New York