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All Photos/Editor’s Picks/exterior

Exterior Design Photos and Ideas

Jeff Waldman and Molly Fiffer built this 200-square-foot cabin on the site of their 10-acre property in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Their previous cabin, which they also built by hand, was destroyed in a forest fire in 2020.
"Some people want a manicured garden, but I'm of a different mindset," says Patnaik. She left the grounds untamed and organic. "If we're building in the wild, I want to live in the wild."
A custom mural by Adrian Kay Wong was created with input from the homeowners, particularly Lauria. Its yellow tones are matched by Emu Living barstools in the foreground.
The living room section of the ground level opens into this tiled patio, furnished with a long wooden table. In the background is a pool.
A view of the front door, made of local lapacho. Above it, the second level is enveloped in wood cladding, whose deep brown tones are starting to fade and lighten. “We like that very much,” says Smud. “And the plants are growing and advancing over the wood.”
Architect Ana Smud’s residence in the Vicente López suburb of Buenos Aires is surrounded by gardens and wrapped in timber, concrete, and glass.
Ignacio wanted the walkway up to the house to offer an immediate connection with nature.
Ignacio created a bridge to link the existing house with the new addition further downhill.
The studio opens out to a large verandah, which features a six-foot-long vintage French trough sink. The creative couple use it for soaking willow prior to weaving and washing out cyanotype prints. “We had an epic search for the right sleepers for the verandah,” says Miriam. “Eventually, we found some Jarrah sleepers. Our daughter is called Jarrah and it’s an Australian timber, so it felt right.”
The new extension wraps around the existing home, creating a thoughtful dialogue between past and present, and opening the home up to the landscape and the constant song of running water. “We wanted to work sympathetically with the existing home and mill,” says homeowner Miriam Nabarro.
To pick a site for the buildings, Matt used his drone to scan the site and then Daybreak created a 3D model to test out options for placement.
Liz and Matt had to drill a well to provide water for the property. Wastewater is captured and treated with a gravity-fed septic system that will also serve the main dwelling, when it’s completed.
A worm filter system to treat all black water, producing fertilizer to regenerate the soil.
A worm filter system treats all of the home’s black water, producing fertilizer to regenerate the soil.
The couple were attracted to the home's location on a corner lot in a sleepy area of Morongo Valley, along with its proximity to the mountain range behind the home.
An outdoor breezeway between the storage shed and the main house is ideal for outdoor dining.
Entering the property by car, one first encounters the blank wall of the home's storage shed, evoking the Texas sheds and barns Redington loves.
A wooden pergola adds shade to the patio. Terrace furniture by XX.
The family of four and their guests can sit on a low railing that acts as a bench to take in the views.
The front of the home has a ramp entrance that leads to a wraparound deck.
Double doors connect the outside to a main living space in this “garden cottage” ADU.
The covered porch is another place that people can work, brainstorm, or have break-out sessions. The company’s motto is affixed to the boundary wall, reading: “If it tells a story, it’s art.” Stories are about connecting, says Jhanvi, as is architecture.
At the back of the house, a portion of the basement is exposed, and the kitchen looks out from a large glass wall.
Dellekamp + Schleich built this C-shaped weekend getaway in Valle de Bravo with a central courtyard that prioritizes play.
The 1958 home in Southwest Portland has an unassuming cedar-shingled exterior.
Much of the home’s exterior was preserved. The siding is painted Benjamin Moore “Dolphin,” and the trim is Benjamin Moore “Mopboard Black.”
Keep founders Austin and Kotono Watanabe revived a compact home in Minneapolis with a dazzling kitchen, an all-electric upgrade, and a clerestory “scoop.”
The house's modest footprint and small detached garage left room for an inviting backyard stocked with drought-resistant plants.
The pitched roof upstairs is set back from the flat-roofed main floor, breaking up its mass. The detached rear garage became an office for Moshe and firm partner Wayne Erb.
In the evening, the house looks like a lantern. Originally, the homeowners planned to paint the house a light color. “Bassel encouraged us to go bold,” says Ming. “The contrast at night is more intense.” The exterior is painted in Calico Blue from Benjamin Moore, which is a dark green.
The wood-framed folding glass doors are from Centor. The battens on the board-and-batten siding are wider than usual for a more modern appearance. The exterior sconces are Dioscuri sconces from Artemide.
Another money-saving choice was changing the driveway from a stone paver driveway to poured concrete. The roof is designed to collect rainwater, which travels through a set of pipes for storage in a 39,000-gallon cistern behind the house.
The project was completed entirely remotely. Since then, the husband-and-wife team have moved back to Santiago, where they had met as young architects working for local firms.
Seamus rebuilt the front porch to be more historically accurate, and the couple painted everything in Pink Ground by Farrow & Ball, except the porch ceiling, which has Little Boy Blue by Sherwin Williams.
Twenty minutes from Marfa, a couple bring a 1914 home back to basics by peeling away faux stone, preserving marbelized tile, and building an addition that’s boxy in the best way.
The original house was built in 1914, on a slightly raised portion of the property.
The four-bedroom home features a front elevation with offset windows of different sizes that create a dynamic facade. The windows emphasize the verticality of the home, and their size is based on the program and function of the space behind.
David and Darian had to do a big cull of their belongings to make Airstream life work, but smart storage solutions mean they've adapted to small-space living well.
A pop of red distinguishes the front door, paired with vertical cedar siding with an ebony stain, and Richlite panels and detailing.
The build team added 25,000 pounds of concrete and lead to ensure ballast, or that the house would be level on the waves. “It’s a tiny home, so you have all the same things you would worry about in a tiny home, but with this added challenge of having to be as stable as possible,” says David.
For an escape from bustling San Francisco, architect Craig Steely and his wife Cathy have created a modernist getaway on a lava field next to a black sand beach on Hawaii’s Big Island. Fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the ocean, the steel-framed home is one of several homes that Steely built on the recently active lava field.
Designed for off-grid functionality out of necessity, the self-sufficient bach that Herbst Architects designed for their friend is a stellar getaway on New Zealand’s Great Barrier Island. Clad in cedar, the modestly sized abode embraces outdoor living and views of the Pacific Ocean.
Fed up with flashy, environmentally insensitive beach homes, architect Gerald Parsonson and his wife, Kate, designed a humble hideaway nestled behind sand dunes along the New Zealand coastline. Crafted in the image of a modest Kiwi bach, their 1,670-square-foot retreat consists of a group of small buildings clad in black-stained pine weatherboards and fiber-cement sheets.
After a forest fire destroyed their cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Jeff Waldman and Molly Fiffer built a new retreat with salvaged, charred timber and a community of friends.
A Go-Box can be transported to different locations easily, making it an ideal alternative for "van life
Warwas offset the rear of the ADU to accommodate the power lines running behind the house, and he designed a window in the office/guest room upstairs that meets the roof in the same way that the window off the dining area/kitchen meets the ground.
Ben Warwas set a slider by Western Window Systems at a diagonal beneath the overhang created by the second floor.
Matthew and Holly worked with Best Practice Architecture on the remodel, removing the front addition from the 1950s and reinstating the historic bay window. The remaining addition had to be rebuilt and was clad in tongue-and-groove 3-inch vertical cedar "tight knot
Noho Architecture maximized space and natural light to revamp this cramped dwelling on a 14-foot-wide lot in Sydney.
The couple’s contractor, Tim Schmidt, is an artist whose medium often involves steel fabrication. Tim custom-made the steel window frames and came up with the idea for the steel foundation.
The home now features an elegant, brick side extension with a rounded form that elevates the view of the home from the garden. “I really wanted a curved wall,” says client Nicola Kendall. “It all began with an image of a house on a mood board I put together on Pinterest.”
In Portland, Oregon, a culinary couple called on architect Michael Howells to raise the roof, revamp the floor plan, and spice up the kitchen.
The original brise-soleil on the front facade was kept but repaired.
Concrete and travertine slabs were installed on the exterior, alongside an ipe deck with mahogany railings.
Previously, a screened porch at the front left had been enclosed for additional living space, but wasn’t very usable, so Jobe and Corral converted it back to its original purpose. Now, it serves as a mudroom and a transition space before entering the living room. The preserved board and batten siding is painted Benjamin Moore ‘Kendall Charcoal’ and the ceiling fans are from Schoolhouse. Board-formed concrete replaced the brick, and new steps are formed by limestone slabs taken from the tops of quarries so that the top surface is natural.
“The arrow opens up to the north so it can receive all the natural light from the sun’s path,” explains Noguera.
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