Materials+

The combined kitchen and dining room, featuring two pieces of family-heirloom furniture, feel spacious thanks to a vaulted ceiling; it and the walls are clad in Douglas fir.

Homeowners Heather Thompson, a literary specialist in Lake Oswego School District, and Sam Gaty, executive director at a nonprofit that supports documentary filmmakers, loved almost everything about their spacious, light-filled 1965 ranch house in Portland, Oregon’s West Haven neighborhood. But the one pain point was the kitchen, a cramped, dark space with a bad layout.

This urban retreat, originally designed in the 1980s by famed architect Robert Renfro, is perched on a secluded hillside with a ravine and stream running through. With the help of Hogan Architects and Development, the Sundown Residence underwent a thoughtful renovation and addition that reflects the owners' post-modernist ideals and individualism. Today, it combines a reverence for the past with a commitment to contemporary advancements and amenities.

Nick Deaver Jes Deaver Architecture transformed a derelict 1930s cottage in the heart of Austin into a modern residence for a retired couple. The quirky storybook structure features a steel and wood carport and rear arbor, a screened porch, a 28ft cantilevered concrete bench, and cypress wood details throughout, such as sinker cypress sills and ledges made from logs reclaimed in rivers and swamps. The design feels at one with the landscape, with room-sized terraces overlooking the grounds and gardens. Inside, rough wood transitions to soft white gallery walls with clean, curated lighting.

OFFBeat by Nick Deaver Jes Deaver Architecture is one of nine cleverly designed homes featured in the 2024 AIA Austin Home Tours lineup.

To install Charles Willson’s prefab house, Stillwater Dwellings lifted the structure over an existing barn on the one-acre property. Willson, who is often on the road, wired the house with the latest in smart technology.

In Seattle, two architects from Office of Ordinary Architecture purchased a 1979 townhouse designed by Milton Stricker. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Daniel Ash revamped the patio and built under-deck storage.

Designed by Prinz and Brooks, the 6,400-square-foot Hayes-Bernstein Residence has only had two owners in nearly seven decades.

The cork flooring from the den continues into the primary bedroom, which opens to a semi-private outdoor garden.

Mariana's father Eduardo lives with the family, and was in need of his own private spaces. In Eduardo's bedroom, Koetter and Studebaker converted an oversized closet to a small study and lounge area with built-ins in Baltic Birch.

Designed to feel like the cabin of a boat, Eduardo's bedroom is clad in marine grade plywood.

The main bathroom walls and shower are clad in tile, and illuminated with a clerestory window.

An outdoor breezeway between the storage shed and the main house is ideal for outdoor dining.

The kitchen features a graphite-colored resin countertop and millwork painted with Turbulent Sea by Dunn-Edwards. Vegan leather counter stools sit on new cork flooring.