Extension

Twenty-foot sliders flank the living/dining area, providing spectacular views in both directions. The painting is by Randi Mork-Ulnes, Casper’s mother.

The red aluminium windows and doors from Grove Windows add colour and interest.

Remo Kommnick and Emi Moore wanted a minimalist home that could blend with its site in rural Virginia. “We had to keep things really simple,” says architect Patrick Farley. The cabin is clad in stained western red cedar, and its form is inspired by shelters on the nearby Appalachian Trail.

The oversized eaves provide protection from the elements and allow one to walk around the entire home in all weathers. Rain chains are used as decorative alternatives to downpipes.

"In some ways the strongest attributes of the house are probably the outside spaces,” says Court. The original cedar deck was replaced with Kebony decking that wraps around a century-old cherry tree. A pair of Andy rockers from Mamagreen face an ottoman by Kenneth Cobonpue. The accordion doors are a NanaWall SL-60 system that allows the main room of the guesthouse to open completely to the deck.

The kitchen runs under the black block that descends from the ceiling. The countertop is concrete and the cabinet fronts are hardware store shelves mounted on an Ikea base. Dried beach kale branches hang in the corner. The dining table is a piece of plywood painted black atop a base from Hay. Thomas made the bench using wood left over from the forms used to cast the concrete wall boards.

Designers Valerie Levitt Halsey and Brett Halsey brought cohesion to a 1949 house in suburban Los Angeles that had been expanded in the early 1960s by its original designer, Donald E. Pedersen. The slanted windows at the front “provide the first hint that there’s something interesting inside,” says Halsey.

The landscaping features encore azaleas, arborvitae, and Japanese cypress. An oak forest in the backyard provides a sense of privacy and seclusion.

Downstairs, the open-plan living and dining space features expansive openings that open out to the balconies, patio, and the integrated gardens. This abundance of green space connects the home to the framed views of the verdant escarpment.

“The clients live inside and out,” says architect Jeffrey Bokey-Grant. “It sounds cliched but the idea is that the doors are generally open all the time and you flow in and out without barriers.” The main balcony and rear doors are all weather so the doors can even remain open in the rain.

Acapulco chairs sit on the adjacent deck. The windows are by Milgard and the glass sliders are by Western Window Systems.

In Oakland, the weather allows for indoor/outdoor living most of the year.

She also introduced new masonry features in primary colors and reoriented the home’s glazing toward the backyard rather than the street.