exteriors

The Vermont vacation house originally ended at the stone chimney, so designer Elizabeth Benedict and architect Brian Hamor created an addition at the back of the home with a spacious mudroom that uses the old chimney as a wall.

The house, built in 1908 as a summer house by John Silsbee Lawrence, a prominent textile merchant, sits on ten parklike acres; planters by Dew Collective in Newburyport, Massachusetts, brighten the entry.

From the rear of the house, the accessory dwelling unit perches above the garage on the left. The great room brings everyone to the center of the house for family time, and the primary suite is far from the hustle and bustle all the way to the right. The second son’s retreat is below the primary suite.

In deference to his Somerville, Massachusetts, neighborhood, a bachelor homeowner asked architect Garth Goldstein to design a state-of-the-art house with a facade like the Second Empire mansard-roof home that he was replacing.

The dark brown exterior was brightened with a cheery blue-green Sioux Falls stain by Benjamin Moore. The built-in bench on the porch is a typical Emerson feature.

The architects at Mellowes & Paladino designed the home so that its axis follows the edge of the lake, allowing most rooms to enjoy a view of the water.

The architects opted for a colonial-style structure with classic shingles and stone veneer to blend in nicely with the neighborhood; a front porch complete with rocking chairs was a request from the clients.

It was necessary to leave a coastal buffer intact between the landscape and the cove, but it was permissible to open up the view by trimming shrubs to four feet. The area also includes storage for kayaks, and the gated gabion wall hems views to and from the water.

The cottage, which Kurth notes channels midcentury modern and International styles, finds balance in its solid-void rhythm of stucco and ribbed-wood walls juxtaposed with ribbon clerestory windows and expanses of glass

The home’s two-story addition, set back on the right, houses the kitchen and mudroom on the first floor and bedrooms above.

The 1870s house has all the classic Victorian features and was so well-preserved that the new homeowners didn’t need to change a thing on the exterior.

Dramatic glasswork and minimalist lines mix with traditional Downeast design elements like a peaked metal roof and board-and-batten siding to keep the vacation home in touch with its waterfront environs.

Of the three homes planned for the property, the main house is furthest from the water, but endless summer days spent in and on the pond are just steps away.

Beacon Hill is so beloved for its Federal and Greek Revival architecture that it became Massachusetts’s first historic district in 1955.

Stone pillars support the pergola over an outdoor seating and dining area at the main house that overlooks the lake.

The glazing in the gable end of the recreation barn allows daylight to flood the second-floor exercise room.

Although the main house is 5,400 square feet, it has a low-profile presence; on the left, the primary suite is contained in its own one-story wing.

Nestled into the tall pines, the pavilion glows like a lantern against the twilight sky.

Famed architect Horace Trumbauer designed the mansion known as The Elms as well as this caretaker’s house a few blocks away. A new asphalt roof mimics the slate original.

“I wanted the lower level to feel powerful, so granite stones root the foundation,” says architect Jimmy Crisp. “Above that, the materials are much lighter.”

Expanded overhangs help shade the windows and conceal downlights that illuminate the exterior after dark.

After a complete gut renovation that considered rising sea levels, this Boston townhouse has it all, including a place for the owners to dock their boat (named after one of their daughters) right outside their back deck.

It was necessary to leave a coastal buffer intact between the landscape and the cove, but it was permissible to open up the view by trimming shrubs to four feet. The area also includes storage for kayaks, and the gated gabion wall hems views to and from the water.

The entrance gates set on granite posts match the trim of the house and open to a peastone parking court and the guest cottage. Fragrant lavender spills over the bluestone-edged bed that lines the pathway to the front entrance. Drifts of Incrediball hydrangea and fountain grass soften the cottage courtyard.

The stacked design of the rear of the house deviates from the cottage motif but gives nearly every room a view of the water.

The exterior remains in step with its South Shore setting, presenting a restrained and mostly symmetrical face to the street; a gracefully curved stone wall follows the driveway to one of the home’s two garages.

Previous owners had added a widow’s walk when they renovated this Provincetown home in 2008. A fresh coat of paint was all the exterior needed.

“Wellness and retreat were important parts of this whole project,” says Cappuccino, referencing this outbuilding, which has a sauna on the left and a shower on the right.

“It almost feels like a lake house,” says homeowner Cynthia Croatti. “The water is flat and warm and there are lots of tall pine trees.”

Tall grasses and a cedar boardwalk lead to a glass entryway, which draws the eye through the house to the meadow and water beyond.

Located across the street from a historic candle factory, the circa-1809 home largely retains its original appearance, although the Greek Revival doorway was likely added several decades after construction.

A cedar roof and copper gutters supply age-old charm to the exterior. “I just love the sound of copper when it rains,” Trumbore says. “We did copper on the dormers too: I love the look of it, the tone.”

To reduce the scale of the house, Titrington divided it into two offset gabled boxes, which he shingled to blend with the surrounding homes.

A long boardwalk leads from the backyard to the beach.

Architect Jacob Albert says he sited the new backyard pool off-center, “so you don’t always have to look at it” when admiring the water views from the great room.

The design team’s substantial but intentionally subtle renovation and expansion all but escapes notice from the outside of the oceanfront cottage.

The front door of this historic Nantucket home is usually adorned with a scallop-shell wreath made by homeowner and interior designer Kristin Paton. She gathers the shells with friends and family each October during scalloping season.

The gabled roofline, low-contrast fenestration, and utilitarian aspect of the wraparound porch lend a modesty to the main house (center). To the right is the garage/studio. To the left is the wellness pavilion. The landscape of native grasses and shrubs reinforces the sense of place.

Hydrangeas, roses, and catmint are among the plants Broadbent used. “Most of what we chose is short,” he says, “because the whole point is to maximize the property’s sweeping views.”

“We played with a mix of symmetry and asymmetry,” says architect Tom Catalano, a trick that helps the house nestle into its site.

An open front door reveals a sight line straight through the house to the harbor. White cedar shingles, white trim, and an aged-copper lantern speak to the Cape Cod vernacular.

A Dutch door allows sea breezes to flow through this compact cottage thanks to an interior redesign featuring a new floor plan that retains classic architectural elements—like porthole windows—and the home’s original footprint.

Working with the sloped topography, the team carved out land at the back of the house in order to create a walk-out garden level while still meeting the town’s twenty-four-foot height restriction for gabled roofs. “The house is really nestled into the land, with the back side walking out to a patio and the two-and-a-half stories above it exposed to the views,” Stephens says.

Landscape architect Dan Gordon and landscape designer Peter Stephens played off remnants of existing stone walls when organizing the site and developing what Gordon describes as a casual agrarian style. “We’re tying into the character of the landscape instead of imposing something different on it,” he explains.

“The stair towers let light into the ends of the house, so no matter which direction you walk, it’s always toward the light,” architect Patrick Ahearn says. The bays are clad in charcoal-colored weatherproof boards meant to resemble metal, and the exaggerated smokestacks feature classic chimney pots.

The symmetry in the architecture and Italian-style garden in front echoes the 1906 mansion that once occupied the site..

The entry radiates Hollywood glamour, its masonry door surround crowned by a discreet wall dormer—a hallmark of French country design.

The modern additions sit atop existing wings and feature curved cedar walls and cantilevered roofs that shade new balconies.

The owners took advantage of the renovation to make the house as sustainable as possible, opting for solar panels, Tesla backup batteries, and electric heat pumps, among other things. “We were able to achieve a much more airtight building than a 1920s brick colonial would normally allow for,” says Laura Burnes of Adams + Beasley Associates.

Everything to the left of the front entrance is new, constructed to blend seamlessly with the old part of the 1904 Shingle-style house. Tree hydrangeas are among the landscape plan’s unusual species.

The homeowners elected to forgo grass and trees in favor of a meandering stone pathway that leads to the entrance of the three-story home, which went from pale gray to black.

The exterior, designed by Tanner White Architects, telegraphs a modern-farmhouse vibe.

Below the Juliet balconies, an outdoor living room is within easy view of a perennial border designed to extend blossom color from early April to late October using Shasta daisies, nepeta, and shrub roses in hushed colors. The border’s stone wall quietly frames the spaces and divides the lawn.

A bosque of cherry trees bedded in pachysandra greets visitors with a strategically placed teak bench backed by hydrangeas and dogwoods.

Gregory Lombardi Design complemented Shope Reno Wharton’s architecture with an entry drive of bush-hammered cobblestones framed in granite banding. A pair of oaks stand on either side.

Architect Kent Duckham added the pillared portico, extending the foyer and giving the home greater presence. A chartreuse door and potted plants that change with the seasons provide color.

Peak Sanctuary, as the retreat is known, is located on a small lot up the hill from the couple’s main residence in Stowe, Vermont. The team at Cushman Design Group carefully positioned the structure so that the great room, patio, and primary bath have views that are both unobstructed and shielded from wandering eyes by the long, narrow body of the home.

The exterior materials palette includes natural cedar siding (horizontal in the front, as seen in this image, and vertical in the rear), white fiber-cement panels, and ebony-stained cedar accents. “The cedar is already in the process of aging, and the goal is for it to weather to a nice silvery gray,” says architect Matt Genaze.

A view of the rear facade. In addition to planting a variety of evergreens, ZEN Associates selected flowering deciduous shrubs and grasses. Because the property abuts conservation land, the landscape designers focused on a naturalistic scheme that preserves the property’s peaceful wooded vistas.

Inspired by the original residence, the new house features two wings: one containing the in-law suite and kitchenette, primary suite, office, and garage (left); and the other with the main living spaces, lower-level family room, children’s rooms, guest room, and a lounge area (right).

A glass entry in the rear of the house connects the two wings.

To return the house to residential use, Rizzo stripped away some commercial interventions, replaced all the windows and doors, and added a widow’s walk on top.

“I love the way the stone gables grow out of the rocky landscape,” says architect Michael O. McClung when describing how the house appears to emerge organically from the ledge. A ribbon of stone steps visually ties the natural and built environments together.

Looking up at the house from the base of the meadow, landscape architect Keith Wagner says the concrete wall “creates a plinth that gives the house a comfortable stance on this sloped site.” The gable ends on the left wing and on the barn face forward, while the middle structure has a broader roofline, a scheme that helps break up the massing of the 5,890-square-foot house.

Natural shingles and gunmetal-gray trim let the home blend into its surroundings.

The owners wanted the house to serve as a resort for their large extended family—and even included a skating rink, visible behind the grill house.

The second floor is tucked under the roofline and the perimeter is ringed with porches to help diminish the home’s scale.

An enchanting lighting design by UK designer Trent O’Connor, controlled with smart home technology from InnerSpace Electronics, gives the home its magical nighttime glow.

“I knew this was our house as soon as I saw the listing,” says the homeowner. “It was on flat land and a quiet street, and I was obsessed with the functionality of the layout. It checked every box.”

Landscape architect Abigail Adams used giant boulders uncovered during the excavation of the foundation to form a defining wall framing stone steps leading to the rear of the house. Meeting the low-maintenance mandate, architect Julia Metcalf used Hardie Plank Lap Siding, a cement product, for exterior cladding.

An outdated home from the 1980s was demolished to make way for this new Shingle-style house designed by Arthur Hanlon, Bayard Cutting, and Matthew Lopes of Shope Reno Wharton.

A rear view of the exterior highlights the new terrace, which provides the second-floor bedrooms with their own outdoor deck.

Architectural designer Jennifer Birnstiel modeled posts and brackets on the front porch after Felsted, the 1897 Maine summer home built for Frederick Law Olmsted.

Landscape architect Ryan Wampler says the backyard was “about creating a series of intimately scaled ‘rooms’ that support the family’s needs for a flexible indoor-outdoor lifestyle with a garden that acts as plinth for the restored home to stand prominently upon.”

“In a project of this scope, sometimes the minor details that were rebuilt to match the originals get overlooked,” says builder Jim Youngblood. He points to the facade’s ornate copper leader heads as an example.

In 1931, Connecticut architect Walter Crabtree designed this Tudor Revival to look much older by using irregular bricks and intentionally cracked and slipped roof slates.

The exterior is clad in a warm white stucco and low-maintenance shou sugi ban wood; the volume on the right houses guest quarters and a gym, and there’s a garage underneath.

To design this lakeside retreat, architect Rob Carty took his inspiration from several classic regional vernaculars—note the red cedar shingles—and included locally quarried stone to help the home blend in with its lakeside locale.

Although the sisters’ home is a touch less traditional in style, it complements the architecture of the parents’ residence in an effort to create what feels like a cohesive compound.

The folksy front facade offers little hint of the home’s zero-energy design, which produces as much energy as it uses, thanks in part to solar panels on the neighboring barn.

The garage with its upper-level guest quarters (center) and the pool house (right) were part of the remodel, which took nearly three years to complete.

The center section of the twenty-year-old house was razed and rebuilt atop its old foundation in a mix of Federal and Dutch Colonial styles that suggest additions made over time.

“It’s an exaggerated version of a traditional entry,” says architect John DaSilva of the fanciful entrance he designed for the new central section of this Lower Cape home. Tiny shuttered dormers crown the roof, which features a widow’s walk bracketed by chimneys and adorned with arches that echo throughout the home.

Architect Brian Mac took his design cues from an adjacent farm and Vermont’s classic vernacular. As seen from the shore of the lake, this side of the house includes a door that opens to the main corridor and a terrace, complete with a firepit, off the kitchen and living room wing.

Carpenter & MacNeille transformed what was a modest 1950s reproduction of an eighteenth-century colonial, tearing down a portion of the original home and more than doubling its size.

The home, a 2022 PRISM gold award for Best High Performance/High Energy Home, comprises the main house, foreground, attached guesthouse, and stand-alone garage with a second-floor guest suite. Builder Chris Dio clad the house and guesthouse in white-cedar shingles, then crafted sliding shutters of Alaskan yellow cedar to protect the triple-glazed windows from blowing salt and sand.

The glass breezeway that connects the main house (left) and the guesthouse can be closed off for privacy when the couple’s children visit.

Set back from both the road and bluff, the house blends into surroundings consisting of existing flora that landscape designer Nat Taylor supplemented with native plantings.

“When houses are painted out in one color you notice a lot more of the detail and texture,” says Elms, who mixed bluestone and wood steps to break up the ascent to the high-gloss green door.

The team at Kathryn Herman Design lined the front of the house and its gravel parking area with ilex crenata and cyananthus; the fastigiate hornbeam on the left was transplanted from a different spot in the yard.

Alisberg Parker Architects designed a colonial-inspired house to blend with the surrounding neighborhood, but thoughtful exterior details—including a sloped overhang and a dark entry—announce the property’s distinctive contemporary flair.

The architects utilized the small corner lot to its full potential, providing outdoor space above the garage as well as in the form of a terrace off the main floor.

Smith, husband Matthew, and their young kids gather near their front door, which is painted Sherwin-Williams Coral Bells.

The home’s upper level utilizes wood-fiber-and-resin composite Trespa panels for a lofty feeling. “The Trespa panels are used across a wide array of construction genres, but this was our first experience using the product in a residential application,” says builder Ken Hough. “Our craftsmen found that working with the Trespa was straightforward and required the same skills and tooling that are needed to work with hardwood and large sheet stock.”

A ledge outcropping on the site dictated the positioning of the house, says architect JT Loomis. The lower level parallels the ledge, while the acute angle of the upper level visually connects the ledge to the water and takes advantage of a gap in the trees to maximize coastal views from the primary bedroom

On the second floor, opposite the primary bedroom, the office juts out into the forest. “When you’re in that room, it feels like you’re floating in the trees,” says Davis. Below, the garage door is clad in stained cedar.

Tittmann tweaked the exterior—which originally merged both Greek Revival and New England farmhouse elements—to be more consistent with the Greek Revival style.

The homeowners chose a deep aubergine to complement the home’s new look.

The pool sits perpendicular to the house, freeing vistas across the yard. Subtle terracing adds visual interest and creates a surface on grade with the first floor to accommodate a patio and a niche for grilling, which the landscape architects masked behind shrubs.

The center-entrance colonial resembles its 1920s predecessor but takes its cues from nineteenth-century architecture, with additions that look like they were added over time.

The stamped concrete driveway, a dead ringer for brick, offers a sight line from the front door of the main house

The home’s slope-side location necessitated numerous retaining walls, which were made from board-formed concrete. The skillful placement of native plants, grasses, and small trees softens the angles of the walls.

The three-story home’s modern exterior is an artful composition of terraces, patios, picture windows, and vertical cladding that work together to break up the mass of the structure.

Taking their cue from the lush surroundings, the designers at Wagner Hodgson Landscape Architecture created a bluestone pathway through a perennial garden of native plants that helps soften the modern lines of the ground-floor entryway. Grayish-brown Trespa siding mimics the color of tree bark.

Designer Grace Rosenstein added two dormers, a front porch, and a cedar roof to the original Cape Cod-style residence.

“It was really important to these clients that the home settled naturally into the woods,” Quinn says of the house that’s surrounded by maple, hemlock, and white birch trees.

Multiple outdoor gathering spaces allow guests to take in the landscape from all angles.

The home’s pigmented concrete walkway leads to a showstopping front door, created from one of the property’s spalted-maple trees.

Multiple rooflines, dormers, and decks give the rear facade of the house plenty of character. Gathering around the firepit is a favorite activity, even on the chilliest of days.

“I never thought I’d live in a brick house,” jokes interior designer Michael Booth as he leans in the front doorway of his recently renovated home on Providence’s East Side.

We have great appreciation for the history and craftsmanship of old buildings,” notes SR Fine Home Builders’ Nick Vanasse when discussing the perks and challenges of rehabbing an older home like this.

The dilapidated rear wall of this South End brownstone was demolished and then rebuilt using the original bricks. New folding French doors enhance the flow to the patio.

Sudbury Design Group landscaped the motor court, preserving a spectacular thirty-year-old magnolia at its center.

Homeowners Karen and Richard Calo envision hosting parties that flow from the living room out to the welcoming front porch.

Repeat clients called on Boothby to reimagine the interiors of this classic 1906 residence occupying five acres in Fairfield County.

The design team was tasked with seamlessly blending several additions with the original Cotswold-style structure. “It’s really important to me and my firm to be involved in unique and interesting projects like this one,” says builder Bill Manderville.

This east side view shows the angular offset of the three-bay garage (right) from the main house (left); a coat of Benjamin Moore Amherst Gray stain ties it all together.

Lichen covers the terra-cotta tile roof. Cradock crafted the front door to resemble the original one.

Hydrangeas hug a porch near one of the lawns; the clients were committed to eco-friendly details, from beneficial plants to hardscaping to planters.

According to Dean, the shingled structure is meant to “recall the simplicity of Nantucket design, with deliberately spare details.”

The pool house is divided into two structures: one with a kitchen, outdoor shower, and guest suite, and the other with a game room, laundry room, and another guest suite.

To take advantage of this site’s expansive views of Nantucket Harbor, architect Robert Dean designed an “upside-down” house for longtime clients. In this floor plan, the bedrooms are on the ground level and the communal areas, such as the living room, dining room, and kitchen, occupy the second story.

Inspired by plants native to the site, LeBlanc Jones Landscape Architects embraced the rugged beauty of Nantucket and incorporated species such as bayberry, summersweet, arrowwood viburnum, scrub oak, little bluestem, and switchgrass.

Large swaths of durable grasses, including little bluestem and tufted hairgrass, help to hide the spa and frame the ocean.

STIMSON, the landscape designers of this Rockport, Massachusetts, property, incorporated an existing crab apple into the front garden and grouped nepeta, gaura, pennisetum, and calamintha to form plump borders.

Scale was critical when designing the low-slung house. “This is one of the most unique places in the world,” says Imber. “We wanted to integrate the architecture into the surroundings and make it a part of the spirit of the landscape.”

Painted Benjamin Moore English Ochre, the front door of an otherwise traditionally hued Cape Cod home hints at the bold use of color found within.

“This house doesn’t have a back,” says architect Paul MacNeely. This “front” faces the pool and the main house. Stone from the excavated hillside covers the foundation and extends into a graceful radial wall toward the main house. Landscape architect Doug Jones cleared brush and understory to reveal a commanding dawn redwood that shades the side of the guesthouse.

The residence occupies the only substantial area of sandy beach on the lake.

The main entrance features a grand porte cochere with Douglas fir timber framing. Architect Don Knerr designed the home in keeping.

For the landscape, Pellettieri Associates saved as many specimen trees as possible and then introduced a variety of native plantings.

Architect Don Knerr designed the home in keeping with the traditional New England lake-house vernacular, incorporating materials like cedar shingles and siding, local stone, and timber beams.

When this three-and-a-half-acre site on a New Hampshire lake became available just down the road from their summer home, the homeowners couldn’t pass up the opportunity to build their dream house. The couple tapped a team of seasoned design pros to create a comfortable yet stylish oasis where they could spend time with their children and extended family.

Archie, the resident English springer spaniel, greets visitors in the gravel court. The facade’s double-height window wall marks the present-day living room; the natural light was ideal for the artist who lived here in the 1930s.

Dan Gordon and Patrick Taylor devised an informal, understated landscape, with low-growing native plants that can withstand the salty air.

Archie, the resident English springer spaniel, greets visitors in the gravel court. The facade’s double-height window wall marks the present-day living room; the natural light was ideal for the artist who lived here in the 1930s.

The residence occupies the only substantial area of sandy beach on the lake.

For the landscape, Pellettieri Associates saved as many specimen trees as possible and then introduced a variety of native plantings. RIGHT: The main entrance features a grand porte cochere with Douglas fir timber framing.

For the landscape, Pellettieri Associates saved as many specimen trees as possible and then introduced a variety of native plantings

When this three-and-a-half-acre site on a New Hampshire lake became available just down the road from their summer home, the homeowners couldn’t pass up the opportunity to build their dream house. The couple tapped a team of seasoned design pros to create a comfortable yet stylish oasis where they could spend time with their children and extended family.

Landscape architect David Hawk thoughtfully designed the grounds as a sequence of spaces that encourages wandering and discovering various casual and formal groves, gardens, and lawns, such as this one by the pool.

Shingles, slats, and a sloped roof combine to create an intriguing design that mixes California coastal cool with Cape Cod coziness.

In order to make the most of a tight building envelope, architect Matthew MacEachern rotated the entire house five degrees, enabling him to build two extensions on each side of the original residence. The project also included adding a new pool and terrace between the main house and the pool house.

An entrance off the side lane leads to a courtyard created by the carriage house (left) and the main house ahead and to the right.

The main house’s fieldstone chimney is actually a thick stone veneer, while the house is clad in white cedar shakes and clapboard and topped by a red cedar roof.

The home’s waterside showcases Corten steel, Rheinzink, and, of course, an abundance of glass. Landscape designers Horiuchi Solien removed the site’s overgrown invasive species to make way for native plants, and a stone wall on the street-side parking court was designed to allow passage to wildlife. “We left feeling like we made the site and property better than it was before,” says architect Douglas Dick.

The site’s largest glacial boulder, which can be seen behind the stand of trees, acts as both a sculptural piece and a privacy screen for the lake house’s living area. Elevated boardwalks connect the main house and guest house, while lacy ferns soften the hard surfaces.

In keeping with the summer-camp vibe, a swing hangs from the perforated-metal walkway that connects the two roof-decks. That’s an office space and mudroom illuminated inside the house.

A mowed path through the pasture leads to the pondside firepit.

The concrete cladding architect Elizabeth Herrmann used for the addition is a modern take on the barn’s traditional clapboard siding. The elements of the custom weathervane represent sports that the owners’ children played: ice hockey, field hockey, rugby, and lacrosse.

Large sliders on the end of the addition spill out to the play lawn. Most of the landscape was in place long before the addition was built.

A pared-down connector that runs from the front of the house to the back links the existing barn structure at the left with the addition at the right.

Architect Patrick Ahearn reworked aspects of the exterior, replacing the windows in the stairwell turret and introducing new stay and railing details to the front entry to enhance the gracious Shingle-style home.

Pilasters replaced more decorative quoins at the home’s corners. Architect Jan Gleysteen also changed the house color to a subdued gray with white trim.

The 1850s Victorian house features roofline and dormer brackets, a front piazza, and the original central double door.

With such a pretty setting, it’s no wonder the homeowners are in no rush to leave the house where they raised their family. The stone section with its copper-roofed bay window was built in 1898. The white two-story structure, where most of the living spaces are located, is a gracious center-hall colonial that was added in the 1920s.

Landscape designer Alice Cooke imagined the parking area and lush plantings in front of the remodeled colonial.

The classic look of a center-hall colonial inspired the father-and-son architect team of Jim and James Schettino.

Copious use of reclaimed granite fieldstone for steps, walls, and the greenhouse’s foundation and attached shed helps the new structures blend beautifully with the old.

The blue door was originally the home’s front entrance; thanks to a new arrival and parking pattern, it’s now the back door.

At the front of the house, sixty-eight linear feet of glass opens interior common rooms—kitchen, dining room, and living room—to the lawn, which landscape architect Soren deNiord punctuated with lava-stone spheres. DeNiord had to regrade the land to compensate for a three- to four-foot elevation change along the glass facade.

Plenty of glass optimizes passive solar in winter, while generous overhangs protect the home from overheating in summer.

“It’s very English countryside, in a way,” says architect John Meyer of this Weston, Massachusetts, home’s dignified exterior. “They have to drive through their porte cochere to get into a service court to get into the garage, so even when they’re going out to get groceries, everybody has to have that experience of coming by the formal part of the house.”

Since this newly built 5,000-square-foot shingled home sits on the foundation of the previous house, Haynes inherited the existing half-step strategy. “The goal was to reference the traditional Vermont vernacular while integrating more contemporary details, such as steel windows,” notes the architect.

On the exterior, under the standing-seam metal roof, Allee alternated areas of western red cedar shakes with ten-inch shiplap board. He also increased the size and number of windows to take advantage of rolling farmland surrounding the house.

Pretty parterre gardens add a formal touch.

Architect Jeffrey Mose has shepherded the home from its initial design and construction to this third iteration for current homeowners Kimberly and Chris. The Juliet balcony on the third floor offers Kimberly a breath of fresh air from her new two-story closet and dressing room.

Adding a three-story addition to this New Hampshire home gave its owners the organizational and recreational spaces they needed to accommodate their expanding, multigenerational family. The home receives a lot of traffic throughout the year, so designers included storage spaces for outdoor equipment along with rooms dedicated to indoor activities.

As part of this year-round vacation home’s addition, a covered porch offers two entry points. The door on the left leads directly into the main part of the home, while the door on the right opens to a newly constructed mudroom.

A wraparound porch—and a cute pooch—reinforces the house’s storybook charm.

The team at Robert Dean Architects pared down any ornate detailing and added new windows and a wood roof; the front door got a welcoming coat of Fine Paints of Europe’s North Sea Blue.

The former carriage house-turned family home sits on a beautiful swath of land in Greenwich. “Architecturally,” says Robert Dean, “it comes across as very English in terms of both massing and the treatment of the exterior.”

Local brickmakers are experts at sourcing replicas of original bricks, says builder Jack Sullivan, but matching mortar is even more important to disguising new features and additions on an older home.

Maintaining an appropriate scale when adding on preserves the remodeled house’s vintage appearance, says architect Patrick Ahearn: “It’s the collection of smaller moves that all of a sudden changes the way a house lives.”

The charming stone turret off the living room holds a reading nook; builder Carl Wise crafted the stair railing from weathered barn board so it would fade into the landscaping.

Looking up at the house from the shore, the private left wing contains the primary suites, while the right side comprises the kitchen, living/dining areas, office, and guest room.

“One of the nice things about the site are the diagonal views captured at various vantage points around the property,” says Elliott Architects’s JT Loomis about the Maine retreat

The flat-roof connector widens the living and dining rooms; the cantilevered deck with a covered porch and glass rail is a scenic spot for morning coffee.

A deck off the office boasts beautiful views; the boardwalk leads out to a firepit, and the flat-roof connector, which does double duty as a gallery, links to the living room and kitchen.

The old backyard was nothing more than a sloping expanse of lawn. Mark Hicks regraded the property to create a series of terraces that step down to the swimming pool. Hick’s colleague Agnes Kacperczyk selected all the JANUS et Cie outdoor furniture.

The geometric design of the firepit area echoes the geometry of the house. Hicks used the grass and flowering plants to soften the straight lines.

A facelift returned the front facade to a more authentic, symmetrical colonial style. Architect Hannah Robertson added the dormers to the new cedar-shingled roof and traded a fussy portico for a simplified version. Landscape architect Mark Hicks reworked the driveway and front yard to give the home a gracious approach befitting its new look.

“One of the nice things about the site are the diagonal views captured at various vantage points around the property,” says Elliott Architects’s JT Loomis about the Maine retreat

Looking up at the house from the shore, the private left wing contains the primary suites, while the right side comprises the kitchen, living/dining areas, office, and guest room.

A deck off the office boasts beautiful views; the boardwalk leads out to a firepit, and the flat-roof connector, which does double duty as a gallery, links to the living room and kitchen.

The flat-roof connector widens the living and dining rooms; the cantilevered deck with a covered porch and glass rail is a scenic spot for morning coffee.

Designed by Marcus Gleysteen Architects, this contemporary Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire, retreat throws off traditional notions of what a lake house should look like.

Passing boaters see no sign of the rooftop solar panels that supply the house with electricity. The lake-facing pergola, meanwhile, lets homeowners engage with passersby—or not. “You can hang out and wave to the boats, or turn your back, keep your shades on, and focus on your book,” says Gleysteen.

The renovation of the 100-plus-year-old English manor-style home included new landscaping by Symbio Design.

A spa is tucked into a stone terrace beside the straight run of stairs on the back of the house. The curved stairs lead down from the deck that is shaped like the bow of a boat. “We take all our photos up there with the lake in the background,” Gottlieb says.