Tim McKeough

Neighbors on Fire Island took a clever approach to a common problem: They hired the same architects at the same time. Now everyone has a view.

“It’s probably the best place I’ve ever lived,” said the owner of a little house in the mountainous Methow Valley of Washington.

Raising three children in Hoboken, N.J., they always looked forward to summer at the beach in New York. Now they have a home there that’s really their own.

The customized home has a propane range, an incinerating toilet and movable solar panels (for off-the-grid travel). Now the only question is where to go next.

The best ones have several things in common, according to the pros. Here’s how to design yours.

Getting there required buying something far worse than the typical fixer-upper: “It was like excavating in Pompeii.”

Many of their friends from Grand Rapids were “moving back home and telling us how great it was.” So they followed suit.

Why professional designers swear by supermarket décor.

During the early pandemic, two architects found most of their jobs on hold. It was time to get creative.

A couple bought a second home with friends, and then decided that being neighbors would be much more fun.