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A discreet pull enables the under stairs closet door to open.

The top of the staircase is three feet wide, to accommodate the built-in shelving, and becomes wider towards the base, to four feet, making the storage underneath very useful for bigger and boxier items.

For the house’s foundation, Emilie and Seth went with a raised concrete slab on top over wooden piles, which was $39,570. That includes a burnished finish for the ground-floor apartment and the foundation for a detached backyard workshop, some of which was fashioned out of remnants of a dismantled Tulane building. They built the tree house using fence boards and building sills from the original home on the lot.

The couple find the house a bit large for them. Although they achieved the goal of more yard space for the children, Emilie feels the family of four could live leaner than they do here. However, she wouldn’t mind having a hobby room.

The lofted third floor contains the kids’ bedroom, a den/workspace, a play area, and a costume closet. When asked if they would have done anything differently, Seth just says, “I don’t know.... I think it’s not done.” For Emilie, one thing missing is a costume room in place of the tiny closet that currently holds festive getups: “That’s something that every New Orleans home should have.”

The main living area is on the second floor in an open double-height space where the ceiling peaks at 15 feet under an angled roof. It contains an airy kitchen/dining area and a living room. A hallway leads to the primary bedroom, and a loft contains a bedroom for their kids. The ground floor has an apartment they rent to local teachers.

The Weltys started construction by having the structure framed out but allowed themselves time to sort through unresolved areas and select finishes. After they spent a year and eight months manipulating materials and playing with textures, their vision finally came together.

“The idea was to replicate the way trees grow to look for light,” says Camilo.

Rooms branch off from a central atrium as you climb up stairs and ladders.

Black lives on the home’s second level in his grandmother’s former bedroom. He transformed a room on the first floor into a pop-up gallery space called Grandma’s House.

This revamped 1970s residence has an open plan peppered with picture windows to frame the surrounding woods.

Located off paved roads, across a river, and up a mountain, Pablo Pérez Palacios’s cabin in the Mexican wilderness has a rooftop terrace designed for entertaining.

Designed in the early 1950s by architect Roscoe Hemenway for the inventor of the famous View–Master toy, this ranch house was reimagined by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson for enhanced views, light, and indoor/outdoor connection.

A black-painted wooden fence borders the property, complementing the home's exterior.