Crystal blue skies, rolling fields of cherry trees, the sound of waves lapping on a sandy shore….and goats on a roof. Yes, goats on a roof. Throw in a beachside polka band, hand-crafted beer, wine, cheese and a smattering of red barns and what do we have? Door County, Wisconsin. 

“That’s Macy’s little room,” says homeowner Mary Jennings, referring to the 10-by-10-foot nook off her master bedroom — an area so tiny it might have been tricky for some designers to outfit. Knapp, though, created a cheerful design centered around Jennings’ 9-pound Bichon Frise, who naps daily on the custom 4-by-6 hand-knotted Jaipur rug. Jennings uses the room, too, mostly for reading on the contemporary – and comfy – chair-and-a-half by Sherrill Furniture. 

Homeowners Jim and Ann Lindeman have always had a passion for lofty living, but their love for the lifestyle was recently strengthened when the duo started calling a chic cabin in Tabernash, Colorado their home-away-from-home. Inspired by the alpine panoramas and natural aura of their vacation home, they were determined to transform their nonfunctional Chesterfield back yard into a cozy retreat worthy of a mountainous setting. 

Located in the refreshingly free-form Terryhill area, the home of Marilyn and Jay Cohn is as close to idyllic as one can envision on a warm July afternoon. Their garden is immaculate. Their almost 80-year-old home is immaculate. Their property is an exercise in cohesion and cooperative balance. Everything agrees and everything blends. 

The outdoor space of William and Carel Reynolds’ St. Louis-area home is testimony to the notion that you can improve on nature.

The Des Peres lake property suffered the occasional deluge from a nearby creek, and the back yard in general was a hodgepodge of undeveloped, unused spaces. After more than three decades there, the couple wanted an overhaul that would allow them to relax under the sun or the stars during the more temperate Midwestern days. 

Last year, Pat Perotti downsized from a large home to her mother’s recently vacated villa. Her villa was the same as her neighbor’s, which was the same as their neighbor’s and so on, but that was not Perotti’s style. She wanted to make her new home her own and give it a touch of her feminine class. When she decided to re-do her mother’s old kitchen, she trusted interior designer Ellen Kurtz, of Ellen Kurtz Interiors, to pull off the new look.