photography: Victoria Pearson The garden, designed by Rob Steiner, harmonizes with existing trees. "In keeping with the house, I used simple, pure forms," he says. These include lantern-topped gateposts and angled steps flanked by New Zealand Christmas tree hedges and shade-tolerant liriope 'Silver Dragon.'

Problem with their previous digs? Tiny lot. Problem with the teardown? Everything except the lot: Mature oaks and sycamores fill the property, situated in a quiet enclave of winding streets. "We love it here, with all the big trees, a great park, and a real feeling of community. We couldn't leave," says Denise, a television writer-producer who, with her producer-husband, has four children between the ages of 1 and 11.

This large family needed space but didn't want to live pretentiously—not in this community where shingled cottages nestle amid the old oaks, and huge homes keep a low profile. Nor could the couple bear to mow down the trees, though they created design challenges. Of the architects they consulted, only one, Marmol Radziner & Associates, eschewed the chain saw, viewing the trees as an exciting opportunity. "It's important to us to connect a house with the natural landscape," says Rot Radziner, who, with his partner, Leo Marmol, and associates Sarita Singh and Daniel Monti, designed a U-shaped structure around the towering trees.

The front of the house wraps around an oak: Guests stroll under its arching boughs to reach the door. The architects also included banks of windows and skylights in each room, capturing every possible ray of sun. "Light is crucial to me," says Denise, "as is a certain openness—rooms flowing into others so we can see and hear each other. As I cook, for instance, I like to see the kids playing."

photography: Victoria Pearson Designed for serious work and play, the cork-floored kids' space is furnished with a table and chairs from a 1950s kindergarten—another flea market find. Mexican school posters flank the bulletin board and oak nightstands

photography: Victoria Pearson "I'm not a passionate cook," says Denise. "I wanted a kitchen where we would all just come to be together."

Sasha, who helped Denise and Mark furnish their house in a style that she calls "Yankee Modern," scoured flea markets and antiques shops for a mix of treasures with a "passed-down-through-a-New-England-family" look. Having grown up in the Northeast, the couple had some heirlooms of their own. "We worked on a budget," says Sasha, "and layered things slowly over time, by trial and error. This is a house you wouldn't want to clutter."

Once the major rooms were done, Sasha and Denise spent two years refining them, addressing needs revealed by day-to-day life—a console table behind the sofa, an extra lamp here and there—and adding colorful accents into the largely neutral palette. "We did this carefully," Sasha says, "knowing that one overly loud element could throw off the balance." The most harmonious accent hues—for example, the living room's pottery bowls and mantel vases—are rich blue- and yellow-greens that echo the garden, which is visible through every window. This outdoor landscape, true to the spirit of the house, is both practical and inviting, with places to eat, lounge, and play.

As it turned out, preserving the trees allowed this family to create a private sanctuary. "It's exactly what we wanted," Denise says. "It just fits how we live."