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Ravenhill Construction built this shingled beach cottage on San Juan Island in the early 1990s, working closely with the original owner, Jeannie Lee. In 2023 the home was featured in D Home magazine, which showed how its new owners have kept the spirit of the original design intact.
Project Partners:
Design: Jeannie Lee, with Ravenhill founder Pete Kilpatrick and designer Bradley Burgess
Photography: Elizabeth Lavin for D Home
The goal for this house was quiet, private living space on a very tight budget. Our answer was a series of simple rectangular buildings with gable roofs, each one like a little house of its own. A single long hallway runs through them at a sharp angle and ties everything together, which kept the plan practical and easy to build.
Clad in wood shingles, the roughly 2,200-square-foot home looks out over False Bay. Inside, larch floors and ceilings give the rooms a warm, consistent feel, and 52 windows plus generous skylights fill the house with daylight.
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A wood-burning stove keeps the living area cozy on gray island days. Just beyond the yard, False Bay is perfect for a kayak paddle, or for a walk across the mudflats when the tide is out.
Three decades on, the cottage has aged gracefully. Its current owners have preserved its character while making careful updates, including drainage and landscaping improvements, a fire pit near the shoreline and a new copper roof that naturally keeps moss from taking hold.
Work With Ravenhill
Every custom home starts with a conversation. Whether you have a site, a set of plans or just the beginning of an idea, our team brings the craftsmanship and island building experience to see it through, from the first walkthrough to the day you move in. If you're dreaming of a home in the San Juans, we'd love to hear about it.