The first time architect Carsten Stinn and his wife, Linda, set foot on Washington’s tiny Obstruction Island, it took them 30 minutes to trek from the shore to the plot where they would eventually build a cabin. “No one had ever done anything on the site,” Carsten says. “Trees had fallen left and right, there was debris everywhere, and there was no ferry service. In our family, we’re all doers, so we looked around and realized that the property was a diamond in the rough.”

Located between Orcas and Blakeley islands in Washington’s San Juan archipelago, Obstruction Island clocks in at a mere 218 acres and has a permanent population of 14 residents. Many would find the isolation a turnoff, but for the Stinn family, it was exactly what they wanted.

$15,650 Site Preparation	$300 Foundation	$5,700 Structural / Framing
$14,700 Lumber	$1,148 Windows	$1,160 Wood Stove
$1,500 Electrical	$939 Plumbing	$320 Miscellaneous
Grand Total: $41,417

Originally from Germany, Carsten arrived in the United States in 1991 through a student exchange program. Soon after, Carsten met his wife, and the two bonded over a love of hiking, camping, and boating. Many years and one teenage son later, the couple were ready to buy a plot of land where they could get away on weekends, host friends and family, and explore the picturesque landscapes of the Pacific Northwest.

A week after purchasing the plot, Carsten—who currently works at Heliotrope Architects—bought a small dinghy that he kept at a friend’s house on Orcas Island. The journey to the property involves driving 80 miles from Seattle to the town of Anacortes, taking a ferry to Orcas Island, picking up the dinghy, and boating about 10 minutes to Obstruction Island.

The Stinns spent the first two years camping in various locations around the property, trying to determine the most idyllic place to build a cabin. “We had so much fun during those two years,” Carsten recalls. “It was important that whatever we built wouldn’t impede that lifestyle. We wanted to build up, but we didn’t want a ton of luxury. We call the cabin ‘Lagom,’ which [in Swedish] means just the right amount.”

During this time, Carsten worked to clear the fallen logs, which eventually revealed a mossy clearing surrounded by 150-foot-tall trees. The area is inland, and the cabin is hidden from the waterfront, which was a purposeful move to help retain the shoreline views for passing boaters.

The design and construction of the cabin was a family project—initial tasks included building stairs up from the beach and assembling a firepit. “At first, we were trying to create little amenities around the property,” Carsten says. They got more serious about planning the cabin when a friend of his asked if he wanted a set of 1900-era steel windows from England—for free. “Some of them were broken and needed work, but I offered my son $1,000, and he spent the next year in our driveway fixing them up. It was the best deal I’ve ever made.”

In March 2017, after buying a Japanese delivery truck, Carsten borrowed a cement mixer from a neighbor and spent a week on the island laying the foundation for the cabin. Lumber from nearby Lopez Island arrived soon after, and working with a carpenter based on Orcas Island, Carsten had the frame up in about three weeks. All materials were dropped at the top of the 2.5-acre site and carried down by hand, piece by piece, to the mossy clearing.

Carsten has worked in high-end residential architecture for decades, but he stresses that this project was all about the utilitarian. Economizing materials was important, and many of the components were sourced secondhand or donated for free. One night in Seattle, Carsten mentioned to a friend that he was looking for a Dutch door for the cabin, and his friend happened to have one in his truck. “He just said, ‘Here, you have it,’” Carsten says with a laugh.

The cabin has a simple, one-room layout with a ground-floor kitchen/living area and a 10-by-10-foot loft for sleeping. The exterior siding is yellow Alaskan cedar delivered from Tacoma, Washington, then given a shou sugi ban treatment to better blend with the surrounding landscape. The interior finishes are simple and durable—the plywood framing is exposed, and the flooring is car decking with a wax finish. A 1960 Rais woodstove, which Carsten purchased 10 years ago at a salvage store, sits at the heart of the living room. “When I brought it home, my wife asked what I was going to do with it, and I said, ‘We’ll build a cabin around it someday.’”

That cabin is the culmination of teamwork, grit, and determination. “We approached it as something we wanted to work on together as a family,” he says. “A lot of people were involved, from my son and his friends to our neighbors, who have lived on the island for years. Everyone who came out had fun and feels invested in the project.”

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Project Credits

Architect of Record: Carsten Stinn

Builder/General Contractor: Carsten Stinn

Structural Engineer: James Harriott, Harriott Valentine Engineers Inc.

Cabinetry Design/Installation: Jeffrey Unterschuetz, Enzo Stinn

Plumbing: Gerard Maloney, Earthheat

Carpenter: David Adrian