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In rural Quebec, La Shed Architecture designed a simple gabled home that echoes the form of the region’s traditional barns.

Situated underneath the wood ceiling, the upper-level apartment’s living room is elevated by a petite, functional kitchen.

After entering through a gate, the home's charred spruce siding presents a somber face.

The wide deck looks out on to a valley, where a wide table can host the owners' large family.

On the entrance deck, a hand-crafted wooden couple welcomes visitors. The U-shaped deck surrounds the entire lower level.

"Our many ideas were floating around the mountain, and we needed someone to bring them down and turn them into reality,

The primary bedroom cabin sits in a natural clearing amongst the trees, allowing for a water view and copious sunlight. The boulder-studded coast offers gently sloping paths to the ocean for a quick dip.

Previously, a screened porch at the front left had been enclosed for additional living space, but wasn’t very usable, so Jobe and Corral converted it back to its original purpose. Now, it serves as a mudroom and a transition space before entering the living room. The preserved board and batten siding is painted Benjamin Moore ‘Kendall Charcoal’ and the ceiling fans are from Schoolhouse. Board-formed concrete replaced the brick, and new steps are formed by limestone slabs taken from the tops of quarries so that the top surface is natural.

Natural materials such as concrete, stone, and wood give the architecture a rugged honesty.

A spacious all-white gathering area with storage galore is located on the upper level.

The primary bedroom awaits down the hall, complete with a vaulted, wood-paneled ceiling.

The entry has a cubby for Roberta’s shoes and a branch-shaped grab bar made of bronze by British designer Phillip Watts.

"I thought if we made a beautiful plaster hood garage, your eye would go directly there, rather than to the functional soffit that runs the perimeter of the kitchen walls,

Brian and Melissa's two young children spend hours playing in the yard. With Melissa's mother in a house on the same property, the kids have easy access to Grandma whenever she's in town. "It's such a unique experience having multiple generations together," Brian says. "If the kids get up early, they can just run over to Melissa's mom's and spend time with her."

The house was designed to minimally interfere with the hilltop vegetation, which is what attracted the family to the site.

An opening off the children’s bedroom (top right) brings in light and functions like a window looking over a courtyard, allowing the family to communicate easily from different levels.

The Lai family—Mayuko, baby Shota on her lap, David, Maya, and Yumi sitting on a cushion on the deck—relaxes in their indoor-outdoor living space, made by opening the glass sliding doors to connect the living room and engawa deck.