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A Breville espresso machine gets the couple ready to hit the waves in the morning. All of the artwork was shot by Carolla.

Located on a windswept site, this one-bedroom retreat is built to withstand the rigors of rural life, and it can be adapted to sleep up to six guests.

After renting in San Francisco for a decade, DIY couple Molly Fiffer and Jeff Waldman bought 10 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the pair and their friends built a cabin compound complete with sheds, tree decks, a pavilion, a wood-fired hot tub, an outhouse, and an outdoor shower. The cabin is made from locally sourced, rough-sawn redwood, which the couple stained with nontoxic Eco Wood Treatment to give the panels an aged appearance and a dark patina.

After a wildfire ripped through Jeff Waldman and Molly Fiffer’s 10-acre retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains in August of 2020, the couple was determined to build a new home. They were hesitant about investing too much money, though, as they knew that California was only getting drier and more prone to fires.

Hilton Carter designed his own propagation vessel, called the Cradle.

Reilly slotted a utility room behind the kitchen to house the oven, an extra fridge, pantry cabinets, and the laundry. A Navajo rug that Reilly found at a local yard sale adds a touch of color. The countertop and backsplash are stainless steel. She found the counter stools at a local thrift shop. “I scour every secondhand shop and go to ever yard sale in the Hamptons,” she says. “Each piece is the result of weeks of searching.”