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With new resorts and modern digs hugging its shoreline, Fernandina Beach, Florida, doesn't look like it used to. That is, until you cross paths with Katie’s Light, a replica of Maryland’s Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse that’s tucked quaintly into the dunes. “Most people are looking to modernize,” says William Kaner, who undertook the home's renovation with his wife, Beth Anne Caples. “We did exactly the opposite. We wanted the house to feel as authentic as the historic lighthouse it was inspired by.”

Although this gleaned some chuckles from their contractor, Zach Lowe of EK&B, the decision to tread timeless was informed by the nearly 40-year-old structure’s rich local and familial history. “My sister, Katie, and I grew up there. I can’t think of a more magical place to have been a kid,” remembers Beth Anne. The home, of course, is named after Katie, and she and Beth Anne’s parents, former hoteliers David and Susan Caples, built the stilted three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath in the early 1980s with architect Robert Broadfoot. “During hurricane season, the waves would sweep right up under the house and we could hear it gurgling below the wraparound deck.”

When Beth Anne turned eight, the Caples moved their family into a house more suited to their evolving needs, choosing to add Katie’s Light to their company’s list of rental properties. Two years ago, when William and Beth Anne assumed more active roles in the family business, they gladly volunteered to manage the structure, in addition to its long-overdue design refresh. “The interiors were really tired,” says William, who recalls picking at drab, peeling wallpaper, “but the bones were exceptional. When you’re inside, you can’t really see the beach—it’s just ocean in every direction—so you feel like you’re on a ship.”

This seafaring feeling is accentuated by the fact that all of the original interior millwork was crafted by a pair of local boat builders. “There’s really not a single straight line in the house. Our approach was to preserve that bygone craftsmanship—like the bespoke paneling and cabinets—while making the space more livable for the modern day,” says William.

In the once “clunky” upstairs bathrooms, William and Beth Anne replaced squat original vanities with Stanford 550 pedestal sinks from Barclay, and used wood salvaged from an impractical set of ceiling-mounted shelving units to build wall niches in other areas of the home. “The house—and Fernandina Beach, for that matter—has a very classic New England feel to it. We wanted to not only lean into that aesthetic during the redesign, but also into the home’s sense of ingenuity,” William says.

“Growing up in this house was like something out of a storybook.”
—Beth Anne Caples, resident

Antique boutiques in New England—chiefly in Maine—are flush with salty and salvageable fixtures and furnishings. Portland Architectural Salvage, an emporium brimming with unexpected vintage homewares, proved especially bountiful. “The owner, Alice Dunn, is extraordinary. She helped us source, among many things, a pair of lights that had come off of an old navy boat for one of the bathrooms,” Beth Anne says. Custom bed frames, dressers, and end tables, which were built in the Shaker-style by Chilton Furniture, are topped with earthy pillows, blankets, and throws from Evangeline Linens. “Maine is a sourcing mecca,” says William. “The items we’ve found there have a soulfulness that feels right at home in Katie’s Light.”

Levitating above its petite 50-by-100-foot lot, the home contrasts the more contemporary dwellings that dot the dunes. This, in addition to the structure’s appearance in the 1988 film, The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, have made it a kind of Amelia Island icon. Still, it might be the most humble home along its stretch of coast. “People expect the Florida coast to be entirely wealthy and modern,” the couple say. “Friends are always so pleasantly surprised when they visit Katie’s Light. It’s incredibly lived-in and comfortable—very salt-of-the-earth.”

Although the island has drawn some high-profile attention in more recent years—its star-studded list of visitors include Oprah Winfrey and Kenny Chesney—Katie’s Light and the quiet surf that surrounds it remain frozen in time for Beth Anne: “I never feel quite as good as I do when I’m in that house. You wake up in the morning to stunning natural light and you immediately want to go downstairs to the communal living spaces to watch the sunrise with family and friends. You forget your phone; you forget everything. Pelicans fly overhead, dolphins bob like buoys in the waves, and you just sort of breathe easier. It’s incredibly dreamy.”

Related Reading:

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Budget Breakdown: Four Minnesota Housemates Turn Their Dingy Garage Into a Workspace for $26K

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Robert Broadfoot

Builder/General Contractor: Zach Lowe of EK&B

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