More than 20 years have passed since a couple first brought their two children to a quiet cabin on British Columbia’s Hornby Island. It was the setting of the family’s summer vacations, a rustic place to return to after a day of outdoor adventures. Like most of their neighbors, their cabin was built with a self-sufficient mentality that depends on the island’s simple resources for construction materials—it’s common knowledge that anything shipped to the area is often too much of a hassle. But after the couple retired from careers on a school board in Vancouver Island, and their sons moved out, the pair considered their homespun site of warm memories as an opportune challenge for something new. They wanted to use their lived-in cabin as a guesthouse and build a modern place of their own without disturbing the land. Architect D’Arcy Jones and his eponymous firm designed a two-bedroom space that’s separated from the original by a private courtyard. Jones and his team applied stucco to the new cabin to echo the appearance of the original cabin. “It is not as popular now, but it has a timeless appeal,” Jones says.

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A Couple’s Cherished Vacation Home is Given a Second Life