A Shoddy 1920s "Hunting Cabin" Gets a Sea Ranch–Inspired Overhaul in Los Angeles

After spending months restoring a Victorian in Portland, Oregon, architectural designer Grey Shaffer purchased a new property on Mount Washington, a Los Angeles neighborhood whose steep slopes and valley views have inspired an eclectic architectural vernacular since 1909. The original structure on the property—a 1920s "hunting cabin of sorts"—was not worth saving, which gave her tabula rasa to do her own thing.

Grey drew inspiration from the Sea Ranch for a renovation focused on simplicity that paid careful attention to environmental impact. The simplicity reads a bit rough around the edges, and Grey loves this. She prefers to allow the materials to "be simply what they are—a kind of soft brutalism where the shape is chunky but the materials are more refined and soft."