Paradise found in the San Juans - San Juan Islands, Washington - includes related articles on islanders and their homes

Sunset, August, 1996 by Bill Crosby, Steven R. Lorton

Washington's favorite islands are attracting a new wave of settlers building dream homes

While Seattle tries to make room for all the upscale immigrants who ye come to town craving the good Northwest life, more than a few Seattleites aspire to even greener, quieter pastures offshore - in the an Juan Islands. And no wonder: all the natural resources that make the Northwest such a glorious e are richly concentrated in this archipelago.

Most of the roughly 180 square miles that constitute Washington's San Juan County are made up of salt water. The rest, depending on the tide, are made up of 300 to 700 rocks, islets, and fir-cloaked islands. About 40 islands are inhabited at least part time, but only 4 are served by public ferries.

Undiscovered? Hardly. San Juan is Washington's fastest-growing county, much to the dismay of many islanders. The county has more than 12,000 full-time residents, and part-timers swell that number by 30 percent. Newcomers are pouting into paradise: some are urban expatriates - from Seattle, San Francisco, and beyond - but many young families and "computer commuters" are also moving in, real estate agents say. And during the summer, when close to 1 million visitors pass through the San Juans, waiting for a ferry can be an all-day affair.

The summer crowds that ferry out to the three main islands see only the "public" side of the San Juans. Meanwhile, the residents of three dozen outer islands enjoy a very private experience tied closely to the land and sea. The four houses on these pages have a lot to say about the simple qualities of island life as well as the people who live here. The houses are small, sturdy structures that can withstand bad weather but also open up to the natural beauty that surrounds them - and that's precisely what their owners want.

Decatur Island: NEW LIFE FOR A FARMHOUSE

"It took my breath away," Phil Sherburne recalls of his first glimpse of the 1917 farmstead on Decatur Island. "It was run down from years of exposure, but the farmhouse had this beautiful red-brown color. There was an outline of what had been a garden. I could feel my pulse quicken; it felt like coming home."

Then director of planning for the city of Seattle, Sherburne quit his job and moved to the island for six months to develop the master plan for Decatur Northwest, a 77-house development. In exchange for doing the plan, Sherburne's business partner, Jim Youngren, agreed to give him the farmhouse and garden.

While Sherburne worked on the plan, he spent his spare time renovating the 1,400-square-foot farmhouse. He poured a new foundation one bucket at a time by crawling under the partially jacked-up house. The interior was essentially gutted, and plumbing and wiring were installed for the first time. The downstairs is one big room, which gives it the feel of an old island cabin.

Sherburne has since moved back to Seattle, but he and his wife, Susan, keep a boat in Anacortes to cruise to their island retreat almost every weekend in summer and frequently during the rest of the year. "By and large, when I'm there, I'm out in the garden," Sherburne says, and it is still a work in progress. When he first saw the garden, its boundary was determined by 80-year-old grapevines. He enclosed the grapes, along with currants and berries of all sorts, in a bird-thwarting 20- by 80-foot cage. "As soon as we get to the farm, my 7-year-old daughter, Leslie, makes a beeline for the raspberries," he says.

"This place definitely has a soul," Sherburne says. "It has a connection to time and history that I appreciate: I know I'm just the present landlord."

Decatur, one of the private islands, comprises 3.6 square miles.

* Access: Boat, private ferry (no cars), water taxi, floatplane, or small plane (there's a dirt airstrip).

* Population: 67 full-time residents; part-timers nearly quadruple that number.

* Cost: A 9-acre lot on Decatur's White Cliff bluffs is listed at $125,000; smaller inland lots with water views are priced as low as $35,000.

* Amenities: No public facilities. there are private docks at the Decatur Northwest and Decatur Shores developments.

San Juan Island: A REBUILT CABIN OVER THE WATER

In the early 1990s, Sandra Wilson, a former San Franciscan, was looking for a "quiet place close to water and nature." She found it on San Juan Island. She bought a 1960s-era summer cabin fronting Griffin Bay near the town of Friday Harbor and asked Seattle architect Geoffrey Prentiss to rebuild it. She wanted him to keep it "simple but elegant, in the rustic island style."

True to her wishes, there is nothing flashy about this 517-square-foot house on a 1/2-acre lot.

Extending out from a bank, the house is built on old piers: at high tide, 80 percent of the structure and the three decks that wrap around it stand over the water. Smooth cedar siding, simple angles, and large exposed beams over the deck give the house a contemporary Northwest look. The roof is covered with sod so that from the road above, the house looks like a patch of grass surrounded by lilacs and shrub roses.