Homespun: Mason & Serena'S Topanga Cabin

It took them two years to finish, but that’s because they worked on it only one or two weekends per month, enlisting friends to give them a hand.

Mason St. Peter designs homes, commercial and retail spaces, and rustic cabins, specifically the one he and his wife, the artist Serena Mitnik-Miller, built in the bohemian enclave of Topanga Canyon. It’s a super cozy 120 square feet. It feels a thousand miles away from urban Los Angeles. Mason and Serena live in San Francisco. While working on General Store, an artisan-themed retail outlet in Venice, they stumbled on what would become their second home.

Mason explains, “Serena and I went to see a friend’s studio in Topanga Canyon and we instantly fell in love with the place. We met the owner of the property, struck up a dialogue, and he encouraged us to build our own space using materials he’d collected. We started construction in the spring of 2011. The owner was really into doing something off-grid. His ethos was ‘fight authority and use recycled materials.’”

Mason and Serena designed the place together. First they cleared the property, then they catalogued the materials, then they started building. It took them two years to finish, but that’s because they worked on it only one or two weekends per month, enlisting friends to give them a hand. “It would have been about a total of two months building time if you put all the weekends together,” says Mason.

The cabin sits on a 20’ by 20’ deck. It’s 12’ tall on one side and 14’ tall on the other. “It’s all totally legal,” says Mason. “There’s no electricity or running water. We built a loft—the sleeping area is up above. We built in a desk and cubbies where we could store and stash things away. It’s south facing, so it takes advantage of the best light in the canyon, which isn’t that great ‘cause there’s tons of trees.

And the cost? Mason points out that nearly all of the materials are re-used or “kind of scrounged”—some left over from job sites in San Francisco, even some posts and piles from the Santa Monica pier. “Receipts totaled about $4,000,” he says. “And the really cool thing is we ended up buying a home across the street from the cabin, so now it acts as our guest house.”

Jamie Brisick is a writer, photographer, and director. He surfed on the ASP world tour from 1986 to 1991. He has since documented surf culture extensively. His books include Becoming Westerly: Surf Champion Peter Drouyn’s Transformation into Westerly Windina, Roman & Williams: Things We Made, We Approach Our Martinis With Such High Expectations, Have Board, Will Travel: The Definitive History of Surf, Skate, and Snow, and The Eighties at Echo Beach. His writings and photographs have appeared in The Surfer’s Journal, The New York Times, and The Guardian. He was the editor of Surfing magazine from 1998-2000, and is presently the global editor of Huck. In 2008 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship. He lives in Los Angeles. For more of his work check out jamiebrisick.com & @jamiebrisick