They say major life events happen in threes. After receiving difficult health news and, soon after, experiencing the loss of their beloved dog, Texans Alyson Fox and Derek Dollahite decided to take charge of their destiny by making the third event a major move. Having designed and built their previous house (with a lot of help from family) in the Texas Hill Country, Alyson and Derek started hunting for a fixer-upper they could make their own. They cast a wide net and eventually reeled in a 1980s beach cabin on the Oregon coast. For our new issue, the couple shares how after years of updates—including renovations and the construction of an addition, a studio, and a shed—and hundreds of linear feet of cork, they finally found a soft place to land. See their full #ConstructionDiary at the link in our bio. – Photos by mason_trinca Story by desert.ren