Like the great Shingle style waterfront residences that inspired it, Beach Bay Point humanizes its imposing scale with the kind of details that led its predecessors to be called “cottages.” A case in point is the house’s main stair. Instead of standing formally at the center of things, the stair bends into a corner of the plan. But what it lacks in pomp and circumstance, this stair more than makes up in casual, asymmetrical charm. Its lower treads spread and wrap, borrowing as a newel one of the massive Port Orford cedar posts of the house’s timber frame. The carved handrail twists sinuously, like a tree root seeking water. A low window offers a glancing outdoor view, and the occasion for another conversation-piece detail. “The stair goes right in front of it, so we had to put a little rail there,” explains architect John Meyer. “It’s part of the informality of the design. It’s done in such a way that you see how everything goes together.”