At the time of construction, FEMA required that if a structure was improved by more than 50 percent of its value, it needed to be moved out of the flood plain. But this home is mostly made of stone, and moving it would have been an impossible feat. Instead, architect Rick Nelson and his team at Knickerbocker got creative. "We decided it would be best to be as diligent as possible about costs, which helped focus our efforts on maintaining the rugged charm of the structure," he says.