Isle of Palms · South Carolina

2 Driftwood Lane

A raised custom home on the waterway side of Isle of Palms, built around a book-matched marble kitchen, white oak floors throughout and two levels of deep porches under the live oaks. Five bedrooms, five baths, completed in 2023 to a Crosby Creations plan and built by Iconic Developments.

5Bedrooms

5Bathrooms

3,935Heated Sq Ft

2023Completed

2 Driftwood Lane - front elevation of a raised custom home on Isle of Palms, with double porches and mahogany front doors.

Side elevation with a row of young palmettos along the drive.

Aerial over 2 Driftwood Lane, showing the standing-seam metal roof and the maritime forest canopy of Isle of Palms.

Aerial looking across Isle of Palms toward the Atlantic and the Intracoastal Waterway.

Deep front porch with mahogany double doors and a tongue-and-groove ceiling.

Front porch looking out through the palmettos.

Entry hall in white oak with an open stair and full-height paneling.

Formal room wrapped in board-and-batten paneling over white oak floors.

Paneled sitting room with a wall of windows into the oaks.

Hallway with built-in shelving and a long sightline to the rear of the house.

Great room with a brick-and-painted mantel fireplace, looking back to the front door.

Great room with multi-panel sliders opening to the rear porch.

Great room with the sliders open to the covered porch and the oaks beyond.

Great room open to the kitchen, with the fireplace on the right.

Kitchen with a whitewashed white oak island, book-matched marble counters and a shiplap range hood.

Kitchen island with book-matched marble waterfall counters and a brass faucet.

Kitchen open to the great room, with floating white oak shelves and marble counters.

Bedroom with a vaulted shiplap ceiling and a French door to the porch.

Bedroom with a vaulted ceiling and shiplap walls.

Bedroom with a vaulted ceiling and corner windows into the trees.

Upstairs landing with a white oak stair and cable rail.

Upstairs landing with a chandelier over the open stair.

Owner's bath with a freestanding soaking tub between two white oak vanities.

Freestanding soaking tub with brass fittings in the owner's bath.

Guest bath with a marble mosaic shower, brass fittings and a marble vanity.

Walk-in closet with custom shelving and white oak floors.

Rear covered porch looking out into the live oaks.

Plunge pool off the rear of the house, photographed before final landscaping.

2 Driftwood Lane sits on a third of an acre on the quiet, waterway side of Isle of Palms — the half of the island where the lots are wooded, the traffic is residential, and the marina is closer than the beach access. The site came with a mature live oak canopy that had to be worked around rather than cleared, so the house was pushed toward the street and lifted, which put the main living level up into the branches and left the rear of the lot open for a pool.

The Residence

Site & Setting

The waterway side of Isle of Palms trades the walk to the sand for tree cover, larger lots and a quieter street, and this parcel is a clear example of the trade. Existing live oaks set the footprint before a line was drawn — the house was sited to keep them, and a row of palmettos was planted down the drive to give the approach some structure while the canopy does the rest. Lifting the house on a full-height ground level solved two problems at once: it satisfies the island’s flood elevation, and it puts the main floor at the height where the oak branches become the view instead of the obstruction.

Exterior & Construction

Cladding — Board-and-batten over the full elevation, with louvered operable-style shutters — a Lowcountry vocabulary rather than a coastal-contemporary one, chosen because it ages well on a wooded lot.

Roof — Standing-seam metal, the right call on an island where a shingle roof is a fifteen-year item and a metal roof is a forty-year one.

Elevation — Two living levels over an enclosed ground-level garage, which is how the flood elevation is met on Isle of Palms without giving up parking or storage.

Porches — Full-width double porches front and a covered porch at the rear, all in tongue-and-groove — depth enough to actually furnish, not a token four feet.

Entry — Mahogany double doors with full sidelights, set under the porch rather than exposed to weather.

Entry & Main Level

The entry runs straight through the house to the rear porch, with the stair on one side and a set of paneled rooms on the other. Those rooms are wrapped floor to ceiling in board-and-batten paneling — not a wainscot cap, the full wall — which is the single most expensive decision on the main level and the one that does the most work. It gives an unfurnished room shadow and depth, and it is the reason the house photographs as finished rather than as drywall. White oak runs continuously through the level with no thresholds between rooms.

Kitchen

Island — Whitewashed white oak, left as a furniture piece rather than matched to the perimeter cabinetry.

Counters — Book-matched marble with a waterfall return — the two slabs were cut and set so the veining mirrors across the seam, which is a slab-selection and fabrication decision, not a material upgrade.

Hood — Custom shiplap range hood, built rather than bought, sized to the ceiling height instead of to the range.

Shelving — Floating white oak shelves in place of upper cabinets on the window wall, to keep the glass.

Fixtures — Unlacquered brass, which will patina rather than stay bright — specified deliberately.

Owner’s Suite & Baths

Owner’s bath — Freestanding soaking tub centered between two separate white oak vanities, with the window behind the tub rather than over a sink.

Finishes — Marble floor and surrounds, brass fittings throughout, to match the kitchen rather than to contrast with it.

Guest baths — Marble mosaic shower surrounds with marble vanity tops — the secondary baths were not value-engineered down.

Closets — Walk-in with custom shelving, built in rather than wire-shelved.

Bedrooms — Upper-level bedrooms carry vaulted shiplap ceilings, which is what a second floor under a pitched metal roof should do with the volume.

Systems & Outdoor Living

Elevator — Residential elevator serving the levels — on a raised island house this is the difference between a home that works at seventy and one that does not.

Great room — Multi-panel sliders open the great room to the rear covered porch, so the two rooms are used as one from April through October.

Fireplace — Masonry firebox with a painted mantel, set on the interior wall.

Stair — White oak treads with a cable rail, chosen to keep the sightline from the entry through to the rear of the house.

Pool — Plunge pool set into the rear yard, sized to the lot rather than to the brochure.

At a Glance

Address	2 Driftwood Lane, Isle of Palms, SC 29451
Neighborhood	Isle of Palms — waterway side
Heated Square Feet	3,935
Lot Size	0.32 acre
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	5
Year Completed	2023
Plan / Designer	Crosby Creations
Construction	Two living levels over an enclosed ground-level garage
Exterior	Board-and-batten cladding, standing-seam metal roof
Interior	White oak floors throughout, full-height board-and-batten paneling, vaulted shiplap ceilings
Kitchen	Whitewashed white oak island, book-matched marble waterfall counters, custom shiplap hood
Notable Features	Residential elevator, plunge pool, double front porches, rear covered porch, masonry fireplace
Iconic Developments’ Role	Built by Iconic Developments

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “book-matched” marble actually mean, and is it worth the cost?

It means two slabs cut sequentially from the same block are set side by side so the veining mirrors across the seam, like opening a book. It is not a different stone — it is a slab-selection and fabrication decision, which means paying for the block rather than the square footage and doing the layout at the yard before anything is cut. On a waterfall island where the seam lands at eye level it is the difference between a counter and a piece of furniture. On a back counter nobody looks at, it is money spent where it will not be seen.

Why put white oak floors in a house this close to the water?

Because the risk on a coastal floor is humidity swing, not water, and a properly acclimated and finished solid or engineered white oak handles that better than most people expect — provided the house is conditioned year round and the subfloor is dry before anything is laid. The tradeoff is that it is unforgiving of a wet dog and a July door left open. Tile is the safer specification; white oak is the one that makes the house feel like a house rather than a rental.

Is full-height board-and-batten paneling worth it, or is a wainscot enough?

Wainscot is the value answer and it works in most rooms. Full-height paneling earns its cost in two specific places: rooms with tall ceilings that would otherwise read as blank drywall, and rooms that will sit unfurnished part of the year. It gives a room shadow lines and proportion on its own, which is why a paneled room photographs and shows well empty. It is also finish carpentry priced by the linear foot, so it scales fast — the honest advice is to pick two rooms and do them properly rather than doing every room lightly.

What changes when you build on the waterway side of Isle of Palms instead of the beach side?

Lot size and tree cover go up, price per square foot comes down, and the mix of what is walkable changes — the marina and the waterway are close, the sand is a drive or a bike ride. The construction differences matter more than buyers expect: wooded lots bring tree-protection requirements into the site plan, and the canopy that makes the lot attractive is also the thing that constrains where the house can physically sit. On the beach side the constraint is the flood elevation and the setback; on this side it is usually the oaks.

Does a residential elevator change how a beach house is framed?

Yes, and it has to be decided before framing, not after. The shaft is a structural opening that runs through every floor, so it affects joist layout, load path and the location of the stair — retrofitting one into a finished house means opening floors and usually giving up a closet stack. On a raised island home where the main living level is a full flight up, an elevator is the feature that keeps the house usable across a long ownership. If the budget cannot carry the cab today, frame and pre-wire the shaft and finish it later; that costs a fraction of adding it after the fact.

Can Iconic Developments build for me on the waterway side of Isle of Palms?

Yes. It starts with the lot rather than the plan — on this side of the island the tree survey, the flood elevation and the buildable footprint left over after setbacks usually decide the house before an architect is engaged, and running that analysis first is what keeps a plan from being redrawn twice. Chris Eller has more than 22 years in Charleston custom construction, land acquisition and luxury sales. Send the address or the parcel and we will tell you what can actually be built on it before you commit.

Building on Isle of Palms?

Chris Eller has more than 22 years in Charleston custom construction, land acquisition and luxury sales. On the waterway side of the island the tree survey and the buildable footprint usually decide the house before a plan is drawn. Send the lot and we will tell you what it will carry.

Contact Chris Eller Isle of Palms Homes