Hospitality · Big Sur · since 2011

Treebones Resort.

Family-built off-grid resort on a Big Sur bluff. Drives reservations. Fifteen years in.

Role

Web design + development + SEO

Years

Since 2011

Status

Active partnership

The work

A coastal resort that doesn't need to shout.

The Handy family has stewarded this place since 2004. From this side, the work began in 2011, and we've rebuilt the site — end to end — several times over since. The look has evolved. The voice never has.

Each rebuild has the same job: get out of the way. Treebones is what happens when you arrive in Big Sur. Our work is what happens before — when someone is reading from a phone, six weeks out, trying to picture themselves on the bluff. Restraint earns that. Specificity earns that. So does loading fast.

John Handy looking out over the land that would become Treebones Resort — Big Sur, 1986
Big Sur · 1986 John Handy, looking out

Brand snapshot

The system, simplified.

Palette

Nightfall #2A2927
Bark #464139
Pacific #62B1AE
Goldenhour #D8A855
Parchment #F5EED8

Pacific is the throughline — a seaglass tone holding the homepage together. Bark and Nightfall do the structural work. Parchment carries the text.

Typography

Cormorant Garamond · Display · 300

Pacific. Wilderness. Nest.

Jost · Body · 300

Big Sur off-grid resort. Yurts, the Autonomous Tent, the Cove, the Nest. Two restaurants. Family-built since 2004.

Editorial serif paired with a clean geometric sans. Italic accent phrases — usually one to three words — hit a brand value: Pacific, coast, nest.

Step away from the world
and into the wild edge.

— John Handy, looking out · Big Sur · 1986

Approach

A few decisions, held for years.

Photography is the page. Sections read as horizontal bands across the screen, never cards stacked on photos. Type stays small. Booking and the live bluff cam earn the engineering attention because those are the moments that decide whether a stranger becomes a guest.

Search visibility is honest. No keyword stuffing, no tricks. The brand voice matters more than any single ranking bump — and the rankings come anyway, because the writing is good and the structure is clean.

Wild Coast Sushi interior — open kitchen with chefs at the counter
Dining Wild Coast Sushi Omakase by Chef Yancy Knapp · Above the Pacific

Right now · Big Sur

Live view from
the edge of the coast

No filter. No edit. Just our bluff above the Pacific as it looks at this moment.

Location
71895 Highway 1 · South Big Sur, CA
Elevation
420 ft above sea level
Camera
Pointing southwest toward the Pacific

↳ Live section as it ships on treebonesresort.com

Live · Treebones bluff cam

Result

Drives reservations. Holds the brand. Quietly compounds.

Pages load fast. Mobile feels native. Booking actually works. Restaurants tell their story. Search finds the property. The site grows with the resort — and the voice it was given a decade ago still reads true today.

11+

Years on the account

7

Stay types covered

20+

Press features supported

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