After almost two years of dreaming, researching, hoping, praying and working, I figured it was time to start chatting about our place at the shore!

Hi – I’m Wendy and I have always wanted to have a place closer to the beach. After thinking long and hard about the location, I realized that my heart is at the Jersey shore.

After exploring so many beach towns (and “near beach” towns) I fell in love with Somers Point with its friendly neighbors, charming bayside beach and of course it’s proximity to some of the best beaches in NJ. Closest to Ocean City but not all that far from some other favorites like Avalon, Cape May and Brigantine. And let’s not forget the Longport dog beach!

Our place started out as a “flipped” fixer upper that was still in need of some fixing up! The prior owners and the person who “flipped” the house left us with some very strange situations that we’ll touch on another day. But I have to give some credit to the mysterious flipper because he did bring the house from this:

To this:

There was still a lot that HAD to be done – mold remediation, attic critters and insulation issues, tree removal and concrete repair, and the HVAC went out halfway through the first year. I think we’ll save some of those stories for another day. For now, I want to talk about all the fun things we took care of just last week!

My brother who is a miracle worker contractor, has helped with so much work to make our place more efficient, family friendly and also fun! My favorite little detail is the star that we hung over the garage – not the same one from the original house, but close! I loved tying that in and matching up the front door color.

Here are some of the projects we have finished so far;

• Built a beautiful gazebo
• Refreshed the bathroom
• Rebuilt a closet
• Added a washer dryer
• Built an outdoor shower for after the beach
• Hung the porch swing
• Painted some rooms
• Power washed decks
• Landscaped in the front
• Put together a little shed and filled it with beach equipment
• Put up our new star outside
• Painted the front door.

And then we took a minute to enjoy the dog beach with our favorite assistant! It has been a lot of work but so satisfying to see it coming together. My vision of a beachy summer oasis near the shore is just about there. Stay tuned for more about our beach house adventure! Next up – the fence!

xoxo,

Wendy