A Pretty Little Beach House

Last May, we rented a gorgeous little house right on the beach in North Carolina. The house is one of a pair of distinctive towers built near the harbor on Bald Head Island, and I loved the colorful beachy style, so I thought I'd share. :)

{The house is steps from the beach}

{We stayed in "Rapunzel" on the right}*

{My boys with the golf cart that came with the house}

The house has been featured in architecture magazines and has won a few awards too. It's three stories, with bedrooms on the top and bottom and a living area in the middle. The owners put an emphasis on bright, cheerful and affordable decor - a lot of the furnishings were from Ikea or other big box stores.

{The kitchen was from Ikea}*

{Loved the colorful dining set}*

{The sofa and chairs were all slip covered - essential for a beach house}*

{I loved the unique shape of the sofa. Excuse the mess -
note the culprit, who was only just learning to walk back then}

I wish I'd taken good pictures of the master suite - it's hard to appreciate how lovely the room is from these photos. It occupies the entire top floor, with windows wall-to-wall on all four sides.

{You can lie in bed and watch the waves lapping against the beach. Which I did. Every night.}*

{Jacuzzi tub}*

The bathroom is essentially open. Behind the tub are the stairs leading down to the living room, and to the left of the tub is a pocket door to the loo and sink. Behind the sink, where you'd expect a mirror, is an opening to the stairs. It's hard to explain, so here's a rough floor plan (ignore the measurements, and the directional arrow on the stairs - they head down, not up):

In the cheery second bedroom, the bed faces doors leading to a sizable deck with a grill.

{The second bedroom, on the first floor}*

The rest of the island is beautiful, with pristine, quiet beaches that go on for miles.

And the houses there are stunning - I want to go back and stay in all of them! Here are a couple of our neighbours:

This year, we're renting a house on the coast in California with my in-laws, but maybe next year we'll take another trip to BHI - I would love to return.

If you'd like more information on rentals in Bald Head Island, check out BaldHeadIsland.com or Bald Head Island Vacations (which is the site we rented Rapunzel through).

*All asterisked images from here. All others are mine.