Story time! Six months ago we bought a beach house and it has become our everyday home. This change means so much to us. Years ago my parents owned a beach house on the Oregon Coast, near the ocean. They remodeled it from top to bottom, creating a cozy, welcoming retreat that became our family’s vacation destination for many years.
As a young family, we didn’t always have the budget for frequent vacations, so having that place to go felt like a gift. It was more than a free place to stay — it was a backdrop for memories: exploring the shore, shopping in nearby towns, attending Fourth of July parades and fireworks, and gathering with extended family and friends. Our oldest daughter, Kylee, even celebrated her wedding reception there after marrying at the little white church in Cannon Beach.
Eventually, seasons changed and we sold that beloved getaway. When we moved to our Seattle home, that house became the new gathering place. I’ve always believed in making your home a place you love — a destination you don’t feel the need to escape from. It didn’t need to be perfect; it needed to be lived in, enjoyed, and filled with family.
Seattle offered nearby adventures, so our home often doubled as our vacation spot. We hosted staycations, holidays, and celebrations, inviting family to join us. For six years it felt almost like our old beach house in spirit — a place to gather and make memories.
As our children grew and began living on their own, my husband and I faced the next season as empty nesters. After decades of child-rearing, we were ready to breathe and enjoy the home we’d made. Moving on felt bittersweet: endings are hard, but change can also bring new possibilities.
We considered our needs carefully. With one child still in college nearby, we didn’t want to move far, but we also no longer needed a large yard or a city location. Those shifts helped us prepare mentally to make a change that fit this stage of life.
Although we weren’t actively planning to move, we let ourselves dream about what the next chapter might look like. Those dreams led, surprisingly, to a series of small miracles that brought us to this charming beach cottage on a nearby island — about an hour and a half from our Seattle house and even closer to our daughter Courtney’s new town.
The new house fits our vision of a cozy seaside cottage perfectly. It offers more than we expected and has been a healing, joyful change after some difficult years. Six months in, we still pinch ourselves. The location feels magical and peaceful, and the compact layout suits our daily life.
My parents have moved in nearby and plan to add a tiny cottage suite off the back of the house, which brings back the family-gathering feeling we loved from our old beach house. This home feels like a gentle return to that tradition, but better suited to our current season.
We plan to add more beach-house character over time — perhaps relocating and remodeling the kitchen, creating flexible guest spaces, and designing cottage gardens. The house isn’t a major fixer-upper, which is a relief; we wanted a home we could enjoy now without large, exhausting projects.
Living here feels like a long-awaited dream come true. Although it’s not far from Seattle, being on an island gives us a daily sense of being on vacation. We love the neighborhood, local parks, and marinas. We collect shells, watch eagles over the water, walk to the beach in minutes, and can take ferries to explore nearby islands. There are opportunities for whale watching, kayaking, and visiting flower farms in spring and summer. At home, we enjoy porch time, games, movies, good food, and simply being together.
The house has already become a wonderful place to welcome our children for visits. We recently hosted our first full family gathering here over spring break. Everyone explored the area and made new memories. Life isn’t perfect, but there is so much to be grateful for. This home will be filled with the same kind of lasting memories we made in our previous beach house — with the added joy of living here every day.
If you’re catching up, you can see posts about our new house in the category for our new home on the blog.
Read more about how we found this house in the first part of our moving story.
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