Big news: Rick and I are putting our weekend ocean-side home in Ocean Shores, Washington on the market. Yes, we are selling our weekend home, our sanctuary.  We have had beautiful times there, many wonderful yoga retreats, and we will always hold dear the many memories of family and close friends coming out to spend precious time with us over the past twenty years.

I can’t even begin to count all the meals I have cooked in this home, how many vegetables I have picked from the garden beds, how many bouquets of flowers I have arranged from the cut flowers that grow so profusely in the garden! Many readers of this blog post have been out to Ocean Shores for a yoga retreat.  Please read on and leave me a comment if you are at all interested in being the new happy owner of this very special home. Or simply peruse the photos and fall in love with a very special place!

Our dream is to sell this home to someone who will appreciate the healing energy of this place, the beauty, and the tender loving care Rick and I have poured into this home for over 20 years. If we do not find a buyer amongst friends and acquaintances, then the home will go on the market with a local real estate agent. At this point, the sale of the house will be For Sale By Owner, contract to be drawn up by a real estate agent.

OS House Real Estate Description

A one-of-a-kind home in Ocean Shores. Natural, secluded, skylighted, four-bedroom, two-full-bath, chalet-style craft house with externally accessed quarter basement and workshop on three-lot parcel (eligible for new boundary-line revisions) with sewer paid in full. Open great room, kitchen, dining area, living space, upper landing, and stairs. Oak and tile floors, hemlock trim, cherry wood cabinets, walk in pantry, cedar deck on three sides. Wood stove, hot tub, woodshed filled with wood, storage sheds, greenhouse, drip system, compost barrels, forest benches. Official wildlife reserve with mature flower, shrub, vegetable, herb, and fruit tree gardens surrounded by see-through deer-proof fences. Great for naturalists (we are on a bird migration path), gardeners, developers, families, artists, and second-homers. Less than ten minutes to the ocean beaches. This cozy creative forest home will sell fast.

More information from Fran:

We call this home Little Renaissance. It is a sanctuary where you will experience the purest air and beautiful light. The skylights in the cathedral ceilings provide light even on the wildest stormy winter days. Little Renaissance is a home nestled in the woods, a place filled with good energy. When my parents came to visit, upon stepping foot into our home, they said in unison, “Quest’e ‘na casa di salute!” which translates to “This is a house of health!” Hearing that from them moved me deeply, because my parents were both in poor health and being in a healthy environment was of utmost importance to them. Declaring our home a “house of health” was the greatest compliment they could have given us!

I think about my parents exclaiming that every time I walk into our Sanctuary.

I believe the person who buys this home and property can be considered very fortunate.

We named this home Little Renaissance because it is a place where the arts, spirituality, and nature-connection flourish, where you can be creative, free, and healthy. When the windows are open, we hear the ocean waves. The house is situated one quarter mile east of the Pacific Ocean and one mile north of Protection Point on Grays Harbor. The property and nearby beaches are teaming with wildlife. Cranes roost in a nearby spruce tree, which I watch from my desk. At night, you can hear the barred owls hooting a tune as if they’re asking, “Who cooks for you?”

The summer temperatures are perfect in Ocean Shores. Summer temperatures in Ocean Shores are a wonderful relief from the recent hot summer days in the city. There’s no need for air conditioning. In addition to beach walks along the ocean, to the jetty, to Protection Point, or to the wonderfully hidden 121 acres of the old-growth preserve called the Weatherwax Trail on this 6 mile long peninsula, there is also a required community-membership recreational facility that includes a gym, swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, basketball court, and weight room. Most recently, two yoga studios have popped up (Coastal Karma Center and Oyhut Yoga). Clam digs, fishing for surf perch, lake fishing for trout and bass, surfing, kayaking and canoeing in the canals, beautiful drives, hiking and backpacking deeper into the Olympic Peninsula await you!

Birders can enjoy Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge in Hoquiam and the annual Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival in May. Outdoor enthusiasts, people seeking quiet contemplative time and time to read and write, those who love to garden, and folks who love to watch winter storms will enjoy life here at the coast. The house is big enough to entertain your friends and family. We are a two and a half hour drive from Seattle.

CERTIFIED WILDLIFE HABITAT
We have Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary Status. In order to have this status, there is a checklist with topics on food (source must be from plants as well as supplemental feeders), water (bird baths and natural sources), cover (natural places where wildlife can find shelter from the weather and predators), places to raise young, and sustainable practices (soil and water conservation, control exotic species, organic practices by eliminating chemical pesticides and fertilizers). It’s all in place. What a great habitat to own!!

AND A FEW MORE FACTS:

• House square footage: 1,445 square feet. Rick completed building the house in 1999.
• Lot size: 20,475 square feet. We did a boundary line revision combining the three lots into one parcel. The house sits on what was the south lot, which includes a perennial/ornamental garden, a fruit orchard, and vegetable garden boxes. The two north lots are still mostly wooded.

FLOOR PLAN:

• Bedrooms (4 bedrooms, two upstairs and two downstairs) 11.5 x 13 feet. This figure includes closet space (all the rooms are the same in size, three have bedroom closets and one does not have a closet, making that one bigger..an armoire can be added to the 4th room for a closet)
• Great Room (includes living room, wood stove, dining room and kitchen, open floor plan) 23 x 20 feet
• Bathrooms  5 x 7.5 feet (both bathrooms, one upstairs and one on the main floor, are identical).

WHY ARE WE SELLING?
I imagine most everyone who reads about our piece of paradise going on the market will ask “Why?”. Why are we selling our home and property? We bought the first lots in 1994. We completed construction of the house in 1999. So we’ve been tending this property for twenty years and loving every bit of it. Now, however, we feel it’s a time in our lives to experience something different, to enjoy new adventures, like adding regular weekend day hikes and backpacking back into our lives. We’d love to experience new trails and destinations. And we will simply enjoy our lovely condo in Seattle, where Green Lake is our front yard, and I will continue to enjoy my yoga teaching in Seattle.

Below is a link to the video I put together so you can see the beauty of Little Renaissance:

REGULAR LINK

Little Renaissance needs a new owner to lovingly tend to her.  Are you that person? Please comment below and I will send you a private email.

List Price $269,000

Make your appointment now to come view the house in Ocean Shores! Either Rick or Rick & Fran will be out there to show you around on the dates indicated below.  We will also show you our nearby local beach (Pacific side and the Grays Harbor Protection Point side) and the community clubhouse/gym.  Contact Fran at fran@frangallo.com or leave a comment below.

Namaste,

Fran