For more info on available Eastern Shore beach homes ✅ check out our website at www.BlueHeronVA.com. Get ready to live the sweet beach ? life in this impressive 3 bedroom, 3 bath beachfront home ?. Priced at $799,000, this stunning Post and Beam home offers a delightful open floor plan with dramatic waterviews ? and sunsets ?. Move-in ready, perfect coastal home to relax and enjoy the balance of the Summer and a long, beautiful Eastern Shore Fall.
Priced at $650,000, this bright, open & airy, open concept floor plan with an impressive wall of windows offers spectacular waterviews from the moment you walk through the front door and continues through nearly every room in the home. Vaulted ceilings in the great room with windows on three sides, dining area with gas fireplace, a fabulous kitchen for the chef in the family, first floor master suite, with its own private door leading out to the full-length back deck provides the ultimate in beachfront living. This is a fun home with lots of room for entertaining both inside or out, enjoying the soft sand beach, spectacular sunsets, and evening star gazing. Beautifully decorated and being sold fully furnished-ready for you to walk right in and enjoy Summer 2019!
On the Eastern Shore, lovely Virginia waterfront homes near the Chesapeake Bay are not unusual but many of those homes are of a traditional style and the majority of them are two story, albeit many with total living on the first floor. But for the growing number of folks looking for a waterfront home in Virginia who are absolutely set on acquiring a single story home, this new listing could be just perfect. One of the features important to many of our clients when looking for a waterfront home is being able to open the front door and say “wow” as they look from the foyer, across the living area and are immediately treated to a glorious view of the water– this home gets a ten- out- of- ten on that score !
A few years ago, this lovely 3 bedroom, 3 bath home was renovated with three goals in mind– 1) opening up the floor plan to have larger, light-filled rooms and 2) creating water and nature views from every possible angle and 3) adding an additional, more spacious master bedroom suite. Definite success on every goal ! Walls of windows frame scenes of the sparkling blue waters, several new sets of sliding glass doors facilitate an easy flow between the indoors and the outdoors and the spacious new master suite also offers more privacy as it is located on the opposite side of the home from the guest bedrooms. 
During renovation, the kitchen, highlighted by custom cabinets and granite countertops, and dining room were opened up and combined into the living room. The resulting great room is simply spectacular ! A large skylight centered in the main living area was added, offering defused natural light which spreads throughout the entire great room. The fireplace adds additional cheer. Hardwood in the great room transitions seamlessly to custom terracotta tile in the sunroom.
Outside, lots of great nooks for entertaining a group or just a best friend. Located on a gentle knoll overlooking a colorful saltwater inlet from the Chesapeake Bay, one of my fav outdoor spots on this property is a little landing on the path down to the dock and boathouse. It’s a tiny landing, just big enough for two Adirondack chairs. But it’s so close to the water and offers such a tranquil feeling that you want to just sit and relax in those chairs forever ! In addition to this little landing, there is also a attractive flagstone patio and full-house length deck with a cozy separate little portion of deck which wraps around to the new master suite. So— lots of places to enjoy the outdoors which is great because our very mild climate allows for lots of outdoor activities during most of the year. Lots of mature landscaping and bird-friendly shrubs attract a variety of songbirds year-round and of course blue heron and other wading birds stroll the shoreline, keeping a sharp eye out for a quick fishy snack. For boaters, a dock with large boat lift. The boathouse, which is a rarity here, offers plenty of kayak storage for that tremendously popular sport, both facilitate easy access to the Chesapeake Bay which is literally just around the corner. And for those who love fishing, a real fishing hot spot dubbed “The Cell” is quite close by. For gardeners, a large garden area with lots of colorful plantings, a veggie bed, birdhouses galore and a cute potting shed is enclosed by a white picket fence, a real oasis of natural serenity.
For anyone looking for a gorgeous waterfront home featuring an open floorplan, top of the line materials and great indoor-outdoor entertaining potential, this home could suit to a T. Check it out on in the “Boating Properties” section of the Blue Heron Realty Co. website at http://www.blueheronva.com/property.php?print=propid=1253 ( Posted by Marlene Cree, licensed Virginia agent with Blue Heron Realty Co., 7134 Wilsonia Neck Dr., Machipongo, VA )
Through the years Sears maintained a selection of some eighty house plans that were updated to keep abreast of developing trends and for the sake of variety. The plans ran from the smallest sized bungalow to a number of truly substantial models including the elaborate “Magnolia”, which for about $5.000, offered ” Eight rooms and two and a half baths. Two story portico with fluted columns; open terrace across the front, side porte-cochere; decks and sleeping porch off second floor bedrooms; glazed front porch with sidelights and arched transom. Fireplace and nook in living room; French doors off hall; open stairs” . But, in general, the majority of their designs were in keeping with the popular American tastes of the period and were designed to have broad appeal by offering a quality modern home for an affordable price. For extra flexibility, most home plans in their catalogs were able to be ordered in reverse layouts. The styles of the homes seem to almost always follow recognizable architectural traditions. The gambrel roof was a mainstay of the Dutch Colonial style. Roofs with steep pitches evoked English ancestry. The most popular style though, by far, was the well-liked American Colonial, rivaled only by the “bungalow” concept.
The building of houses in America prior to World War II reached its peak in 1925, but Sears home offerings would continue to expand through 1929, the year of the great crash of the stock market. By 1930, across the nation, Sears had opened 48 sales offices employing over 350 salesmen. Their 1926 catalog was a masterful marketing piece, presenting their products in color and with exceptionally glowing remarks about the product attributes. Even the type of wood used in the construction of the homes was referenced because of the interest created by the then recent discovery of well-preserved cypress found in King Tut’s tomb. The Sears Modern Home catalog descriptions addressed every concern imaginable, from the basic reasons for buying a home to touting the then unusual and innovative step of the company’s placement of a woman on the Sears Architect’s Council because she “would understand the needs of the modern housewife.” Nobody imagined that this incredible line of prefabricated housing would last only eight more years. The 1930’s brought the first losses after nineteen consecutive years of profitability. No matter what great ideas Sears employed in supporting its line, the effects of the Great Depression could not be overcome. The first division to fail was the home mortgage industry where, as the “farmer’s friend”, Sears had loaned generous amounts of up to 100% of the cost of a home’s construction. But by 1934, Sears had proudly delivered more than 100,000 housing units throughout the United States, very high quality homes, professionally designed and planned for a lifetime of use by their owners.
The Town of Cape Charles on Virginia’s Eastern Shore has a number of authentic Sears homes, most restored and well-preserved. For sale by Blue Heron Realty Co. is a reverse plan of the Somers Model ordered from the 1926 catalog and found at 3 Randolph Ave., just a hop, skip and a jump from the Chesapeake Bay and the beautiful Cape Charles town beach. Professionally restored and renovated for modern living, this home is a terrific example of the very popular Sears bungalow style. Elevated well above eight feet from grade level, this front porch enjoys a wonderful view out towards the western horizon of the Bay. The ground floor of the home consists of a solid masonry, red-brick foundation for the actual kit home which makes up the second level. The kit home has beautiful cedar wood shingle siding protected with a weather-proof stain that retains the wood grain and color. Also, energy efficient, double pane insulated windows have been installed. Built on two town residential lots, there is a paved driveway, spacious yard with mature plantings, and an access alley behind the home that serves for utility and service access.
Inside, one is suitably impressed by the beautifully refinished original red oak and pine hardwood floors, a bay window in the dining room, a modern kitchen and two bedrooms served by one bath. A heat pump supplies central forced air heat and A/C for the upstairs portion of the house, while beautiful ceiling fans provide the comfort of moving air. The entire home has been updated and renovated for modern living yet retains its historic appeal. A stairwell leads down from the second floor to a first floor apartment with its own kitchen, great room, two bedrooms, a bath and storage area. One may retain the official duplex status of the home or restore it back to a single family house. At present, the upper level which comprises the kit home is offered for weekly summer vacation rental while the lower floor is rented from month to month.
Life in the Town of Cape Charles is truly the “sweet beach life ” ! One of the few places on the East Coast of the United States where one can observe a beautiful sunset to the west over a saltwater Bay. Easily accessible from this bungalow is the boardwalk and “fun pier” from which observations of boats, kite board surfers and the local bird life are frequently found. Nearby are the public boat ramps and municipal and private marinas, world-class, intersecting Palmer and Nicholas designed golf courses, eclectic shopping and restaurants, and our very special historic Palace Theater, one of the best performing arts venues in Virginia. Only a few miles east of Town is the village of Oyster which is perched on the seaside of our penninsula and offers access to an entirely different marine ecosystem. Interests in colonial history, the performing and visual arts, nature exploration and photography, boating and fishing, architecture, gardening, bicycling, hiking, swimming, and especially birdwatching are eagerly pursued here. Come and try on this incredible lifestyle offered from such a wonderful residence as this historic Sears and Roebuck Catalog home. For further information on this listing and other properties for sale in Cape Charles and on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, contact David Kabler via e-mail ( david_kabler@hotmail.com) or via mobile (757) 647-1755.
Week before last I made a quick trip to Bay Creek Golf Resort in Cape Charles, VA to take some photos of a new golf home listing there and was excited to see that the “Spring Bloomers” show is well underway. It’s my favorite time of the year at Bay Creek, an amazing golf community built along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay featuring show quality landscaping, the time when the profusion of vibrant colors there is just absolutely wonderful, total eye candy. The color begins with a large sculpted bed of red annuals at the entry sign and just keeps on going from there, on and on and on, so just when you think you’ve seen everything, something new turns up as you round a corner. Living in a home in one of the 10 little villages at Bay Creek in the spring is sort of like being at the Philadelphia International Flower Show, gorgeous bloomers everywhere you turn, the ultimate floral color palette ( FYI, the 2012 Philadelphia Flower Show theme is “Hawaii, Islands of Aloha”, I’m sure it will be spectacular ! www.theflowershow.com )
The drive from the entrance towards the gatehouse is punctuated by a dramatic water feature, a striking, nearly lifesize bronze sculpture of a small boat with a waterman, his son and their Labrador dog. This close knit group, shown pulling in crab pots, portrays a centuries old scene of a lifestyle of working the waters along the Chesapeake Bay, crabbing in spring and summer, oystering in fall and winter. Landscaped with grasses and accented by a channel marker with an osprey nest atop, this is my very favorite Bay Creek design, it just feels so “Eastern Shore Virginia” as you pass by, a vivid reminder and a tip-of-the-hat to the Shore’s long coastal traditions.
Once through the gate, the full force of the landscaping is accomplished by having single lane, one way roads with wide medians dividing the two lanes, the medians actually being miles of landscaped beds planted with dozens and dozens of varieties of trees together with understory designs of perennial shrubs, flowers and ground covers. The landward side of each lane is bordered with long rows of trees, pin oaks, pines, crape myrtles and magnolias to name just a few, most of which which are surrounded by their own colorful beds including a long row of huge and absolutely gorgeous peoneys just beyond the gatehouse. Additional flower power throughout is provided by the numerous varieties of bulbs and annuals. The superstars of spring, the azaleas and camillias, there seemingly by the thousands, just doing their thing, blooming away, a riot of hot pinks and bright lavendars, splashes of brilliant orange here and candy apple reds there, everything in lovely contrast to the various hues and textures of green foliages. And beyond it all, the cool blues of the Chesapeake Bay and sugary white sands of its beaches complete the delightful rainbow of colors that greet Bay Creek’s homeowners every spring. So, if a Chesapeake Bay home offering a golf, beach and marina lifestyle surrounded by such natural beauty appeals to you, check out our website, www.blueheronva.com for currently available properties.
(Posted by Marlene Cree, licensed Virginia agent with Blue Heron Realty Co., 7134 Wilsonia Neck Dr., Machipongo, VA)
Well, things have really come along on the renovation of 204 Bay Avenue since my last post. For those who are new to our blog, 204 Bay Avenue is one of the “Grand Dames” of Cape Charles, VA. Built in 1912, she overlooks the Cape Charles beach and the beautiful Chesapeake Bay. Now she is in the process of being restored by her proud new owners, Paul and Kim Chandler, who were quite excited last year to find their dream Chesapeake Bay historic home for sale right on Cape Charles’ beautiful waterfront.
Last winter her grounds got a good facelift, trees and shrubs were pruned and shaped, flower beds, weeded, etc. Now that spring has fully sprung, the Chandler’s contractor has begun to tackle the exterior of the house– after standing proud for 99 years in all sorts of weather, she is ready for some serious TLC.
With the nice weather, a good deal of noticable construction on the exterior has taken place over the last few weeks. The once elegant portico is now well on its way to recovery and restoration to former glory. It was an extensive process during which the entire top of the portico was removed, completely re-framed and then the the exterior dentil moldings were put back into place. Porch railings were removed in order to reinforce the floor joists and to rebuild parts of the floor of the full house length porch. Once that is completed and the railings are re-installed, the porch will be ready to re-assume its proper role as the gracious place from which to wave to neighbors, watch the walkers-joggers-bikers enjoy an evening’s outing along the waterfront and enjoy glorious Chesapeake Bay sunsets, ice cold glass of tea in hand.
Inside, it’s getting busy as a beehive as well. The rear bathroom, which was not original to the home, has been completely gutted and is awaiting …..well, awaiting everything from tile to fixtures to painting ! On the second floor, the bathroom has also been gutted and trim is being primed.
The new HVAC has also been installed. The kitchen has been prepared to receive its new makeover but the kitchen red0 will take place towards the end of the entire renovation. The second floor bathroom has already been gutted and the trim has been primed.
So the 204 Bay Avenue renovation is going well, this grand historic home is getting her much needed face lift inside and out, getting ready for her new glory days, getting ready to live into the 22 century !
(Posted by Marlene Cree, licensed Virginia agent with Blue Heron Realty Co., 7134 Wilsonia Neck Dr., Machipongo, VA)