Lovely 2-Story Seaview Family Home - central AC, Decks, Garden, Porch

* Please see important note at bottom.

Comfortable, tastefully decorated, renovated family home in the family community of Seaview, Fire Island. It's only about an hour by train or car from New York City, but it is truly another world. Once you are on the ferry boat, you have entered a low-key, old-fashioned place where there is no traffic, only bare feet and bikes and wagons. If you want to pop up to the beach in the middle of the night to gaze at the full moon shining on the waves, you can just walk up the block, without a care, and sit at the top of the wooden steps at the top of the dunes. Going to the beach during the day, even at the height of summer, does not mean fighting for a parking spot. All you do is ride your bike or walk seconds or minutes up the block. From Seaview, you can easily walk down the beach for about 20 or 30 minutes to arrive at the unspoiled, natural protected area of Sunken Forest, where the houses stop and a boardwalk leads through the bayberry and beach plum to a holly forest that is below sea level. If you want a little action - seafood restaurants, diners, clothing stores or ice cream - you can reach the village of Ocean Beach in about 5 minutes on foot or by bike.

Our house, which is lifted high above the ground and has wrap-around decks, catches the breeze and the sound of the ocean waves. It also has central air conditioning. The living room is airy and open, with a high, dramatically slanted ceiling, architectural open staircase and large sliding glass doors leading to a sunny deck on the first floor. This deck has a round dining table shaded by an umbrella, and chaise lounges for relaxing. The large, sunny second-floor deck, open to the master bedroom through sliding glass doors, is a secluded aerie above the treetops, catching the sun and the ocean breezes, and is a great place for star and moon gazing at night. There are also lounge chairs and an umbrella and a retractable awning for shade. A breezy screened-in porch, open on four sides, with a ceiling fan and hammock, connects to the kitchen so it can be used for al fresco dining when the golden light of sunset pours in from the west, as well as for just relaxing in the shade in the hammock throughout the day. The porch also has windows that close so that it can be enjoyed in all types of weather.

The large master bedroom, with a glimpse of the bay in the distance, fills the entire upstairs and opens through sliding glass doors onto the private sunny deck surrounded only by sky and treetops, perfect for quiet sunbathing or reading, or for late afternoon tea, with the last rays of the setting sun. There is nothing better in the morning than to walk out onto the deck to greet the day, with the sound of bird calls in the surrounding trees. With a glass-and-steel desk, the master bedroom is also perfect for those who combine vacation with work. The master bedroom has a king-size bed, while the two downstairs bedrooms have two twin beds each. The upstairs bathroom, directly off the bedroom, has a shower, while the newly renovated downstairs bathroom, opening onto the hall that joins the two downstairs bedrooms, has a tub/shower with a European-style shower head that can be hand-held, and is especially useful for washing small children. The house has central air-conditioning and all the bedrooms have ceiling fans. The new kitchen has white marble counter tops, blue-green recycled glass mosaic walls and all new appliances, including a Verona dual-fuel range and a Miele dishwasher. A Weber grill is installed just outside the kitchen and porch for easy meal preparation.

The large cedar-wood outdoor shower is perfect for rinsing off after the beach. The high-capacity washer and dryer are in a separate shed steps from the front door.

The house is centrally located, less than two blocks from the ocean and a block from the bay. It is two blocks from the town's grocery store, the famous Seaview Market, and three blocks from the ferry dock. It is only two blocks from the town of Ocean Beach, which has many restaurants, ice cream parlors and boutiques as well as a post office. As the renter of a member of the Seaview Association, you will have free access to the Seaview bay beach, which has life guards, a kiddie pool, a playground and a basketball court and offers swimming lessons and water aerobics. You and your children can also sign up for tennis on the courts just across from the bay beach (there is an extra fee for tennis). There are also stairs to access the bay at the end of our block.

We want to make staying in our home a simple, stress-free experience. Therefore, everything you might need is provided: all linens, pillows, bath towels and beach towels, as well as such necessities as bath soap, garbage bags, plastic food wrap, paper towels, dish soap and laundry detergent. The kitchen is extremely well stocked, for those who love cooking and baking. We also provide beach chairs and a beach umbrella, as well as a wooden wagon for taking things to the beach or for marketing. The wagon is locked up at the ferry dock so that you can use it for your baggage when you arrive and when you leave.

The screened-in porch, added in the renovation, has become everyone's favorite place to hang out, especially in the hammock. We dine there almost every evening and there is nothing more beautiful than to watch the brilliantly illuminated sky as the sun sets behind the trees. When night falls, we light lamps scattered around the porch so that it feels like a glowing tree house.

The house, which my parents bought in 1964, and which I renovated in 2015, has a warm, homey atmosphere, not the anonymous, sterile feel of houses created specifically for renting.

We have guests who return year after year because they fall in love with the house.

*NB: Please contact us for any interest! We don't accept automatic bookings due to community regulations: we prefer to communicate with you first to make sure our house is a good fit for you. Rentals are usually from Sunday to Sunday (7 nights). Labor Day week, Sunday to Monday (8 nights).