Casa Caliente | Plunge Pool, Screened Spa & Two Queen Lofts

THE SHORT VERSION

A glass-walled tiny home under the pines with two queen lofts, a screened outdoor living room big enough to lose an afternoon in, a spa on the porch and a plunge pool on the deck just outside it. Three miles from the oldest city in America. Sleeps five.

THE HOME

White shiplap floor to peak, and light from every side. Two sleeping lofts at opposite ends of the house, each with a queen and a window full of trees — far enough apart that two couples can travel together and still feel they have their own corner. Below and between them, a living room that runs the full height of the house: a deep sectional, a smart TV, and open stairs with the storage built right into them.

The kitchen is a real one. Sage-green cabinetry, butcher-block counters, a full range and oven, coffee maker and open shelving — you can cook a proper dinner here, not just reheat one. The bathroom is white and bright with a sage vanity and a step-in shower.

THE SCREENED OUTDOOR LIVING ROOM

This is the part people remember. A cedar-beamed ceiling, screens on every side, and a coral sectional long enough for five people to stretch out on. Outdoor dining for the group, a woven hammock chair in the corner, and the hot tub right there under the same roof — you can sit in the spa with the rain coming down and stay perfectly dry. A swamp cooler keeps the whole room comfortable straight through a Florida summer.

OUTSIDE

Step off the porch onto the deck and there is the plunge pool: round, blue, and cold in the best possible way. Past it, teal Adirondack chairs pulled around a fire pit on white shell. An outdoor shower. Pines on every horizon and enough open sky to watch an entire sunset from the water.

HOW IT FEELS

Coffee up in the loft with the trees right outside the window. The middle of the afternoon in the plunge pool. Dinner on the screened porch with the fans going. The fire lit after dark, and the spa still warm at midnight.

WHAT IT IS FOR

Two couples who actually like each other. A family of five who want somewhere beautiful rather than somewhere large. Anniversaries, long weekends, and the trip you have been putting off for a year.

WHERE IT IS

Three miles from historic downtown St. Augustine, about ten minutes from the beach. From mid-November through January the Nights of Lights run downtown, and there is no better place to come home to afterward.