Modern waterfront cottage & guest house in Wellfleet
Wellfleet Vacation Rental - ID 33070

Our family has been in Wellfleet for four generations, and we love it! Our dad loved building things and built our first cottage for 3500$. As we grew up, my brothers and I were bitten by the design/build bug. My brother, Steve, is an architect and designed our houses. My brother, Scott, is a carpenter and led the building crews, and I learned to build from him. Together, we built four houses for our folks, all in roughly the same neighborhood, as they sold one to build the next. But this is the last one: we're done and we definitely saved the best for last! Our dad had a guest house and an art studio, and when he died, we renovated the studio, expanding it to create the main house. The murals he painted for the courtyard were degrading and weren't going to survive the renovation, so I reproduced them on panels that are designed to last. It has truly been a whole family effort: we tiled, did finish work, installed cabinets and lay floors while the kids did dump runs, painted and planted. Landscaping and restoring the terrain around the house to its native splendor has been another fun project. They've dug a ton of holes! We've planted a lot of trees! For decades our parents rented our houses in the summers and our dad particularly LOVED being a host to our tenants. I have taken his place and love it as much as he did. He was seriously generous in spirit and deed and that's how I approach renting. I really love to share our place and want our guests to love being here.



What is special about this property?
Our house is the last, best work of our family doing what we do best: building stuff! There are so many lovely
things: my dad loved the artist Henri Matisse, so I surprised him with a Matisse replica in his outdoor shower.
Steve had the idea to put small tea lights over the courtyard to provide lighting at night out there, and they're great! My husband is a fine woodworker and built a custom range hood out of oak, and Scott adorned it with birds painted by our dad. Steve had the idea to design the railing of the storage loft using morse code as a pattern, and then I took that idea and did the same in laying out the tile in the kitchen - dots and dashes! We have FUN building and love creating things and the house has such a great feeling to it because of that. We also have a pair of benches that are on a platform right down on the beach - it's a fabulous place to sit, and of course our dad wanted to share it with anyone and everyone. So, the word YES is carved into each bench, there's a little table made from a log with a box on it and in the box is a notebook and a pen, so that anyone who comes to sit can leave a message or a thought behind. Very special!

What is special about your town?
Wellfleet is THE BEST! Tons of beautiful places to walk, amazing kettle hole ponds for swimming (many in the woods that you have to hike to - so nice!) and because we live within walking distance to town, it's easy to get groceries, do errands, or get some breakfast downtown without getting in a car. There is an osprey nest on a light pole at the pier and every year there are hatchlings in it. We love seeing the boats, going clamming, or kayaking in Duck Creek or out to Great Island.