If your vacation vibes lean towards lazy, sun-drenched afternoons and nostalgic memories of a bygone era, then let a stay at Ivy Cottage refresh your soul. Nestled among the dunes of East Beach, this cozy oceanfront cabin welcomes two dogs and has a grassy, fenced backyard for your babies and fur-babies alike to play safely in as well as a spacious deck where youâre sure to spend hours listening to the waves and enjoying the sea air.
The open-concept main living area features original wood paneling and fun nautical details. Gather around the wall-mounted flatscreen TV to watch your favorite shows or spread one of the classic boardgames stocked at the home across the coffee table for some friendly competition. The compact eat-in kitchen is stocked with everything you need to cook during your stay, and the round table here seats four comfortably. Just beyond, the Florida room offers a second living space with two couches including a double sleeper sofa, a second TV and an additional dining table that seats six.
The master bedroom is furnished with a queen bed and offers a TV for personal entertainment. There is also an ensuite half bath for your convenience. The other two bedrooms are each furnished with a twin bed and a twin-over-double bunk bed. The shared full bathroom down the hall provides a step-in glass shower stall. A small utility room offers a stackable washer and dryer so thereâs no need to haul sandy towels and swimsuits back home.
Outside, the grassy fenced side yard is an oceanfront rarity, a perfect spot for dogs and kids to run off extra energy. The enclosed outdoor shower with hot and cold water is also appreciated when it comes time to rinse off after time spent on the beach. Cook out on the charcoal grill and dine al fresca at the classic picnic table under the shade of an umbrella. Listen to the crash of the waves from the oceanside deck, where you'll find plenty of comfortable seating including classic rockers and even a small breakfast bar perfect for enjoying morning coffee or evening cocktails. Gates at either end of the deck make this a safe space for little ones as well and a cantilevered umbrella provides shade. Build castles in the sand, take long walks along the shore and make memories together to last a lifetime at Ivy Cottage.
Please note there are limited ocean views over dune line.
The Ivy Cottage is a beautiful little house in a very quiet area in Oak Island & is just steps away from the ocean/beach. The view is spectacular from the back deck. We loved the outdoor shower and the fenced in area was ideal for our 2 small dogs. The areas we feel inside the cottage the owners should consider improving are the couches. The couches are ridiculously hard plastic, ones you would find on a boat. We could never get comfortable on them. Plus, if you are a plus size person and/or very tall, you might have issues with the low toilets. Master bathroom toilet leaked around base the day we arrived. Overall, it was a pleasant stay.
The house is very cramped, especially if you a maximizing the occupancy like we did. We needed to utilize the pull out bed a few nights, which is completely unusable and needs to be replaced. The two bedrooms with the bunk beds are extremely small, but beds were comfortable. There is not much room for storage of any personal items in the house and the homeowners have a few locked cabinets which lessen this available space as well. There were so many unnecessary knick-knack decorations on table and counter surfaces, that we had to move them all to one central location in order to have room for our own groceries and personal items. There were a few lights out when we arrived, and the HVAC went out while we were there. The handyman arrived within the hour, but the issue was an electrical connection which luckily was fixed by my husband on site who is a licensed Master Electrician who is always prepared with his tools. The exterior thermostat wiring was cut (probably from landscapers) and improperly wrapped with electrical tape which had been pooling rainwater, frying the thermostat.
The dunes had just been re-built which re-routed the personal walk to the beach over to the adjacent property.
There were not many cooking tools, pans, or dishes. The only coffee maker was a Keurig which was missing a piece and was unusable. We had to go purchase a coffee maker in order to make coffee in the kitchen. The couches are not comfortable, but most likely due to needing to be durable for the pet-friendly home.
For paying over $4000.00 to rent a beach house for a week, we were sincerely disappointed in what we received and would not rent this house again.
Best parts of the house: The exterior shower has hot and cold water and was the preferred shower to use over the inside one. The side yard was a nice hangout spot.