As you may already know, the Coastal Living Ultimate Beach House at Seabrook was open for tours for 4 months, during which thousands of visitors from all over the country journeyed over to Seabrook for a sneak peek.

We thought it would be fun to enter every visitor into a contest, for a prize consisting of many fun little gifts straight from the Seabrook Giftshop and one main prize – a free weekend stay at Seabrook!

We recently compiled all the tickets together and drew one lucky guest. Needless to say, we have a winner!

Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, we are proud to announce that Kim M. from Burien, WA is the winner of the Ultimate Beach House Visitors Contest!

Congratulations to Kim from the whole Seabrook Team! Be ready to receive a gift basket of Seabrook goodies that will contain the free weekend voucher for your stay at Seabrook.

Didn’t have a chance to tour the Ultimate Beach House? You can now do so virtually, just head over to the Ultimate Beach House blog for all the pictures and videos!

Thousands of people from the Pacific Northwest (and beyond) visit Seabrook each year in pursuit of a good time at the beach. And why wouldn’t they? Seabrook is the only place on the Washington coast that offers high-quality lodging, free bikes for cruising around town, many different activities and amenities, and most importantly, access to the long sandy beaches of the central Washington coast!

Seabrook Cottage Rentals strives to make housing accommodations as comfortable and relaxing as possible for those who stay at Seabrook. To see what our guests think of our services, we ask each of them to complete a Cottage Rental Survey after their stay.

By getting direct feedback from our guests on a number of questions, we are able to pinpoint our strengths and identify areas that need further improvement.

This year, over 90% of Seabrook’s vacation rental visitors were extremely satisfied with their stay at Seabrook! Whoo-hoo!

We’d like to thank everyone that provided feedback about their time spent at our beach town. As a reward, we offered one FREE WEEKEND for the luckiest responder to our survey of the last 6 months. So without further ado, we present to you the winner!

Congratulations to Amanda Jones from North Seattle for winning the Cottage Rental Survey Contest!

Please email us at rewards@seabrookwa.com to learn how to claim your free weekend getaway. In addition, you will receive 4 tickets to the Ultimate Beach House, which is open for tours for only one more week!

A heartfelt thank you to everyone that comes and stays at Seabrook, especially those that participate in providing feedback to us. If you have stayed at one of our cozy cottages but have not had a chance to fill out the survey, contact us and we will send you the link to the survey online.

See you all at the beach!

As many beach lovers from across the nation have flocked to Seabrook to visit the 2010 Coastal Living Magazine Ultimate Beach House, we’ve had a chance to meet some very successful and inspiring people from all industries.

One such person has been Florida based interior designer Michelle Jennings Wiebe. Visiting relatives in Washington state, she had heard of the great 4th of July tradition established at Seabrook and decided to bring her own family here for the holiday.

We had the great pleasure of meeting her and her family as they walked in our office after a tour of the Ultimate Beach House. Eager to learn more about our waterfront real estate neighborhood, we spent good couple hours chatting about our beach town and discussing Seaside, Florida and other similar communities that, like Seabrook, were founded on the basis of new urbanism.

Here are 10 questions Michelle was kind enough to answer for the readers of our blog. She is an incredible person and a unique interior designer; hope you enjoy her interview and pictures of some of her work.

1. Was becoming an interior designer your dream since you were a kid?

Amazingly, yes!  I grew up in a historic home built in the 1800s in a small town in Ohio.  My grandparents owned it before my parents did, and I was quite enthralled when my grandfather let my grandmother hire a “decorator from the big city!”  I loved seeing the transformation of this house from tired to beautiful!  I also spent a lot of my time as a child drawing floor plans and elevations, decorating my Barbie houses, and spending time in multiple art classes.  My love increased during high school with more art and drafting classes.  Upon graduation, I knew I wanted to study Interior Design.  I chose Florida State University and graduated, loving every minute of it!

2. What is your favorite part of the house to design?

Actually I don’t have a favorite room.  I love any space that I get to design with incredible fabrics.  I have a deep passion for unusual, exquisite, colorful fabrics.

3. What is the most common decorating mistake you notice?

Perhaps incorrect scale or proportion used.  All the pieces of the room must fit together.  As an interior designer, I am constantly thinking about how each piece will affect other pieces, and how the final outcome will look.  I never make a singular decision without thinking through the entire scheme or plan!

4. What do you strive for in your career (goal/milestone)?

Throughout my career, my primary objective has been to provide my clients with BOTH excellent interior design and superior client service.  There is nothing better to have the same clients come back year after year, whether they are purchasing a new property or referring us to a friend!

Recently, I have set some new industrious career goals for both our firm and me individually.  First, our firm is very enthusiastic about doing more interior design work outside of Florida; it is our intent to branch out into more national projects, and even international ones!  Second, we would like to design and license our own line of designer home items.  We have some great ideas for bedding, area rugs, and furnishings; we are still looking at which avenue to pursue.  Third, I’d like to write a design book and get published; this has been a dream since childhood.  I’ve actually began the initial process on this.  Lastly, we are developing ideas for pitches with television networks to launch a design TV show.  So needless to say, these are exciting times at Studio M!  We are thankful for every client past and present, and look forward to creating these new chapters (literally!)

5. What is your biggest inspiration in life?

My family is my biggest inspiration!  I have a wonderful husband Tom, who left a decade long corporate career in the finance industry to join Studio M several years ago!  He is also a great dad to our three children.   They all inspire me each and every day!

6. Where do you draw inspiration from in your work?

Inspiration comes from many sources, but travel provides new creativity and refreshment.  I must tell you that during our week long stay at Seabrook this summer, I found a lot of design inspiration from the ocean, the rugged cliffs and trees, and the charming architecture of the community!!  The tranquil setting also was perfect for complete renewal and recharging.

I also meticulously study design books and design magazines for inspiration—you should see my bedside table!  Over the past year, I have also become a design blog junkie on-line.  I am amazed out all the information out there!

7. Favorite place to relax?

The beach….the beach…..the beach.  My soul considers it truly heaven on earth!

8. Most uniquely and interestingly decorated movie scene that you remember?

It is funny you should ask that because I also admire and study movie and television sets.  Sometime it does not even matter what the show is about, if there is an interesting design to the set, I’m entertained by that!

Hands down, my favorite production designer is Jon Hutman, who along with set decorator Beth Rubino crafted the sets of both “It’s Complicated” and “Something’s Gotta Give.”  Jon Hutman also designed “The Holiday”.  These are my favorite recent movie sets.

Of course, my all time favorite which must be mentioned is the incredible “Gone with the Wind”!

9. What was your favorite part about Seabrook?

Our family enjoyed Seabrook so very much, and it was everything we thought it would be, plus more!   We have stayed at and been fascinated with the developments of the neo-traditional communities of Seaside, Florida and Rosemary Beach, Florida.  We come often to visit relatives in the Seattle, Washington area, so we were drawn to check out the Pacific Northwest’s enchanting version of this type of community.

It is difficult to pick out just one favorite part.  Our family enjoyed every minute, and we made lots of treasured memories.  We enjoyed our family bike rides, horseback rides on the beach, decorating our front porch for the 4^th of July, visiting Lil’s Pantry (everyday!), hiking the trail to the beach, and just the fun family time we had!

We sincerely enjoyed our stay!  Thank you for your Washington hospitality.  We look forward to coming back soon!

To find out more about Studio M Interior Design, visit:

Studio M Interior Design Website

Studio M Interior Blog

Studio M Interiors on Facebook

Studio M Interiors on Twitter

Since the introduction of the Ultimate Beach House as the name for the 2010 Coastal Living Magazine Idea House at Seabrook, we’ve been wondering what truly characterizes an ultimate beach home.

Is it the breathtaking view, the outdoor fireplace and barbeque, or 100 year old European tile in your master bathroom? Or, is it all of those things combined?

Over the last few months, we’ve had our share of long conversations and debates over our personal favorites. It is now time to hear yours!

Share with us your dreams of the Ultimate Beach Sanctuary and win free and exclusive access to the 2010 Ultimate Beach House at Seabrook this summer!

Simply add your entry in the comment section below and enter to win the “ultimate” package of:

• 2 Seabrook Glass Floats
• 4 Tickets to the Ultimate Beach House at Seabrook
• Exclusive Tour of the Idea House!

You have until July 10 to submit your description. The winner will be announced right here on the Seabrook Blog on July 16 – the opening day of the Coastal Living Magazine Ultimate Beach House!

Thank you for participating and good luck!

Update: The 2010 Coastal Living Idea House is now called the Ultimate Beach House and has it’s own website! Head to it and find out all the details about the most exciting beach house for 2010!

www.seabrookwa.com/ultimatebeachhouse

We have some really amazing news for all of you! It seems as all the hard work invested in establishing Seabrook as a top beach destination is definitely paying off. Coastal Living, a magazine with immense reputation for being a top resource on oceanfront living, has chosen Seabrook as the exclusive location for the 2010 Coastal Living Idea House!!!

Situated in the Northwest Glen division of Seabrook, with breathtaking views of the ocean waves, the idea house will be the only one of the kind that Coastal Living Magazine will build in 2010. While there are usually two idea houses each year, the magazine’s Editor in Chief, Lindsay Bierman, was so impressed with Seabrook’s iconic majesty that he decided to give the Seabrook Idea House unmatched exclusivity this upcoming year.

This is a very exciting time for Seabrook and a simply outstanding recognition. Our town founder, Casey Roloff, shares his take on this milestone on our YouTube channel. Watch the video now and share with us your comments and thoughts!

Lew Oliver, one of the nation’s most acclaimed architects, has designed the house which should be completed in only a few months time. Keep checking back to our blog as we will be posting lot more information on this project, including pictures, timelines, and updates.