Update: Since the originally planned Winemaker Dinner for Saturday, November 17 sold out in record time, Seabrook and Bookwalter Wines would like to welcome you to a second Winemaker Dinner scheduled for the night before, Friday, November 16. Read on for all the details and click Reserve Your Seat to sign up for the Friday dinner.

As the seasons change from Autumn to Winter, storm watching season on the Washington Coast is nearly upon us. While we love the experiences and emotions sunny summer days provide, we also have a special place in our hearts for sitting by the fireside on a stormy winter night with a glass of wine and a delicious meal. To kick off the 2012-2013 storm watching season, we are emphatically pleased to organize and offer a very special Winemaker Dinner featuring J. Bookwalter Wines in the luxurious Coastal Living House on Friday, November 16 at 7:00pm! That’s right, delicious food, incredible wine, and a breathtaking view of the ocean in a home that is unlike anything on the Washington Coast!

Before we dive into the details of the menu and wine pairings, we are honored to have John Bookwalter, owner and winemaker of the award winning Bookwalter Wines, join us to present and educate dinner patrons on the wine pairings offered with the delicious meal from Mill 109. For more than 15 years, Bookwalter Wines have been among the best wines in Washington State and we will be the first to say that we are more than excited to try their award winning wines.

We would also like to specially thank Anthology | Storied Destinations for providing the one-of-a-kind setting for this magical evening, The Coastal Living House. Designed exclusively for the nationally renowned Coastal Living Magazine, celebrated house designers Lew Oliver & Tim Clarke collaborated to create this 3,200 s.f. Pacific NW coastal shingle-style beach escape.

Positioned to take full advantage of the stunning Pacific Ocean views from three levels and resting in Seabrook’s sought after Northwest Glen neighborhood, the cottage looks out through an open forested bluff down to a wide sandy beach.

Thinking about the setting for this amazing evening gets our hearts beating and imagining the tastes and smells of the meal and the wine pairings makes our mouths water. Enjoy the details of the evening below and please don’t hesitate to comment if you have any questions on the meal or wine pairings!

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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!