An old Sea Pines dame has been dressed up fit for a ball, and she’s ready to dance again.
But before you jump to conclusions, we’re talking about a renovated 1973 home just past the Ocean Gate on the Atlantic side in Sea Pines.
The home’s former owners were fairly early to the Sea Pines game, having purchased the choice oceanfront plot in the early ‘60s. Now, a couple from Atlanta — physicians with your typical “visited-Hilton Head-and-fell-in-love” — own the home, and after a seven-month renovation, it’s ready once again to be the belle of the ball.
“This is a unique rejuvenation of an old Sea Pines home,” said Gretchen Goss, the project’s consultant and interior designer. “The new owners bought it in 2010 and thought they’d do a little work to rent it, When we were finished, they were so excited with the outcome.” The new owners plan to rent it part-time and use it as a second home.
Photos / Rob Kaufman
The rejuvenation includes all new electronics and wiring (“very tricky,” Goss said), a three-part swimming pool and outside living area by Scott Littlejohn and John Coccaro’s HB Panoramic, new flooring by Sterling Hight, updated hardware and a restored view of the ocean.
“Usually when you find a ’70s home, you’d consider it a tear-down, but people who have seen the project are shocked to see how great the bones of the house are without all the major usual changes,” Goss said. “It’s now so clean and bright, with all the modern amenities, but we kept a fun ’70s retro look to it.”
The pool, however, is all new. Littlejohn designed a three-tiered, ocean-view number where there wasn’t even a cement pond before. “It was rough terrain,” says Littlejohn’s partner, Coccaro. “It had to be cleared out and we had to move a lot of dirt, trees and brush. All of a sudden, we had a magnificent view of the ocean.”
HB Panoramic designed and built a three-section pool with two separate systems: spa, wading pool and the 38-by-15-foot pool, all interconnected by spillways. From the living area — complete with deck, bar and grill — one can slip a chair into the wading pool to read a book or enjoy a magnificent Atlantic Ocean sunrise. It all adds up to something that feels like a reborn, modern tip of the hat to Charles Fraser’s original intentions.
SELECT VENDORS
Interior Design / Project Consulting: Gretchen Goss
Flooring: Sterling Hight
Electric: Schulze & Co., Graybar Electric
Pool: HB Panoramic
Partial construction: Ken Goss and Associates
Landscaping: Back Yard Retreats
Outdoor stone / pavers: Courtyard
Granite: Precision Granite and Marble
Painter: Alfa Painting
Audio/Video: Advanced Home Technology
