VIRGINIA BEACH — Beautiful sunsets have long been the focus of great paintings, classic poems, and romantic stories.
For Virginia Beach resident Jean Owens her home at 4905 Athens Blvd. on the eastern end of Lake Bradford has supplied more than its fair share of amazing sunset vistas.
“They really are beautiful, and how they look depends on what the clouds are like,” Owens said, often referring to them as her “$75,000 sunsets.”
Owens bought the lot next to the lake 23 years ago when there were more trees and fewer homes in that particular area of Chic’s Beach. She sold the house she was living in, even before work began on her future residence.
“My house had sold so it was with great faith that I found a place to build,” she said. “I guess I just saw the promise of it all.”
Luckily, Owens had a friend who worked at an Oceanfront hotel. Since it was at the end of tourist season when her house sold, she was able to get a room for $10 a night — right on the ocean.
Knowing she wanted to experience the beauty of the sun setting on the other side of the lake she planned her new home’s design so that the view would be nearly impossible to miss.
Using the unique shape of the lot, she laid out the home to not only maximize privacy, but to take full advantage of the scenes that the combination of sun and water would provide.
There are views from nearly every window.
Built on a “cost plus” plan so that she could make changes as the construction moved along, Owens was free to choose what went into it. Although a contemporary design on the outside, inside the home is more traditional. Included were crown molding; a ground floor deck outside that was built around a century-old southern live oak; and a second-floor deck off of the master bedroom, with a hot tub to enhance the viewing of the lake and sunsets.
“It was really just fun to do the stuff I wanted to do,” Owens said.
However, not everything went according to plan.
Shortly after moving into the home a hurricane hit the city. Although Owens planned to evacuate, a big tree fell across the road before she was able to leave, so she rode out the storm in a small closet under the stairs with only a battery-powered television for company and information.
“I really got a baptism of how the weather could be,” she said.
Owens also designed a special window to be included in the home. The frame of the window, located at the stairway landing between the first and second floors, came from a decaying old church in her hometown of Waterlily, North Carolina. She had stained glass panes made to fit into the frame. The stained glass features, of course, water lilies.
The three bedroom, three bathroom, 2,079-square-foot home is served by Hermitage Elementary, Great Neck Middle, and Frank W. Cox High School.
For more information visit Howard Hanna Real Estate Services online.
