Out door shower.

yes, definitely!

yes, definitely!

I don't know where you are located relative to a bay or ocean. We are located on a canal so our living quarters along with main master suite are located on the top floor to take maximum advantage of the views. Additional bedrooms located on the floor below along with a family room to allow some separation when it is wanted/needed. We also have an elevator to assist with transport of stuff and people up to the top floor. Elevator shaft was put in at the time of the build - elevator added several years later.

jeterway, interesting that you mentioned the elevator. I spoke to an architect who said we may want to consider one. I would have never thought of that. He said it is not as expensive as one might think and it really comes in handy with the third floor. Are you happy you have one? The house sits two houses in from the ocean.

When my husband suggested it, I thought it was out of line. But when we built this house we did it with the intention of retiring here - so getting up to the top floor was just going to get harder as time went on. We lived here for a few years without it. Only come down on the weekends - Friday nite was tough carrying up all of the bags. Supermarket trips were tough carrying up all of the bags. Now that I have it, I cannot imagine living without it. It is especially good when older/disabled folks come to visit and on laundry day.

Favorite things:
1)A combination lock on the side door. Unless all your friends and relatives also have beach houses you can anticipate lots of company. Being able to give out a combo is much easier than handing out keys and the combination can be easily changed.
2)Tile floor in the main living areas. We wanted hardwood aesthetically, but chose tile to accomodate radiant heat. At least once a week while cleaning we comment Can you imagine trying to maintain hardwood in here?
3) Radiant floor heat. We LOVE it, love it, love it.
4)Have as elaborate and comfortable outdoor shower as you can muster. You want to entice your inevitable guests (see #1) outside to save wear and tear inside.
5)Large wrap around covered front porch. It becomes our living room and dining room weather permitting.

I'm loving these ideas! Would have never thought of the combination lock-brilliant! I have been planning on hardwood floors on the main level but will think about this again. The tile isn't hard on your feet? Do you have hardwood floors on the bedroom levels? My husband is obsessed with outdoor showers, so a nice one is a must. I hope we can squeeze a front porch in....have to see if we can sacrifice first floor living space but I would love to have one. Thanks very much!

If you have a water view, a deck waterside with a railing that doesn't inhibit the view! We love ours.

If you are near the beach, a cabana bath that opens to the beach or pool is a must. Helps people from tracking in water and sand.

I hope you don't mind hearing from one who has rented on the beach once or twice a year for the past 40 years...

Outdoor shower with a hand-held showerhead. However, used far more often: a foot/leg shower placed on the landing. One place had a puddle-pan by the foot shower, it was great for rinsing off shoe bottoms.

Yes, tile floors! Hardwood looks lovely and quickly scratches from the grit (you can train everyone to remove shoes before entering -- but they won't do it when they have their hands full of groceries, ice cream, etc.)

One house has a section of outdoor carpeting on the porch: it catches most of the sand but then you have the choice of cleaning it several times a day or letting it look really awful. That house also had carpeted floors: no, no, no. I vacuumed twice a day and 20 minutes later they showed more fine sand and salt.

Rails on both sides of any steps. Even nowadays I see far too many flights that provide a hand-hold on only one side.

If you don't do an elevator, consider a pantry-butler (the kind that looks like a laundry chute). Carrying stuff up and down flights of stairs gets old quick, and as we age, it becomes more difficult.

Adjustable awnings, especially over the deck. Having lunch on the deck is fun, having it in the shade on the deck is far more enjoyable.

Be sure the deck and/or porch is wide enough to permit lounge chairs. One place had a couple hammocks -- they were the most-used furniture on the deck.

Think about wind and rain: a covered entryway with a table large enough to set a bag is wonderful while you're hunting keys.

6 bedrooms? please have lots of bathrooms! 2 sounds good until you share a place with a couple teenagers, lol.

A ground-level, lockable site to store surfboards, rafts, extra chairs, etc.

Wood floors are a disaster with sand. Tile floors all the way on the ground floors, and be sure and have a built in vacuum or vacuum pans in every room, but especially the entry points. Washable scatter rugs can soften the tile, but they do need to be small enough to fit in your washer. You'll also be doing a lot more washing than you think, with lots of sandy towels, etc. so a large capacity washer and a decent sized laundry/pantry area can help to keep that from being such a chore plus stretch the space further by combining functions. You don't need much in the way of "luxury" bathrooms, but with 6 bedrooms, I'd expect at least 4 baths. However, getting permitted for something so large may be a problem, depending on your location and sewage disposal method.

For your exterior, you're not likely to have much "yard", but if you do, please consider landscaping with native plants and/or xeriscaping. Fresh water can be at a premium in some beach locations, so reducing the amount needed by eliminating the "lawn" can really help to stretch the supply that you do have. It's also really cool to watch the wildlife at home in their habitat. The beach house we rented last year had a nesting pair of some leggy looking seabirds right at the boardwalk over the dunes. (I'm not good with names for birds I'm not familiar with.)

I really appreciate reading all of these recommendations(plus it's so nice to be reminded of all things summer)! I'm sure I'll have more specific questions as we get started. Hope you won't mind! So many great ideas here. Thanks

To all those who gave advice about the tile floor instead of hard wood floors because of the problem with sand.

Do you think that a house that was three (short) blocks from the beach would have as much problem with the sand? I don't think any sand would be picked up on people's feet unless they went to the beach itself, and if an outdoor shower was used after being on the beach, maybe wood floors would be ok?

If going with tile floors in the house, any ideas or pictures of nice looking tiles and patterns?

I do have some pictures but can't find them right now. My parents redid their beach condo (it is more like a townhouse - multilevel) and it is on the beach. There is, of course, a boardwalk from the beach to their condo (which crosses over a golf hole that lies between their condo and the beach), but there is still lots and lots of sand. Taking off your shoes at the door helps, but it still is an issue. I don't know if you have kids or kids will be visiting but sand seems to get in all the nooks and crannies (as you know if you have ever bathed a kid after he has been to the beach and then showered and then gone to the pool - sand everywhere!).

They really wanted the hardwood floors, and really hated the idea of tile but along with the sand they have had water issues in the past (which they think have finally been solved), since they are right on the beach and are subject to nor'easters.

They ended up using a hardwood floor type rectified porcelain tile called Timber Glen from Daltile. They used it in the light, whitewashed version (I think it is called dune) and would be perfect with your slipcovers and seagrass (in fact they have a seagrass rug in their den and it looks great over the tile, and I generally don't like rugs on top of tile). They had it laid randomly, just like hardwood floors, with as little of a grout line as possible (which is tiny like hardwood floors - their fantastic tile guy used toothpicks as spacers). It looks fantastic!

Tile often looks "cold" to me in areas other than bathrooms, and this does not have this feeling at all. They also make it in several other colors, including a darker one which is great looking also (I am considering that for my basement down the road).

They have this tile throughout the common areas, carpet in the bedrooms, and more bathroom look tiles (mosaics, travertine, etc.) in the baths. It works really well and they have had folks come over to see their redo that also have condos there and several of them have had to reach down and touch the floor to believe it is not wood.

Also agree about the combination lock. Emtek and Schlage both make them and they put one on their front (and only) door. It is as attractive as those things can be but super practical! It is so nice to be able to go out for a walk without worrying about bringing a key, and to be able to give friends the combination so they don't have to keep up with their key every time they want to go outside.

We put tile(travertine) in the foyer entryway where we have a shower stall by the laundry room to rinse feet and we have wood floors everywhere else--no problems so far

Will this be a primary residence, second home, or rental/second home ?

We also are planning hardwood floors for our beach house (pilings should be driven this coming week or next week at the latest!!). Hopefully it will not be a huge problem down the road. A lot of the houses here do have hardwood.

Elevators in our area are right at $18,000 for 3 stops (ground floor, middle/first floor, top/second floor). I have spoken with a few different mfgs. One that really impressed me was residentialelevators.com. According to their online brochure, "Because our factory and headquarters are located less than 10 miles from the Gulf of Mexico in FloridaâÂÂs Panhandle, everything we engineer and build is designed to withstand the harsh and humid environment of the SouthâÂÂs coastal communities."

Building at the beach, you want to spend a lot of time thinking about construction.
This is what you do NOT want to happen ... href="http://www.wbtv.com/global/category.asp?c=195957&clipId=5211304&autostart=true
and the related news story ... http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13351110

Here are some good websites ... http://vimeo.com/16177124
http://www.disastersafety.org/
http://www.ibhs.org/property_protection/default.asp?id=8
http://www.miamidade.gov/buildingcode/pc-search_app.asp
see CH 44 of residential ... http://ecodes.citation.com/cgi-exe/cpage.dll?sid=2010111309442387204&pg=x&rp=/nonindx/ST/fl/index.htm&CFID=49393&CFTOKEN=17393784
http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=1570
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/nfip/manual201010/05rate.pdf
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_homes.hm_index

Thanks for all the links, Angela 12345-you've really done your homework.
We'll definitely talk to our architect about making sure we build something that the big bad wolf can't blow down!
Thanks!