Marnie Oursler’s Oceans 11 Beach House

Words by Michele Lerner, (c) 2018, Special to The Washington Post

When your vacation home needs to be equally welcoming to a 30-person weekend reunion and to a retired couple seeking quiet beach days, a custom-designed home is more than a luxury, it’s a necessity.

“Ocean’s 11,” a home designed and built by Marnie Oursler, host of DIY Network’s “Big Beach Builds,” manages to be a peaceful retreat for two, as well as the place where the Eager family – the retired patriarch and matriarch and their 11 children, along with spouses, partners and 23 grandchildren – gather for New Year’s Eve.

The massive kitchen island serves as a focal point for the Eager family at their vacation house in Bethany Beach, Del. Image: Andre Chung for The Washington Post

“The Eagers wanted as many bedrooms as possible, so there are six bedrooms, including a bunk room for kids and a bunk room for adults, two guest rooms, plus two master suites,” said Oursler, chief executive of Marnie Custom Homes in Bethany Beach, Delaware. “Beach houses, especially this one, need to have lots of space for entertaining and lots of space for three generations to get together. They need rooms that work for toddlers to people in their 70s.”

Details include a barn door, a bench and a painting by one of the Eager brothers at the Eager family’s vacation house in Bethany Beach, Del. Image: Andre Chung for The Washington Post

Oursler, whose signature elements include built-in bunk beds and large kitchen islands that function as extra dining tables, designed this home with space for adults and kids to gather, as well as separate areas to accommodate the different activities that appeal to young children, college students and adults.

In the kitchen, a few of the Eager family members: Carol, from left, and Bil Sr.;, Annie, 13; Jack, 11; Cole, 9; Liam,15; Katie and Billl and Bill’s nephew Finn, 14. Image: Andre Chung for The Washington Post

Five years ago, Bill and Katie Eager of Ashburn, Virginia, who have four children ages 9 through 15, were thinking about buying a vacation home. About the same time, Bill’s father, a principal at St. Luke’s Catholic School in McLean, Virginia, and St. Anthony’s in Washington, D.C., was retiring.

“It was always my parents’ dream to retire and live at the beach, but their budget meant that the closer they got to the beach, the smaller the house,” said the younger Bill, who is vice president of the dealer business unit at Carfax.

The master bedroom at the Eager family’s vacation house in Bethany Beach, Del. Image: Andre Chung for The Washington Post

Most of the Eager siblings live in either the Washington area or Philadelphia, so Delaware’s Bethany Beach is convenient for all. Bill and Katie agreed with his parents to finance and share a house that needed renovation in Bethany.

“The location was great, close to the beach and a few blocks from town, but we found out that the flood laws meant we would lose the first floor of the house if we remodelled,” Bill said. “We went on a beach house tour to get some ideas, and the two houses we loved most had been built by Marnie.”

Six double bunks in a children’s room at the Eager family’s vacation house in Bethany Beach, Del. Image: Andre Chung for The Washington Post

Read the full story at The Washington Post.

Featured Image: Andre Chung, The Washington Post