Small and unchanging: In a Sea Isle City bungalow, a modern makeover didn’t seem right

Cori and Jeff Brennan have assumed the role of caretaker for their quaint, historic 850-square-foot bungalow in Sea Isle City. Built in 1926, the cottage will celebrate its centennial next year, an unusual milestone when many older, smaller Shore homes are razed for bigger, newer models.

When they began their search for a vacation home, they found their way to Sea Isle City, fueled by Cori’s fond memories of nights spent at the Ocean Drive Bar during girls’ weekends with friends.

When she and Jeff found this charmer, sandwiched between the ocean and the bay, they were smitten. Location and price were driving factors, and this house checked both those boxes.

“Sea Isle is known for its duplexes, but we already shared walls in our rowhouse in the city and thought it would be really nice to have a single where we didn’t share walls,” Jeff recalled. They live in Graduate Hospital when not at the Shore.

The Brennans bought the beach bungalow in late 2017 and have since taken advantage of their hybrid office schedules to spend long weekends there whenever possible throughout the summer. Cori and Jeff each set up a home office in the sitting room or on the dining table.

The cottage features two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, a sitting room, and a multipurpose space that includes the dining table, laundry, and storage area.

The sitting room is versatile. When the couple is alone, it’s a place to enjoy coffee in the morning and cocktails in the evening, while watching beachgoers come and go.

When company visits, the sitting room serves as a second guest room for the kids who sleep on the futon. Those visits bring Jeff back to his childhood.

“My grandfather was a World War II vet and a carpenter who built a cottage close to the shores of Lake Erie,” said Jeff, a software architect at Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia. “When we would visit, there was one bedroom, and everyone else slept on mattresses plopped in the attic loft. It was warm, uncomfortable, and awesome.”

In his own house, he can relate. Though the previous owners installed central air conditioning and replaced most of the windows, the A/C doesn’t reach the front porch.

But the couple had expected some warts in a 100 year-old house, including a barely functional kitchen. After several failed attempts at using the oven — which runs about 200 degrees hot — they’ve given up.

Their creative work-arounds bring them joy. They often cook on the backyard grill and eat outside, and they are installing a Blackstone griddle to complement the outdoor kitchen. Otherwise, they contribute to the local economy by ordering take-out.

“We’ve kept the home in overwhelmingly the same condition and intend to do so as long as we can,” said Cori, a partner in the law firm Klehr Harrison Harvey and Branzburg. “We’re not going to make any major structural changes because we are pretty close to the ocean and the ground. The house barely survived Sandy,” the massive 2012 hurricane.

The couple repainted the home’s exterior, though just to a lighter shade of blue.

“For the last five or so years, one of Jeff’s colleagues and his family come for a week,” Cori said. “His little girls have grown up asking about the blue house, so we couldn’t completely change the color.”

They replaced the front lawn with stones, removed the rickety back deck, and tore out the grass to create a roomy, well-appointed back patio, surrounded by irrigated flower beds. The sunny spot is where Cori, Jeff, and their pitbull, Bella, 5, spend much of their time.

The bricked patio is filled with Polywood furniture, including comfortable couches, a large dining table, and a modern firepit that keeps the space warm on cool nights. Much of the patio is protected from the sun with a shade they had custom made for the space.

Though Cori’s design aesthetic is more modern than the traditional bungalow’s beachy vibe, she is embracing it.

“It feels right for the house,” she said. “Being updated to be more modern doesn’t quite fit.”

The house needs to be shut down in the winter to prevent the pipes from freezing, though they do crank up their baseboard heaters and use blankets to extend the season.

“When we get into the heart of the season, I could spend all day every day in my beach chair just staring at the ocean,” Jeff said. “We take a lot of pride in being a caretaker for this house.”

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