home of distinction
T
Christmas tradition for the King family once meant decorating one large, tall
tree in the house. Now, a new house calls for new traditions — two smaller trees
fit under the lower ceilings of their cozy beach cottage on Wrightsville Beach. THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE, adorned with MacKenzie-
Childs collectible ornaments, greets guests at the front door.
The second tree overlooks Banks Channel. During years of
walks on Wrightsville and Atlantic beaches, the family found
the collection of sand dollars that now decorates the ever-green.
They bleached each one by hand and strung it with
red ribbon to hang on the tree.
“From the front door, I wanted to be able to see the
fireplaces, the water and our family’s silver on display,” says
homeowner Bill King.
Memories — nostalgic family photos, a personalized selec-tion
of artwork and family heirlooms — are shared on walls
and between spaces. The snowmen sitting on the fireplace
mantel in the living room were gifts given to Bill’s parents.
“We use things that have special meaning and incorporate
them somewhere,” says Karen, Bill’s wife.
Tradition is important to the family. It’s seen in their use
of Christmas décor, and in the very home itself.
The beach cottage was originally built in 1941 by a man
in the lumber business. Gail Farthing bought the home in
1970, and sold it to John Drewery, her son-in-law, 15 years
later. The Andersons purchased the house in 1987 and reno-vated
the back in 1998.
The Kings purchased the home in October 2015 and
hired Mark Schmidt of Schmidt Custom Builders to com-plete
a thorough renovation. Work began in January of 2016
and was completed at the end of July.
“Everything has a story,” Bill says. “I love how we kept the
character and made a really good house even better.”
The history of the house was important. So much so that
the Kings were willing to put up with some of the quirks of
a 70-something-year-old cottage.
Christmas decorating at the beach cottage means traditional wreaths on the door and a new tradition — ornaments spread out
over two smaller trees.
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WBM december 2017