The view makes this home sweet - island lifestyles tour

It's a three-story, reverse-living home, which means the main living area is on the top floor. You'll enter the home via the second-story foyer and take the open cherry-wood and slate stairway to the top of the world, it seems; for at the top of the stairs spread out before you is the entire north-end dune system, the ocean and the inlet with its parade of boats all leading to the Barnegat Lighthouse.

The view is guaranteed to cause involuntary jaw dropping. The new owner, whoever that may be, will have to be comfortable with being constantly upstaged by the drama outside the windows.

To contrast with the bright seashore light, the living area has been furnished in deep, warm, earth tones by Pamela Bayer of Pamela Bayer Interiors, Tenafly.

The highly polished hardwood floors are natural teak in those same warm shades, and all the cabinets and interior doors are faced with furniture-grade cherry-wood, said Richard Luedtke, representing Joy Luedtke Real Estate in Barnegat Light, the firm selling Land's End.

The master bedroom is right off the living area. Buy this house and use the Barnegat Lighthouse as a nightlight. Tired of the lighthouse and the marine activity? The wall of windows can easily be covered by using the remote control to lower blinds previously hidden in unimposing cornices.

The bath in the master suite is a sensory experience with walk-in "rain" shower and broken-rock tiled floor. Because the view is the biggest feature in this home, the top floor contains the living area, dining room and kitchen. The combination makes for easy, relaxed living, everything one might want in a vacation home. There is a fireplace in the west back corner of the living area within a slate surround that also contains a niche for a flat-screen TV. Luedtke noted that although the main kitchen is on the top floor, there are Sub-Zero refrigerators on all three floors, cleverly camouflaged behind cherry wood panels. There's even an ice machine in the billiard room. The kitchen's granite counters are clear of all appliances: There's a unique drawer microwave that pulls out waist high.

Ease of living is the watchword for the home. The elevator is three steps from the garage and the beach commute over the dunes is made simple; just wait a few minutes for the Barnegat Light borough-run tram that takes beachgoers to the Eighth Street public and guarded beach every 15 minutes.

Sunbathing on the top floor is just a step out the sliding glass (Anderson) doors from both the living area and the master suite. The railings are tempered glass, and you can look down through them to the second-floor swimming pool, which is surrounded by teak decking.

"The fiberglass, jetted and heated pools is a cross between a small pool and a large hot tub," said Land's End architect Rob Musgnug. Musgnug-Cogan Architects of Surf City both designed and built the home.

"You can set it to whatever temperature and just float in the pool; it's another way to get wet," said Musgnug.

The second floor is for sleeping with four guest or family bedrooms, two with their own bath and two sharing a bath. There is a separate powder room on the top floor and another on the first floor, where the billiard room is located. The billiard room is again furnished in warm earth tones; particularly striking is a granite bar area with "Hearts of Fire" granite, a wild pattern. Off the billiard/entertainment room is another large suite with adjoining full bath. This room could be a second master bedroom or an office/artist's studio/nanny's room or exercise room.

Musgnug said Land's End was perhaps his favorite house to design and build. "It was the most fun to do because of the view," he said. "We did a home in Sea Isle on the inlet which had a similar view, but not like this. This is acres and acres of unobstructed wooded dunes reaching out to the ocean. We had to do a house to match the view: two thousand feet of the inlet, and Island Beach State Park, 1,500 feet of dunes. There's nothing in front of you and there never will be. In the master bedroom, you could lie in bed and watch the boats go out the inlet all day."

His design is "based on the feel of a beach house," said Musgnug. The historic shingle-style beach home is blended with a contemporary aesthetic for a couple of reasons to fit in with the neighborhood and to face the stormy Atlantic weather.

"Cedar shingle style weathers the best," the architect explained. "We used big moldings to soften the room and used natural materials throughout. The house is anchored on pilings and I-beams to withstand the northeasters. It's in a safe position, far back from the ocean," he noted.

Like any artist whose creative work is finished and now for sale Musgnug is experiencing some separation anxiety. "I'll be sad to see it go. In theory, I'd be sad. I've been up there for a year and a half and it's been very enjoyable. You're not going to get that view anywhere else. Whoever buys it, gets it."

Bayside Abodes on North End Tour

The Land's End home is just one of seven amazing shore homes whose owners have graciously opened them for the Foundation's popular house tour. This year's tour is an easy one to follow since all seven homes are located on the north end of the Island.

In North Beach, fabulous bay views and sunsets are enjoyed by the owners of a house built by the architectural firm Lomer and Meggitt. The home has been decorated by its owners, who also made all the cushions, bedcovers, pillows and window treatments. Their fine-craft aesthetic is evident in a dining room table crafted out of a Mississippi River barge wood, and in beach glass-tiled bathrooms.

Three homes are located in Loveladies: an original Lud Ullman designed home that has been updated with a state-of-the-art kitchen and featured in DreamHomes, New Jersey magazine; another bayfront home with stained glass transoms and a liquid design glass-tiled pool; and a lagoon-side home designed by Studio Tagland for a family with three active children and two dogs who enjoy their summers swimming in the pool and boating on the bay.

In High Bar Harbor, architect Samuel Gordon built a waterfront home with a unique stepped-down facade. The house is composed of four cubed sections that are stepped to provide each room with windows on two sides and lagoon views. The sloped roof ties all sections together.

A Jay Madden home completes the tour in Barnegat Light. Madden's vintage Victorian look incorporates gables and wide porches so loved by that age. The home is decorated in French country fabrics and furnishings. This house also has a greenhouse and conservatory dining area.

The self-guided house tour begins at the LBI Foundation of the Arts and Sciences in Loveladies, where the brochure and map are available. The houses are open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and be prepared to remove your shoes at some locations or wear shoe protectors provided by the Foundation.

Proceeds from the house tour help the Foundation with operating and programming expenses. The event is being sponsored by Design NJ magazine, Tuckerton Lumber Co., Kitchen and Bay with TLC, and Prudential Zack Shore Properties.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 the day of the tour. Call the Foundation at 494-1241 for more information.