Enjoyed the stay, perfect week

The Ivy Cottage is a beautiful little house in a very quiet area in Oak Island & is just steps away from the ocean/beach. The view is spectacular from the back deck. We loved the outdoor shower and the fenced in area was ideal for our 2 small dogs. The areas we feel inside the cottage the owners should consider improving are the couches. The couches are ridiculously hard plastic, ones you would find on a boat. We could never get comfortable on them. Plus, if you are a plus size person and/or very tall, you might have issues with the low toilets. Master bathroom toilet leaked around base the day we arrived. Overall, it was a pleasant stay.

The house is very cramped, especially if you a maximizing the occupancy like we did. We needed to utilize the pull out bed a few nights, which is completely unusable and needs to be replaced. The two bedrooms with the bunk beds are extremely small, but beds were comfortable. There is not much room for storage of any personal items in the house and the homeowners have a few locked cabinets which lessen this available space as well. There were so many unnecessary knick-knack decorations on table and counter surfaces, that we had to move them all to one central location in order to have room for our own groceries and personal items. There were a few lights out when we arrived, and the HVAC went out while we were there. The handyman arrived within the hour, but the issue was an electrical connection which luckily was fixed by my husband on site who is a licensed Master Electrician who is always prepared with his tools. The exterior thermostat wiring was cut (probably from landscapers) and improperly wrapped with electrical tape which had been pooling rainwater, frying the thermostat. The dunes had just been re-built which re-routed the personal walk to the beach over to the adjacent property. There were not many cooking tools, pans, or dishes. The only coffee maker was a Keurig which was missing a piece and was unusable. We had to go purchase a coffee maker in order to make coffee in the kitchen. The couches are not comfortable, but most likely due to needing to be durable for the pet-friendly home. For paying over $4000.00 to rent a beach house for a week, we were sincerely disappointed in what we received and would not rent this house again. Best parts of the house: The exterior shower has hot and cold water and was the preferred shower to use over the inside one. The side yard was a nice hangout spot.