At first, Willie Coffey scoffed at the idea of building a vacation home on a marshy tract adjacent to a busy thoroughfare in coastal Delaware.
He and his wife, Debbie, wanted something roomier than the waterfront townhouse they owned near Bethany Beach. He didn't see much potential in the parcels his wife had been eyeing for several weeks.
Then, while the Baldwin couple drove along Delaware's Route 1 in North Bethany one day, Debbie Coffey said, "Stop the car or I'm jumping off," he recalled.
He quickly pulled onto a muddy site that stood empty except for a large sign boasting The Cove, a 21-home development to be built by Carl M. Freeman Co.
Debbie Coffey started walking around the tract, looking for the perfect spot. On that October day in 1996, they created a vision for their beach-side dream.
Not long after, they became the first property owners in the development by purchasing a parcel and a slip in the marina for less than $135,000. They eventually would spend about $850,000 to construct the home.
They settled on land snuggled between a natural lagoon and Indian River Bay. Today, the mud hole Debbie Coffey first walked around is a 6,000-square- foot beach "cottage" with turn-of-the-century character and a wraparound porch on all four levels.
Inside, Debbie Coffey lightened the home with all-white furniture that she painted or covered. Her seemingly endless displays of collectibles, including miniature dollhouses, facades of tiny European storefronts and dozens of hand-painted Limoges boxes, give life to the rooms.
"It's a totally spectacular home with a breathtaking view from all rooms," said Vickie York, a Bethany Beach Realtor who has visited the home.
Turning their vision into a graceful reality wasn't easy for the Coffeys, both 52. They had a detailed wish list: wiring for future technologies, installing a geothermal cooling and heating system, customized railings for the staircases that continued from the first to the fourth floor.
Willie Coffey became the general contractor on the project, while keeping a full-time job as a financial planner 120 miles away. The couple had experienced building two other homes for their family of six and wanted to give it a try.
"I also figured I could save 20 to 30 percent this way," said Willie Coffey, a managing partner of Gateway Capital Financial, a MetLife Financial Services office in Linthicum.
They started by deciding to erect the largest house possible on the narrow lot that measured 114 feet wide and 90 feet long.
"If you're going to build a house and then sell it, which we might do, you have to build big," Willie Coffey said.
Debbie Coffey pored over stacks of home plans. They used a plan for a home half the size of the one they built and added rooms from other designs.
"The architect needed about six months to figure out what we wanted and how to make it sound, because structurally, it was just a bunch of floors stacked up," Willie Coffey said.
With a blueprint in hand, he started requesting bids from framers, electricians, plumbers and drywall specialists.
Meanwhile, Debbie Coffey went through more magazines and catalogs to select unique features that included maple kitchen cabinets with antique bubble glass, European steam showerheads, wide windows for all the rooms and a perfect shade of cream for the wall.
"Sometimes it all came at you at once and it was stressful," she said.
Once the shell gave the structure form, the Coffeys tackled most of the finishing work. By this point, they'd already sold their Delaware townhouse.
For the almost two years that it took to finish the home -- placing the tile, installing the kitchen cabinets, painting all the rooms -- they lived on their 34-foot Sea Ray cabin cruiser.
They worked almost every weekend, through storms, vacations and nights that ran into daybreak. Their adult children joined them when possible.
Neighbors would shout: "Are you done yet?" Willie Coffey would keep answering, "Two more weeks, two more weeks."
A Realtor recently told them their home could sell for $2.4 million.
Veteran Realtor Pat Campbell-White of Re/Max Realty Group in Rehoboth Beach said coastal Delaware has attracted many buyers looking for waterfront property.
"The value of some homes near the ocean has easily doubled in the last five years," she said. The Coffeys said the stress and hard work paid off.
"It was definitely worth it, even though we argued sometimes. Now it's like 'What's next?'" Debbie Coffey said.
There's still work to be done at home, such as installing an elevator and converting an open area into two bedrooms.
They're putting off those projects until Willie Coffey retires in three years. But the seasoned contractors may be too busy then.
"Once I retire, I want to start buying property" and acting as a contractor to help others build their homes, he said. "At this point, there is nothing that we can't do."
For the time being, they're enjoying the haven that took five years to create. Sometimes, they feel lost in such a big home. But the location on the shoreline of Indian River Bay is hard to beat, Willie Coffey said.
"Just look out the windows," he said. "We have great views in all the rooms."