Hilton Head home next to HGTV finalist has 2x the lot and glass walls. Look inside

On Hilton Head, past the Sea Pines Plantation gate is a horseshoe-shaped home, owned by art lovers.

It’s meticulously decorated with original works from island and South Carolina locals. And there isn’t a single piece on the home’s U-fashioned back wall. No illustrations. No sculptures. No frames.

Instead, “it’s a moving picture,” Realtor Jeff Hunt said.

The back wall of 69 N Calibogue Cay Road — on the market for $8.499 million — is made almost entirely of glass. The nearly floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the Calibogue Sound and Buck Island. The marsh is the canvas. The background shifts as the tides move, and the focal points change with the seasons as birds migrate, and the color palette depends on where the sun is in the sky.

It carries a $1,887 annual property owners association fee and was last sold for $5.4 million in 2021, according to property records.

At 6,243 feet, the home has four bedrooms and five baths and sits on 1.23 acres, which is about double the acreage of most homes on the road, including a finalist for the HGTV.com Ultimate House Hunt 2023. The “moving picture” is not only unique for its view but the northern orientation of the home over the Calibogue Sound and Broad Creek mean that nothing, including neighboring docks or other structures will ever obstruct the canvas.

Walking past the three-car garage, steps take visitors to the home’s first floor, a full 16-feet above sea level. Ferns sway in hanging planters and begonias sit in window boxes on the porch. Their fragrance is easily forgotten, though, because as soon as the home’s door opens eucalyptus-peppermint wafts through. Essential oils are dispersed through the air system to scent the home.

While guests might not be able to put a finger on the aroma, they’d have to be oblivious to miss the scenery. The views may be the only aspects of the house that aren’t understated: they’re dramatic.

“I mean that is miles away, all the way out there,” Hunt said, looking out. “You see the traffic going across the bridge.”

The home’s unique shape gives almost every room a front-row seat — or bed — to nature. Whether it’s from the right wing of the home, with the office and main bed and bath, or from the left wing which has just about everything else. All of the rooms are on the main floor, except for a guest bedroom up one set of stairs and a storage space up a winding staircase stemming from a brick floor.

There’s so much natural light that it’s safe to put houseplants in the bathrooms. In the main bath, two purple orchids sit near the tub, and two more are by the sink, basking in slotted sunlight created by the blinds.

The orchids aren’t the most interesting plants on the property — the tens of tiny trees are. They’re bonsai trees, up to 75 years old and hold significant value. The property manager rotates a miniature Chinese elm, ponderosa pine and Japanese white pine, to name a few, between inside and outside the house so they get the right amount of sunlight.

To be clear, the trees aren’t for sale with the home. They’re not for sale period. Instead, they’re part of the property manager’s private collection and even if the sale was contingent on the bonsai trees, the answer would still be an emphatic “No.”

“I hate to say this, but to replace that tree is really, really impossible,” the property manager said. “It’s like a dog, you can’t replace a dog.”

The trees, genetically the same as their larger peers, but carefully tended to be small, are displayed on the antique heart pine hardwood and travertine inlaid floors that curve with the back wall.

At the top left of the horseshoe, past the kitchen, two bedrooms and living room is a screened-in patio with a “Big Ass Fan.” That’s the name of the company, and the fan lives up to its name. The room is comfortable, and a bibliophile’s dream. There are reading nooks hidden around many corners from cushioned window benches in hallways to a hanging daybed outside one of the smaller bedrooms. The bed isn’t made by the same company as the fan, but judging by it’s size, it could be.

The patio, day bed and living room all look out to a deck, hot tub, heated salt-water pool and more bonsai trees. The pool is situated on the side of the house that gets the most sun in the evening.

And as for whether the home gets hot with all the sun, the U-shape shields it from direct sunlight most of the time.

“It’s probably one of the nicest listings we’ve ever had,” Hunt said.