Natalie Fontenot toured a real estate listing most people would describe as “a dream come true.” Fontenot, however, knew it wasn’t her dream come true.

“You know the house I’d really love to live in?” she said to Ed Ellington when she got back to the office. The two work together as financial advisors.

“I would really love to live in the McNulty house.”

The oak-lined yard and deep, wide porch of the home at the corner of Foster and Shell Beach Drive has always impressed Fontenot.

“And I’ve always wanted to be in ’01’” (the last two digits of the zip code where the home is located), she said, chuckling. “I work in Walnut Grove and we’re always talking about who lives closest to work. I am fifth closest now. It takes me three minutes.”

The home wasn’t on the market. However, Ellington and Fontenot knew that Mike and Mary McNulty had been spending a lot of time in New Orleans.

As fate would have it, Ellington ran into Mike McNulty a few days later. He told McNulty if he ever decided to sell the Shell Beach Drive home, he knew of a qualified buyer.

Mike McNulty told Ellington that three hours ago, he and his wife had made the decision to sell. They had found a place in New Orleans.

Fontenot and her fiancé Rob Garrison arranged to see the property.

“If you let me build my dream home, I wouldn’t have thought of half the details that Mary built into this house,” Fontenot told Garrison during the tour.

“Even though it was well over 20 years ago, I have fond memories of working with Mary and Mike on the design of their house on Shell Beach Drive,” Architect Jude Benoit said. “The thing that comes most clearly to mind is that Mary always used the word “right” to express how she felt about a particular detail, not pretty or beautiful or perfect. She would say, ‘it’s right.’ “

The home has four bedrooms, three full baths and one half-bath. The private courtyard makes a wonderful view from the many windows in the kitchen and living area. Storage is abundant. The master bedroom is well insulated from the sound of the living room TV.

“Mary had three sons and she said she didn’t want to be able to hear the theme song from the CNN Sports Network.”

A small room between the master bedroom and the living room has been pegged as the perfect place for storing toys.

“Mary and her family experienced many firsts in this house,” Fontenot said, “but I was happy to tell her that we would be experiencing a first she didn’t get to. I’m expecting. Her boys were teens when they moved here.”

The house is open and areas are designed for great flow during entertaining.

“I come from a huge family,” Fontenot said. “I have 20-something first cousins and I want to have the hang-out house.”

Fontenot loves the sense of history built into the house.

The bricks on the floor of a sitting area, the kitchen and the back entry are from the first office where Mike McNulty worked.

A tree fell during Hurricane Rita and the home’s builder, the late Russell Stutes came out to do repairs. Mary told him she wanted the tree to be used for the fireplace mantle in the sitting area off the kitchen.

Fontenot is the daughter of Bobby and Cindy Fontenot. She grew up in Hayes, attended St. Margaret and St. Louis schools in Lake Charles, and she always wanted to live in the city.

Rob is the son of Robin Garrison and the late David Garrison. He grew up in Houston, although most summers were spent in “Old Settlement” in Big Lake. He always wanted to live in the country – and on the water.

“Do you know how hard it can be to find waterfront property in Lake Charles?” Fontenot said.

She fell in love with the house. He fell in love with the boathouse. And he’ll be keeping the camp in Hecker.

Neither seller nor owner was in any hurry. Fontenot and Rob saw the inside of the home in April The closing was in August.

Fontenot said that being able to purchase the McNulty home feels like a fairy tale that came true.

“We feel so blessed,” she said.

The couple’s taste is similar to the McNulty’s. In the office, Mike McNulty had a Leroy Neiman tennis print. Garrison hung a football Neiman. Mary had a screen door installed so she could appreciate the sound of the rain on the courtyard bricks. Fontenot has come to appreciate that sound.

Fontenot and Garrison will redecorate, once they’ve settled in and can decorate around the way they live. The paint colors may change. Different art may go on the walls, but Fontenot plans to continue the McNulty tradition of “making memories” and of building a home with “walls full of love and laughter.”

Design planning began in 1994 for this Shell Beach Drive residence