1371 N Skyline Dr, Tacoma
Listed $500,000/Sold $620,000
3 Beds
1.5 Baths
1,242 Sq Ft
Sometimes you walk into a home and you just feel it; it fits. You feel the love given to it and the care taken of it. This West End rambler is one of those homes, and it’s easy to see why. Abundant front windows give sunset views of the Olympics in the evening and beautiful light all day long. A new roof protects the home and classic oak hardwoods extend from the open living and dining space into the hall and bedrooms. If you love the ease of a single level home, you’ll certainly experience it here where friends and guests can step from a visit in the living room to the half bath in the hall. Natural light fills the pleasant kitchen with its pantry cupboard, granite counters, and soft-close drawers. If you don’t need all 3 bedrooms, set up an office or art space where sliding glass doors open to the private back yard. The patio beckons from the garden; calm and protected even on windy days, it’s your summer dining room. Step through with iced tea in hand, book in hand, friend by the hand (mojito in hand?) and sip the afternoon away.
You’ll find a freshly painted interior, a spacious garage, a shed for storage, and a sprinkler system for convenience. This just might be the one.
Set in West Tacoma where a waterfront brewery skirts the marina, where Titlow Beach offers a long stretch of public shoreline, where locally-owned groceries stocked with fresh fish, produce, and flowers are just a few minutes from your door, where playgrounds and bike paths draw you out into the fresh air. We have so much more to tell you about the neighborhood — make sure to visit our location section below.
Continue on for the video tour, photos, details, and our list of 20 Tacoma favorites nearby.
Single Level Living
Entry
Open Living Room
Dining Area
Kitchen
1/2 Bath
3 Bedrooms
Full Bath
Garage & Garden
Attached 2-Car Garage
Paved Driveway
Patio
Lawn & Garden
Tool Shed
Sprinkler System
Front Porch & Entry
We know you’re eager to come inside, but stop for a moment on the driveway for a view down to the deep waters of The Narrows. You might even pause again beside the freshly painted front porch, a place for pots of favorite flowers. Notice a small apple tree just getting ready to leaf and bloom along the fence line, or the camellia, rose, and hydrangea in the front flower bed.
Once inside, we imagine you’ll be drawn to the windows, to the fireplace, to the oak floors. Notice also the coat closet on your right. If you’ve lived in places with and without a coat closet, you know there’s a difference. It’s a small thing, but it’s always helpful to have an easy spot to stash coats and shoes, grocery bags, leashes, hats, keys, and all those odds and ends.
Living Room
West facing windows flood the living room with light. These are you sunset watching windows. Enjoy Olympic Mountain Range views on clear days, and a sense of space and distance from Skyline Drive below, no matter the weather. Oak hardwoods and a raised stone hearth bring clean, classic style. The mantelpiece offers a place to display treasured photographs, shells collected from shores near and far, holiday decorations, candles, or plants. This is a room for comfortable couches, soft rugs, hot drinks, long talks, good books, and easy entertaining. There’s a half bath in the hall just a few steps away, a really nice feature when people stop by for a visit.
You’ll notice attractive white window blinds in this room. Sometimes referred to as California shutters, these high-end blinds offer privacy while letting in natural light and providing a view. They're also good insulators when closed.
Kitchen
You know how sometimes you can be friends with a room? Or did we just lose you? If you know, you know. A well designed kitchen is a thing to value and appreciate. This kitchen has been appreciated and enjoyed by the homeowner who would hug it goodbye if they could. And we can see why. This kitchen features good quality materials like granite counters that wipe clean and gleam in the window light, an under-counter wine rack, and slow-close drawers that never stick or slam. Generous cabinets offer good storage, and you'll especially like the built-in pantry cupboard with pull-out shelves between the refrigerator and stove. A hood vent keeps the kitchen air clean, windows look out to the patio, and pull-down blinds allow you to adjust the light. Dishes come out of the dishwasher sparkling clean every time. The warm tones of the tile floor, backsplash, and cabinets compliment the simplicity of white walls. It’s a friendly, functional room designed with an exit to the hallway so you can come or go easily from the dining area or the bedroom wing.
Dining Area
Set between the living room and kitchen, this dining area can be dressed up for a special weekend dinner and kept simple and no-fuss for weekday breakfast. Head in and out from the garage through the door just outside the kitchen. Set dinner on the buffet top, and store pretty dishes and glassware in the display shelves above. We like the way this buffet section of the kitchen countertop acts as a connection to, or extension of, the dining area. It’s like those built-in hutches in dining rooms from earlier eras, the perfect place to stow table linens, candlesticks, and special flatware, or to set out appetizers and drinks.
Half Bath
Step into the hall from the living space or kitchen and you’ll find a half bath. This simple bathroom with a tile floor is easy to clean and adds a lot of convenience to the home whether you're welcoming guests, or just accommodating daily family life where it’s always useful to have one more spot to brush teeth.
3 Bedrooms
Head into the hall from the living room or kitchen to reach the bedrooms and bathrooms. This bedroom at the private back corner of the home is well lit with windows facing north and east. Oak hardwoods, freshly painted walls, and a generous closet create a comfortable, quiet place. The California Closet features built-in cubbies, and drawers that make it so much easier to keep clothes and shoes organized.
All three bedrooms feature an independent thermostat, so each person can sleep at the temperature they like. Heating in the bedrooms is electric radiant heating in the ceiling.
This second bedroom with a north window is the first on the left when you leave the living room. The closet with its sliding mirror doors covers the whole length of the wall and includes built-in dresser drawers.
A third bedroom at the end of the hall with its hardwood floor and sliding doors to the patio also makes a beautiful additional sitting room, office, or art space. Households come in all shapes and sizes, maybe someone in yours has a pet that needs to go out a lot; how nice to just slide the door open to the yard from here. Maybe you don't need 3 bedrooms and can’t wait to work from home in this spot, or roll out an exercise mat, or set up a daybed for an occasional guest beside a table for watercolors. We think you’ll come up with something just right for you.
Full Bath
The full bath is easily accessible from all 3 bedrooms and includes a tiled shower/tub, a privacy glass window, and a spacious vanity top. There's a good amount of storage here too, especially with the hutch at the end of the vanity cabinet. This is another room with a balance of clean, bright white, and warm tones in the tile, wood, and countertop.
Along with storage inside the bathroom, twin linen closets flank the entrance to the full bath.
Garage & Grounds
1371 North Skyline Drive is set on an 11,250 square foot lot. You'll find room enough to stretch out and play, places for sun, and a nice amount of shade. Mature rhododendrons, lilacs, roses, hydrangeas, and camellias, among other trees, shrubs, and flowers grow throughout the garden beds, and everything is watered by the sprinkler system. The back yard is fully fenced.
A standout among all the features to love is the tiled patio where the homeowner sets up a grill, puts a table and chairs out, and barbecues every day in summer. All season long this patio becomes the dining room, a place to look forward to at the end of the day, whatever else it holds. Even in windy weather, this patio area tends to be protected and calm. Come out back through the sliding glass doors, or head out from the garage. Since there's garage access just outside the kitchen, it's easy to carry food and drinks through and get settled for the afternoon.
A paved driveway leads up the slope from Skyline Drive to a spacious 2-car garage with automatic doors. Notice the gate to the right of the garage. This opens into a paved area at the side of the house that's perfect for storing yard waste bins, recycling, or anything else you'd like to keep out of the way. Besides being a place to park, the garage is also a utility area with a washer and dryer, as well as a good workshop space. Pegboard extends over the workbench and there are plenty of cabinets for tools and supplies. Step up into the house or head straight out to the patio.
A garden shed along the north fence adds even more storage. Roll the lawn mower in here, store flower pots, shovels, rakes, and soil. There's a place for everything, and everything has its place.
With the paved driveway, 2-car garage, and quiet street below, there are plenty of parking spots. Set up above Skyline, this home feels private and removed from the bustle of life, but it's easy to get out and about as well. Sidewalks curve through this West End neighborhood where parks and bike trails are close by.
Location
If you want sunset views in your daily life, like to be able to get to the beach, appreciate a bit of quiet, but still want easy access to bustling neighborhoods and an abundance of fresh markets, then West Tacoma is for you. This West End home puts you in that sweet spot where the Olympic Mountains beckon in the distance, and neighborhood necessities like the library, parks, gyms, groceries, local donut shop, and schools are just minutes away. There’s even a golf course less than half a mile up the street.
As you’ve gotten to know Tacoma, maybe you’ve fallen in love with Proctor. The good news is, Metropolitan Market is just 5 minutes away from 1371 N Skyline. And that means the rest of what you love there (whether it’s Olympia Coffee, the Blue Mouse Theatre, or the Proctor Farmers’ Market) is just a short drive from this West End home.
It could be you’ve been drawn to University Place. If so, we think you’ll enjoy the curving streets, mid-century homes, and open sky of West Tacoma.
Love a waterfront brewery? (If the answer isn’t already “yes” it probably will be soon.) Head down the hill to Titlow Beach, then take Seashore Drive to the marina, where you’ll find Narrows Brewing and Boathouse 19. This is the lesser known Tacoma waterfront—welcome to the sunset side.
Breweries are fun, but one of the more practical assets of this area is the choice of groceries from locally owned markets like Tacoma Boys, Harbor Greens, Central Co-op, Metropolitan Market, and Grocery Outlet to larger chains like Fred Meyer.
If you’re a jogger or cyclist, hook up with the Scott Pierson Trail. If you’re a walker, enjoy the sidewalks just outside your door. Take dogs and kids down to the playground and field at Optimist Park to run and play. Head south to the pedestrian bridge over Hwy 16 for a tasting at Wildside Wine, to catch a show at the Tacoma Musical Playhouse, or just pick up a book at Swasey Library.
It takes about 10 minutes to get to Gig Harbor from here, and 7 minutes to reach Point Defiance Park. We think you’re starting to get the picture; it’s easy to get around from this neighborhood. To give you an even clearer idea of where this house fits in, we’ve calculated the distance from 1371 N Skyline to a list of 20 favorite destinations nearby. Take a look!
20 Favorite Destinations Nearby (Okay, 22. We couldn’t help it.)
Groceries & Supplies
McClendon Hardware: 1.2 miles
Tacoma Boys: 1.8 miles
Metropolitan Market: 2.2 miles (5 minutes)
Proctor Farmers’ Market: 2.3 miles (6 minutes)
Harbor Greens Market: 2.4 miles
Central Co-op: 2.5 miles
Activities & Parks
Highlands Golf Course: 0.4 miles
Optimist Park: 0.5 miles
Swasey Library: 0.7 miles (on foot, or 1.3 miles by car)
Tacoma Musical Playhouse: 1.2 miles
Morgan Family YMCA: 1.7 miles
Titlow Park & Lodge: 2.1 miles
Point Defiance Park: 3.1 miles
Dining & Drinks
Wildside Wine: 1.3 miles
Pao’s Donut & Coffee Shop: 1.4 miles
The Beach Tavern at Titlow: 2.1 miles
Narrows Brewing Co: 2.6 miles
Boathouse 19: 2.6 miles
Schools
Skyline Elementary School: 0.5 miles
Wilson High School (soon to be Dr. Dolores Silas High School!): 1.1 miles
University of Puget Sound: 2.7 miles
Getting to the Harbor
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Access: 0.7 miles (2 minutes)
More Information From the Listing Agent
Come see this West Tacoma home in person to get a feel for the layout, style, size, and location.
And feel free to call or text me, Michael Duggan, at 253-226-2787. I’ll be happy to answer your questions about this property, or talk with you about Tacoma and the local real estate market in general.