A colorful bayside perch on LBI

Sometimes, the whole is decidedly greater than the sum of its parts. Such is the case at the Long Beach Island home of Margaret Thomas Buchholz, in the town of Harvey Cedars.

Even the entry suggests what's ahead. From the brightly painted mailbox to the boardwalk path to the door, the welcome hints that this is no ordinary seashore home.

Its exterior is trimmed in bright colors, and includes a landscaped area with plantings that make it hard to believe they can be sustained at the Shore. Inside, the visual impression opens up like a gift package.

This virtual "lifer" on LBI arrived here in a baby basket in 1934, and her impact, which has grown exponentially, has been felt on the island since then. She has detoured through the decades, but only briefly, and has created an eclectic year-round home where art mingles with craft, and where treasures from around the world coexist with simple reminders that this is, after all, a place near the water.

"My favorite spot is at a window seat, where a wicker daybed gives me my best view of the bay. It's perfect," says "Pooch," as Buchholz is best and affectionately known. A German baby nurse anointed her with the name, which basically means "little doll" in German. It stuck.

The vista this homeowner loves is at once dramatic and peaceful, as only nature can be.

Early in her adult years, Pooch took the reins of the Beachcomber, a weekly newspaper launched in 1950. Originally an ad salesperson, in 1955 she ended up owning the paper with her first husband, serving as editor and publisher. She has been called LBI's Katharine Graham.

Her husband died young, leaving Pooch with two young children to raise as a single mother. She pushed on and grew the newspaper. In 2013, the Beachcomber changed ownership; it continues to publishes.

Today, her life on LBI remains full and active. Her heart belongs to the island, although she does escape to warmer climates in the winter.

The house itself, built back in 1934 by Pooch's parents at a cost of $200, has gone through several transformations. The first addition was built in 1936; another followed in 1940.

A final and major transformation came after she married, then divorced, Philadelphia architect Gunter Buchholz. In 1987, he helped her design and plan the house as it now exists, creating a basic open floor plan in which one sprawling room is where most of the daily living happens.

The original beams are one of the home's most dramatic features, and the sweep of wood floors, with handsome oriental rugs in strategic places, create a sense of charm and warmth.

Pooch has created a space that is at once livable and tasteful, and also still has managed to write five books, including one about her own mother's history as a writer for radio commentator Lowell Thomas. Another book contains a collection of essays from Beachcomber writers over the years.

Art is a special passion, and Pooch's collection is undeniably eclectic, from portraits to masks to the works of LBI artists she admires.

The overall effect is that there is something to consider on almost every wall of this house. That includes several rooms beyond the great room: a home office; a bedroom; a guest room splashed with sunshine; and a kitchen tucked away and totally efficient.

"My own 'architectural' addition to my ex-husband's plan was to add another small window above the sink that allows me to bring in more light - and more of the outside in. [He] actually loved the idea."

Light, suggests the homeowner, is a major gift in this bay front haven, but too much of it can be discreetly softened by plantation shutters where needed.

This is a woman who follows her own instincts. She is known to be an original, and so is her taste. A Nakashima table/desk coexists with a wicker chair from a yard sale and a series of paintings by the late Robert Kulicke, who specialized in small still lifes and also revolutionized the frames that surround art.

One space holds a 19th-century Mexican chest, while another is defined by a collection of circus paintings and a dramatic ancestor pole from New Guinea.

Objects from ancestors - and from Pooch's world travels, including trips to far-flung destinations like Southeast Asia, Morocco, and the Middle East - somehow seem to belong by the bay in Harvey Cedars.

Making that happen is one of Pooch's gifts, and one of her greatest satisfactions.

While she admits the winter months on the island are a bit quiet, the minute the seasons change - and especially with the arrival of Memorial Day weekend - there's really no place she'd rather be than on site at her own beloved bay watch.