TV Channel 10’s meteorologist Gary Ley in 1992 built at the edge of the bay the modern house at 42 Concord Ave. on Poplar Point in North Kingstown.

Yet the house’s second and current owners, Bob and Kathy Carniaux, have lived there longer than the Leys. They bought the dwelling in 1999, and they say, they like to brag that their by-the-Bay digs were “built to last” by someone who knows –– a weatherman.

“It’s so well built; it’s weatherproof,” Kathy Carniaux says. “He [Ley] knew exactly what he was doing,”

Ley’s plan for protecting it from the ills of living-by-the-water harsh weather and flooding included placing the electrical heating and cooling systems elevated under the stairs in the basement, and putting the water heater on the second level.

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Walk through the House of the Week

Now that the Carniauxs’ three children have moved out, they want smaller living quarters. The couple is selling the house for $1.495 million. It has four bedrooms and 3½ baths.

Stand in the Carniauxs’ eating area and family room, which is the width of the house, and you have a view of the Bay on either side. The Carniauxs removed the wall that separated the kitchen’s eating area and dining room to give the house a more open feel.

“Taking down the wall was one of the first things we did,” she says. “We wanted a contemporary feel.”

Actually, any window you look out offers a glimpse of the water. The sliding-glass doors by the table in the eating area lead to a deck overlooking the backyard. There are stairs to the yard and a small beach.

Kayak-or-canoe storage exists on the side of the dwelling in an open area under the house. There’s a door in the backyard that opens into two unfinished rooms in the basement. One of the rooms offers storage for the electrical heating system (it hangs from the ceiling under the stairs). A door in that room leads to the garage, which has ample space for two cars and a boat.

Walk up the basement stairs, and you end up on a landing where there’s a small tiled front foyer with a coat closet. Up another set of five or six stairs is the main floor.

It has a carpeted living room with a vaulted ceiling, working fireplace and another set of sliding-glass doors to the back deck.

The roomy kitchen has counters covered in Silestone, a window over the sink with a view of the water; and plenty of cabinets.

“The home is great for entertaining because of the open floor plan,” Bob Carniaux writes in an e-mail. “We love to cook; this is the perfect house for lots of company.”

On the main floor, there’s another small den that the Carniauxs use as a formal dining room. It has a small wet bar, giant picture window, half-bath and a closet where the hot-water heater is stored.

There are two levels of bedrooms. The first level is a two-room suite. One room, a bedroom, has lots of closets, a vaulted ceiling; the other smaller room, which could be used as a bedroom, does not have a closet. Between the rooms, in the hallway, is a full all-tile bathroom.

The top floor has the master suite, which has a giant walk-in closet, full bathroom and, the pièce de résistance, a deck overlooking the backyard with a view of the Bay. (The deck has a closet to store patio furniture.)

Another bedroom on the top floor has the house’s signature vaulted ceilings, plenty of windows, water views and a full bathroom.

“Sometimes I’ll go kayaking in the morning before going to work,” reports Bob Carniaux, who works for ttoy maker Hasbro. “It is so peaceful to be on the water early in the morning.”

Life on Poplar Point, which is walking distance from Wickford Village, the Carniauxs say, feels like a day at the beach 24/7. “The first full moon in May we have seen horseshoe crabs mating on the beach,” adds Bob Carniaux. “I think we counted close to 100 pairs this past spring.”

Kathy Carniaux notes that it’s a place for avid bird watchers. “It’s really something to see the great blue heron in the summer, and the mergansers and buffleheads in the winter. You can’t beat it.”

The contemporary house at 42 Concord Ave., North Kingstown, offers 2,804 square feet of living space. It has four bedrooms, 3½ bathrooms, electric heat, air-conditioning, and sits feet from Narragansett Bay. The owners are selling the house for $1.495 million. The taxes are $18,282. Linda McMillen, of Coleman Realtors, (401) 884-5522, ext. 229; lmcmillen@colemanrealtors.com, has the listing. There will be an open house from 1 to 3 p.m. tomorrow.How to submit a House of the Week

A different House of the Week appears each Saturday in the projoHomes section of The Providence Journal. The feature tells the story of the house and the people who have lived in it. If you would like us to consider a house for sale as a subject of this news feature, send a photo, information about the house and why it is of interest, to Faye Zuckerman, real estate writer, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902; fax (401) 277-8250; or e-mail pjhomes@projo.com. For more information, call (401) 277-7333.

fzuckerm@projo.com