INTERIOR DESIGN
The Beach House Renovation of Your Dreams
WORDS: PHOTOGRAPHY
With so many people escaping the city for a more relaxed lifestyle close to the beach, finding the perfect beach house is more challenging than ever. When you travel along Australia’s pristine coast, reasonable property prices can be hard to find, but then you stumble across an untouched pocket of complete bliss, and you feel like you’ve hit the lottery.
These houses are typically in need of a serious facelift to make it the beach house of your dreams, letting you live in harmony with the beachfront and settle into life instead of work. So, before you let the home of your dreams get away, here are design considerations to complete the perfect beach house renovation of your dreams.
Style Considerations
If your goal is to transform your beach shack into an easy living, low maintenance, stress-free and fuss-free home, the perfect place to start is by renovating the floors. The type of flooring that you choose will help to inform the other styling decisions you make throughout the home.
An excellent foundation for creating a seamless finish and growing with the home is Carpet Court’s Precinct Oak in Amalfi. The colour is a golden honey base and is perfect for that fresh, beachy vibe. It’s also important to consider the width of the planks. The wider the planks, the more casual the vibe, making smaller rooms seem bigger. Plus, the range can handle exposure to all of life’s precious moments, including sand from the beach, dirt from the garden, kids in soccer boots and the pets you love.
It is important to inspect what’s beneath the floors of your existing home before installing new floors. Otherwise, you could be paying a fortune on expensive repairs down the track. When your new floor installed, you can start to decorate with accent rugs throughout that make for a great touch of warmth. Carpet Court’s Atrium Jute collection lends an effortless style and casual elegance to your setting with an organic feel that exudes luxury.
The collection is contemporary flat woven rugs that can handle the rough and ready of a beach house while also adding a sense of style. From there, you can theme the rest of the interior with fun pops of colour that add a sense of frivolity and freshness. If you love the original design of the exterior, consider cement sheeting, beading and colours that showcase all the things we know and love about a classic beach house.
Always start with a plan
You can never plan enough for a renovation. It’s also important to be flexible for your sanity and that of your tradies. Budgeting is key. Set yourself a budget that also includes a portion for new furnishings and then add 30%. The buffer is to allow for surprise issues. It also allows you to trim and slice costs elsewhere without compromising the overall look and feel you are trying to achieve.
The top six tips for renovating a beach house
- Be honest about your budget and include all elements you need to purchase, including furniture, landscaping and decorative items.
- Most homes over 30 years old in Australia will have asbestos elements and will need a professional to help.
- Start with flooring first to help influence the rest of the design. Consider Carpet Court for a variety of collections that lend effortless beach house vibes.
- Don’t try and fit all your ideas into one home. Edit until you’re happy with every element.
- Be flexible with the renovation so you can make changes on the fly when you need.
- And finally, enjoy the process. You’re building your dream beach house, and the hard work will pay off.
