You may have seen on my Instagram posts that Our Beach House is For Sale. This has been a really tough decision and one that I have agonised (and cried!) over. We purchased our fibro home in the sleepy town of Flinders just over ten years ago when our girls were young. We have spent many summers and long weekends there, enjoying time out from our busy and sometimes hectic city lives. Over the years I have lovingly renovated and re-decorated the house with a fresh coastal aesthetic. I was fortunate enough to have it featured in Home Beautiful magazine last year (here). Here is how it transformed over the years.
Exterior:
When we purchased the house, the exterior was a cement sheeting in a lovely taupe/salmon colour!
The interior was cream as you can see from the real estate photos. Lucky I had my vision goggles on!
Before re-painting the exterior, I changed the original doors leading to the front and rear decks to french doors which were more in line with my coastal home look.
The exterior paint makeover made such a difference. I chose Dulux Raku which is a charcoal grey. This allowed the house to sit well within the native garden and surroundings.
Photo by Suzi Appel
I had a bit of fun with the front door painting it in Dulux Salt Spray. Ironically, the painter refused to paint the door this colour as he thought I was crazy! We ended up painting it ourselves and I won a prize in a Dulux colour competition!
Interior:
The interior also received a paint makeover with a fresh white palette. This is the fairly basic kitchen when we bought the house.
Although still ‘rustic’, the white walls, new cabinetry hardware, feature lighting and furnishings created a cosy and charming space.
Fast forward to 2017 when we underwent a small but impactful renovation. We realised we needed more kitchen/living space and an additional bathroom. One that you didn’t need to walk past the shower to use the toilet!
We essentially knocked out this rear wall and added about 3 metres to the footprint of the house.
The deck was extended and the rear wall became flush with the adjacent bedroom one. We added vertical timber cladding to the exterior of the house and an outdoor shower.
Some of the original roof needed to be replaced which provided the perfect opportunity to rake the ceiling on the left side of the house. This created a light and open living area which we have loved hanging out in.
Photo by Suzi Appel
The new main bathroom has a classic coastal aesthetic.
Photo by Suzi Appel
And we managed to squeeze in a small ensuite.
Photo by Suzi Appel
The existing hallway doors were widened and I added barn doors painted in a duck egg blue.
Photo by Suzi Appel
Garden:
The final makeover was to the back garden in 2020. Up until then, we hadn’t really used the outdoor space which you could describe as ‘eclectic’. The grass was uneven and a there was a mix of styles of plants and trees. Two huge pine trees dominated the fence line. There was no night lighting either which made entertaining tricky in the summer evenings.
In the new design, the garden was levelled and we added a crazy paving path to create a fire pit zone. Repetition planting of native species are now easy to maintain and have created green screening from the neighbours.
Photos by Suzi Appel
New furnishings and lighting have enabled us to use the deck and rear garden as an additional outdoor living space.
Photo by Suzi Appel
We have had so many wonderful family memories in this home but look forward to new ventures ahead. For more information on my Beach House for sale, please contact RT Edgar Mornington Peninsula.
If you have a home that needs a facelift or a floor plan that isn’t quite working for you, feel free to contact me to chat about how I can help.
Belinda XO