6 Coastal Homes That Blew Us Away In 2023

A 1980s Timber Beach House Where Every Day Feels Like A Holiday

For many Australians, a dream summer holiday involves the sun, sea, and coming together as a family in a familiar home.

Josephine and Paul Luczak and their two children are lucky enough to experience this more often than most, in their circa 1988 Cape Schanck beach house, clad in western red cedar.

The couple have made only minor cosmetic renovations to the existing home, to highlight its original design features, and celebrate its sweeping ocean views.

Read the full story here

An Owner-Designed, Off-Grid Escape In Bay Of Fires

Lisa Hatfield and landscape designer Sam Cox have long had an affinity with Tasmania and its natural environment. In 2014, they purchased a bush block on the state’s north-east coast, with plans to immerse a sustainable holiday house in the remarkable Bay of Fires region.

The newly-completed home, Swansong, is both inspired by the landscape, and a platform for taking in its calming water and bushland views. A deliberately small 60 square metre footprint spans two pavilions, designed to recreate the feeling of camping, as guests move between the spaces.

To experience Swansong is to experience nature in the town of St Helens—its weather, wildlife, sparkling turquoise waters and famous orange lichen-covered landscape.

Read the full story here

An Interior Designer’s Dreamy Beach House On The Great Ocean Road

The beach house of Leigh Ellwood is the definition of a dream.

The interior designer and her family purchased the ‘80s home in 2020 for its perched position above the Great Ocean Road, offering ocean views as far as the eye can see.

These views drove a subsequent renovation inspired by the minimal timber interiors of Cabanon (1951) on the Côte d’Azur in France—the holiday house of Le Corbusier.

By reducing the palette of materials to the essentials (plus some special paintings – including one by an Archibald Prize winner), the house recedes into the background, allowing the natural world (and that view!) to become the complete focus. Just perfection!

Read the full story here

Inside Lucy’s Breezy Family Beach Shack!

This cute little beach shack in Blairgowrie has been a passion project for me and my husband Gordy over the past year, after we took a big leap and purchased the place exactly 12 months ago, in June 2022.

Originally a very basic 1970s (we think?) fibro cabin, we have transformed this humble two bedroom weekender into a cosy family escape — which still has the essence of a sleepy beach shack, elevated with contemporary design and craftsmanship. And a whole lot of beautiful art, lighting and designer details!

We’ve named the place ‘Silvermoon’, and it’s also available for short term stays.

Read the full story here

A Serene And Spectacular Multi-Generational Beach House

It’s hard to find words bigger than ‘spectacular’ or ‘serene’ to describe the true magic of Somers Beach House by Wellard Architects.

Built onto a steep beachfront site on the South Eastern side of Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula, the home was designed as a couple’s private retreat that could also accommodate other generations of their family over the holidays.

The steel and timber-lined build perfectly frames uninterrupted water views, while a 1950s boat shed has been transformed into a treasured extension of the main home, ‘hovering’ calmly on the dunes of Somers Beach.

Read the full story here

A Luxurious Reworking Of An Eclectic Retro Beach House

Anton Assaad, the founder of Great Dane Furniture, found his family’s Point Lonsdale beach house in the middle of the pandemic.

The retro home, located among sand dunes and ancient Moonah trees, has been carefully renovated to become the perfect backdrop for his (unsurprisingly) impressive furniture and art collection.

Now, the updated abode hides luxurious interiors, eclectic designer pieces and warm spaces for their whole family to relax, while listening to the sounds of the waves.

Read the full story here