Before & after: COVID-19 inspires family to reclaim holiday home

Located on the NSW south coast in Jervis Bay, this home was purchased 20 years ago and tenanted until recently when the owners decided to give it a glow-up under the guidance of interior designer Joanne Yeomans, of Issy & H Creative. “My clients bought the house as a weekend getaway when their three girls were young, and they used to escape there from Sydney most weekends. They have some very happy memories of visits there,” says Joanne, who explains that the family decided to make use of it again, partly due to COVID-19 induced travel restrictions.

Having fallen into disrepair over the last decade, the home needed a lot of work, and this came primarily in the form of new flooring, paint, lighting, furniture and a new kitchen. “My client is a keen traveller and so wanted to create an eclectic twist on a coastal theme. So rather than adopting a more obvious neutral colour palette, we chose to incorporate some strong pops of colour and travel inspired pieces.”

Paint proved integral to brightening up the home but one of Joanne’s paint plans was eschewed by the owners’ daughters out of pure nostalgia. “We planned to paint the existing raked timber ceiling in the living room. But my client’s daughters protested saying they remembered it fondly as a feature of the house,” says Joanne. The existing timber is now complemented by two Beacon Lighting capiz shell pendant lights which are Joanne’s favourite feature of the renovation. “They look absolutely beautiful and also have a lovely wind chime sound effect when the house is opened up and the breeze blows through.”

The walls were freshened up with Dulux Natural White paint while the floors now sport a Blackbutt hybrid throughout. The home is peppered with interesting furniture and homewares including a rattan bar cart from Interiors Online, a large linen sofa from Uniqwa and many Etsy buys including a whale sculpture from Russia, a custom cushion from Budapest (made from a vintage Iranian kilim rug), and a large ombre wall hanging by Netherland artist Teddy and Wool. 

“It was delightful to receive most of these packages with a special gift or note from the seller, even in the height of COVID when spirits must have been low,” says Joanne who also printed and framed a lot of the client’s travel photography for a personal touch.

With Joanne located in Sydney, the renovation did prove challenging at times, but technology proved invaluable to the process – issues were resolved with Skype calls when the builder was on site. “Also, we faced some pretty long lead times with furniture procurement during COVID, but I’m happy to say that everything arrived eventually!” says Joanne.

“Overall, I’m most proud of how happy the family are with the end result. And my client has been so generous and gracious in sharing it; I have been lucky enough to spend two long weekends there with my young family and they adored it.”

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