BY BONNIE

The recent school holidays have got me thinking about my perfect holiday with the family. As lovely as a hotel can be #nocookingforme, with a brood as big as mine I prefer staying at a holiday home. Own it or rent it, you get plenty of space for the kids to run around and some places, like the Beach Shack, even let you take your pets!

If you’re lucky enough to own one, I’ve got some easy tips to turn a daggy old place into a retreat where you’ll want to spend all your holidays. Here’s what we did at the Beach Shack:

RIP UP THE CARPET

Who needs carpet in a holiday home? It’s one more thing to worry about keeping clean and no one wants that on a holiday!

At the Beach Shack we ripped up the nasty old carpet and got lucky with the wooden pine floorboards underneath. They were by no means in perfect condition but with a sand and a white wash they’re perfect for the shack and give a relaxed beachy vibe. Contrary to what people think, white floors don’t show the dirt. At least not at this house. The white washed floors are perfect for hiding the inevitable sand that come in on the kids’ feet. So, you’ll spend more of your holidays relaxing, not cleaning!

PAINT, PAINT, PAINT

So many holiday homes haven’t seen a lick of paint since the 70s #brownandyellowbaby so the instant transformation is amazing.

I recommend painting EVERYTHING – walls, doors, cabinetry and as I mentioned, even floors! I chose white (no surprise there) and it freshened the whole place up in the flick of a paintbrush.

For a holiday home, everything doesn’t have to be perfect so a great way to save some money is to rope in some friends and get painting yourselves. My dad helped me at the Beach Shack.

PRIORITISE THE KITCHEN

Even when on holiday I think the kitchen is the hub of the home. It’s the place where the BBQs are prepared, the wines are poured and everyone gathers between mornings at the beach and afternoons of backyard cricket.

If you can’t afford to renovate anything else in the holiday house, the kitchen is always a great one to do first. At the Beach Shack I added a gas strut window with a servery (of course!) to open out to the BBQ and bifold windows for a view of the kids in the yard. We didn’t have enough room for a stand-alone island bench, so we added bar stools along one edge of the counter to make sure there’s enough seating for all the troops.

BEACHY BEDROOMS

There’s nothing better after a long day at the beach than crashing into a gorgeous inviting bedroom. At a beach house you can create a relaxed beachy vibe without going OTT on cliched beach themed prints and accessories.

In the master and guest bedrooms at the Beach Shack I chose the artwork first. They’re similar in that they are both images of a girl submerged in water, looking really tranquil and that’s how I want people to feel when they are in the space. They’re oversized and hung above the bed which meant I didn’t need to worry about bedheads in these rooms.

In the master bedroom I chose sage bed linen with navy accent cushions which bring in both the artwork and the beach, in a subtle way. In the guest room I went for all white linen so getting into bed is like lying on a cloud.

The boys’ bunkroom is small so I kept it simple but added playful touches like the anchor design on the cushions and wall decals. The super cute play kitchen happened to be sage green so it ties in perfectly.