Palmy Beach Shack

Palmy Beach Shack was the second property in a series of seven. Frankie had decided 24 hours earlier to move from Byron Bay to the Gold Coast, and found the first property on realestate.com.au. It ticked all the boxes and the next day she put in an offer. The bones of the apartment were classic 1970's – large windows, lots of light and some very nice salmon pink kitchen cupboards! The design brief was to celebrate classic Australian surf shacks, with a hint of 70s Hawaii including palms, script topography, and doubling down on the pink.

 

What then took place over the next three weeks was absolute madness due to an overseas trip enforcing a very tight deadline. She hired her neighbour George on the spot and on the first morning together they took out six walls and ripped up every inch of the original shag carpet. The problem was the space was very dark and very small. By taking out the six walls, Frankie made the kitchen, laundry, dining and lounge one big space, with an entry walkway on the left and a large balcony on the right, letting light flood through the property from east to west. 

 

The plan was to take out the staircase between the downstairs garage and the upstairs apartment, turn that into a one bedroom studio and then turn where the staircase was upstairs into a third bedroom creating a three bedroom apartment and a one bedroom apartment out of the existing space. The budget for the entire renovation was $15K, with most of the materials recycled, Frankie doing most the work herself and keeping everything minimal. 

 

The kitchen had all the walls removed and a new terrazzo bench top made with a long overhang for stools. She kept the old top cupboards that were also salmon laminate and built a new laundry space to match the kitchen with the recycled boards. The dining room overlooked the staircase and deck and had a large @bfgf throw, Scandi furniture and benches Frankie made herself. The palette was salmon pink, cane, and a sand colour with all the plants you can hope for. 

 

While Frankie was renovating the Gold Coast apartment, she was also living in Byron in a caravan she renovated, called Mango and was travelling between the two. The salmon pink was echoed in the external design of the caravan.

 

Amazingly, after all her hard work she was informed four weeks after her purchase (and just one week after her renovations were complete) that a developer wanted to purchase the whole block of eight apartments and offered her double what she just paid! So she took it and headed north to Magnetic Island with cash in the bank and creative energy to GO!