By IMAGE Interiors & Living
29th Aug 2015
29th Aug 2015
Owner Heidi Correa says that her house was built in the early 1970s by a Qantas pilot who wanted to emulate an airport control tower, which comprises the master bedroom, study, and a living space the family call the ?cocktail area?.
Owner Heidi Correa says that her house was built in the early 1970s by a Qantas pilot who wanted to emulate an airport control tower, which comprises the master bedroom, study, and a living space the family call the ?cocktail area?.
The?former home of a Qantas pilot, this suburban Sydney beach house comes complete with its own control tower. (Trivia time:?this is the beach where Home and?Away is filmed.)
WHO LIVES HERE Heidi Correa, blogger and owner of online Moroccan homewares store Paddo to Palmy, with her husband, Michael, and their two daughters Ella, seven, and Gisele, five.
THE HOUSE A Modernist build with a three-storey tower attached offering 360-degree views over Palm Beach.
WHY WE LOVE IT It mixes traditional, Moroccan and Modernist elements in a cosy way, while avoiding that generic ?Hamptons beach-house? look.
When Australian Heidi Correa?and her husband, Michael, were looking to buy a beachside home to use as a weekend retreat, a good ocean view was at the top of their must-have list. The couple struck lucky when they came across a Modernist build in Sydney’s Palm Beach – recognisable to almost every Irish person as the idyllic ?Summer Bay? beach in Home and Away.
With a three-storey tower attached to the house offering 360-degree panoramic views over Palm Beach across to Whale Beach, ?a good view? is somewhat of an understatement. ?Michael had inspected a house further along the same road, but it didn’t have a view,? Heidi explains. ?I wasn’t comfortable buying a beach house without a view, so I dragged him along to the open inspection of this property, and it was love at first sight.?
The ?Tower House?, as the couple and their two daughters, Ella and Gisele, refer to their beachside home, was in ?a pretty bad state? when they bought it, but fortunately the bones were good. ?The house has had a few owners over the years, with each owner adding a new section. Luckily, each addition has been in keeping with the original style,? Heidi says.
The Correas moved quickly with the renovation, transforming the tired tower house into a cool beach retreat. Work included giving the floorboards, walls and ceilings a fresh coat of white paint, installing new lighting and hardware, a quick bathroom update, landscaping of both the front and back gardens, new glass balconies, and what Heidi calls ?the pi?ce de r’sistance? – a wet-edge pool and new deck designed by Secret Gardens of Sydney. But it was the interior decorating of the beach house that was the fun part for Heidi, whose passion for interiors inspired her to set up paddotopalmy.com.au, a blog that she has since developed into an online homewares store specialising in handmade Moroccan furnishings.
She intentionally kept the colour scheme simple and the furniture minimal in the beach house so as not to distract from the breathtaking views. ?I started with a moodboard for the colour palette – white, layered with ivory, tan, blue and pops of yellow,? she says. ?I’m not a fan of the cookie-cutter Hamptons-style beachy aesthetic; I prefer to decorate from the heart. My ultimate ?beachy? style muse is India Hicks. India blends the old, the new and everything in between with such style and originality.?
With eye-catching views from every window, a stylish yet comfortable interior and less than a five-minute walk to the beach, the Correas have their dream house by the sea. But there is just one problem with having created such a gorgeous weekender: ?We never want to pack up on a Sunday evening and leave!? Heidi says.
Click through the gallery above in fullscreen mode to take the full house tour.
Interview Amanda Hemmings. Photography Fran?oise Baudet. Styling Sophie Th?.
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