Eclectic Charm – Palm Beach by Tamsin Johnson

Embracing its casual coastal setting, Palm Beach epitomises the welcoming and character-rich occasional home. Tamsin Johnson brings together vintage and custom pieces collected from far-reaching places abroad to enliven a tired home and create a generous destination that engages with the sea.

Within an hour’s drive of Sydney, Palm Beach offers a detached respite from the urban milieu, immersing its visitors and dwellers in a casual, calm setting. Imagined as a definitive occasional home for its owners, Palm Beach brings together an eclectic collection of global finds, reupholstered and reimagined specifically for the locale, drawing from a shared love of travel. Spanning six bedrooms, seven bathrooms and three kitchens, the prototype of the small holiday home is well and truly shattered in this case. In responding to the scale of the home, differing variations of a similar approach are rolled out in the various spaces to both connect them to the collective whole, while also carving individual intimate areas throughout. Tamsin Johnson has cleverly created a home of resonance that also pays homage to the joys of travel and eclectic finds stumbled upon across the way.

Imagined as a definitive occasional home for its owners, Palm Beach brings together an eclectic collection of global finds, reupholstered and reimagined specifically for its locale, drawing from a shared love of travel.

Built by Groundscope Construction, Palm Beach navigates its steeply sloping site as the architecture engages with the site and becomes the transitional feature between land and the sea below. In need of clear restoration and direction, the resulting design is an overhaul of the previous home, giving it newfound purpose and connecting the interior with the surrounding views. Creating key connections between the built and the natural was a priority, allowing an inside/outside condition to emerge, where large glass windows and doors open beyond the building envelope. Originally designed and built in the 1980s, internal planning and the abundance of orange and brown tones were the first to be replaced.

Like many occasional destinations, a level of robust durability is key, as is ensuring the level of maintenance required is limited. The bringing together of eclectic and vintage pieces allows a rebirth of existing design elements, while also offering an extension of their history, creating a less fussy approach and injecting informality into each of the resulting spaces. Sitting between the dichotomy of the still waters on one side and the glamourous bayside culture on the other, Palm Beach and its many nuanced elements offers itself as a dynamic and layered home. Combining casual comfort through the use of familiar elements like timber, rattan and stone, as a collective the home is elevated through the curated collections of custom furniture, artwork and lighting dotted throughout.

Sitting between the dichotomy of the still waters on one side and the glamourous bayside culture on the other, Palm Beach and its many nuanced elements offers itself as a dynamic and layered home.

Inspired by its enviable location, Palm Beach reinterprets blue hues with a natural materiality to create a convivial coastal home. Tamsin Johnson brings her known eclecticism together with a clear understanding of space and destination making, to create a rich yet calming destination.