The Local Project (August 25, 2023) – Mermaid Beach House by Maher Design is located along the Gold Coast’s sandy shores. Conceived as an extensive renovation, this beach house pays deference to its coastal locale through intelligent planning of the architecture and thoughtful material combinations for the interior design.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Intro to the Dream Beach House 00:44 – Behind The Original Mid-80s Build 01:53 – Facilitating an Outdoors Lifestyle 02:11 – A Walkthrough of the Home 03:15 – Key Features of The Kitchen 04:29 – A Robust Material Selection 04:56 – The Outcome of A Warm Family Home

As designer Geraldine Maher explains, working within the confines of the home brought challenges and opportunities to the design, and the scope focused on introducing material cohesion and maximising the physical and visual connection to the beach. The thoughtful renovation of the ground floor of the beach house supports this. Stepping inside, a brise soleil constructed from terracotta breezeblocks designed by Adam Goodrum “defines the entry space and creates a sense of arrival,” Geraldine notes. It also helps to gently divide this entry knuckle and the kitchen, which sits deeper into the plan. As Geraldine explains, “relocating the kitchen to the rear of the space maximised the view from the dining area and living space, and those physical and dimensional constraints forced us to shoehorn a kitchen into a very tight space.” Whilst compact, the sense of openness belies the footprint, with thanks to a series of work zones that divide the room and direct the experience, supported by a suite of Fisher & Paykel appliances. Geraldine offers, “the thing that drove the selection of Fisher & Paykel was the design and aesthetic aligning with great functionality and a really high-quality product.” An induction cooktop – housed within a monolithic form constructed from stone and timber and featuring discreet, integrated ventilation – becomes a refined and sculptural centrepiece of the interior design, and the refrigerator and freezer are integrated. Stretching the far elevation, a long piece of joinery acts as a physical conduit between the kitchen’s primary work zones and the informal bar area at the home’s front edge. It also contains two integrated Fisher & Paykel CoolDrawers and two single DishDrawers. The family games room inside the beach house is also equipped with its own Fisher & Paykel CoolDrawer and DishDrawer. Mermaid Beach House is a visually exciting and contextually relevant home. The pleasure comes not only from its elevated internal experience but from its proximity to the ever-changing ocean, meaning the joyfulness felt by its residents will renew with each passing day.