Made with love: A Sydney stylist’s beach chic home

Inside, the family has filled the home with favourite finds including a retro-style Giant bicycle and custom-made tram scroll listing memorable family holiday spots.

Loretta relished the opportunity to design her dream kitchen, complete with an expansive island benchtop in stained Tasmanian oak and solid timber cabinetry in Dulux Antique White USA. An ‘Ottava’ aluminium pendant light from Ikea brings an industrial edge.

Open shelves display pretty ceramics and glass jars for a rustic vibe. A cinematic light box, available from Form Function Style, spells out the home’s easy ethos.

With an artful mix of handmade, designer and personal pieces, every room has been infused with both style and soul. Treasured shells collected on trips to the beach form a pile on the back deck, rooms are peppered with the children’s art projects alongside clever DIY touches by Loretta, who has her own lifestyle blog, The Urchin Collective.

A collection of nautical curios and prints are a nod to the home’s seaside setting. The plywood deer is available from Matt Blatt.

Layered in calming neutral shades, the bedroom is centred around an upholstered linen bedhead with Moroccan-style cushions – visit The Brown Trading Co for similar styles. A Kartell ‘Ghost Buster’ side table from Space makes a contemporary statement in the otherwise classic scheme. The accordion wall lamp was picked up on a holiday on the NSW south coast scour antique stores or Etsy for similar.

Loretta proved her DIY prowess in the girls’ bathroom – she created the vanity using an Ikea ‘Norden’ sideboard and basin from Marblo. “I wanted a vanity that was somewhat traditional yet had a modern touch, so I decided to make my own,” she explains. “It worked out to be cost effective, too.” Pressed tin mirrors by Jacinta Lepoutre introduce a dash of vintage flair.

Loretta’s biggest splurge was the Victoria + Albert ‘Napoli’ volcanic limestone bath, perfect for long luxurious soaks. A paint-dipped stool from Crate Expectations keeps bathing accoutrements within reach.

Pretty meets playful here, with a ‘Sunday Blanc’ bed from Domayne adorned with a pompom garland from Iammie on Etsy, kantha quilt by Read + Bell and ‘Manyana’ cushions from Kas Australia. Loretta rescued the chair from the side of the road and saturated it in bubblegum pink paint to tie in with the ‘Cage’ pendant light from Empirical Style. Bold and bright, Anna Spiro ‘Round And Round The Garden’ wallpaper commands the eye. Loretta added embellishment with quirky prints in a mix of Ikea frames, hung using 3M Command picture strips so that they can be moved around without damaging the wallpaper.

Taya’s bedroom features a whimsical wall mural by Zee Longenecker, available from Murals Your Way. The Incy Interiors bed adds a pop of sunshine.

Keen upcycler Loretta transformed a pair of old painters trestles into a shelving unit for easy-maintenance succulents, and converted an old timber palette into a vertical wall garden.