A weekend in Mollymook
Take a trip to NSW’s South Coast for beachside views, great food and a place to stay that hits all the right notes
Food stylist and author Kirsten Jenkins, who owns this peaceful beach getaway with her partner, shares her style tips on making the most of a coastal location
Maximise the views “When we purchased the house, it was incredibly rundown and had nothing to suggest it was a beachside home. We decided that the most important step in transforming it would be to paint the whole place white including ceiling beams, walls and the floorboards, which we white-washed. Suddenly, the whole internal structure seemed to disappear and all you could see was the amazing view; there was a real sense of calm.”
Embrace the seaside aesthetic “We wanted to create a modern beach-house feel but with rustic and eclectic detailing. My partner and I were lucky enough to find beautiful old glass floats, Japanese fishing ropes and sinkers on one of our antique/ junk hunting trips to Newcastle. That’s where we also found the large fish hook above the dining table and other pieces like rustic fishing baskets and netting. We’ve tried to give subtle nods to ‘beach house’, but without going kitsch.”
Don’t overspend on furnishings “The best decision we made was to be sensible in choosing the furniture; picking suitable pieces on a sensible budget. The dining room table was a flat-pack number from IKEA, the rustic lights are from Freedom and we chose an inexpensive coffee table, too.”
Buy for resilience “Not overspending on furniture allowed us to choose something we thought was really important: a super-comfy sofa. We chose a deep MCM House version with washable covers, because they really get smashed. When you’re renting out a holiday pad, it’s really easy to get caught up in what you want rather than what has the potential to get ruined by guests. To soften the floors in each room we chose seagrass rugs because they’re super durable and tough, but also carry that modern beach house-feel through the whole place.”
Keep the design consistent “We chose pretty standard wardrobes, and instead of putting on the door handles they came with, we threaded rope through, which was in keeping with the textures and materials we had used in the lounge room.”
Get crafty “We had a lot of walls we needed to cover, but we wanted to be creative with what we put there. I love photography, so we collected driftwood, feathers and coral from the beach and I photographed them in really graphic black and white. We popped them in IKEA frames and put them in each of the bedrooms. We also brought a seagrass hula skirt back from a trip to Fiji and mounted that on the wall in the lounge room – it’s now one of my favourite walls. Making the decorations like this meant we got exactly what we wanted at an inexpensive cost.”
“We decided that the most important step in transforming it would be to paint the whole place white including ceiling beams, walls and the floorboards, which we white-washed” KIRSTEN JENKINS, HOMEOWNER