create a coastal oasis with kaboodle, Front Porch Properties and Coloursmith

Working with licenced builder Rachael Turner from @frontporchproperties, we collaborated with Coloursmith by Taubmans to refresh a kitchen, laundry and mudroom.

Located in Burleigh Heads, QLD the homeowner wanted to incorporate a coastal vibe given the positioning of the property and its surroundings. They also wanted the space to feel cosy and inviting. Using the kaboodle raw board paint your own door range meant that the homeowners could play with colour and the Coloursmith app allowed the homeowner to take their colour inspiration and turn it into a bespoke paint colour, which was then applied to the kaboodle panels – literally curating their dream kitchen and laundry colour palette!

We spoke to Rachael about how she worked with her client to bring their dream beach house renovation to life.

“The whole house was very dated, but particularly the 2 main work horses of the home, the kitchen still in its original and well yellowed 1980’s format, and the laundry, which didn’t leave much to the imagination, it was a simple space with a standard 80’s Aussie laundry sink, and a freestanding washing machine. The sizes of both areas were generous, but the space was not well utilised,” said Rachael Turner.

Rachael decided to use a combination of our macaroon doors and panels and our raw board paint your own doors, keeping the aesthetic cool and coastal, while also being able to inject some subtle colour.

“We used the off the shelf macaroon because it’s already pre finished which saves us time and money, but we then like to mix in some of the Paint Your Own panels because it allows us a great opportunity to customise and put our own stamp on it, it’s pretty much the best of both worlds for us, having the ability to customise whilst also saving money.”

Incorporating timber elements throughout your design is a great way to add warmth and texture to a space, especially when you want to create a costal vibe. Wood is a relaxed and inviting material, which is perfect when designing a space that will be enjoyed by family and friends!

“We love bringing in the warmth of wood to a lot of our projects and the American oak bench tops are great for so many spaces. For this particular project, the island is the main point of gathering in our clients' holiday home, and we absolutely love doing a wooden bench top because of the fact that it is always warm and inviting. Stone tops are great for cooking surfaces, but can often be cold to the touch when sitting at them. I find that there’s just something so warm and welcoming about sitting at a wooden island. We also opted to use the American Oak to the open shelves of the island. The whole idea of this particular holiday home is that it is relaxed and user friendly. Here on the island, it was a great opportunity to display stacks of bowls and platters and also remain as a working area for items such as the microwave which is neatly stored within this open shelf area,” explains Rachael.

“We also used the American Oak throughout the laundry/mudroom. We created some gorgeous curved open shelves on the laundry side whilst also using it for the mudroom bench seat and decorative slatted back panel. We really love how this space turned out, who wouldn’t want to do laundry in here?”

Including some savvy design hacks (for advanced DIYers) is always a great idea when it comes to elevating a space and giving it a custom feel. Consider how you are going to use your wall space, if you don’t want to include wall cabinets, use textured panelling and a soft colourway to add some vibrance. Floating shelves look great while also providing a space for styling elements, towels and washing detergent.

“In the laundry we had a few hacks, the first being the curved floating shelves, this was a nice changeup from the standard squared edging. We even cut a piece of oak for the tumble dryer to sit on, again this adds a more custom feel, rather than just a standard white shelf, and I guess one of our best hacks was the stripping down of the oak bench tops to make the slatted decorative panels behind the bench seat, we even managed to create some custom hooks out of the off cuts,” says Rachael.

If you want to see the Burleigh Beach shack renovation come to life from start to finish, watch the short videos (part 1 and part 2) below;

“We love that Kaboodle is not just a flat pack range, but it has the option to customise your kitchen and laundry spaces with the paint your own series, this is something that really allows us to put our own stamp on our projects. Plus, Kaboodle do have some nice little luxury options these days, such as the integrated dishwasher front panels. It’s also really easy to use their kitchen planner software, you can either plan it out yourself, or have one of the Bunnings in-house consultants help you with your design. All round, they have pretty much made the option to build your own kitchen very user friendly.”

We hope you’ve been inspired to add colour into your home and curate your dream palette! You can view the coastal oasis inspiration gallery here. For more inspiration and ideas, visit our design blog or follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.