Isola Gerroa
Heavenly views and subtle harmonies of texture, pattern and colour make this home on the NSW South Coast a canvas for beautiful holiday memories.
Build Lime Building Group / Building design Design Ensemble
Interior design LOWI Interiors / Landscape Design Exterior Architecture
Landscaping Horizon Landscapes / Words Casey Hutton
Photography Nat Spada / Photoshoot Styling Laura Rees
When Will Sked saw this property for sale – a dilapidated little red-brick house perched above Gerroa’s Seven Mile Beach – he knew he’d found something wonderful. “I remember standing on the beach looking up at it with my wife and thinking, ‘This is a pretty unique place and opportunity.’”
Holidays here would be an easy 90-minute drive from their home in Sydney. “We had stayed in Gerroa a few times with other families and loved that it was a place where the river met the sea and the sun set over the water,” he explains.
LOWI Interiors collaborated with building designers Design Ensemble right from the start of the project, allowing the architecture and interior plans to evolve together – and it shows. Named ‘Isola Gerroa’, the home doesn’t feel as if it was constructed so much as gently placed, fully realised, onto the hillside looking out to sea.
“From the very beginning,” explains Loretta Wilson of LOWI Interiors, “we were all drawn to the nostalgic charm of Australian coastal holiday houses.” Her selections celebrate the simple utilitarian aspects of the traditional holiday home, while elevating them for contemporary life. “We didn’t want to recreate a vintage beach house. Instead, we wanted to evoke how they feel.”
“We reimagined those familiar elements – brickwork, timber detailing, the soft sun-faded palette – in more modern, tactile ways,” she says. “The brick is earthy and textural but paired with clean lines and pared-back forms. The joinery nods to traditional profiles yet is executed with contemporary selections. It’s a balance of old and new that feels effortless – grounded in nostalgia but very much of today.”
Also essential to the design was the idea of being transported. “We approached it as a conversation between two kinds of holidays: the laidback sun-soaked vibe of Gerroa and the relaxed sophistication of European escapes,” says Loretta. Smooth forms and vintage-inspired details are punctuated by photographic prints evoking Mediterranean travel. Meanwhile, warm-toned natural materials, neutral hues, and gentle patterns respond to the local landscape with its ever-changing skies and ocean.
A minimal white balustrade is all that separates the home from the sea beyond. “The focus remains on the view rather than the barrier,” explains Loretta. This sense of uncluttered tranquility is echoed in both kitchen spaces. “We wanted the kitchens to feel effortless and understated, serving the home rather than dominating it.”
The house is built over two floors that can be rented out separately or joined as one big holiday home. The levels have different qualities – lighter and airier upstairs; cosier and more grounded downstairs – but are unified by repeated motifs and the overarching narrative of holiday nostalgia.
The way in which the building blends indoor-outdoor living is perhaps what makes it quintessentially Australian. While being a refuge from the elements, the home simultaneously encourages its occupants to go outside and relish the world beyond its walls. Will’s favourite spot is the pool area. “There is no place we love to be more than in the spa, drink in hand, as the sun sets over the water and the escarpment behind. Magic.”
