“Fresh, breezy, permanent and proud” is how Tamsin Johnson describes the mood of Mermaid Beach House, a home that feels surprisingly old world despite being a new build.
Bringing a distinctive knack for refined interiors, Tamsin Johnson’s Mermaid Beach House blends antiques and highly textural materials for a fresh, modern interior. Positioned on the Gold Coast canals, the project presented a unique challenge: to design a new build that feels anything but new. Working alongside the architects from the ground up, Johnson created an expansive family home that offers both formality and lived-in comfort.
The homeowners, a family of five with three young boys, envisioned a spacious yet grounded home. “They needed a big breathing home that could entertain easily and best utilise the warm climate,” Johnson says. Her design approach embraced this vision, focusing on equal parts openness and cosiness, including spaces where the kids can roam and play.
The aesthetic direction is influenced by its coastal location but also incorporates classical design elements. “We needed this home to have some traditional viewpoints without being a pastiche,” Johnson explains. The interior layers influences from the “Hamptons with an Anglo-Caribbean freshness,” Johnson adds, all wrapped in a palette of natural stone and timber that even hints at the Balearic Islands. The combination is a sophisticated coastal concoction.
Central to Johnson’s design is the indoor-outdoor living experience, essential in a coastal sub-tropical setting. Facing the canal, the home’s large living spaces open to the outdoors without compromising a sense of security. Deep awnings create verandah spaces, providing shade and shelter while allowing the interiors to stay cool.
In the kitchen, cane stools are mixed with weatherboard style panelled cabinetry and a seafoam stone to exude a sense of casual sophistication.
The open-plan living and dining area features the GUBI 9602 floor lamp, Marcel Breuer Wassily chair and Escea DS1650 single-sided gas fireplace.
The vintage Rach Finazzi pyramid dining chairs add a sculptural feel against the softer backdrop.
The interior is light and fresh, or as Johnson describes, as fusion of Hamptons and Balearic, making it feel “identifiably Australian.”
The layout and design choices subtly guide the family’s daily flow, with the breakfast bar acting as a natural gathering spot each morning. While the home’s scale is grand, Johnson has ensured it feels welcoming by integrating a rich layer of antiques and art. “These pieces don’t float or look out of place because of the merger with more traditional high-end materials,” she says. Elements like stone, timber, whitewash, panelling, cane, rattan and sisal are woven throughout the design, giving the space a depth and maturity that makes it feel well-worn and welcoming.
Bathrooms throughout the home are treated as individual design statements. “Each has a beautiful antique or vintage mirror as a focus, lively Murano sconces, and earthy tile combinations,” Johnson says. These playful, European-inspired bathrooms add a charming, almost whimsical contrast to the home’s otherwise polished aesthetic.
Johnson’s design is a uniquely Australian family home that captures the essence of coastal living with a sense of tradition and enduring style.
“We needed this home to have some traditional viewpoints without being a pastiche.”
– Tamsin Johnson
Antique finds combine with sisal flooring to create a traditional yet coastal aesthetic.
The GUBI F.A.33 Rectangular mirror in the tiled bathroom.
Each bathroom has been designed its own unique experience, bringing in vintage mirrors, Murano glass wall sconces and checkerboard tiling.
Working with the architecture, the deep verandah allows for indoor-outdoor living, activated with a BBQ area.
