Interior designer Gold Coast: canal and waterfront homes

What salt air does to an interior

On a canal block the sliders stay open most of the year, and the air coming through carries salt. It finds the small metal parts nobody thinks to specify: hinges, drawer runners, handles, shower screen fixings, the bracket holding a pendant. Plated chrome pits within a couple of summers. Mirrors near an open bathroom window spot at the edges where the silvering lifts.

So the selection list changes. Marine grade stainless wherever hardware sits in the salt path. Solid brass left to patina instead of a plated finish that flakes. Powder coat rated for coastal use on anything facing outside. Joinery detailed so the reveal beside a west facing slider has room to move.

None of that shows up in a render. It shows up in year four.

Western glare on a wide water view

Most of the good water here faces west or north west. Broadbeach Waters, Sovereign Islands, the Isle of Capri: the wide view is also the four o'clock sun, and the canal throws that light back up onto the ceiling. Any interior designer Gold Coast waterfront owners hire should ask which way the water sits before talking about colour.

Two things follow. Finishes get chosen for how they behave late in the afternoon rather than under a showroom downlight, so honed stone tends to beat polished and ceilings stay matte. A gloss ceiling in a canal home turns into a second light source. Window treatments are planned as two layers from the start, sheer for the day and a block out track on the western rooms, with the pelmet built into the ceiling instead of added at the end.

Samples get looked at on site, late in the day. Small habit, saves a lot of regret.

Four homes on the Sovereign Islands

Luxxe has completed four residences on the Sovereign Islands, among them homes of more than 4,000 square metres of internal floor area and valued at more than $20 million. At that size the work is mostly about holding one idea across a very long plan. A house with three living rooms and a lift can easily read as three different houses.

Other completed projects include Casa Laguna, Villa Oceana, the Aria Penthouse and a new build at Carrara. Tammy holds a Bachelor of Design and has spent eight years in residential interiors. Luxxe also delivered the interiors of Duddingston House, the Category A listed Palladian mansion in Edinburgh designed by Sir William Chambers in the 1760s.

Where the rooms go on a water block

Every room wants the view, which is how a kitchen island ends up facing a wall of glare with nowhere to put a television. The plan has to choose.

Living and dining take the water. The kitchen sits back, with a butler's pantry behind it so the bench facing guests stays clear. Rooms that need no window, the cinema and the bar, sit in the middle of the plan where they earn more than another bedroom with a canal outlook. Bathrooms take the side light.

Privacy from the water is the part owners forget. Boats pass at eye level with the ground floor. At night a passing tinny sees straight through a glass ensuite.

Seeing the house before the builder prices it

Every project runs through 3D renders, plus a virtual reality walkthrough where it helps, so you stand in the room before anything is ordered. A change at that point costs a phone call. Raising a slider head height after the frame is up costs a great deal more. Luxxe works as an interior designer Gold Coast builders and architects collaborate with from plan stage, which is when the expensive decisions get made.

• Full home interior design, concept through to installation
• Kitchen, bathroom and laundry design
• Home cinema and bar design
• 3D renders and virtual reality walkthroughs
• Drafting, and collaboration with your architect and builder
• Renovation and decoration of existing canal homes

Where the studio works

The studio takes on work across Sovereign Islands, Sanctuary Cove, Broadbeach Waters and Mermaid Beach, with projects further afield in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Mackay. Choosing an interior designer Gold Coast waterfront owners trust usually comes down to scale. Has the studio finished a house this size, on this kind of block, and did it hold together.

Email info@luxxeinteriors.com.au with the address and which way the water faces. That is enough to start a conversation.