What drew your family to this home? The view! it was all about the view, there was a run down 1930s bungalow on the land which we totally gutted and then added onto to create a contemporary family beach.

What’s your favourite thing about living/staying here? The landscape/seascape around Palm Beach is so stunning. I adore coming up here after a long week at work in the city and just switching off the phone, making no plans and just having lazy days by the beach, late breakfasts at the Boathouse and going for long walks with our dog Freddie.

Talk us through the home’s layout…how does it work for family life? When you walk in you walk right into the main living area which has the open kitchen, lounge, dining room and sunroom that spills right onto the deck on the same floor are two guest suites and the master suite. Then downstairs there is a cinema/rumpus room and two other guests suites and a kitchenette which flows onto the lower deck.

It works great for family life as it can accommodate large groups in the common area but allows you to be able to retreat into quite areas for a break too!

The downstairs floor is completely self-contained so when my sister and her young family come to stay they set up camp there.

Tell us about the renovation (what did you change and why?) The original house was a very run down beach bungalow that was a rabbit warren of narrow corridors and small rooms. With the renovation we totally gutted the place, re-configured the spaces to open everything up and weighting by raising the ceiling and all the door ways.

We then added a new wing of the house going out into the front garden and extending the lower level out to double the size. It transformed a 3 bed/2 bath into a generously proportioned 6 bed/6 bath family beachside retreat.

Best lessons learned from the renovation: Start with a well thought out plan and try not to change your mind throughout the process! As it was a long two year build and a renovation we kept finding ways to improve things and whilst our builder was very accommodating it did mean pushing out the budget to squeeze in last minute changes!

Best money spent: Was on raising the ceiling and all the doorways, whilst this was an expensive exercise it immediately transformed the space and the vaulted ceiling in the living room is one of my favourite features.

Best seat in the house: The best seat in the house is the Vitra chair positioned by the fireplace and facing the view looking out to see, it also gets beautiful sun in the afternoon which makes it a great place to settle in with a book.