In the case of this reimagined beach house, Kylie and her team were approached by a local client to facilitate the design and delivery of the interiors and joinery for the renovation of their family retreat located along Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula coastline on Cape Schanck. “The client was attracted to our model, grounded in joinery expertise and design delivery and liked our aesthetic,” Kylie says.

The home accommodated multiple living, sleeping, and bathing quarters, split across two levels. However, the scope required a holistic overhaul of the original home to create space to accommodate the third generation of the family under the same roof without compromise. “The project included major structural works by retaining and extending the two levels,” Kylie adds. The lower level was enlarged to host multiple groups of guests and family. In contrast, the upper level encompasses the primary entertaining areas such as a living, dining and theatre space alongside the master suites and study. At the very heart of the revised layout lies the newly modernised K2 kitchen system.

Cantilever’s products have an inherent design language and material group, which dictates the aesthetic and forms achieved. Cantilever’s K2 system was integrated throughout Cape Schanck retreat, a design decision that effortlessly blends stone and timber veneer to create a strong yet grounded palette. “Our origins in Kitchen design naturally lend our first thought towards functionality, through the application of zones or design blocks,” Kylie says.

Joinery is viewed as an integral touchpoint of any home. So the Cantilever team worked through the storage and display intent, thinking of the group of joinery operating as one component, connecting the spaces. “How each of these decisions intersects to create the design outcome is led by the joinery system selected for the project,” Kylie says. “Most clients like a particular product, or make their decisions based on material or budget preferences.”

Muted tones and natural textures enhance and compliment the home’s surrounding native tea tree views. Designing to create a palette of shifting light throughout the home, Cantilever Interiors worked with subtle tonal shifts across white, cream, grey and taupe to create a calm, responsive environment that allowed the expansive landscape views to take shape as you move through the home.

The use of texture through various paint, tile and floor treatments was intended to give the interior space a sense of time and connection to the landscape. Light appears through various portals throughout the day casting differing tones and shadows across each detail, punctuating the space as afternoon turns to evening. “I love how the softness of the palette creates a lovely calmness in the house, which perpetually strikes the evolving colours of the landscape through the windows,” Kylie says.

Inspired by place, materiality and craftmanship, which were harnessed through the unique location, Cantilever Interiors’ design response to Cape Schanck retreat feels welcoming and nurturing. Its restraint allows the location to become the central focus – a humbling quality that Kylie feels is important. “The discovery of our design language through joinery has grounded us to seek balance through repetition and restraint. Combining furnishings, and function, to create practical, resolved and restful homes,” Kylie maintains.