These sisters quit their 9 to 5 to restore a beach shack in remote SA

It is rare to find an original 1950s Aussie shack for sale these days, especially on the beachfront. So when sisters Emma Read and Sarah Hall found one just over two hours’ drive from their home city of Adelaide, they were tickled pink.

The sisters inspected the west-facing house late in the afternoon, when the lemon sun was just setting into pastel pink-and-mauve hues on the sea’s far horizon, which only served to strengthen a romantic connection. “Once we knew the shack had only had one owner for most of its life and was painted pink in the 1950s, we were emotionally invested,” says Read.

Sitting high on the shore, with 360-degree views, the shack is deceptively small, with only two bedrooms and one central living space, a front yard on the sand and a backyard that abuts native scrub. It’s located in Chinaman Wells, a tiny coastal and fishing community on the Yorke Peninsula dotted with original Australian beach shacks.

Fishermen say the striking pink house, now repainted in its original hue, serves as a landmark for local seafarers. The shores of the Spencer Gulf out front are flat and tidal and ultimately connect to the Southern Ocean. “From the house you see and hear pelicans and black swans,” says Hall. “Crabbing and fishing are traditional pastimes here. When we’re here, we feel like we’re in another world; we can disconnect.”

The sisters call the shack Love & Mutiny, with good reason: “We both left our regular jobs within six months of the purchase, only continuing with our vintage bespoke styling business, Read & Hall,” says Hall. “We felt it was time to go out on a limb, so we staged a mutiny on our work priorities with the intention to love what we do for a living. It’s created a very appropriate name!”

To update the house, both siblings recruited their families. “Trades were scarce in this remote location, and we were on a budget, so we took our time through COVID-19 lockdowns and are proud of the result,” says Read.

Adds Hall, “When it came to Love & Mutiny, it certainly wasn’t going to be a traditional-looking beach house with coastal décor and white walls. For us, the house told another story, so in updating and decorating it we wanted to honour its vibrancy and history.”

Aesthetically, the sisters drew inspiration from their mother’s interest in clairvoyance. “The house has a celestial and astrological vibe,” says Read. “Come nightfall, it’s like being untethered from life, watching the moon rise over the ocean, sitting by the fire pit and stargazing. It connects you to a primitive part of yourself. The house is us from beginning to end, styled entirely from our imagination.”

To bring that delight to the interiors, the sisters painted the walls in dusty pink and sundance yellow, colours which accentuate the golden light that bathes the inside of the shack in the late afternoon. They added accents of 1950s-style wallpaper and striped and floral soft furnishings, installed etched mid-century porthole windows in the bathroom, lined the kitchen splashback in tiles decorated with tiny boats, hung colourful prints on the walls and set up a cocktail cabinet and vintage record player.

For outdoor pleasure, they festooned the large balcony in lights and set a fire pit in the sand out front. “There’s nothing like seeing the sunrise from the daybed, under a blanket, drinking a cup of hot tea or, at the end of the day, watching the sun set into the sea from the balcony with a cocktail in hand,” says Hall.

The sisters both enjoy an afternoon nap, always waking up to the tidal beach view, and enjoying the quietness and stillness often absent from their regular lives. They also share the experience by renting the house out. Hall and Read usually head to the shack with family or friends.

Once there, they rarely want to leave. “Reading, listening to music, walking along the beach, yoga on the balcony, sitting by the wood fire, napping – it’s a place of quiet reflection because of the water and sky views from every window,” says Read.

Says Hall, “Sometimes we retreat here solo and don’t see a soul. The quietness reinvigorates you. There is no television or Wi-Fi, the stars are abundant and the geographical location is so unique. We have uninterrupted views of both the sunrise and sunset from the kitchen table; that’s so rare in this world.”

Edited extract from Love Shacks (Images Publishing) by Susan Redman, out now.

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