Following the success of their first accommodation My Sister and the Sea in Marion Bay, sisters Emma Read and Sarah Hall, aka stylists Read & Hall, set their sights on developing a new project. They came across a shack right on the sand in Chinaman Wells – a quiet beach town about two hours from Adelaide – and the rest is history!
The duo’s vision was to create an a quintessential beach home – somewhere they’d personally like to book a holiday. ‘We really looked at it as an opportunity to play and made the house what we wanted for ourselves. The one that if we’d seen it on an Airbnb listing we would scream in excitement!’ says Sarah.
Inspiration for the accommodation was sourced from far and wide, with ‘Bloomsbury, celestial, zodiac, colour clash’ identified as key themes.
‘We learned that the shack was originally painted pink in the 1950s, so there was no way we weren’t returning it to its original colour palette!’ says Emma. ‘We’d always had a penchant for Swedish painted floors, so we had to do that too.’
Completing the renovation took ‘forevs’ (‘We had no idea when we bought it, we thought it was a quick makeover!’), but was finally completed in 2021. ‘We employed a few local tradies as we needed but mostly it was a total labour of love… and mutiny,’ says Sarah.
The property encourages completely unwinding, aided by little luxuries such as French linen bedding, a wood fire, and record player. The location also plays a major role, being located in a tiny, sleepy little town made up of a single row of traditional, waterfront beach shacks.
‘There’s an incredible beach out the front which is home to a resident group of swans, pelicans, and is excellent for paddle boarding, kayaking and dreaming the day away while you sort your life out. It’s that kind of place,’ says Emma.
‘It’s a place where you connect with yourself in a way that’s hard to do in your regular world.’
Love & Mutiny has two bedrooms and sleeps up to four guests. The property also has its own merch line, created in collaboration with marketing agency Super Assembly.
