I'VE BEEN GOING TO YAMBA with my husband and 3 children every year for the past 4 years, an idyllic seaside town on the Northern Coast of NSW.
We fell in love with it's laid back surf culture, amazing beaches and the fact that you don't need air conditioning or heating because the climate is so perfect.
As a belated anniversary gift to ourselves we spent a couple of nights at the dreamy Seaside Inn, Il Delfino.
With the help of local artists and creative friends, Sheree Commerford, a former fashion designer and stylist restored the mid-century sailors’ inn inspired by Europe’s ramshackle seaside cottages and Australian surf culture.
What I adored most were the thoughtful details and beauty of local craftsmanship.
Commerford collaborated with friends on the interiors, too. Ceramic artist Elise Eales of Di Lunedi handmade tiles for Il Delfino’s entrance, suite numbers and outdoor shower, as well as wall plates, utensils and vessels for the apartments. Another ceramicist, Lisa Lapointe, created tumblers and collaborated with object and lighting designer Monique Robinson on wall sconces and a side table.
Commerford also worked with local artisans and sourced objects from her travels, op shops and vintage stores. There are artworks from the 1950s, mysterious European sculptures from the 1970s and abstract lamps from the 1980s. As for communal spaces, the terrace features natural stone crazy paving and white sun loungers under white-trimmed rufous umbrellas from Italy, and the outdoor shower looks down over the ocean through the branches of a frangipani tree.
As perfectly said by Sheree Commerford, "We don’t have all these big features or activities—it really is about that beautiful, sweet life.”
And as I discovered at Il Delfino it really is about 'dolce far niente'...the sweetness of doing nothing.
Marika xx