Sally Fitzgibbons realises a childhood dream

Sally Fizgibbons: “It was the cutest little weatherboard beach shack. I would look across the road and tell the kids at my bus stop that was going to be my adult house.”

Professional surfer Sally Fitzgibbons has toured many magnificent beach destinations around the world for work, but for this former No. 1, nothing comes close to her hometown – Gerroa. It was here, on the NSW south coast that as a primary school-aged girl she first spotted “her little blue” forever house.

“It was the cutest little weatherboard beach shack. I would look across the road and tell the kids at my bus stop that was going to be my adult house.”

Fast forward a couple of decades and countless world surfing tour wins later, Sally has made good on her promise to call the beach shack home. No longer blue, the now-white cottage that is perched on headland with uninterrupted views stretching from the surf to Seven Mile Beach National Park was reimagined with the help of her builder and friend Simon Rees.

The little blue cottage that Sally fell in love with before it was renovated.

“This project became my anchor and why I love the Gerroa headland so dearly,” says Sally. The views to the west aren’t too shabby either. “To see the sun set, this big orange globe behind the ridges, is the best view I have seen in my life.”

Sally felt predestined to buy the home when it came on the market a couple of years ago – even in its tired original state.

“It was definitely both daunting and exciting. I spend a lot of my life on the road travelling. It was a question of, ‘Can I renovate over FaceTime?”

The answer is a resounding ‘yes’.

The resulting home is a classic Australian coastal living design that has retained the relaxed appeal of a traditional beach shack. It features a main bedroom and ensuite, guest bedroom, bathroom, kitchen/dining, a separate living room, study nook, private gym and swimming pool.

Ta-da! The bones of the classic home are all still there, but it has given a modern makeover.

Some locals had tried to talk her into knocking down the old cottage and building a new home from scratch, but Sally quickly nixed that idea.

“Up and down our street there are new builds going on and someone would say, ‘why don’t just knock it down and start again’, but for me, it was important to keep the foundation,” says Sally.

The classic beachy-white continues in the bathroom.

“I felt that if I completely got rid of it, I could not replicate what was there since I was born, and even before then. I love that sense of history. It’s pretty funny actually, at the time westerly winds were blowing through a wall of framework and a few neighbours were wondering ‘what is she up to?’.” Turns out Sally knew exactly what she needed to do to honour the history of the cottage (she’s even kept the original front door) while creating a modern addition to accommodate its newest custodian.

The new design was inspired by nature and drawing from the land, sea and wildlife, it was a project from the heart for Sally, who was born and bred in Gerroa, and worked closely with her builder and friend, Simon Rees, to reimagine the original weatherboard beach shack.

Moving beyond the original footprint, Sally’s builder extended out the edge of the deck then added an infinity pool that can be accessed from the master bedroom.

Coastal-inspired design touches like timber floorboards, a white kitchen and Luxaflex blinds and curtains throughout have completed the beach-inspired brief.

When not in the surf, Sally can watch the surf from her pool.

WATCHING THE WAVES

“Beach theme is my jam, but saying that, when you build a house on the beach you want it to share similar values and textures but you don’t want to completely mirror it. You’re never going to get better than nature.” In fact, Sally calls the big glass windows looking out to the ocean ‘David Attenborough TV’. “That is the big show. You can never compete with that and I wanted to hero that view.”

Enjoying ‘David Attenborough TV’ from the kitchen/dining room.

With so much time spent chasing waves in far flung destinations, Sally says coming home is delightful.

Cool beach nights on the headland? Not a problem.

“Coming into the driveway and ‘ahh’ I take a deep breath. Opening the door I look straight through the house to the ocean and it takes my breath away – I can’t believe sometimes that this is my home,” she says. “Sitting and watching the ocean is complete meditation for me. Or just doing laps in my pool and hanging out on the edge. I am smiling ear to ear just thinking about it.”

Originally published as Sally Fitzgibbons realises a childhood dream