How to turn a retreat into your dream family home

If you're looking for the trophy home your family deserves, ZEN Beach Retreat could be just the place.

Zen Retreat

If you're looking for the trophy home your family deserves, ZEN Beach Retreat could be just the place.

If your perfect family home checklist includes absolute beachfront, the ability to accommodate family and friends in spacious luxury and whales frolicking in your backyard, then ZEN Beach Retreat may be your dream home.

Currently, a boutique beach resort, ZEN Beach Retreat sits on Bargara Beach between the Southern Great Barrier Reef and Fraser Island.

As a resort, ZEN Beach Retreat accommodates up to 22 people, with four two-bedroom villas and an oceanfront executive residence with three bedrooms, all with ensuites.

For the discerning home buyer, converting this boutique property  into a treasured family home makes perfect sense. You can do as much or as little as you want to convert this elegant sanctuary into a luxurious family home.

At ZEN Beach Retreat nature blends with design to offer luxury resort style living, in the true sense.

Nestled between two UNESCO World Heritage listed sites - the Great Barrier Reef and Fraser Island - you can show off the region to local and international friends and family in one of the most agreeable climates in the world.

Just four hours drive from Brisbane and less than an hour by plane, the Southern Great Barrier Reef is a wildlife playground, home to whales, dolphins, kangaroos and an internationally renowned turtle sanctuary.

With islands and coral reefs at your doorstep, family and friends can enjoy snorkeling, scuba diving, stand up paddling and fishing. The golf course is less than five minutes away and the area is home to an impressive array of art galleries, cafes and restaurants.

A home of this scale is perfect for a multi-generational family, offering extended family the privacy of separate living quarters.

So what would it take to convert this amazing beach retreat into a family home?

Designer Suze Brownhill, from Brisbane-based builders and renovators Hammer & Heels, has some suggestions about the pros and cons of tackling a project like this.

According to Brownhill, the location is what really pops out - most people dream of a place with direct access to the beach.

“ZEN Beach Retreat has plenty of opportunities to make changes - both cosmetic and structural - to really personalise and maximise the beach aspect,” Brownhill says.

“There are so many positive features; ZEN Beach Retreat sits on a great size block with direct frontage. Beachfront blocks with direct beach access are very limited.”

She points out that a buyer could just move straight in and take their time to get the plans right.

“Some stunning changes could be made by simply removing non-load bearing walls and opening up internal areas,” she says.

Bigger changes to consider include maximising beach and ocean views by relocating the  pool and outdoor entertainment area to the beach side of the house. Brownhill advises that, due to the beachside location, structural changes may involve driving piles into the sand. It’s also important to ensure any materials used are able to withstand the harsh beach conditions with sun, wind and salt air being major factors.

Even with a luxurious property like ZEN Beach Retreat, there are still simple renovating opportunities on offer.

“The existing villas enable separate living opportunities for extended families, however connecting the villas to the main residence would provide the opportunity to reconfigure the entire property with more impressive proportions,” Brownhill says.

“To ensure as many aspects of the house as possible have views of the beach and ocean, you could remove some of the obstructions to the view - such as small windows and long walls, replacing them with floor to ceiling glass and over-size windows to create ocean views from all angles.

“The new owners could even consider a roof-top terrace to capture extended views.”

So, how much would all of this cost?

With a luxury property such as this, you can spend as little or as much as you wish to create a much-loved family compound.

“It’s difficult to give a cost estimate but you could spend up to $300,000 on cosmetic and minor structural changes that would further enhance and personalise the property.

“To fully transform the property, reconfigure internal spaces and relocate the pool and entertaining area to the beachfront, you could be looking at two to three times that.”

For the right buyer with the right budget, that investment is likely to yield impressive returns, both financially and in terms of years of happy memories.

Learn more about the ZEN Beach Retreat sale here.

Originally published as How to turn a retreat into your dream family home