Subscribe 
Home Tour: A Surrealist South Coast Escape
Step into a whimsical holiday retreat where layered textures, storybook references and nature-inspired motifs create a truly immersive experience.
Perched within the bucolic hills of New South Wales’ South Coast, YSG Studio has crafted a storybook holiday home designed for memory-making. While it initially reads as a study in contrasts, seemingly opposing elements resolve into a cohesive whole, telling a tale of nostalgia and imagination.
Plantasia is a ‘fictional escape’,” explains Yasmine Ghoniem, Director of YSG Studio. “A ‘choose your own adventure’ holiday home where trippy interior landscapes entice you down utopian rabbit holes, and fairytale-like curiosities, framed by doorways and deep thresholds, lure the eye from room to room.”
Tasked with “cosying up” the existing 1990s mock-colonial home without adding any internal walls, the team used the brief to craft a home that is texturally layered yet wholly serene, whimsical but not frivolous, maximalist without the clutter and playful yet grounded.
The journey begins immediately. “We designed the entry vestibule to instantly disarm the stresses of city life, enlivening a new oversized timber door with a bright butter yellow shade”, shares Yasmine. Further adorned with V.Brokkr tubular brass pull handle, the door itself is the initial invitation into this immersive escape.
Inside the parlour, Victoriana elements including floral wallpaper, a circular velvet ottoman fitted with a skirt, plus ornately carved joinery add period drama with a Wes Anderson-inspired dopamine hit of colour”, Yasmine explains.
Given its ample space, the room holds visitors momentarily, enabling mindsets to transition. This ‘suspended time’ theme literally extends along the central spine of the home from the entrance, down the hallway and across the open kitchen/dining area’s floor in the form of an infinite hourglass motif defined by dark cork. We set it within caramel-shaded cork that pours into the adjoining rooms.”
This thematic continuity travels throughout the home, inviting visitors to explore further, each room connected by a series of subtle motifs. One such thread is a homage to nature. “Sprouting from cushioned cork floors, nature flourishes upon walls and ceilings, with over ten different flora and fauna wallpapers adorning surfaces”, they share.
Most dramatic is the master suite, where tumbling autumnal foliage adorns the walls. An eerie Twin Peaks melancholy draws you in. Flipping perception, stripes clad the ceiling while plush sky-blue carpet lands underfoot. This colour drenching throws the eye up and out beyond the windows it frames towards dense clusters of towering trees. Above the bed, a large painting depicts a couple sharing secrets. Perhaps they know what brave new worlds exist beyond the woods outside.”
If You Like This South Coast Home Tour, You Might Also Like
A Mollymook Home Built To Weather Beautifully
Tour a Home Designed With Slow Living in Mind
“It presents as a ‘choose your own adventure’ holiday home where trippy interior landscapes entice you down utopian rabbit holes, and fairy tale-like curiosities framed by doorways and deep thresholds lure the eye from room to room.” — YSG Studio
While it may seem counterintuitive, drenching a windowed wall in floral paper is exactly where the genius of YSG Studio lies. In place of consuming the view it frames, it only serves to draw you ever deeper into the crisp green paddocks and the story of the home itself.
With no design detail left unturned, the team were able to weave subtle storybook references throughout, a delicious treat for the keen-eyed observer.
A salon hang of miscellaneous treasures dot the dining room’s wall above a generous farmhouse-style timber table that regularly accommodates visiting families and friends. Mismatched timber chairs (from rustic vintage pieces with rush seats to classic Thonets) orbit it, recalling Goldilocks scenes. A generous beige Aurélien Serre armchair with teddy bear-like form sits in the room’s corner, inviting curl-up time with a book.”
And it doesn’t end there. In a Hansel & Gretel nod, “A custom walnut credenza with a melted chocolate-like surface lines the room’s edge (dotted with Malteser-like pulls), adding layered depth to the room’s once flat planes.”
Through these playful details, the team have transformed the home into a world of quiet fantasy — a place where imagination lingers in every corner and everyday moments feel just a little more enchanted. A true escape for adults and children alike.
Project Credits
Built By: Promena Projects
Interior Design: YSG Studio
Styled By: Felicity NG
Photography: Anson Smart
Loved touring this gorgeous home and looking for more inspo? Be sure to take a peep at this space, designed with slow living in mind, as well as this blushing pink beauty.
