Design Concierge - Coolum Project

‍How we supported them

Our clients knew the apartment had potential. What they did not have was the time or the head space to specify every tile, every tap, every cabinet pull, and feel confident the whole thing would hang together. So they brought us in to do the thinking.

Across a series of Design Concierge consultations we locked in a consistent palette for all three wet rooms, chose a tap ware finish that would pull the whole apartment together (brushed brass, with classic cross-handle tapware in the powder room for a bit of character), specified joinery and stone, and selected fixtures that would survive a busy short-stay calendar. The brief was simple: classic ,light, beachy, and quietly luxurious. Nothing trendy enough to date, nothing precious enough to break a cleaning schedule.

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Main bathroom: from dated apartment to boutique stay

The original main bathroom was the textbook 90s apartment fit-out. Cream marble tile floor to ceiling, mirrored vanity panels stacked on top of more mirrored panels, a wall-mounted basin and chrome tap ware. Functional, but no one is screen-shotting it for their Pinterest board.

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We stripped it back and rebuilt the room around three things: vertical stack white tile that bounces light around (essential in a relatively narrow apartment bathroom), a soft oval mirror that breaks up the straight lines, and a walnut floating vanity with a stone top and a sculptural vessel basin. Brushed brass tapware throughout warms the whole scheme up.

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It is the kind of small, considered room that ends up in the saved-image folder of the next person browsing the listing. Which, when you are running a short stay, is the entire game.
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Laundry: small but mighty

Apartment laundries are usually an afterthought. Stack the washer, jam in a sink, move on. The original was exactly that: a top-loader, an old dryer, square white tiles, a stainless tub, and a laundry basket wedged into the corner.

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The new laundry uses the same design language as the bathrooms, vertical stack tile, stone bench top, white shaker joinery with brushed brass knobs, and a beautiful brushed brass mixer over the sink. We upgraded the appliances to a stacked heat-pump washer and dryer (quieter for guests, much better on power), and added open shelving and a tall storage tower for towels, linens and cleaning supplies.

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It is a small room. It is also one of the spaces guests notice when they put a wet swimsuits somewhere on day one of a beach holiday.
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The small moves that made the biggest difference

Where a DesignConcierge brain really pays off in a short-stay project:

·      Repeating the same vertical stack white tile across all three wet rooms, so the apartment feels designed rather than renovated.

·      One tapware finish across the whole home (brushed brass), with a small character moment in the powder room(cross handles) so it does not feel matchy-matchy.

·      Specifying soft, sculptural mirrors instead of straight rectangles. They photograph beautifully and instantly make a small bathroom feel considered.

·      Choosing finishes the cleaning team can actually maintain. Stone tops, full-height tile, and no fussy grout lines down low.

·      Adding a peony, a stoneware soap bottle and a marble dish in every room. It costs almost nothing and lifts the listing photos enormously.

The takeaway

Holiday apartments live and die by their photos. A bookable short stay does not need the biggest budget; it needs a cohesive scheme, durable materials, and a few thoughtful moments that make a guest pause on the listing and tap “book”.

That is exactly the kind of brief Design Concierge was built for. Smart, strategic guidance that respects your timeline and your bank account, gets you to “I love this”with confidence, and leaves you with a space that earns its keep.

If you have a holiday apartment, a rental, or a tired room you keep meaning to deal with, you know where to find us. Collaboration never goes out of style.

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