A floating holiday house as luxurious as it is nostalgic

Drawing inspiration from nature and dipping into nostalgia, this Chinese restaurant-turned quirky luxury accomodation oozes a stylish retro aesthetic

A pair of glossy black swans glide across the lake’s mirrored surface towards us the moment we sit and dangle our feet in the water.  I suspect they may have been fed by former guests, but they’re totally out of luck today – there’s not as much as a crumb remaining of the sourdough loaf that had been left for us.

Idle Lake House in Victoria’s Lakes Entrance, around a four-hour drive from Melbourne is as close to the water as you can get. The luxury accommodation sits on a floating platform moored in the western harbour on The Esplanade, the lake separated from the ocean by a long, thin spine of land. Owner and artist Nephelle Watts grew up here and is passionate about the region.

“I truly believe Lakes Entrance is one of the most beautiful places in Australia and is still so raw and untouched. There are so many locals doing really great things and bringing our little seaside town to its true potential, and we wanted to bring a different kind of accommodation experience to our guests. Something that makes them feel like they are part of the beauty that surrounds them,” she says.

That vision was realised when she and husband Daniel, a timber boat builder by trade, were approached by the owners of the vessel, which, in its last incarnation had been a fine dining Cantonese restaurant, ‘The Floating Dragon’, an unfortunate casualty of the Covid crisis.

They gutted it and employed builders and designers specialising in tiny spaces to help them, opening Idle Lake House to the first guests in March.

While it may look petite, Idle Lake House is surprisingly spacious, sleeping four in two queen-sized bedrooms. There’s a separate bathroom, shower room and a powder room and a large living room with an open-plan kitchen. The sense of space is reinforced by the use of curved walls and floor-to-ceiling glass framing the unbroken lake view. Sliding doors lead to a deck with outdoor seating, with a steel ladder providing entry into the cool green water of the lake should it get too hot.

The décor has a definite retro California vibe, with classic collectable pieces mixed with more contemporary furniture.

Watts admits to a bias when it comes to interior design.

“I swear I should have been born in the 1940s to live out and experience the 60s and 70s disco era,” she says.

She designed and decorated the majority of the interior herself, citing American photographer Slim Aarons and Richard Christian’s of LA’s Flamingo Estate as inspirations for colour and texture, which includes velvet, stone, wood, and chrome and a scheme of amber, brown, deep blue and off-white. “It’s a collection of all the things I love,” she says.

Watt’s exacting artist’s eye and sense of hospitality are evidenced everywhere – Idle Lake House feels less like a holiday house for rent than a home you’ve been privileged to be invited into. There’s a record player with an eclectic vinyl collection, a fireplace, books in all genres, games, vases of greenery, stylish robes, and a pod coffee maker. Dry provisions and a breakfast basket including backyard eggs and locally baked sourdough are provided. There’s a coffee maker with local Melbourne-roasted coffee, woven shopping baskets to borrow and thick striped beach towels for sunbathing on the deck or taking to the beach.

Watts has filled the drawers beneath the long, tiled kitchen bench with many of her own pieces: rustic pottery cups and resin serving plates and bowls. Her art also hangs on the walls.

“We wanted every room to have something that made the guests smile or think “wow!” she says. The Gucci wallpaper in the powder room, in a design called ‘Tiger Eye’ certainly succeeds. As does the amber resin bathtub that Watts says took five grown men to lift and move.

“As soon as I found the bath I knew I had to have it. I imagined the clear resin reflective of the sunset over the bay with a glass of bubbles in hand.”

It’s so perfect that it’s hard to find the motivation to move during our stay. We dip in and out of the water, read books on the lounge, have a steam in the floating sauna next door (owned by Watt’s brother-in-law) and enjoy an aperitif on the deck at sunset, only lured away by the promise of a straight-from-the-trawlers seafood dinner at Sodafish restaurant, a minute’s stroll down the jetty.

A stay at Idle Lake House offers privilege without being precious. It’s an exemplar of how true luxury can be found in not just beautiful things, but the expression of thoughtful hospitality and provision of access to simple, half-forgotten pleasures.

Hotel Notes

Rates at Idle Lake House start from around AUD$1040 for 2 nights for 4 adults with a minimum two-night stay.  

idlelakehouse.com thesaltwatercreativeco.com

Koho Floating Sauna, which shares the platform charges $40 for an hour session.

Sodafish has an a la carte or tasting menu ww.sodafish.com.au