Oceans of wonder

Lottie Consalvo and James Drinkwater have created a big-hearted, art-filled home in their tiny terrace by the sea.

- Elizabeth Wilson

Artists James Drinkwater and Lottie Consalvo with their children Vincenzo and Hester in their compact home, a jewel beside the beach in Newcastle, NSW. Artwork by Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula.

Lottie, Hester and their border collie Bella on the stairs of their artfully revived terrace. The painting on the right is by Christopher Horder. Artwork on ceiling is by Gavin Vitullo. OPPOSITE The dining table was made by James. The rattan chairs are roadside finds and the timber chairs are vintage finds. Vessel on table by James Drinkwater. Artworks (from top) by Dylan Palmer, Chris Capper and Tony Tuckson.

Early each morning before her family rises, artist Lottie Consalvo walks her dog along the beach, just over the road from her home in Newcastle, NSW. It’s a daily ritual that never loses its allure: she loves the sea mist, the ocean’s many tones of blue, and the “sense of infinity” found in that wide horizon, where the silvery sky spills into the sea.

“It definitely shifts something in me, being in nature each day, in a place that is beautiful,” she says. “I feel very lucky.”

The beach is a magnet for the rest of the family, too – Lottie’s husband James Drinkwater, also an artist, and their children Vincenzo, eight, and Hester, five. In fact, the desire to live as close as possible to the water was the key reason Lottie and James purchased this two-storey terrace, one of a row of 1830s sandstone-and-brick houses, which they recently renovated.