Commercial Project One: Part 2, in TH Brown’s In Residence series
Designing a motel to feel like somewhere else, and completely itself
If Part One of this series is about The Miami Shores, owner’s vision, Part Two is about how that vision was given form.
Because good commercial design is never only about how a place looks.
It is about how a place makes people feel the moment they arrive.
That is where interior designer Jason Grant comes in.
Brought on by owner Chris Strode with a clear brief, Jason worked closely with Chris and builder Greg Strode to transform something tired into something transportive, while still keeping it entirely of the Gold Coast. This was not about copying another motel or recreating a formula. It was about building a place with its own mood, one that could feel nostalgic, vibrant and calm all at once.
Jason’s early references were less about literal precedent and more about atmosphere. There was a little Melrose Place, a little Palm Springs, and a sense of retro motel nostalgia.
But the real anchor of the project came when he found the Catherine Martin wallpaper. He has spoken about that wallpaper as the piece he built the scheme around, and placing it on the outdoor verandah ceilings became one of the motel’s boldest and most defining moves. From there, the rest of the palette could lean into it: the greens, rusts, lemon tones, brass accents, pink crazy pave and layered textures. It is a confident move, but it works because everything around it belongs to the same visual world.
That is what makes the design feel so resolved.
The original pool remains in its slightly odd, playful shape, simply resurfaced and brought back to life. The room fronts, once just glass sliding doors and dark curtains, now carry the rounded arched doors that have become one of the icons of the hotel. The original building texture has been kept and celebrated. Custom colours, breeze blocks, ceramic numbers, fold-out windows and carefully chosen tile all work together to create something cinematic, layered and complete.
But what makes Jason’s work here so compelling is that he is never talking only about style.
He speaks very clearly about function. A guest has to know how to use the room. The room has to give them what they need. In a compact motel space, every decision has to work harder. A fold-out window becomes a desk, bench, eating space and source of fresh air. A wall-length bedhead makes the room feel larger. Vertical tile helps elongate a bathroom. Repetition of material and tone creates calm rather than clutter. As Jason says, guests may not always realise they are noticing these things, but they are.
That may be the most important design truth in the whole project.
Because The Shores is not trying to overwhelm the guest.
It is trying to hold them well.
The rooms are small, but they do not feel sparse. They feel edited. The palette is bold, but never chaotic. The motel has personality, but it still creates ease. Jason wanted people to feel transported when they arrived, and that has been achieved not through excess, but through control. Every finish, colour and material supports the same emotional tone.
This is where the TH Brown Trend Lounge becomes such an important part of the story.
Jason describes the Trend as a hero piece of the property, and he is right. Along with the rounded doors, the Trend Lounge has become one of the visual signatures of The Shores. In the Sunbrella Canvas Rust tone from Jason’s vision, it does more than furnish the poolside. It helps anchor the mood. It carries the retro note he wanted, nodding to motel nostalgia and Americana while still feeling grounded in the present. It gives the pool area softness, confidence and ease. Most importantly, it makes people want to linger. The choice was so strong that it has since become a colourway we now range.
That matters because the Trend is not there simply to look good in photographs, though it does.
It is there because it helps deliver the experience Jason was designing for.
He has been clear that he did not want to recreate something that had already been seen too many times. He wanted the motel to feel specific. The Shores is still very much the Gold Coast, sun, pool, colour and holiday energy, but those elements have been shaped into something more distinctive and more memorable. The TH Brown Trend Lounge belongs because it carries exactly the same values: nostalgia without awkwardness, design integrity without fuss, and comfort that invites people to stay.
Perhaps that is the human truth at the centre of Jason’s part of the story.
Good commercial design is not just about making a venue look beautiful.
It is about helping create a place that knows how it wants people to feel.
The Shores does.
Explore more from our In Residence series.
Check out The Shores Miami for yourself
Photographer - Louise Rocher - The Design Villa
