RESIDENTIAL DESIGN

This residential home got a full makeover with a beautifully designed new kitchen combining the entry and living room. Furthermore, the bathrooms and powder room got a gorgeous new redesign where one of the bathrooms was converted into a universal bathroom. Go to the photo gallery to see all the photos of this wonderful project.

This client decided they needed to move the master suite to the main level of the home. Expanding on an existing bedroom, they added a full bath and an office area. I was tasked to recreate a bathroom she had seen while at an upscale hotel in China. The vanity is completely custom, made from locally sourced monkeypod wood.

Part of the expansion of the Mariners Ridge bathroom project was to create a guest suite with its own entrance. The bathroom footprint was small but we spared no details in creating a comfortable space.

This couple is retiring from the Big Island to Hawaii Kai so she can enjoy walking and he can get out on the water. The entire inside was gutted except for the stairs and we combined the two small rooms that enjoyed the view into one large space for TV viewing, playing instruments, and enjoying a conversation. Entertaining is done on the lanai.
Closet space is usually at the top of clients’ wish lists, but having it in the bathroom was not ideal.
By removing the closet opposite the toilet in the master bathroom we were able to create a spacious shower at the far end of the bathroom. We converted the very long single vanity into two separate his and hers vanities opposite one another, one in the existing location and one where the shower originally was. Any items that do not fit in the spacious vanity drawers can be stored in the new walk-in closet we created by combining the original master closet and a hall closet.

The original house had been added on to in a hodgepodge fashion and consequently did not flow well. My client was accustomed to an open plan and preferred contemporary design. By removing old doorways and using the same flooring throughout the house what is still a modest-sized home now feels open and welcoming. We still needed support at a crucial point in the middle of the space so we used an Ohia pole, cut from a sustainable Ohia farm on the Big Island to offer the structure we needed but with a local flair.

The client was very proud of their little home in Kailua and didn’t really want it to change. But the original kitchen had been built by the owner’s grandfather and was badly in need of repair. And since the rest of the 1950’s home was not changing we did not want to come in with a brand new modern kitchen in the middle of the space. So by keeping the exact footprint of the existing layout, modernizing only the appliances, and having custom cabinets built to compliment the age of the home we created a highly functional but still “small town” kitchen.

This home was designed and built by a well-known local architect and while the design aesthetic had aged a bit, the home overall had served the homeowners well over the years. But when they were told that the ficus trees in the yard and rooted under the foundation and cracked the sewer line there was no choice but to remodel. The master bath and guest bedroom and part of the guest bath had to be torn out to access the sewer pipe. Lucky for us, the owner wanted to work with an interior designer for the project. We revised the shower and toilet areas a bit and created a barrier-free shower in the guest suite but maintained the high standard of design and materials the original house had.

This was the tiniest kitchen I had ever seen and badly in need of a remodel. We couldn’t expand the kitchen because that would have made the living room too small. In the end, we maximized the space in the existing kitchen by removing dead corners, adding custom pull-outs in spaces too narrow for a cabinet and we even made use of the backsplash by installing a hanging system for utensils, spices, towels, etc. Coolest items in this kitchen are the microwave drawer ( to get it off the counter) and a pull-down drying rack in the cabinet over the sink.

This gets written up as an aging-in-place remodel, but it really isn’t. You can use that tactic if you want though. It has “support rails” ( new name for grab bars), and a built-in bench in the shower. The tub is not all that easy to get in and out of for someone who is aging, that’s why I don’t promote it as a universal bathroom, but overall the bathroom is awesome!

This house had five bathrooms and when one of the family members injured their back they realized none of the bathrooms were convenient for someone with a disability. The original design of the house included a guest suite but it was never built out. So we added a fully universal bathroom, roll-in shower & vanity, wide doorway, etc. along with some built-ins. The idea was the injured person could use the bathroom, but if they needed a caregiver to tend to them the caregiver could stay here. In the end, the client loved the bathroom so much that she is the one who said I could use her email as a testimonial, she said she never showers in any of the other bathrooms, she comes down to this one because she likes it so much.

This was a great example of a “design team”. We had an architect, interior designer, landscape designer, A/V designer and the general contractor. The original home was too old to save and much of the topsoil around it had washed away over the years. In its younger days the family home had a garden in the back and the father grew orchids, among other things, that he shipped to the mainland. Some of the original garden was still up there so the landscape person harvested them before construction to be replanted later. The lot was tiered and a new multi-generational home was built. There were three generations living there when we started, we finished just in time to greet the fourth generation!

The client had originally planned to enclose some of the lanai to make the living room bigger since she never went out there. That turned out to be cost-prohibitive so I suggested we make the lanai a more inviting space. The chairs were her grandmother’s, we just had cushions made for them.

This is a nice example of a curbless shower and it also has very unique lighting at the vanity. The downlight comes from sconces for aging eyes or applying make up a second source of lighting is important. We didn’t want it visible so the lights are embedded in the side walls.

This client is a retired couple and they own a custom built home that hasn’t been changed since the original owner built it. The kitchen needed to be replaced and as with most homes today they wanted it to open up to the eating area. They also plan to entertain more because the husband has taken up photography and he prints them on metal plates. They wanted to be able to showcase the art while entertaining so we moved the dining table to the living room on the lower level and added a banquette in the kitchen area for family meals with the grandkids. Aside from properly lighting and hanging shelves on the large living room wall for his art, we also incorporated the art into the cabinet doors. If you look at the close up of the upper cabinets in the kitchen, that is his work and it can be changed out over time.