A Haena beach house combines practicality and charm

Ask Jamie Smith Jackson, interior designer and co-owner of Pacific Home and Pacific Home Studios in Honolulu, about the delightful interiors she designed for a multi-family house on the North Shore of Kauai, and her response is equally delightful. “It reminds me of what you'd find in a happy grandmother's beach house,” she says. “From the start, we wanted the house to not look new, but to be more about generations of things and found objects.”

Set at the easternmost edge of famed Tunnels Beach in Haena, the 4,000-square foot, four-bedroom and four-and-a-half bath house is owned by a hui, or group, of three or four local families and sits on a lot across from where they live. “In Hawaii, it's tradition that people owned land together,” Smith Jackson explains. “This house was built by one of the owners, Matt Hunter, and the families all take turns using it.” When not occupied by the hui, it is available for rent.

Cottage-like in style, the house is open and airy, with wrap-around lanais and direct access to the beach. For Smith Jackson, that meant infusing it with both comfort and practicality. “The mandate was that the whole house was going to be used,” she says. “We needed to incorporate things that would hold up to lots of wear-and-tear from sand, sun, ocean and kids.”

Against a backdrop of reclaimed wide-plank wood floors the color of sand and pure-white paneled (as opposed to sheetrock, which is not “'friendly”' to moisture) walls and ceilings, Smith Jackson created a playful environment around a kaleidoscope of color.

The 'starting point' for the kitchen, for instance, was a turquoise wood pharmacy cabinet she found in Bali that now holds a variety of glasses and bowls. After that came a striped cotton throw rug by Dash & Albert Rug Company and hand-blocked print fabric pendant lamps by Galbraith & Paul. Old-fashioned café curtains (complete with stitched eyelets) hung from bamboo poles were intended to “add privacy from the neck down, but still let sunlight in.” All of this, including a reclaimed teak table from Indonesia set with a batch of mix-and-match chairs, was centered around an island counter, which, Smith Jackson says, gave the kitchen an old-fashioned feel.

The kitchen is open to a casual living room, which in turn opens to an oceanfront länai. There, a custom, white cotton slip-covered sofa dominates. “We opted to use upholstered pieces so that the slips could be popped off and put in the washing machine,” Smith Jackson says. The sofa is accented with throw pillows and a side chair, the color of which she describes as “the depth of the ocean when the sun is shining on it and you can see the bottom.” Behind it, a long, one-of-a-kind painted table from Bali “adds charm.”

For times when more than one family is in residence, a pair of master suites was designed with plenty of room to sit with a cup of coffee in the morning or relax and read a book. The “Makau,” or mountain-side, room features a four-poster, ebony-stained wood bed with a matching dresser, while the “Makai,” or ocean-side, room has an elegant, wood-framed bed and dresser, as well as an upholstered Mitchell Gold couch -- all from Pacific Home. As in all the rooms, the striped rug and café-style curtain theme was continued in appropriate color schemes.

The intensely colorful “Keiki,” or children's, room is Smith Johnson's favorite. It's done up with functional day and trundle beds (designed and built on the Island) slip-covered with durable, indoor-outdoor fabric by Perennial and with space for storage baskets underneath. “We wanted it to be like when you visit your grandmother and however many kids there are can bunk up,” Smith Jackson says. “The beds look like sofas, but the covers pop off them and they're totally made underneath.” Beanbag chairs are practical and easy to move around.

The fourth bedroom, called the “Ohana,” or family room, is immensely inviting, with walls the color of palm fronds, local artwork and cotton bedcovers.

While the end result is clearly lighthearted and the setting so serene, both the building and design process did come with challenges. “Haena is such a special little corner of the world. The road literally ends there and the only way you can see the rest of the North Shore is to hike eleven miles, or take a boat ride on a calm day,” Smith Jackson says. “But to get there, you have to cross two very long, one-lane bridges. Getting materials out there means everything has to be downsized to a smaller truck. It's a labor of love and not one without expense.”

In the true spirit of Aloha, the effort (and, in this case, the expense) was well worth it for all concerned. “I think it's great that the families share the house,” Smith Jackson reflects. “And it's great that other people have the chance to experience that special spot on the planet. It's a win-win for everybody.”

Details

“It's a beach house right on the sand. Reclaimed wood planking gives the rooms a natural look and they're not hard to take care of.”

Dining chairs - white ones are from LOOM in France - woven to look like wicker - others are upholstered

Kitchen counter is white Carerra marble-Corian counter tops- wood cabs made on Island

Cabinets are below counter. “We didn't want a whole kitchen full of cabinets. We wanted lots of light.”

Colors really POP against the white ceiling and walls. “We really had a lot of fun.”

Outside furniture is teak by Smith & Hawken from Pacific Home

Mirror on wall in Makau room from Pacific Home

Deck - lots of outdoor living - wraps around, there's a bbq and steps down to outdoor shower, hot tub and beach

Colors in the striped rugs inspired room colors “Sometimes I like to start at the bottom and work my way up.”

Keiki room “color of the late afternoon blue sky”