Dreamy Beach House in Kauai

I have known my client and good friend for many years now. I first met her when I worked at Benjamin Moore in West Vancouver.  She had just moved into a new house with her husband and was looking for wall colours. When I said I could come out to her house to help her choose them she was so happy and relieved. I ended up helping her decorate too.

She recently completed an update to her 90’s kitchen in her West Vancouver home! It’s the most beautiful transformation I have ever seen. You’ll see it in the white eBook I’m writing, I’m expecting it to be ready in March.

Then about 2 1/2 years ago, I helped her choose colours, finishes and furniture on-line sitting in her house in West Vancouver for the house they were building in Kauai.

When my friend and her husband bought the property here was what it looked like:

I saw photos of the finished house ages ago when we had dinner together but it was not the same as experiencing it for the first time in person. Terreeia, my Mom and I arrived at around midnight Saturday. We have the house to ourselves for 10 days.

This is the guest house with the garage. Everything in this house reflects her good taste and attention to detail. There’s 4 bikes to use for cycling around.

When we arrived on Saturday night, we were like Kate Winslet in ‘The Holiday’ movie. I loved how she chose outdoor lights to illuminate the artwork in the entry hall.

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Remember how she ran from room to room at the house in LA jumping up and down? She had just switched with Cameron Diaz who was in her cottage in London? Well that’s kind of what we did, haha.

Here’s the full view of the hallway. The entire house, all the walls and the ceilings are all panelled in bead board.

I love this idea for collecting and displaying small treasures.

Robins egg blue!

Most of the furniture came from Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware as there are very few stores that ship to Kauai. My clients styling touches are everywhere. Love the hit of colour with the yellow guest towels.

All the vanities in the bathrooms are from Restoration Hardware.

Here’s the great room. I love the black windows!

Here’s the linen sofa from Restoration Hardware. The cabinet she had custom made for the space and since most of the rest of the cabinets in the house came from there she copied the same look and feel.

I like how she di

splayed the bowls from large to small in a row.

These bookshelves in the master sitting room you can see from the entry. She has games in the baskets on the bottom shelves.

 Fun green glass jars.

The countertops are honed granite. And that’s the laundry room you can get a glimpse through the doorway from the kitchen.

The cabinets are SW 7006 and the rest of the house is SW 7004.

The lighting at night is so pretty.  Over the cabinets, underneath, and inside the glass cabinets. The appliances are integrated. And I especially love that the hood fan almost disappears, her appliances are GE Monogram.

When we talked about which tiles to choose in the bathrooms, I suggested we repeat them and there are two guest bathrooms that are the same as this one above so we kept them identical.

I think too many people get caught up thinking each bathroom has to be soooo different. Keep the tiles classic and repeat them if there’s really no reason to switch them up and you’ll love your house much longer!

Here’s a closer look. All the countertops in the bathrooms are Carrara marble.

Here’s one of the guest rooms. Simple and beachy.

Here’s the master bedroom. The grounds are lit up at night with decorative lighting and it’s so pretty from this room. Here you can catch a glimpse of the pool.

Here’s the master bath with his and hers vanities opposite each other.

It’s completely open with a rain shower on the other side of the claw foot tub. There are doors here too and you can step right out to another patio.

Two pony walls on each side with the black hex tile connecting to the hardwood. Such a great way to design a no threshold bathing area and keep the hardwood seamless.

Here’s a view of the pool from the house.

Terreeia enjoying the view with a Hawaiian Beer.

Here’s a photo of the pool in the morning after a hard rain.

Here’s the outdoor shower. Can you see it?

Look closely, the spout is camouflaged as a duck.

View towards the house from the pool

This is where we have coffee every morning. Great choice on the colour of the cushions, they get covered with branches and leaves and of course they get rained on constantly so the colour covers up everything.

Here’s the morning view from those chairs.

This guest room is where my Mom is staying, the entrance is off the lanai.

Here’s another view. There are two identical palm trees flanking the lanai. I asked my client if they were already there and she laughed and said, ‘No, you should have seen this before we started’.

Here’s the view of their acreage just past the garden.

Here I am towards the end of the day in a slightly blurry picture (I’m okay with it). I had to buy a bathing suit because I managed to pack everything but including suntan lotion, haha. That’s my Mom (Hellen) enjoying the sun behind me. It was her birthday yesterday.

So this is where I’ll be for the next 8 days. My mom said “We really don’t need to go anywhere else do we?”.

As many of you know, I started writing this blog a little over five years ago and by accident, discovered that I had a LOT to say about colour, design and that I could write like I talk (which is how your blog should sound anyway). Before that, all the jobs I was in, I would walk around with a constant pit of anxiety in my stomach because I knew I wasn’t doing what I should be doing.  In the weekends my anxiety would be worse because I was always stressed that I wasn’t in the right job. I really suffered a lot, I’m not kidding.

It was one of the reasons I participated for over 10 years in personal growth and development programs but that was a different cut at self-awareness. Learning that I was 100% responsible for my life and everything that happens in it as well as learning how to communicate powerfully (well, that’s what I do here on my blog every day) was extraordinary.

It’s Penelope’s genius take on Meyer’s Briggs and her ability to interpret it powerfully that makes this course different from any old personalty test.  That’s what will give you all kinds of freedom in understanding who you are and taking your career to the next level. Really it’s a bargain at what we’re charging for it. Plus it’ll be fun.

So sign up here. 

THIS COURSE WILL BE TAPED IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT ON THOSE DAYS AND YOU CAN WATCH IT UNTIL THE END IF TIME.

I’m going out to lay by the pool.