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Gathering family , supporter and salutary nutrient is an American holiday tradition . For Lee Unkrich , wife Laura Century and their three children , the holidays also imply hitting the pause clitoris and traveling from Northern California ’s Marin County to their holiday home on Kauai , the northernmost of Hawaii ’s string of alien island .
AtHale Ho’omalu(“a blank space of recourse ” ) , the Unkrich family enjoys a slower pace . The property ’s receptive - air architecture and lushly planted grounds are more enticing than any alien retreat . “ Our friends call it the nicest ‘ resort hotel ’ they ’ve been to , ” says Lee , a Pixar Animation Studios veteran whose lineament - length picture show ( as director)Toy Story 3will be released in June 2010 ( he also co - directedFinding NemoandMonsters , Inc. ) . “ The garden is our lush , idyllic imagination of a Hawaiian jungle . ”
Before even hand the residence , a serial of garden elements spread . A trio of foxtail palms rises behind a teak seating area near the front door , while a stone Buddha sits atop a punctilious pile of green mondo grass andagapanthus . blue splashing sounds beckon the visitor to turn a corner and pick up the partially obscure piss garden . A pathway run along with orchidaceous plant - laden medal contribute aside from the house , through an opening in the hedging , to the shaded and decadent pool pavilion , where towering duplicate tikis stand sentry . At Hale Ho’omalu , each garden characteristic leads to another , countenance one to relish and key out without fear of missing out on any single detail .
Laura and Lee see the two - Akko property and its Greene and Greene - animate home while vacationing on Kauai in 2006 . The distich envisioned an island retreat where they could come for brief or extended visit . “ We ’d been travel to Hawaii for days , but we had become disenchanted with repair - style holiday , ” Lee explains . “ We wanted to get off the beaten path and see the real Hawaii . ”
The 3,600 - substantial - foot residence is situated in a individual enclave at the upper edge of a valley on north Kauai , aptly named the Garden Isle for its verdant tropic vegetation . The diverse terrain includes a forest of palms , ferns and bamboo ; a bluff overlooking Secret Beach and a trail that leads down to the beach and right to the edge of the turquoise Pacific . “ One of the things we knew right on off was that this is a place to deal with family and Quaker , ” Lee says . “ It allow for us to spread the good luck of having such a special place . ”
To renovate the ten - old home and its rambling , overgrown grounds , the distich spent three years in collaboration with Hawaii - based designer Andrea Lecusay of Lakshmi Interiors and custom - home detergent builder James Antony of Antony Homes , who build the original domicile in 1996 . Together , they upgrade the abidance , expanded the outside puddle and patio areas , and renovate the extensive background into multiple garden suite designed for entertaining and outside living . To Lee , designing a dwelling house and garden is not unlike his mean solar day task . “ It ’s very similar to design a movie , ” he acknowledges . “ I had a plenty of opinions about every petite slight pattern contingent . ”
Antony assure a seamless show in workmanship . “ James was capable to locate the same sculpturer and craftspeople to add on railings , corbels and other details . There is n’t anything here that has n’t been made by hand , ” Lecusay says .
“ Lee and Laura very much love oldHawaiiana , and they wanted to create an understated elegance that was reminiscent of Hawaii circa 1900 to the 1940s , ” Lecusay explains . “ We shape with the Arts and Crafts and Asian - influenced architecture , and blended it with a landscape painting of Hawaiian plant and Indonesian furnishings to make a unagitated and tranquil environment . ”
When Lee and Laura grow Hale Ho’omalu , it was already to a great extent populate with tree . Fiji buff palms , blue Latan palms , foxtail grass thenar , trigon laurel wreath and coconut palms create a “ tropical timberland , ” which Lee appreciates as a “ cool , safe harbour from the sun . ” They also inherited a family - sizing orchard with exotic edibles , including avocado pear , lychee , noni , ‘ Cara Cara ’ orange and allspice trees .
“ Around the house there were a few smutty Colocasia esculenta plants , sure-enough agaves , bananas and some orchids in the tree diagram , but otherwise the ( understory ) was sparsely engraft , ” enjoin Sharon Fiore , a local garden consultant whom Lecusay play into the projection . Color and texture were missing from the landscape at eye degree . To supply layers of interest , Fiore filled planting beds and borders with tree diagram ferns , agapanthus , orchids , bananas , dalo ( Colocasia esculenta ) , ginger lily ( Hedychium ) , croton ( Codiaeum ) , gardenias , honeysuckle , ti plant ( Cordyline fruticosa ) , hibiscus and other tropicals . With more than 100 orchids on the prop , something is always in heyday .
Perched above the sea as it is , the bluff , with its platform deck and dining country , is exposed to constant wind and table salt body of water . Here , along the rugged N bound of the property , Fiore establish native hibiscus and dwarf octopus trees ( genus Schefflera actinophylla ) . “ They can take the extreme condition , ” she point out . “ Because of Kauai ’s mountains , fart and weather pattern , this attribute does n’t get much rain . But these plants just take off here . ”
Thoughtfully planned sit area throughout the garden encourage its resident to survive on island time , whiling away the tropical day . Lecusay project most of the furnishings and had them made in Indonesia . Custom gas tiki torches beleaguer the saltwater pool ( a bamboolike copper color sheath cover the pole of each ) , and the trunks of palm are uplit after dark . “ The best time to arrive here is at night , ” Lee state . “ There are torches everywhere - it looks like we ’re quick for a Polynesian luau . ”
Indeed , the grounds are movie - set perfect for entertaining . Everything from the scamp seedpod trees to the Buddha statue is lit at night . “ We program ‘ view ’ into the keypads so Lee and Laura can control the atmosphere with a single touch at different metre of the day , ” Lecusay says . “ There ’s a amatory scintillation everywhere . ”
To Lecusay , the conjuring trick of Hawaii ’s civilization , alluring flora life and welcoming spirit is embodied in the home and garden she aid to create . “ the great unwashed move to Hawaii because they require to live a casual and luxurious outside life-style , ” she say . “ The more time you spend here , the more you appreciate the ambience and the looker . ”
Botanical Décor
With the plentiful landscape painting as a backdrop , Lecusay worked with flowered designer Laurel Randolph of Kauai Floral Arts and her assistant , Mary Lou Harchis , to fashion botanical decorations for the company . Here ’s how they transformed local stuff into merry decorations :
