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foregather family , Friend and good nutrient is an American holiday custom . For Lee Unkrich , married woman Laura Century and their three child , the holidays also mean hitting the pause clit and traveling from Northern California ’s Marin County to their holiday home on Kauai , the northernmost of Hawaii ’s string of exotic islands .
AtHale Ho’omalu(“a place of refuge ” ) , the Unkrich home relish a slower pace . The dimension ’s open - aviation computer architecture and lushly implant grounds are more alluring than any alien retirement . “ Our friends call it the nicest ‘ resort ’ they ’ve been to , ” says Lee , a Pixar Animation Studios veteran whose feature - distance film ( as director)Toy account 3will be relinquish in June 2010 ( he also co - directedFinding NemoandMonsters , Inc. ) . “ The garden is our lush , idyllic visual sensation of a Hawaiian jungle . ”
Before even reaching the abidance , a series of garden component open . A trio of foxtail medallion get up behind a teak seating orbit near the front threshold , while a stone Buddha sits atop a meticulous pile of green mondo grass andagapanthus . Gentle spatter sounds beckon the visitant to twist a corner and expose the partly hidden water garden . A nerve pathway lined with orchid - laden ribbon leads away from the house , through an opening in the hedge , to the shaded and effete pool pavilion , where loom matching tikis stand sentry . At Hale Ho’omalu , each garden feature leads to another , let one to relish and discover without awe of miss out on any undivided contingent .
Laura and Lee find the two - acre belongings and its Greene and Greene - inspire home while vacation on Kauai in 2006 . The duad envisioned an island hideaway where they could amount for abbreviated or extended visits . “ We ’d been traveling to Hawaii for year , but we had become disenchanted with resort - style vacations , ” Lee explain . “ We desire to get off the beaten path and see the existent Hawaii . ”
The 3,600 - hearty - metrical foot mansion house is locate in a private enclave at the upper edge of a valley on north Kauai , ably named the Garden Isle for its verdant tropical botany . The various terrain include a forest of palms , ferns and bamboo ; a four flush neglect Secret Beach and a trail that pass down to the beach and right to the edge of the turquoise Pacific . “ One of the things we knew mightily forth was that this is a place to share with family and friends , ” Lee says . “ It admit us to spread the good fortune of consume such a peculiar place . ”
To renovate the decade - older domicile and its straggling , overgrown grounds , the couple spend three years in coaction with Hawaii - based room decorator Andrea Lecusay of Lakshmi Interiors and custom - menage builder James Antony of Antony Homes , who build the original rest home in 1996 . Together , they kick upstairs the hall , flesh out the outdoor pool and patio areas , and renovate the extensive grounds into multiple garden rooms design for entertaining and outside living . To Lee , designing a home and garden is not unlike his day Book of Job . “ It ’s very similar to designing a movie , ” he acknowledges . “ I had a lot of opinions about every tiny trivial design detail . ”
Antony assure a seamless appearance in workmanship . “ James was able to site the same carvers and craftspeople to add on railing , corbels and other details . There is n’t anything here that has n’t been made by helping hand , ” Lecusay tell .
“ Lee and Laura very much dearest oldHawaiiana , and they wanted to create an downplay elegance that was reminiscent of Hawaii circa 1900 to the 1940s , ” Lecusay explain . “ We process with the Arts and Crafts and Asian - determine architecture , and blended it with a landscape of Hawaiian plants and Indonesian furnishings to create a calm and tranquil environment . ”
When Lee and Laura acquired Hale Ho’omalu , it was already heavily populated with trees . Fiji fan palm , blue Latan palms , foxtail palms , triangle decoration and coconut palms make a “ tropical forest , ” which Lee appreciates as a “ cool , secure haven from the Sunday . ” They also inherited a kinsfolk - size plantation with exotic victual , including avocado , lychee , noni , ‘ Cara Cara ’ orange and allspice trees .
“ Around the house there were a few black taro plant , old American aloe , banana tree and some orchid in the trees , but otherwise the ( understory ) was sparsely planted , ” says Sharon Fiore , a local garden consultant whom Lecusay brought into the project . Color and texture were missing from the landscape at eye floor . To add layer of interest , Fiore filled planting bed and borders with tree ferns , agapanthus , orchid , bananas , taro ( Colocasia esculenta ) , pep lily ( Hedychium ) , Codiaeum variegatum ( Codiaeum ) , gardenias , Aquilegia canadensis , ti industrial plant ( Cordyline fruticosa ) , hibiscus and other tropicals . With more than 100 orchids on the belongings , something is always in flower .
Perched above the ocean as it is , the bluff , with its platform deck and dining area , is divulge to constant winding and salt water . Here , along the broken Union edge of the property , Fiore planted native hibiscus and dwarf octopus trees ( genus Schefflera actinophylla ) . “ They can take the extreme conditions , ” she points out . “ Because of Kauai ’s batch , jazz and weather pattern , this property does n’t get much pelting . But these plants just take off here . ”
Thoughtfully be after seating areas throughout the garden encourage its occupant to live on island time , whiling away the tropic days . Lecusay design most of the trappings and had them made in Indonesia . Custom gas pedal tiki torches surround the saltwater pool ( a bamboolike fuzz sheath covers the perch of each ) , and the trunk of palms are uplit after shadow . “ The best time to come here is at nighttime , ” Lee say . “ There are torches everywhere - it looks like we ’re quick for a Polynesian luau . ”
Indeed , the grounds are movie - set perfect for harbor . Everything from the monkey pod trees to the Buddha statue is lit at night . “ We programmed ‘ fit ’ into the keypad so Lee and Laura can control the atmosphere with a individual touch at dissimilar metre of the day , ” Lecusay say . “ There ’s a romantic spark everywhere . ”
To Lecusay , the magic of Hawaii ’s culture , beguiling plant aliveness and welcoming smell is embodied in the home and garden she help to create . “ citizenry move to Hawaii because they want to exist a casual and luxurious outside lifestyle , ” she say . “ The more time you spend here , the more you appreciate the ambience and the beauty . ”
Botanical Décor
With the bountiful landscape as a backdrop , Lecusay act with floral designer Laurel Randolph of Kauai Floral Arts and her assistant , Mary Lou Harchis , to fashion botanic decorations for the party . Here ’s how they transformed local materials into merry decorations :
