All Posts Tagged ‘renovation’

our little home
Post

Home, _______ home

August 4, 2014
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It’s the post you’ve been waiting for! What does our little house look like and what are we going to do with it? Well. . .I’m not quite sure how to fill in the blank. In the few weeks since our trek out across the Pacific all of the following descriptors have come out of my face:

  • cute
  • comfortable
  • creepy
  • scary
  • frustrating
  • God-awful
  • amazing!
  • beautiful
  • terrible
  • quaint
  • dirty
  • lovely

…and a million more. R and I came out here for a project and boy did we get one! The area of the house we are living in (3 bedrooms, 1 bath) is pretty stellar (pictures included keep reading!). Some renovations were already made and after a TON of work by one of our friends and some of our neighbors it is clean and comfortable for us to live in – but that doesn’t make any less of a project.

Throughout the home’s  lifespan, it has changed owners several times. First owned by a welder who kept a shop and more metal and machinery in the yard than he could ever use, then by a restaurant owner who rented it (and renovated definitely not the right word for what happened) to myriad renters. This owner decided to turn the old shop into a second dwelling unit and added several additions to the main house including an underground apartment type thingy (no pictures…I’m still too scared to go down there!) The additions are less than appealing, but Richard has some interesting ideas that will definitely make them more functional and exponentially more appealing.

man at work

R at work

The tricky part is figuring out just how to make that function meet the current form. Electrical and plumbing are like nothing Richard has ever seen and not nearly up to any type of code he has studied. Last week he spent an entire day just following the maze of electrical in the kitchen, living room, and weird addition #1 and this week will probably be more of the same.

Not much improvement needs to happen to the main living area other than updating fixtures, figuring out the maze of plumbing and electrical, new exterior paint, and refinishing the floor. What happens to the additions, creepy basement apartment thingy and the second house are all a mystery and content for another post! Check the blog every Monday (at least I hope I can keep that schedule!) for updates on our progress and island life. For now enjoy the gallery of our living area and some of the additions!

DSC_0680
DSC_0693
DSC_0726
work tools
work tools
that looks safe. . . electrical in the kitchen
that looks safe. . . electrical in the kitchen
kitchen
kitchen
more kitchen
more kitchen
more kitchen. . . fruit from the backyard!
more kitchen. . . fruit from the backyard!
farmers market finds!
farmers market finds!
carport at the front
carport at the front
lava rock wall at front
lava rock wall at front
side yard leading to back and second house
side yard leading to back and second house
oh look, the ocean!
oh look, the ocean!
backyard
backyard
mandarin oranges for life
mandarin oranges for life
thing one and thing two. . . the creepy attachments
thing one and thing two. . . the creepy attachments
work site
work site
backyard view
backyard view
laundry/mud room
laundry/mud room

 

Post

We are here

July 29, 2014
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map image from travelsworlds.com

Everywhere we go in Kaua’i we get asked where we are visiting from and how long we are staying, however, we are not here to vacation (I do hope this little excursion helps us to relax just a little bit though.) We came to Kaua’i to work. Richard is a general contractor and architectural designer (check out his awesomeness here) and the biggest reason for our move is that he was offered the opportunity to update/renovate/gut/rebuild a property with two units on the southwest side of the island in a little town called Ele’ele. Did I mention that we are also living in this property that needs a total redo? Well we are. It’s definitely an adventure in and of itself.  Thankfully the main living area was spruced up by a good friend of ours before our arrival and it is actually very quaint and quite cute (depending on my mood it can also be a frustrating little box, but most of the time it is cute and provides us all the shelter we need) to boot.

I’m also here to work. I have a master’s degree to finish with just a thesis project due in December remaining (check out my program here, I highly recommend it if you are interested in furthering any communication/design/technology/journalism education you have) and by some miracle I got to keep my fab job in Boulder and I am working remotely as a marketing and design wizard goddess. (Wizard goddess is a wayyyy better title than what I actually have – basically I make/create/design e- marketing things for the greatest school on the planet.)

What can I tell you about Ele’ele? Not a whole lot. It is tiny, especially coming from Boulder a town of 100,000+ and more restaurant and shops than you can believe. According to the last census data there are about 2,000 full time residents in Ele’ele and there is also a grocery store, a McDonalds, a few small restaurants, a bank, post office, Ace Hardware and a church. When you think about it, I guess that is all you really need. Ele’ele is situated between Port Allen and Hanapepe (funky little artist community that reminds me of a microBoulder).

Even though Ele’ele is a short drive to exotic beaches and stunning mega resorts, at the same time it could not be further away. The residents of this community that we have met are the nicest, most caring people we’ve run into in a long time and that’s saying a lot considering  we’re from Colorado which is also known to house a big bunch of nice people. Our neighbors here are hard workers, generally in trade type businesses like Richard and some are life-long residents of Hawai’i. We’ve already traded stories and fruit (everyone in this neighborhood has some kind of amazing fruit tree. We happen to have avocados, two types of mangoes, papayas and mandarin oranges) and it seems like Richard will have a great pool of helping hands for the big job he is about to take on. Our next door neighbor is 92 years young and has been a lifelong resident of Ele’ele. She’s lived in the house next door for more than 60 years!

So that’s a little bit about where on this big blue planet we are currently residing. Come back next week for the fascinating history of this house (or at least what we know about it) and some pictures of what we’re about to take on!

P.S. Did you know? Kauai Coffee Company is located just 2 miles from our house in Ele’ele? It is the largest coffee plantation in the United States and produces more than half of the Hawaiian Coffee you love? Come visit and we’ll take you on a tour of the estate and maybe throw in a delightful coconut iced coffee from their cafe.

-R+T