THE RICHARDSON PROJECT

Welcome to Our Home

When we say we bought our property site unseen, that’s not totally accurate. In reality, we had seen quite a few images and tons of video from our realtor.

But it’s still a bit crazy to think that we bought this house on 3 acres without having set foot on it.

There have been a few surprises, but overall we’ve been really happy with the property. We bought it because it had potential, and we could really make it our own. And after a few months, we’re starting to see some of that potential come to life.

We’re excited to start sharing some of the projects we’ve been working on. But first, here is what the property looked like when we bought it.

Photos by Jonathan Davis – Spaces808.com

MAIN HOUSE

Here is the entrance to the main home.
Welcome to the “lanai”. It’s a massive wrap-around porch that nearly goes around the entire house. This house has about 1600 sq ft, but if you include the lanai, it’s probably closer to 2600 sq ft.
The kitchen. It doesn’t have the most functional layout (like having the washer and dryer in a closet right next to the fridge) but we love the huge windows throughout. They allow us to look out over the property while eating dinner or while doing the dishes.
What you can’t see in the previous picture is the skylight window about the island. It brings in a ton of light, especially in the morning hours.
Behold, the dining table.
This room has large sliding glass doors that open up to the lanai. Occasionally, we’ll get a gentle breeze that comes through those openings and travels to other parts of the house.
The pool. A pool was not on our “must have” list when we began our house search, but we said if we found a house that had one, great. In hindsight, we are REALLY grateful for our pool. It has helped take the “edge” off of moving–especially during COVID-19 where we’ve been spending a lot of time at home.
The pool is not heated, and so the temperature hovers between 76 and 80 degrees most days. No wimps are allowed in this pool 🙂
The cabana. The previous homeowner originally built this as a yoga studio. While we haven’t practiced yoga here (yet), it’s beautiful and provides some welcome relief from the sun while the kiddos play in the pool. It also has ethernet, so we can get fiber speeds while sitting poolside…which no one’s complaining about.
The home has 2 large bedrooms. This one is on the “makai” side (or ocean side) and has massive built-ins with tons of storage. The home has beautiful hardwood throughout, which is prominent in this room.
Here is the other bedroom on the “mauka” side (or the mountain side). It’s been interesting hearing how the locals use makai and mauka to describe everything. We are still getting the hang of it.
The mauka bedroom has this unique outdoor bathroom. It’s been interesting, to the say the least 🙂 Completely different from what we were used to.
The loft. Also known as the “boys room”. It was the only place in the house where you could see the ocean.

OHANA

Just like we weren’t looking for a property with a pool, we also weren’t looking for a house with an “ohana”. Ohana is Hawaiian for “family” and is what they call guest houses here.

The ohana is about 1000 sq ft and has 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, and a full kitchen.

Here is the front of the ohana.
The ohana also has a large lanai with a beautiful outdoor serving area. We’ve only used this space for storage thus far, but we plan on using it for more in the future.
The family room / kitchen. Again, we love the skylight windows that let in so much natural light.
It has a small but complete kitchen, including a hidden fridge (bottom right corner), hidden dishwasher, and a hidden washer/dryer on the other side.

WHAT’S NEXT

Renovations. Lots of them.

We love the houses, but over the next few months, we plan on making them our own, including structural and design changes that will make them more functional and suitable to a family of 6.

With most of the changes happening in the main house, we plan on semi-relocating to the Ohana during the construction, or at least spending most of our time there. Time to get cozy!

THE PROPERTY

The main house and the ohana are great and all, but they’re not why we bought this property. The real reason is because they sit on 3 acres of mature Hawaiian vegetation, including tons of fruit trees and untouched forest. The property is also part of a nice, quiet neighborhood where the kids can run around freely.

In our next post, we’ll show some more shots of the property, and what we’re planning on doing with it.

For now, stay safe and stay well!

– The Richardsons

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