Houzz Tour: Say Aloha to Tropical Beachside Splendor

Mother-of-pearl walls set the stage for a Hawaiian paradise home that swims with laid-back glamour

Mitchell Parker March 7, 2013

Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.

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Kukio is an exclusive high-end development situated on the breathtaking lava-rock-strewn Kohala coast in Hawaii. Billionaires Charles Schwab, George Roberts and Michael Dell are just a few people said to be residents of the neighborhood.

When a real estate developer in Eugene, Orgegon, built a house there — along with Maryl Pacific Construction — with the intention of selling it off, he and his wife fell head over heels for the spot and decided to keep it for themselves instead. But before moving to the sprawling, fully furnished property, which consisted of a 4,000-square-foot, one-bedroom main house and two two-bedroom guesthouses, each at 1,800 square feet, they wanted to swap out the furnishings and redesign the interiors to reflect their personal style.

They called in Jacques Saint Dizier, a Healdsburg, California, designer who had helped the couple with interiors in their other properties. Saint Dizier set forth a floor-to-ceiling revamp, including the furnishings, and even curated an impressive Hawaiian art collection. He used the ocean to inspire his design, first bringing in lavish mother-of-pearl walls and building from there. “I wanted to bring the homeowners' personalities through,” Saint Dizier says. “They’re very casual, but they like living the glamorous lifestyle.”

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A real estate developer and his wife
Location: Kukio Bay, Kohala Coast, Hawaii
Size: 4,000 square feet (one-bedroom main house); two 2-bedroom guesthouses that are 1,800 square feet each
Budget: Not disclosed. Properties in the area go for $5 million to $10 million and more; furnished houses are typically $15 million to $20 million.

Saint Dizier Design

The wall paneled in Maya Romanoff mother-of-pearl in the master bedroom set the glamorous and ocean-inspired tone for most of the house. “It gives the room an extraordinary feel,” Saint Dizier says. “The walls appear to move — there’s so much luster, but not over the top like Las Vegas. It’s very calming.”

The cedar-encased room leads to a tropical garden with sculptures and a terrace. Since the properties in the development are fairly close together, lava rock walls create privacy so that doors can fold completely open.

Black chair: bamboo, Budji; bed: Ironies; armoire: Sloan Miyasator; lamp: vintage 1950s with custom shade

Saint Dizier Design

With the mother-of-pearl walls and wavy headboard, the designer wanted to create an under-the-sea vibe.

Bedspread: custom, Glant; night table: antique; artwork: Herve Fay

Saint Dizier Design

In Hawaii a terrace is referred to as a lanai. Saint Dizier bought the giant cypress-root coffee table on a trip to Bali. “It makes a wonderful outside coffee table," he says. "It’s indestructable and organic.”

Saint Dizier Design

A small game area off the living room is where the homeowners gather for cocktails, watch the sunset and share a casual meal. An open-backed settee allows for clear views to the ocean from the living room. An African tribal shield plays on a copper accent-color scheme.

Game table: steel and wood, Ironies; settee: Donghia

Saint Dizier Design

Though the living, dining and media spaces are all connected, Saint Dizier used furniture pieces and a smart layout scheme to make each area feel intimate. A high-back sofa creates a buffer in the media area here, while swivel chairs allow guests to switch views from the TV to one another to the garden out back and the ocean on the other side.

Saint Dizier used a lot of copper accents throughout the house, to play off the stone floor and wood tones. He then added scoops of blue to correspond to the natural greens from the outdoors. Rough, primitive carved pieces, like the coffee table, were brought in to counterbalance the clean look of the wood cabinets and straightforward architectural lines.

Sofa: Ironies, in Donghia fabric; copper benches: Robert Kuo

Saint Dizier Design

Saint Dizier wanted to bounce light off the table so it shines upward on guests' faces. “It gets rid of dark shadows underneath people’s eyes and makes everyone just look beautiful," he says. "It’s an old trick.” The table has a bronze copper-finished lazy Susan in the center.

The designer commissioned artist Kenny Kicklighter to create a koi fish hanging sculpture for the dining room wall. The oil painting on mahogany panels is by Madeline McKay.

Table, buffet: Berman Rosetti

Saint Dizier Design

Saint Dizier chose this dark and ornate armoire because it looked like Victorian-era pieces owned by Hawaiian royalty that he had seen in pictures — though it’s actually from the late 19th century’s American Aesthetic movement.

The four copper-color polymer acrylic tables were chiseled out underneath to capture light shining through, making them appear like bubbles. The chairs were chosen for their high backs to, again, create the feeling of an intimate space. “Frank Lloyd Wright used to do this a lot,” Saint Dizier says. “You create, in a sense, a room within a room. In this space it helps channel the attention out to the ocean over the settee.”

A considerable uplighting and downlighting scheme, with spotlights shining down often on specific pieces of art, was key to the interior design.

Tables, chairs: Ironies; armoire: 1stdibs

Saint Dizier Design

The designer found this painting in someone’s garage in Bali, covered in dirt and ripped. “I could only see the woman’s face, and I was so charmed by it. I had to restore it.”

Since the figure appears to be royalty dressed for a ceremony, Saint Dizier bought Balinese jewelry to mount on pedestals, which he then placed on small shelves attached to a limestone wall. “I wanted to be playful about featuring the jewelry, to play on the idea of a woman taking her jewelry off before getting into the bath,” he says.

Saint Dizier Design

A copper tub sits on black ili ili stones, which conceal a drain, so the need for an overflow valve is obsolete.

The master garden and lava wall add jaw-dropping views and privacy. Unfortunately, Saint Dizier says, no one really uses tubs like these; everyone uses the outdoor shower instead. “It takes, like, an hour and a half to fill, and by that time it’s cold,” Saint Dizier says. “Copper displaces heat quickly, so the temperature drops fast. They’re beautiful to look at, in any case.”

Saint Dizier Design

The designer bought the carved statue in this guest bedroom in Bali. The walls are handmade panels by David Goldberg.

Window coverings: woven wood, Hartmann and Forbes

Saint Dizier Design

The homeowners can walk to Kuko Beach or lounge in a blue mosaic-tile pool with a swim-up bar made of ohia wood and with a thatched roof. The area is surrounded by lava formations that, by law, are not allowed to be touched. Incorporating those into the landscape became important to the view.