DESIGN
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Chaminade design student Shelley Blaisdell, left, presents her team's remodeling plan for homeowners Cree Akana and Lylah Reid-Akana.
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Contest stirs a drive to design
Chaminade students offered their plans for a home in Kaimuki
Three design presentations to choose from, and only one week to choose the winner. What's a couple to do? After winning a design contest hosted by HomeWorld and Chaminade University, Kaimuki couple Cree Akana and Lylah Reid-Akana were offered three different plans for updating their home, created by students in the school's interior design program.
The Akanas picked the design plans of Verde Cinque, a group of five students known individually as Caty Byerly, Krystyn Llacuna, Anne Ramos, Kanani Miura and Susan Stern.
The students played to Reid-Akana's love of Hawaiiana with a warm color palette of reds, greens and browns, and her taste for a mix of country/plantation.
"Part of the challenge was working with the pieces she wanted to keep," said Stern. "A lot of pieces we looked at had to have that classic, timeless, antique quality. Another aspect was the ease of care. They have a young child and a dog."
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Claudette Reid, left, inspects the design portfolio with her son-in-law, Cree Akana.
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The students addressed the couple's priorities, giving suggestions and price quotes for replacing older appliances, refinishing the bathtub and tiles, and replacing the termite-eaten built-in vanity in the pink-tiled bathroom.
"We like that (Reid-Akana) has integrity," said Byerly. "It's more of a challenge to keep the integrity; it's easier to gut ... but she wants to maintain the memory."
The Akanas picked the group's efforts for the color scheme -- chocolate colored walls in the bathroom and a moss-green shade for one bedroom, and for such suggestions as laminated bamboo flooring against the existing hardwood flooring.
"Ninety-five percent of all the points we brought up were addressed, so I know they heard me," said Reid-Akana.
The Akanas plan to update their home by the end of the year, not only with Verde Cinque's plans, but also borrowing an idea or two from the other groups -- such as fabrics picked out by the 'Eono Design Group and an idea from The Six in which the couple swaps bedrooms with their son as he gets older.
"We're so happy for the couple," said Stern. "We're hoping to make a difference for them."
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Caty Byerly, above left, and Susan Stern, both of Chaminade, mull over accessories and furniture they might use for their remodeling plan.
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