By Suzanne Tswei
stswei@starbulletin.com
BRIAN FUJIWARA'S friends thought he was nuts when he bought a rundown three-bedroom home in Moiliili two years ago.He knew he wasn't. Beneath the avocado-green carpet and the cramped rooms, he saw a sunny, old-fashioned plantation home waiting for a makeover.
"The house looked pretty bad. It was dark and dingy. Nobody could see past that, but I knew the house had potential," said the 36-year-old architect.
The "tear-down" property was exactly what he had been looking for over the course of a year. He was living in a condominium and wanted a house with more space for weekend entertaining and a yard for Gizmo, his Lhasa apso. The location had to be in town for a convenient commute to his downtown office, and the price had to be affordable. Most of all, he wanted an older home reminiscent of plantation bungalows.
"I really like that old Hawaii look. The problem was, most of the time people had done things to it, and I would have to tear out what they did. I'd rather have something with nothing done to it so I can start from scratch," Fujiwara said.The changes the owners had made were few and minor. The double-hung windows were replaced with jalousie windows, and the cultured-marble countertop in the bathroom was not original.
It was within walking distance to the University of Hawaii and shopping areas. The 1,500-square-foot house was almost double the size of his condominium, and the property had small front and back yards.
The house also offered a bonus: an enclosed patio with a bathroom that could be converted into a rental unit. And despite its neglected state, the home had no major structural problems.
Fujiwara bought it for $275,000 (while the neighborhood was going for the low $300,000s) and enlisted his friends for the transformation. They spent evenings and weekends cleaning and painting, which helped save on costs. The major jobs, such as construction electrical work, were contracted to professionals.Fujiwara knew from the beginning that he needed to sacrifice the third bedroom, which was tiny and dark and intruded into the living and dining areas. The old dining room, which was next to the third bedroom, was no more than a narrow hallway connecting the living room and kitchen.
By knocking down the walls of the third bedroom, his living room and dining room became one large space, opening and brightening the entertainment area.
His new dining room has enough space for a table for eight, an antique Chinese altar topped with art and collectibles, storage for a music system and ample room for his guests to roam and mingle.Removing the bedroom also improved the air flow, allowing the steady mauka breezes to blow through the living space. Another benefit was a slightly larger master bedroom, which gained enough space to add an antique Chinese storage cabinet housing the television set. The master bedroom became larger as the wall it shared with the dining room was relocated.
The old fir floor, with too much termite damage to be restored, was topped off with a new wood floor. Fujiwara chose an Australian wood, iron bark, that has a reddish koa-like coloring.
"I wanted a wood floor because that's what the old-style houses have, but I didn't want to just create the older look. I want to update it to make it contemporary," Fujiwara said.He added commercial rack lighting to brighten the interior, and colors on the walls for that modern look. One dining wall was painted blue and hung with artwork. The rest of the living-space walls were painted a yellowish white with white trim. One wall in the master bedroom is painted in sage green.
The brightest colors are used in the kitchen, which retained its ceiling-height wood cabinets. The cabinet doors are painted a fire-engine red, while the wood trim in between is painted silver to match the new sleek stainless-steel pulls and appliances.
"Paint is the easiest way to update the rooms. It's cheap and it's easy. You can brighten the room instantly with new paint. If you don't like the color, you can always paint over it with another color," Fujiwara said.He is having second thoughts about the red in the kitchen, he said, and may be changing it to another color better suited to the antique Chinese furnishings in the rest of the house.
But all in all, he's happy with the results, especially since the renovated house won a Grand Award in the Building Industry Association-Hawaii's 16th Annual Renaissance Building and Remodeling competition two weeks ago.
The three months, $55,000 and three months of hard work were well spent, he said. (The cost could have easily been $80,000 to $90,000, but because he did not have to consult an architect and was able to get discount on materials and other services, the cost was kept to a minimum.)"When I was first finished with the house, I was so exhausted I thought I'd never want to do this again. But now that I've lived in it for a while, I think maybe I don't mind doing it again with another house," Fujiwara said.
Next time, he wants a bigger house with a bigger yard, and perhaps a view. And the next time, he knows his friends won't think he's nuts.
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