The Cottage at Kau Hale

They’ve counted New York and Tokyo among their past residences, but after a globe-trotting career, the Cox family has decided to come home—to Kailua.

“It’s been a long time,” says Jim Cox. “Hawaii is home for us. My wife’s family is in Hawaii and our son was born in Hawaii.”

Their marriage is classic East meets West. Jim is originally from Illinois and Takeko, from Japan. When the couple decided to build their dream home in the middle of the Pacific, they wanted it to reflect their origins. The fusion is apparent in their luxury cottage at Kau Hale.

This Kailua beachfront home wraps around the pool, keeping it private and sheltering it from street noise.

“The cottage is a total mixing of styles,” says Marshall Hickox, owner of Homeworks Construction, who blended the seemingly disparate parts into a singular look—and to stunning effect. “The exterior consists of classic board-and-batten siding, native Hawaiian plants and a rock waterfall pool to represent the Hawaiian theme. The inside, too, is a mix of personal tastes, both Asian and Western,” Hickox says.

“We also incorporated prairie architecture,” Cox adds, “inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and new Pacific architecture. But it all goes together.”

The master bedroom has private access to the outside, laundry and pool.

Homeworks Construction divided the single-floor residence into two main areas. The left half houses the master bedroom suite and office, while the rest of the home is divided up into the kitchen, laundry room, two guest suites and entrance to the outdoor pool.

“There is private access from the left wing to the outside, as well as to the laundry and pool,” Hickox says. “Both bedroom suites have access to a private lanai facing the beach. This allows guests to have their own entrance and exit from the master suite area.”

The architecture of the cottage makes it comfortable and functional. Every room, for example, has dramatic vaulted ceilings that stay cool as heat rises up from the floor, Hickox explains. The many oversize windows and doors welcome in natural ambient light to flood almost every corner of the home—and no room is without a cross breeze. Hickox also notes that the exterior was done in light colors to keep the house cool. Plus, all exterior finish work was done by Homeworks with stainless-steel nails to protect from salt-air corrosion.

The engineering and framing of the cottage is complex, Hickox continues, as three roof lines meet at different angles directly in the middle. The sweeping two-pitch shake roof, a distinctive feature of the cottage, was created by laying plywood over the peak—rather than up to it. Thus, it forms a gently sloped roof, not the distinctive peak.

The high ceiling provides a grand feel in the great room, Hickox adds. Part of the roof was stick framed by hand, which kept the room open and free from any obstruction. The 8-foot doors have a larger base. The window and door casings were modified to keep everything proportional to the ceiling heights. Also, in keeping with most older homes, none of the rooms in the cottage have wall-to-wall carpeting.

The homeowners were happy to leave Hickox and Homeworks Construction in charge of the designing and building. Still, they decided to add several design touches of their own.

All the wood lights were custom made to correlate with special features in the home, such as the matching window grids and the filigree in the lights.

“The redwood fence and gazebo were custom built,” says Hickox. “The interior finish was very important as well. All the filigree in the wood lights was custom designed to match the window grids. All lights in the house were custom made. The original lights in the foyer were rectangular, but Jim wanted to round out the lights in order to give a softer feel to the house.”

Jim Cox was, in fact, an integral part of the design and construction from start to finish. He participated extensively in the development of the Kau Hale structure.

“Homeworks Construction regularly sent us a lot of e-mails and pictures while we were out of state, and we went through many long planning meetings while in state,” says Cox, who adds that working with Homeworks Construction was “a lot of fun.”

Oversize windows and doors allow sunlight to flood into every corner of the home.

The cottage at Kau Hale is the first home the Cox family has built from the ground up. The project is part of a recent development by Homeworks Construction to replace four old, abandoned, dilapidated homes. Its goal is to create a new representation of an old neighborhood. This Kau Hale cottage is the reincarnation of a single-wall dwelling that once sat sagging to one side, its roof caved in.

“Some people say Kailua is losing its neighborhood feel,” says Hickox. “We feel we’re bringing something back to the neighborhood. Instead of building larger, modern mansions, the small luxury homes go more with the tradition of what you would expect in Kailua.”

This same sense of continuity and community acceptance was of utmost importance to the homeowners. “We were very conscious of the concept of community,” Cox says. “We got everyone in the community to agree on our plans before we began building.”

Hickox was able to meet a number of other requests by the homeowners. For one, having lived on the windward side of Oahu for 13 years, the couple wanted their cottage to be situated in an area where they “could have Hawaii, its beauty and aloha.” They wanted to be active and found the close proximity of Kailua Beach Park appealing. “The owner’s dream was to capture Kailua as it was, a quaint town, with neat rows of cottage homes surrounded by natural vegetation,” says Hickox.

Homeworks Construction also fulfilled the homeowners’ wish that the cottage “be able to entertain guests,” which they consider a big part of living in Hawaii.

The homeowners can relax in a hot bath, both inside and out.

“We always have guests,” says Cox.

“I have a large family. Takeko has a large family. And we have many acquaintances from around the world.”

Keeping their roles as hosts in mind during the design planning, the couple wanted space to entertain while maintaining a private place of their own. They insist that people “feel comfortable, not like they’re intruding,” says Cox.

But mostly, Hickox ensured that the cottage would live up to his clients’ plans to live in their new abode full time, beginning this June. Although the couple still plan to travel extensively, their home base will be in Kailua.