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| "I call this place my tree house," the homeowner says. "It really has that sense of being out in the trees, and it has that nice openness about it." |
Driving through the neighborhood of Enchanted Lake in Kailua, one might not expect to find the gated, hillside community of Bluestone. Tucked away, the development is enclosed behind a seemingly dead-end road off a main artery. The peaceful, resortlike community, built in the ’70s, bridges Enchanted Lake with Lanikai, bounded by Mid-Pacific Country Club and its 18-hole championship golf course. Well-maintained grounds line the street, which cuts into the forested hillside. Subdued townhouses, built into the slope, blend naturally into the landscape on one side; the green mountainside rises on the other. A trickling waterfall runs through a curbside grove, lush with mature vines and coconut trees. The country club is a short walk away, down the stairs and through the forest.
Not long ago, the homeowners, an avid golfer and his wife, had been enjoying city life in Honolulu. “We came over here one day just thinking that maybe when we got old, we’d move to Bluestone,” the wife recalls. The area’s proximity to the golf course and the still, secluded setting had its appeal—resort living, every day.
“When we saw these townhouses, we really liked their privacy,” the homeowner says. “There’s no noise, and all we can really see is the green on the 16th hole. Nobody can hit a golf ball in here or see in here.”
The decision to buy also dovetailed with a lifestyle change: to simplify and streamline. Their previous home stood two stories with four bedrooms and three baths, 3,600 square feet total. With no children, it was more than they needed, she admits. The Bluestone townhouse takes it down a notch with three compact levels, featuring three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths. “As my husband says, we wanted to downsize, but not downgrade,” she says. “I like the simplicity of this townhouse, yet it’s practical and it’s pretty.”
However, the home wasn’t quite move-in ready. Parts of it were still stuck in the ’70s, evidenced by the undeniable shag carpeting and dark, hollow-core interior doors. The new owners desired a layout that was more accommodating of regular entertaining as well.
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The master bath includes high windows in the shower area that let in natural light and offer picturesque views of Bluestone's eucalyptus trees.
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The kitchen and baths, however, were almost perfect. The previous homeowner had renovated them entirely. “We were very impressed with the quality of the construction, and the prior owners gave the contractor very high grades and recommendations,” the new homeowner says. That contractor was Seven Valleys Design/Build, led by Chuck Siebenthal, CKD. A remodeling veteran in Hawaii, Siebenthal has spent more than 30 years in the construction business and has a keen eye for design.
Customer satisfaction is evident among Seven Valleys’ client base: Business is 90 percent word-of-mouth referrals. This track record is founded on his operating philosophy of emphasizing ethics and courtesy. “I’ve been preaching this for years and years and years,” he says. “Courtesy is almost a lost art form in America these days. I try to teach all my guys to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘you’re welcome.’” Siebenthal also instructs them to be upfront. Hiding mistakes is heavily discouraged; he would hate for the homeowner to discover something later.
“We contacted Chuck, and we were very, very fortunate, because he had a cancellation. It just fit right in with our schedule,” the homeowner continues.
About three months prior to their move in, Seven Valleys went to work remodeling the home. Additional living room was created on the lower level by tearing down a bedroom/hallway wall that fronted the stairway. That space, formerly a bedroom, was then transformed into a media room, ideal for watching movies. An adjoining space, formerly a closet for the washer and dryer, complements the media room with a new dry bar, perfect for hosting. A new sound system, the Sonos Digital Music System, streams music wirelessly from their computer to speakers throughout the home, great for entertaining.
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"I love to cook, and this is a real cook's kitchen," the homeowner says. "Everything's right there. Although sizewise it's smaller than my prior kitchen, I still haven't filled up all the cabinets. There's a lot more room, because it's so well designed."
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The homeowners also decided to enhance the look of the half bath—the one most likely to be used by guests—by having Seven Valleys install beautifully intricate glass tile over the back wall. The interior walls received a fresh coat of paint, and new interior doors were installed. Washer and dryer hookups were relocated to the garage.
As for the flooring, the homeowners like the look of stone but appreciate the practical attributes of ceramic tile (an important detail for their furry labradoodle, too). Siebenthal came up with a design solution that utilized ceramic tile but also mimics the look of stone. This illusion was created using natural-colored tiles that vary in color from dark brown to off-white and then randomly arranging them on the floor. Siebenthal and the homeowner were both pleased with the results. “It was one of his most brilliant ideas,” the homeowner says. “I thought it was really creative.”
Evaluating the entire project, the homeowner has no complaints about Seven Valleys, and she’s had a lot of remodeling experiences over the years. There’s usually something to critique, she says.
“But with Chuck, there’s absolutely nothing wrong, bad, to complain about,” she says. “He did everything that you’d want a contractor to do: What he says he’s going to do, when he says he’s going to do it and for what he says it’s going to cost. On the rare occasion that I had a question or didn’t like a small, little thing, he always made it to my satisfaction.
“I really mean this,” she continues. “Chuck is really fabulous.”
