“The first thing I bought was a sledgehammer,” says architect Jason Selley, LEED AP, of his first home. The Waikiki condo, built in 1979, had managed to retain all its original touches—down to the Harvest Gold appliances and brown and gold tile work—and featured a small, compartmentalized floor plan.

This accent wall, created with stone that Selley found on sale at Bella Pietra, is one of the most distinctive features of the whole condo. It's also a great complement to other natural finishes in the space, including the granite kitchen countertops from Selective Stone.  BEFORE

Selley wasted no time getting down to business. “Maybe I was a little overambitious as a young architect,” Selley says, “but I was excited about playing around and really opening up the space.” Selley gutted all 600 square feet of the condo, with the exception of the bathroom sink, toilet and shower, keeping in mind that he’d actually have to live there during the renovation.

“My main goal was to make it feel more spacious and not so divided,” Selley says. With a large lanai and two window walls in the living room, Selley designed a new space to incorporate the view and all that natural light into the rest of the home.

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