BEFORE

Watson created the picture collage above the couch from a calendar her sister bought. For the kitchen, she chose granite countertops and stayed with the existing cabinets—which was another great cost-saving measure. “I had a refinisher spray them for me, and we painted them kind of a farmhouse-white. It all went with the granite,” she says.

Watson’s master bedroom proves it is possible to have a grand bed in a small space. The wall-to-wall mirror and abundance of natural light add airiness and keep the room from feeling cramped.

When it comes to design, Brooke Watson is an expert. The in-house designer and owner of SoHa Living has built a name for herself in Hawaii’s home décor market over the past six years. So when it came to remodeling her own home, we knew the results would be good.

Watson’s life experiences have heavily influenced her personal style. “My time in New England and being born and raised in Hawaii have coalesced into a modern colonial style with hints of Hawaii,” she says.

When it came time to move last year, Watson fell in love with a town home in Lalea, a condo community in Hawaii Kai. “When I first walked in, I just had this feeling of comfort,” Watson says. “The layout was perfect.”

A first-time homebuyer, Watson says, “I felt like this was my canvas, and I could really have a lot of fun.” 

With some resistance from her husband, she began removing carpet and unwanted fixtures. “It was hard for me to tear it out,” Watson says. But nothing went to waste. The couple took everything to Re-use Hawaii, a local company that specializes in reusing building materials.

Because Watson paid attention to scale, her custom-made furniture fits perfectly into the small space. She offers custom furniture design to her clients as well.

With the slate clean, the design could come to life. Watson’s extensive work in the field meant she could easily get it done, right? Not exactly. The pressures of avoiding mistakes and creating a permanent space for her own family made the decision-making that much harder. “It was weird because I’m a very decisive person. I know what I like and what I don’t,” Watson says. “When it came to my own place, I really struggled with it.”

Watson’s guest room reflects her love for traveling, which stems not just from the places she’s visiting, but also “staying in the simple beauty of a nice hotel room. I love crisp, white linen sheets, perfectly manicured living spaces,” she says.

Pair the hard decisions with a busy business that was in the process of relocating to Kahala Mall, and it’s easy to see why the entire renovation took about eight months to complete. “We haven’t had much time to work on the house, so weekends and evenings here and there have been it for us,” she says.

But the work went on.

Watson tackled the kitchen first. The existing bar opened the kitchen to the living room, which gave the area a spacious feel, but beyond that proved useless. “It’s like a step-up bar, and it’s really hard for you to entertain because it’s so high, and it was too shallow for you to put barstools in it,” Watson says. “I decided I wanted to make it all one [level] and still be able to put counter stools on the other side.”

Watson’s father, who makes the Hawaiian-inspired wooden panels and wall décor at SoHa, cut all the wainscoting pieces (seen to the left of the stairs) and helped formulate a plan for Watson to install it, which resulted in significant cost savings.

After the kitchen, she redid just about every room in the house, carrying her style throughout. “I have always thought my perfect space would remind me of the things I like most,” she says. It’s especially visible in small touches, such as the wainscoting, which Watson installed herself. The wood paneling on the lower half of the walls is a décor element typically seen in colonial homes (such as those in Boston, where Watson lived for a short time) as well as in plantation-style homes.

The end result reflects Watson’s personal taste and serves as vindication for a remodel that was well worth the time put in. “I love how it has turned out,” she says. “I think that I love it even more that I contributed to the final result with a lot of hard work.”