The finished Lanikai guest house — three bedrooms, two baths, and a garage designed into 800 square feet. Everyone on the Windward side seems to be asking the same question right now: can we add an ADU or Ohana unit to our lot? The more useful question is how do you design one that actually lives well on a real Kailua or Lanikai lot — the small, sloped, flood-aware, salt-exposed lots that make the Windward side so beautiful and so demanding. We have designed exactly these, in

The kitchen is usually the most expensive room in a renovation, and one big range does not really answer the question. In Kailua we think in tiers. A budget kitchen runs $50,000 to $75,000: everything stays where it is, with budget-friendly finishes. Mid-range starts around $100,000, and it is the sweet spot: a dream-kitchen look with durable materials, keeping the layout or making minor changes, while passing on the Sub-Zero, the real marble, and the handmade cabinetry. Luxu

The hardest part of a renovation is rarely any single trade. It is the coordination. The tile cannot go in until the waterproofing passes, which cannot happen until the plumbing is roughed, which depends on a fixture that is still on a barge. Miss one handoff and the whole schedule slips. Here is how we manage a Kailua project so those handoffs are our problem, not yours. One plan everyone builds from Before any demolition, we design the space and document it in detail: layou

Lake-front home designed from concept to final staging with Lanikai Homes Most Kailua homeowners start a renovation by looking for a contractor. For a simple repair, that is the right move. But for a high-end whole-home, kitchen, or bath project, hiring a contractor first usually means you quietly become the designer, the project manager, and the referee on every decision. Here is the real difference between hiring a contractor and working with a design-led team, and when eac

Sunset view at Portlock in Hawaii Kai off the deck of an ocean-front estate. If there's one part of a Kailua renovation that surprises homeowners, it's permitting. It's slower than people expect, it's where projects quietly lose time, and on the windward side it comes with local wrinkles — shoreline setbacks and coastal rules — that the mainland simply doesn't have. We're Lanikai Homes, a Kailua interior design and renovation firm, and navigating the City and County of Honolu