Hawaii Extraordinary Home: Tropical Treehouse in Lanikai

What do you do when you want to build a home on an incline amongst 36,250 square feet of preservation land? Why you go up, of course. And that’s exactly what the owner/designers of 212A Luika Place did when building this spectacular custom home in Kailua.

A short drive from Honolulu over the mountainous Pali Highway will bring you to Oahu’s lush Windward Coast, which feels like a whole new world. The shimmering waters of Kailua draws you towards delectable local eats, trendy retail stores and the beautiful sands of Lanikai Beach.

It was in Lanikai where Steve Au and his wife, Irene, sought a quiet place to build a home.

“At the time we thought of it as being a treehouse with the hillside and greenery on one side and the other side just looking out at the ocean,” said Au in the Wall Street Journal’s November 4 “House of the Day” feature.

The rustic, four-story, nature-inspired home sits perched high atop Lanikai’s prestigious hillside and looks and feels like you are living in your very own hideaway. A staircase climbs the center of the home and none of the bedrooms have doors, relying instead on vertical separation for privacy.

The kitchen and dining area are on the fourth floor where further bucolic touches are evident – the kitchen has a range but doesn’t have an oven, as the owners preferred to cook using a wok. Additionally, there isn’t any cabinetry in the home. The effort to cut building costs and maximize the small space works well, as the open shelving is modern and appealing.

Each room showcases exclusive, commanding views of the Windward Coast and the home directly faces the Mokulua “Twin Islands.” A balcony off the living room overlooks the gorgeous scenery enriched with over two dozen species of mango trees, star fruit, pomelo and other tropical native plants.

The property also features its own meandering trails allowing one to frolic amongst the friendly wildlife, such as the white-rumped shama.