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On Kauai, a private garden retreat is the setting for a seasonal celebration - Hawaiian-style
gathering family, friends and good food is an American holiday tradition. For Lee Unkrich, wife Laura Century and their three children, the holidays also mean hitting the pause button and traveling from Northern California's Marin County to their vacation home on Kauai, the northernmost of Hawaii's string of exotic islands.
At Hale Mo'omalu ("a place of refuge"), the Unkrich family enjoys a slower pace. The property's open-air architecture and lushly planted grounds are more alluring than any exotic retreat. "Our friends call it the nicest 'resort' they've been to," says Lee, a Pixar Animation Studios veteran whose feature-length film (as director) Toy Story 3 will be released in June 2010 (he also codirected Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc.). "The garden is our lush, idyllic vision of a Hawaiian jungle."
Before even reaching the residence, a series of garden elements unfolds. A trio of foxtail palms rises behind a teak seating area near the front door, while a stone Buddha sits atop a meticulous mound of green mondo grass and agapanthus. Gentle splashing sounds beckon the visitor to turn a corner and discover the partially hidden water garden. A pathway lined with orchid-laden palms leads away from the house, through an opening in the hedge, to the shaded and decadent pool pavilion, where towering twin tikis stand sentry. At Hale Ho'omalu, each garden feature leads to another, allowing one to relish and discover without fear of missing out on any single detail.
Laura and Lee discovered the two-acre property and its Greene and Greene-inspired home while vacationing on Kauai in 2006. The couple envisioned an island retreat where they could come for brief or extended visits. "We'd been traveling to Hawaii for years, but we had become disenchanted with resort-style vacations," Lee explains. "We wanted to get off the beaten path and see the real Hawaii."
The 3,600-square-foot residence is situated in a private enclave at the upper edge of a valley on north Kauai, aptly named the Garden Isle for its verdant tropical vegetation. The diverse terrain includes a forest of palms, ferns and bamboo; a bluff overlooking Secret Beach and a trail that leads down to the beach...