Photo by Eugene Hopkins

The entryway is a cool, breezy space, flanked on one side by the ohana room. paved with cement stepping stones and chunky river rocks, it's inspired in equal parts by the tropics and Indo-asian design. The circular rain chain is one of the homeowner's favorite pieces.

Photo by Eugene Hopkins

The living room soars up through two levels to a beamed wooden ceiling. Stage center down below is a massive wooden weaving table from Indonesia. The washability of the slip-covered sofas from pacific home is ideal for the amount of living that goes on in this space.

Photo by Eugene Hopkins

The home's inner lanai catches the breezes from the beach on one side and views of the Lanikai hills on the other. The Jacuzzi and pool are a favorite play space for the homeowners and their son.

Casual, chic and colorful are the hallmarks of this Windward Oahu abode

This is a home where kids meet friends meet family meet dogs meet surfboards meet trucks. Ganesh rubs shoulders with Buddha, honu petroglyphs sit alongside kids’ toys, and stainless steel appliances meet surfboards.

“We live here,” says the homeowner, who wishes to remain unidentified. The Lanikai couple initially rented one of two cottages that stood on the site, which is just a stone’s throw from Lanikai beach. The cottages were old, the rain came in, and the rodents and bugs threatened to walk off with them, but they were perfect beach homes with their own charm. And that’s the kind of feel the couple wanted to keep when they bought the land and started planning the new home they would build.

It all started one morning when they were sitting outside in the shade of an umbrella and they sketched the floor plan on a napkin. What they planned was a roomy two-level home that wrapped around an inner lanai – a home that brought the outside in and the inside out.

Today, the couple’s many visitors enter through Indonesian-inspired gates into a leafy inner courtyard, which is filled with the sound of the waterfall cascading into the green river rock-lined pool.

The formal entryway lies just to the right, through two wooden doors with beautifully carved paddles for handles. But your steps naturally lead you through the lanai and into the kitchen with its chunky Douglas fir chopping block island. This is meeting place central.

Inside the home, it’s casual, with equal parts Island chic and fun vibe. For years before they built, the homeowner pulled photographs and images from magazines to create a thick “idea” folder. Many of those ideas have found a place in her home. There are the dining room’s farmhouse-style chairs, which are a playful mix of mismatched colors: green, blue, yellow and one vibrant pop of red. When the homeowner discovered – to her horror – that she couldn’t use magnets on her GE Monogram fridge, she came up with a ceiling-to-floor photo board for a fun display of all those good times. And the home is sprinkled with treasures picked up on travels around India, Thailand, England and Canada.

On the downstairs level, the floors are a glorious sweep of ohia planks, with a totally suitable patina of doggie scratches. The furniture, much of which came from Pacific Home, also adds a “comfy chic” touch.

The beamed ceiling in the living area lofts up 25 feet through the second level, where you find four bedrooms. The open hallway looks over the living area below and is full of sunlight and greenery from the tropical plantings outside. When the kids are older, the hallway will give nice breathing space between the generations – the master bedroom sits on its makai side and the three bedrooms are on the mauka side. For now, it’s a spacious area where the homeowner often relaxes in the window seat while her son enjoys the spacious length of it.

The master bedroom continues the easy-breezy feel with a palette of creams, blues and greens. The peaked ceiling is lined with lauhala, and there’s a breathtaking slice of turquoise waters beyond. The ensuite is nothing short of a spa retreat – a blend of creativity and crafts-manship resulted in a mix of river rock and travertine that flows beautifully around the tub and the super-sized open shower.

When friends and family come over – as they invariably do – the wooden doors downstairs are always rolled wide open and the parties breeze easily among the kitchen, the lanai and the living room. The formal dining room is rarely used – in fact, the sideboard has been converted into a handy baby-changing station complete with more family photos.

When the guests end up staying – as they invariably do – there is a leafy retreat for them in the semi-detached ohana, which makes up one side of the pool lanai. Placed along one wall of the ohana is a cute rattan table and chair set – they are holdovers from that first cottage – a reminder that life here is still rooted in the simple things.