4 December 2018 |
cOVer sTOrY
Vintage ’70s worker’s cottage transformed into a
real gem in Kawaihae Village
Pattie Freeman’s remodeled
kitchen in Kawaihae Village
features leather-fi nish granite
from Hawai‘i stone in Kailua-
Kona. Home Depot cabinets are
reconfi gured with glass panels
so that Pattie can display her
kitchenware. For the prep
island, her friend Gary shepard
painted the oak cabinets white
and added glass.
call this my beach shack not on the beach,”
says Pattie Freeman of the charming vintage
cottage she renovated in Kawaihae Village.
“Plus it’s only four minutes to Mauna Kea
Resort’s valet parking!”
These are some of the many perks of Pattie’s
decidedly cozy digs she personally transformed
into a showplace after downsizing from her
previously larger house in Kohala Ranch. Built in
1971 for the workers at Mauna Kea Beach Resort
as an affordable place to live, the little home
with big potential is one of 50 old-school abodes
nestled in a hidden neighborhood on the way to
Waimea. And even though she can only see just
a sliver of the ocean through the window of her
back bedroom, the entire place inside and out
feels like it’s right on the beach at Puako.
Which makes sense for Pattie, aka, “Puako Pattie,”
a Realtor with Mauna Lani Realty and a longtime
kama‘aina who for years had her former Hawai‘i
Vacation Rentals management offi ce right next
door to the Puako General Store.
Encouraged by her son, Jonathan Ditto, Pattie
purchased the Kawaihae cottage 15 years ago as an
investment property and rented it out long term
through the years. She never actually envisioned it
as a place that she would end up living. First of all,
the yard had no landscaping (it was all dirt), and
the thin walls had no insulation, not ideal for the
hot climate of Kawaihae. The fi rst thing she did