Best of Honolulu 2018: Home

These editorial and reader picks will make your home picture perfect.

July 27, 2018

Robbie Dingeman, Enjy El-Kadi, Diane Lee, Stacey Makiya, Savannah L. Murray, Jayna Omaye, Brie Thalmann, Catherine Toth Fox, Don Wallace, Christi Young,

Furniture Store

Photo: Courtesy of Inspiration Interiors

Finding a great piece of furniture takes time. When you figure out that chic new couch makes the rest of your living room look shabby, the challenge becomes real. INspiration Interiors can help you with both. INspiration quickly became known for sleek, modern furniture when it opened in 1997. Now it offers kitchens, bathrooms and wardrobes, with interior designers to put it all together. The award-winning team of six full-time designers has serious street cred, and Computer-Aided-Design-proficient designers can give even the most nonvisual people a virtual walk through their dream room.

Multiple locations, inspirationinteriors.com.

Handy-man Service

Photo: Courtesy of Handy Andy Hawaiʻi

After 10 years in the U.S. Air Force, Andrew Compean had to figure out what to do next. The result was Handy Andy Hawai‘i, a service and construction business dedicated to hiring veterans. The company started in 2017 with two guys and now includes 45 full-time employees who replace light fixtures, change faucets and even tackle remodeling jobs (yes, Handy Andy has a general contractor’s license) using only natural products, something Compean committed to from the beginning. “When our gardener started using toxic pesticides where my [4-year-old] nephew and dog run and play … we realized that most home-care materials include toxic, harmful chemicals. We wanted to change that,” Compean says. “If we take care of your household, you will take care of your family and our veterans.”

(808) 285-3443, handyandyhawaii.com.

General Contractor

Photo: Courtesy of Atlas Construction

The Kim family has been in the homebuilding business for four generations and ‘ohana is the center of its company, Atlas Construction. President Bruce Kim, vice president Rodney Kim and their team can design and build new homes from the ground up or remodel your existing home. But what really caught our attention are Atlas’ free seminars, monthly public sessions that walk people through everything from creating a budget for their dream project to adding a new space for multigenerational living.

1302 N. School St., (808) 951-9500, atlasconstruction808.com.

This article appears in the July 2018 issue of HONOLULU Magazine.