How to make a house, a home.
Nina Arakaki, Owner of Real Hawaii rallied together some of her closest partners for staging and home décor to help make Moses Piohia’ s house a home.
It’s one thing to have a roof over your head but it’s another thing to have a comfortable bed to come home to. Nina and partners from Curious by Candyce, A House is Built, The Party Company Hawaii, Island Creative Arts, helped fulfill this part of the Piohia journey to homeownership by donating furnishings and décor.
Nina had approached Honolulu Habitat for Humanity after hearing about our mission through Curious by Candyce, another stager and product designer who had shared their story of working with a Habitat family with Nina.
Nina has been staging and promoting since 2019. She gravitated towards this profession with a love for design, but mentioned “It isn’t so often, that you actually get to interact with the end user in staging, so partnering with Habitat was the perfect opportunity to do that. When you’ve been given so much and you give back, it makes you feel connected to your community.”
A truly important and unique opportunity for Nina to directly interact with excited, deserving individuals on their home needs. Everything from the dining table to the Hawaiian engraved artworks on the wall were carefully curated selections from Nina and partners for Moses and family.
A note was left behind from Nina to the Piohia’ s that read:
“With everything, I hope you can now create lasting memories.”
Nina believes you feel different when you feel good in a space and can create memories as a family at the dinner table or on the couch watching movies. Having a place where you can gather, a place you feel safe and comfortable.
Moses has been through so much yet maintains a positive perspective, which is what drew Nina in to work with him and his girls on making their house a home. Her hopes and advice to Moses, Rosie and Rayne as new homeowners is that they capture memories, hang them up and continue to make the space their own.
