I live on Oahu, but needed a place on the North Shore for a multi-day photoshoot so I wouldn't have to drive back and forth to town every morning and night. Me and a coworker stayed here for 5 nights and it couldn't have been more perfect. The space was clean, quiet and private. Our host family was very easy to communicate with, kind, inviting and generous.
When you walk onto their property there's a beautiful grassy area where you can hose down your beach stuffs, lots of great plants, trees and flowers, and a really nice stone walkway. The studio unit we stayed in is just up a flight of stairs, sort of connected to the main house, but feel's very separate. The views from the room and the top of the stairs are gorgeous especially in the early morning. The skies turn pink and purple over the lush mountains just behind the neighborhood. In combination with the sounds of all the birds, it made for our favorite time of day here; we'd leave the door open and stand around by the top of the stairs. Even though I live here it felt so special. Being up off the ground definitely adds to the magic. The only room of the main house that you walk by to get to the unit is their kitchen which is perfect for catching our hosts if we needed anything and just for saying hi as we came and went. They have kids and a few dogs which made for a very comfortable and homey environment, but like i said still felt very private once you went up into the studio.
We loved the bathroom, very spacious and bright, great window and mirror. The kitchen was perfect, the built in double hot plate was enough for us to cook a normal meal and they had all the utensils and pots/pans we needed. Big fridge had more than enough space for our groceries for the 5 nights. Bed was big and super comfortable with plenty of floor space for the futon pads they provided us with. Was great to have the apple tv, we'd throw on youtube when we were eating and put on surf videos in the background when we were getting ready for work each morning. The airflow was so good too, very cool for being the middle of summer, was very surprised about that. We were able to hand dry our wet clothes and beach stuff easily out on the stair railings.
You can walk to the beach from the property in no joke like a minute, its just across the main street and one long block down to the sand. The closest one to them is quiet and private, a bit rocky, but perfect for just hanging around. They have bikes you can use too to get to other nearby beaches although it's just as fast and easy to walk. Street parking was never a problem, at most wed park maybe 3 houses down.
Just down the street towards Haleiwa is Ted's Bakery where we got breakfast most mornings and just past that is the Sunrise shack where we'd get amazing coffee, usually twice a day. So lucky to have those places so close. Closest super market is Foodland, which if you know you know, is the spot, but it's only another 5/10 minutes from there into Haleiwa to get whatever else you might need. We'd always drive over there for lunch and sometimes dinner if we didn't cook.
I'd love to come back and not be working so I could have spent more time just being in the space, walking around and exploring the neighborhood more. Even though we were working it still very much felt like a vacation and we were so stoked to come back here every day. 10/10 would recommend.