Post #6502 by chefgrey2 on Thu, Aug 22, 2002 12:11 PM

802 : Hawaiian House

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Hawaiian House

Elburn, Illinois

Next is a trip to Elburn, Illinois, a rural community an hour west of Chicago. Here we find a home that's as close to Hawaii as you'll get for thousands of miles. Shortly before they got married in 1968, Bill and Carol Jahns bought 15 acres of wooded land here. After clearing the overgrown vegetation, their plan was to build a simple raised -ranch house. It was to be ready to move into when they returned from their honeymoon . But on that honeymoon, they fell in love with Hawaii, and they decided to recreate it when they got home. If you can't live there, you bring it over here! And "it" is the Aloha spirit.

Every time the Jahns return to Hawaii, they bring back mementos to help give their home that spirit, inside and out. A sign at the entrance to the property announces "Hali kanaka moka poni" ("Hawaiian Island House"). Other accents include an icon of a hula dancer, a tiki god, and street signs for Waikiki and Diamond Head. It's all part of the continuing story of "The Jahns Go Hawaiian."

For 33 years, Bill and Carol have been transforming every inch of their house into a flabbergasting tropical experience. When you walk in the front door, you're hit with bright tropical color and an artificial waterfall with Hawaiian music piped in, and you know you're in another world. The centerpiece of their home is the large combined living and dining room. It's totally tropical, from the wildly patterned carpet to the twinkling ceiling festooned with vines and surrounded by luau lights and electrified tiki torches. Instead of normal indoor couches, the Jahns have furnished the room with patio furniture.

Every room in the home has a name and a theme; the living room is called the International Marketplace. The Marketplace is also home to a pair of bright--and loud--exotic birds : a blue macaw named Kamanu and a white cockatoo named Chi-Chi. Other themed rooms include the master bedroom with plastic "rock" walls made to recreate the famous Caves of Kauai. The bedroom resembles a grass shack in the rainforest, and their office masquerades as a travel agency. For a long time they couldn't figure out what to do with the kitchen, but the Jahns finally managed to transform every surface : the counters are covered with a photographic surface of grass and bark and the ceiling is covered in vines. The home also includes a game room for the grandkids and a Polynesian play space and tiki room down in the basement. For 30 years the Jahns have never tired of Hawaii, each other, or their quest to recreate paradise in the Midwest.