Plantation Home Style Stars in 'The Descendants'

1. Old Plantation Style

The style gets its name from the pineapple and sugarcane plantations that supplied the design for Chinese, Japanese and Filipino laborer homesteads. Hawaiian kitchen and bath designer Cindy Tervola says, "The characteristics of the old plantation style are walls composed of beadboard paneling, hardwood floors, high ceilings adorned with fans, and large doors opening into a lanai. And most rooms have direct exterior access."

Tervola adds, "Architects tried to orient the homes to take full advantage of the tradewinds. They designed for large windows, doors and homes that were built off the ground to circulate air under to cool the interior."

This particular plantation house, color aside, reminds me of the scene in The Descendants in which the King clan meets regarding the future of their estate. Rooting the Kings to a plantation and ancestral home was pivotal in the movie, as it cleared the way for understanding how their lineage traced back all the way to Hawaiian royalty and missionary settlers on the island.

Wide-hipped roofs with large overhanging eaves and a low-profile wood frame typically characterize a plantation home.

2. The Lanai

The outdoor roofed patio, or lanai, is the heart center of the Hawaiian home. "It's where family members and guests can recline on the pune'e [couch or daybed]. Much of the family's dining and entertaining activities are had in the lanai given the year-round tropical weather," says Tervola.

All-weather wicker furniture that can withstand the wet and dry seasons is a popular choice for plantation and tropical cottage lanais. This set from Crate and Barrel's Ventura line is UV resistant and has a rustproof aluminum frame and cushions that resist mildew and fading.

The melodrama surrounding Alex King (played by Shailene Woodley) is often played out on the lanai of her parents' home and the rented beach house of her mom's lover. The lanai creates a setting that allows for an intimate and honest exchange — fitting for Alex, as she is the one who enlightens her father about her mom's infidelity, which helps ignite her father's journey toward truth.

The lauhala ceiling with mahogany trim and framed kuba cloth seen here creates a contemporary-meets-traditional Hawaiian plantation home composition. Tervola says, "Island-style design incorporates old pieces with the new, mixing materials for a more contemporary look in more of the high-end homes."

I remember seeing the lauhala weave in The Descendants when Hugh (Beau Bridges' character) was introduced. (Hugh is one of the entitled cousins, a group that The New York Times aptly describes here as "a gaggle of pale loafers in loud shirts and sandals" who happen to own a valuable piece of land in Kauai.) In the island restaurant scene, the lauhala-weave walls serve as the backdrop to a conversation between Matt King and Hugh that enlightens the moviegoer to the King clan's financially-driven interests.

Whether on King's aloha shirts, the seat cushions at his in-laws' home or the artwork and arrangements around his own home, patterns with florals (birds of paradise, plumerias) and the ubiquitous palm tree are widely used in almost every interior frame in The Descendants; they're popular in the tropical clime of Hawaii.