Just because you’re elected to the highest office in the land — er, the aina — doesn’t mean the perks are immediately available. The state has always provided a home for the governor directly across the street from the Capitol building.

But Gov. Neil Abercrombie and wife Nancie Caraway weren’t able to move in until May. A fair amount of work needed to be done on the place, according to press secretary Donalyn Dela Cruz. The 8-year-old home, built for $1.2 million, had a "required repair and maintenance update for carpentry, painting and electrical work" after its first tenant, former Gov. Linda Lingle, left office in December. Costs totaled $40,609.

Now, at last, the new occupants have settled in.

So how’s the new place working out? We asked, and it turns out that, like most people, Abercrombie and Caraway think of their home as a private space. They would rather not have strangers, even tax-paying, voting strangers, tramping through the rooms and peering in the windows. They get enough of that at the office.

So you won’t see pictures here of their living quarters. After all, the whole idea of the new house was to provide privacy for the governor and breathing space for Washington Place.

That beautiful and stately structure, perhaps best known as the former home of Queen Liliuokalani, is an ideal setting for receptions and posh get-togethers, but as a place where sitting governors can actually sit down and put their feet up? Not so much.

Former first lady Vicky Cayetano, wife of former Gov. Ben Cayetano, spearheaded a drive to preserve Washington Place as a museum and historic site, and the best way was to simply move the governor out. The new 7,000-square-foot house is shoehorned within the nexus of the Departments of Health and Education and Washington Place’s backyard.

Even though the Cayetanos helped create the private Washington Place Foundation to speed along the funding process, the new place wasn’t ready until the Lingle administration.

We asked this question when Lingle moved there in 2002, and Abercrombie finally provided an answer in 2011: Does the place have a name?

"It does now," said Abercrombie, seated in his state Capitol office cheerfully decorated with books, jazz music and artworks (he’s particularly proud of a Jean Charlot print discovered in an abandoned airport cubicle). Another piece of art or two is courtesy the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

"The new house is Hale Kia‘aina, the ‘prop pole of the land,’" he said.

While the new governor was participating in various cultural protocols during neighbor island inauguration ceremonies, he noticed that he was referred to as kia‘aina, a metaphoric Hawaiian phrase roughly meaning to anchor the land, or to govern.

He consulted his hanai mother, Aggie Cope, and the new house got its title: Hale Kia‘aina.

The other new resident is Kanoa, the state’s first dog, a well-mannered Shetland sheepdog. Kanoa grew up in the Abercrombie’s Manoa house, and the only addition the new residents made to Hale Kia‘aina was a fenced dog run.

"There’s an adequate yard for a dog, and we walk her in the evenings," Abercrombie said.

THE DEPARTMENT of Accounting and General Services maintains the grounds of the entire Washington Place property, including the residence. Dela Cruz said there were no structural changes to the home, only repair and maintenance.

"There was at least one water leak, and on water leaks you can’t get started early enough," the governor said. "I really don’t know the circumstances. I understand there needed to be some upgrading and rehab, standard repairs. Plumbing, electrical work. We’re replacing the light bulbs" with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights.

Abercrombie has asked State Comptroller Bruce Coppa to look at converting Hale Kia‘aina into a net-zero home for power consumption, meaning it would generate as much electricity as it consumes.

"They’ve also set up an herb garden on the property grounds," Dela Cruz said.

Abercrombie has secured outside partnerships to help with expenses. "The Washington Place Foundation received $125,000 in private donations to maintain the historic home. … Funds also come from donations collected to pay for Gov. Abercrombie’s inaugural activities," Dela Cruz said.

The donations collected exceeded the cost of the inaugural events, and Abercrombie donated the extra money to several charities, she said. The Humane Society received $25,000, for example, and $30,000 went to a meals programs for seniors.

TRY TO TALK to Abercrombie about the governor’s home and the conversation invariably turns to preserving Washington Place. Hale Kia‘aina is the relief valve that allows Liliuokalani’s home to be preserved, both as a historic structure and as a public meeting facility.

"It was Gov. (Samuel) King who extended the Washington Place lanai and made it such a nice meeting place. Before, only small numbers could meet on the lanai," he said.

"Gov. and Vicky Cayetano recognized that wear and tear on the queen’s home would eventually destroy it. They wanted to respect the integrity of the home and realized that day-to-day living there was no longer practical. The stress on the building was too much; and we have aloha for the property.

"We want to maximize Washington Place’s exposure to the public. But Washington Place has to be rehabbed enough to take the strain. It can actually become a museum — it’s a legacy of the Hawaiian kingdom. It’s our duty to preserve it. Someone has to take care of it. It can’t take care of itself.

"Hale Kia‘aina, on the other hand, is a home, not a showplace. Not a public venue."

WHICH BRINGS us back around. Is the new place the largest home Abercrombie has ever lived in?

"Oh, my god, yes," he said. "Only one place was as big, what we called the Sutton Place in Manoa, in the 1960s, ’70s. We were students and instructors looking for a cheap way to live, and there must’ve been a dozen people sharing it."

Manoa remains home. They’d like to rent their Manoa house for the time being, and they’re assuming they’ll move back there one day.

"We moved everything that we wanted from Manoa, picked up a couple of other pieces of furniture," Abercrombie said. "Some of our furniture we had re-covered so it looked nicer — wear and tear. Some pieces were found in Washington Place itself, in the basement. A headboard, a chandelier, that sort of thing. And we got some great bargains at Pier 1."

Their favorite furniture is their dining room set, according to Dela Cruz. "They are completely moved in; nothing is in storage. The home’s ambience reflects the (couple’s) taste and design sense. …

"He said, ‘The people of Hawaii can be rest assured, the home reflects the spirit of aloha.’"

Abercrombie described his new residence as "a happy house, very pleasant."

"We have an eclectic collection of stuff — Hawaiian, Asian, Pacific stuff. Nancie and I did the decorating together," he said.

But who was in charge?

"Well," said Abercrombie, ever the politician, "it’s Nancie’s aesthetic."

Note: According to the Governor’s office, the pieces from the Academy of Arts are framed posters. The rest of the artwork on display comes from the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, except for some pieces on loan from Bishop Museum and some personal pieces.