Search Results for: guest house

From Homestead Magazine, 2011
+ Story by Tammy Christel
+ Photography by David Swift

Architect Larry Berlin’s design masterfully realizes the client’s vision of an “updated” traditional home suitable to Jackson Hole’s lifestyle. Outside, expansive frontier-stone terraces surround wire-brushed cedar exteriors.

How do you make a dream come true? Berlin Architects, Brian Goff Interior Designs and Bontecou Construction bring a 20-year vision to life.

Home. Permanence. Family retreat. Traditional Western aesthetics updated for today’s Jackson Hole lifestyle. Make it spacious, but intimate. Think historic, but integrate contemporary design and amenities.

For many architects, designers and builders, constructing a home to suit that vision might pose difficulty. But Larry Berlin, Brian Goff and Steve Bontecou leapt at the opportunity. Such a home would bring their client’s dream to life; he’d chosen the perfect lot 20 years ago and was ready to build.

“The owner looked around a great deal and really knew Jackson, which is unusual for many clients,” says architect Larry Berlin. “He’d found the perfect property early on and kept a strong dream going of having a house there, of being in it with his family … that was the dream. Within ten minutes of our first meeting, he told me that story.”

Berlin, Goff and Bontecou worked closely with their client. “He made great decisions. He wanted a true family dwelling, an enduring home. A very special and meaningful assignment,” says Berlin.

The three had worked together before and were all “in the same space about the project.” Bontecou and Berlin’s offices are next door to one another.

“That proximity made the whole collaboration very efficient,” notes Bontecou. “It was easy to brainstorm. We focused on craftsmanship, on building a classic home. We wanted to put it together perfectly.”

Evolved planning, construction and design are hallmarks. An open family room, kitchen and dining area form a central gathering space—the true heart of the home. Welcoming and comfortable, its success is due in no small part to Berlin’s use of varying ceiling heights.

Exterior Landscape/span>

The house looks out over indigenous grasses, aspen trees, a pond and open space. The owners held the specially chosen property for twenty years, designing and scaling a house befitting its surrounding natural beauty.

“The scale of the family room is a great element—the high, flat ceiling; it’s not vaulted but it’s 14 feet high. The scale of the living room’s footprint to its height is very pleasant and opens up great views. It’s a little different from what we’re used to seeing. I love that space.”

Appropriately, the home’s bedrooms are comfortably proportioned. Two master suites, as well as other bedrooms, are intimate and cozy, and although the home’s open floor plan is key, private spaces are plentiful. To create a sense of retreat and keep family and friends close by, the owners integrated a compact spa with amenities in step with the finest resorts.

Original designs called for separate guest quarters. In the final floor plan a recreational billiard room links the central living space to the guest bedroom wing. “We were able to keep visitors in the same dwelling and save them from braving the winter elements,” explains Berlin. “At the same time, the billiard room provides a bit of a privacy buffer for guests.”

To fulfill the client’s wish for interiors that reflected the architecture, Goff custom designed many furnishings: His fresh, bold interpretations of traditional Navajo rugs complete several rooms.

“Everything needed to be correct in terms of size and color, to be appropriate for the rooms they’d inhabit,” says the designer. “We chose calming hues—warm yellows, greens, browns and reds, flowing from room to room.”

Clean, crisp design is integral and evident in Bontecou’s framing of the house and in many of its interior details. A suspended floating staircase adds a touch of contemporary magic. Designing it was, says Bontecou, an “engineering feat.” Near the foot of the staircase, a sliding barn door’s operative steel cables provide subtle updating. The living room’s great stone fireplace, cabled wood mantel and soaring beamed ceilings were inspired by Yellowstone’s famed Old Faithful Inn. Carefully chosen paintings from Altamira Fine Art offer fresh interpretations of historic Western themes.

Berlin’s creative philosophy is that design is a process. “It’s not about ‘a product.’ It’s about giving our client—in this case a wonderfully engaging family—what they want. Everything evolved the way it should. We came up with a home that’s understated but refined; a permanent home that manifests a family’s love of Jackson Hole.”

Dream fulfilled.

“Everything needed to be correct in terms of size and color, to be appropriate for the rooms they’d inhabit.” —Brian Goff, Brian Goff Interior Design

“We came up with a home that’s understated but refined; a permanent home that manifests a family’s love of Jackson Hole.” —Larry Berlin, Berlin Architects

“We focused on craftsmanship, on building a classic home. We wanted to put it together perfectly.” —Steve Bontecou, Bontecou Construction

+ Story by Dina Mishev
+ Photography by David Swift

“Stark contemporary works well in California where it’s green year-round, but in Jackson Hole, where it’s winter half the year, you have to be careful,” says interior designer Kate Binger of Designed Interiors, LLC. “No amount of radiant heating can warm up cold design; no one wants to feel as if they’re freezing in their own home.”

Award-winning Jackson-based architecture firm Carney Logan Burke worked with Binger, Two Ocean Builders and MountainScapes, Inc., on a contemporary five-acre property at the southern end of 3 Creek Ranch that, yes, has heated floors throughout, but is warm even without them. “The client asked for a really clean modern aesthetic, but was concerned it not be too cold,” says architect Kevin Burke, the principal on the project. Carney Logan Burke calls it “mountain modern.”

“This style still has a close tie to our Western heritage—it uses today’s technologies and materials to reinterpret it,” Burke says. And here, Western heritage is given its full due before you even enter the home. “The landscape architect’s goal was to get the landscaping and house to match what was there before construction began,” says Sean Macauley, owner of MountainScapes, Inc. “And what was there before construction was sage, rabbitbrush and a bunch of native grass. You can’t get more Western than that.”

While this order sounds simple, it was anything but. “It is always hard to duplicate Mother Nature,” Macauley says. “Sometimes 400 trees and a ton of flowers are easier.” MountainScapes succeeded in executing a design that allows the structure itself to grab your attention.

The exterior does not have a broad array of materials— primarily wood, glass and architectural concrete with some metal accents—but it is the first home in 3 Creek to use architectural concrete on its exterior. “The concrete was a challenge for 3 Creek to approve, but through an extensive sampling process, they’ve come to appreciate it,” Burke says. “It’s opened up a nice addition to the materials palette that others can now use.”

While the architectural concrete—stained a mottled grey/brown—is the most unique material of the home’s exterior palette, it’s the glass that’s most noticeable, from both inside and out. The areas facing away from the driveway are almost entirely glass. “When you’re looking in the obvious directions, you don’t really see any other homes or intrusions on the land,” Burke says. “Of course we had to capitalize on those views.”

The home was designed with two main living spaces: a 1,000-square-foot combined kitchen, living and dining area on the ground level and an 800-square-foot upstairs master suite. Both are open and have at least one wall that is floor- to-ceiling windows. On the ground floor, the entire southwest corner is glass. Munger Mountain and the southernmost edge of the Tetons dominate. Upstairs, the western wall of windows frame Glory Bowl and the range as it runs north.

Landscaping

Wanting the newly built structure to look seated in the landscape was a challenge solved by using native grasses, plants and onsite hardscape.

“With all this glass, there’s a great connection between the inside and outside,” Burke says. Which, of course, made Binger’s job of creating a warm space challenging. “Understandably, the client wanted to pull in from the views, not distract from them.” So Binger did what she recommends to all clients looking to warm up spaces: “I used deliciously textured fabrics, selected sizable wool rugs, chose tiles with soothing colors and created a family of wood tones that complemented the concrete floors,” Binger says.

A sofa and armchairs are upholstered in woven patterns. “Printed patterns can be flat, but the reveal in woven patterns assists in warming a space,” she says. As do the fabrics themselves: The sofa is chenille and invites you to curl up on it.

Outdoor Living

The south-facing patio trellis provides summer shading and lends an artistic nuance to the exterior.

While the floors are concrete, the walls are paneled in fir, and the ceiling is hemlock with a clear finish. Kitchen cabinetry is sapele (an African mahogany). Bathroom cabinetry is quartersawn white oak. “It’s all very clean,” Burke says. Jed Mixter, a principal at Two Ocean Builders, the valley firm that built the home, adds, “More modern projects are always challenging because the lines are crisper and the geometry more exact. There’s really nothing to hide behind.” That said, Mixter’s favorite part of the home is the paneling in the main living space. “It’s simple, but has as much character and depth as reclaimed timber,” he says. Albeit very different character and depth than rustic materials like reclaimed timbers and logs. “It’s not that rustic is out, but we’re seeing more and more clients asking for this ‘mountain modern’ aesthetic, which is a fun departure,” Burke says.

Exterior Spaces

+ Story by Tammy Christel
+ Photography by Paul Mullins

INTERIOR DESIGNER
Trauner Designs, Inc.
traunerdesigns.com

Living Room

Finishes, furnishings and fabrics were meticulously researched to create a sense of comfort, history and warmth. “The house spreads out before you,” says Trauner.

When Terry Trauner and Kristin Frappart agreed to redesign a California home’s master bedroom, the pair had no inkling they’d wind up fully transforming a sleek, contemporary residence into a warm, Spanish Colonial-style home.

“These are prior clients,” says business owner Trauner. “They revealed the project was far more than originally imagined. With only a few photographs and a general direction to go on, our mission was to envision what this house would be, to define every architectural detail. Their trust was remarkable. We thought we’d be designing soft goods, and now we’ve designed the entire home, right down to the sheetrock.”

Master Bath

This master bath oasis light, provided by a Bella Figura Venetian crystal chandelier and Reborn Antique accent lighting, highlights the double shower and rustic black floor tile.

That trust was well placed. Trauner and associate ASID, IIDA designer Frappart researched furniture, fabrics, trim, fireplaces, hardware, exterior features and lighting. Frappart emphasizes the project is a superb example of Trauner Designs’ range of services.

“We can add architectural details to an existing home and create something fantastically special,” says Frappart. “Four months after first seeing the house, we put a complete package together for the owners. They made no changes whatsoever; that’s incredibly affirming!”

Guest Bedroom

“Kristin is fabulous at layering patterns, textures and fabrics,” says Trauner. An exotic, hand-carved bed frame by Artifact is the centerpiece in an aesthetically perfect bedroom retreat.

Frappart and Trauner chose rustic elements such as beamed ceilings, scrolled iron, red barnwood and leather wall tiles to echo a pair of magnificent iron gates identifying the neighborhood. To enter the house is to experience a time period’s fresh revival, as well as a livable, functioning home.

Media Room

Rustic wooden beams, a 14-foot- long cabinet, a wool-and-silk rug—and cozy upholstered pieces designed by Frappart— make you want to curl up and relax.

“We work to establish trust and become intimately familiar with the way a client lives, how they go through their days,” Trauner says. “We can design a stunning, beautiful house, but being able to live there is what makes it a home. Our clients have asked us to dinner when the home is complete—a rare honor. We’re proud of our friendship, partnership and deep understanding of our clients’ dream.”