Cherry Hills Western Eclectic in the Colorado Mountains

This elegant expression of a modern western style home combines a rustic regional exterior with a refined contemporary interior in Cherry Hills Village a suburb of Denver, Colorado. The Cherry Hills residence has been designed by Ekman Design Studio in collaboration with interior design firm Comstock Design. The client’s private art collection is embraced by a combination of modern steel trusses, stonework and traditional timber beams. Generous expanses of glass allow for view corridors of the mountains to the west, open space wetlands towards the south and the adjacent horse pasture on the east.

Photos: Ron Ruscio Photography

Contemporary and sustainable home: Green Cube

Photos: Jenifer Koskinen- Merritt Design Photo

Expansive modern mountain home in Aspen

This stunning home on Red Mountain is nestled into the mountainside and opens to views in all directions in Aspen, Colorado. A project in the making, 20 years prior to construction, this home is owned and designed by Charles Cunniffe of Charles Cunniffe Architects. The architect had applied lessons he had learned from previous commissions to his own house, incorporating his own wishes and influences. The 10,000 square foot home applies warm yet contemporary materials to create a nurturing family home for Charles, his wife Angela (owner of a model and talent agency) and their two kids.

Carefully placed windows allow for ample natural light, while the open layout with doors opening completely to the outdoor waterfall and decks, and provide spacious entertaining spaces. Most of the spaces are housed on two floors, living areas and master suite on the first floor, with children’s rooms, a family room and services downstairs, while the aforementioned guest suite is on the second floor, and an office is perched in the third-floor tower. The plan of the linear house is like a dumbell — the center is an open living area, and smaller spaces are on the ends; this applies to both the first and lower level.

The master suite bathroom is split into his-and-her sides, his-and-her toilets, his-and-her vanities, with a glass-enclosed shower sitting in between. A tub sits at the exterior wall, soaking in the stunning mountain views.

Photos: Courtesy of Charles Cunniffe Architects

Modernist treehouse in the Rocky Mountains

Resolutely minimalist in style, the Hiller Residence in Winter Park, Colorado, turns its back on tradition to focus on its Rocky Mountain setting. When artist and designer Ruth Hiller bought a quarter-acre plot in Winter Park, Colorado, almost nine years ago, she decided she wanted a living space that felt more like the interior of her New York City loft than the area’s prevailing mountain lodges and log cabins. So she hired Michael P. Johnson of Cave Creek, Arizona, a modernist architect with more than half a century of experience designing eloquently minimalist spaces, to create a 2,994 square foot residence that defied tradition.

Here is a description of the project from the architect, “The client, Ruth Hiller, a fine arts painter and corrective exercise specialist, purchased a 1950′s single storey home located in Winter Park, Colorado. Ruth, a single woman, approached Michael P. Johnson Design Studios Ltd. with the challenge to remodel this poorly designed building in a manner within a minimalist design ethic.

With little to work with it was suggested that the existing residence be removed and relocated elsewhere. Working with the existing basement foundation a two storey solution allowed the living, dining, and kitchen to fly above the dense evergreen forest.

The lower level contains two master bedroom suites, entry and a commons room. The basement was designated for use as a painting studio with natural light borrowed by the use of light wells located on the west elevation. A 44.5 cm. X 44.5 cm. full body porcelain tile was selected for its beauty and durability for the entire lower level. The use of a single tile color unifies the total space allowing the free flow from room to room.”

Photos: Bill Timmerman

Impressive mountain dwelling nestled in Aspen

At 15,000 square feet, this contemporary mountain home in Aspen, Colorado’s exclusive Star Mesa enclave is warm and approachable from the start. Designed by Charles Cunniffe Architects, the home embraces and welcomes you inside with the stone steps widen as you approach. Douglas Fir Beams and dry stacked Telluride Stone, traverse the exterior and the interior of the home, with antique re-sawn White Oak flooring seen throughout. Two great rooms allow guests to spread out on the main floor. In lieu of the now traditional television above the fireplace, the Owners found “Bert,” a stuffed Highland Goat. With the addition of the second, more intimate great room, they found his brother “Ernie”. They tight-knit family loved the idea of keeping the brothers together.

Flanked by two great rooms and a casual dining space, the kitchen became center-stage with its sophisticated material palette and elegant lighting. Telluride Stone columns with Colorado Buff Limestone caps border the Stantos Redwood cabinetry, with a subtle reveal and clear hardware. The architect himself photographed the fall Aspen Trees for the client, and beautifully framed the massive image to create a window into the outside world. The master suite on the main level curves gracefully around the side of the home opening to the mountain views.

Furnishings by Fendi create a fresh yet luxurious feel with cove lighting and the stone fireplace. The opulent master bath was designed with two vanities separated by a glass and marble shower, opening to the bathtub with picture windows and crystal chandeliers. A generously sized master closet sits adjacent. Ascending the Antique White Oak steps, cut Colorado Buff columns with Ox horn lamps and glass doors open to the Star Mesa Wine Cellar housing 1,100 bottles. An arcade, custom theater, a bunkroom and additional guest rooms make up the lower level, which also share in the same rich material palette.

Decorative custom steel doors open into a spacious entry that serves as a casual sitting area.

Comfortable chairs cozy up to a gas fireplace set between stone pillars. Linear glass elements, backlit with LED lights, are embedded in the petrified-stone fireplace wall that soars all the way to the Western hemlock wood ceiling.

Luxuriously modern Colorado mountain home

Willoughby Way Residence is a luxurious contemporary home that honors its site on Red Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, designed by Charles Cunniffe Architects in conjunction with interior designer firm Pembrooke & Ives. With heavy timbers and stone to anchor the home onto its site, large expanses of glass help to encompass stunning the mountain views and brings into plenty of natural light. A mix of modern and mountain was created by combining clean line with spare natural materials. The beams are 120-year old recycled timbers from an old apple factory in Washington. By mixing the solidness of the materials with the transparency of the glass, a play of new and traditional was created.

To not detract from the view, the designers did not introduce too many materials in the home. When selecting the color palette, they took cues from the home’s architecture, which ranges from creamy beiges to chocolate browns. The beige and gray tones of the great room’s stonework inspired a rug in similar hues, while the dark stain of the antique beams is referenced in furnishings like the dining room table and chairs. They incorporated a lot of winter whites, organic shapes and only natural materials into the design scheme. Indirect lighting was selected to make the spaces glow, where lights play off materials on the walls to gain a sense of warmth. Solid hues showcase the clean lines of the furnishings, while rich, textured textiles create a sense of balance. Cashmere, wool, mohair and suede keeps the home feeling very warm and luxurious.

Astounding renovation of a mountain home

Colorado-based studio TruLinea Architects designed 302 N. Aspen St. in 2009, a historic renovation and remodel of a main house and carriage shed in the town of Telluride, Colorado. The firm moved and reclassified a historic front yard shed and turned it into a carriage shed. The 3,500 square foot main house went through a major remodel and with an addition to the historic residence, taking 14 months to complete. The home was purchased for over $2 million in 2007, built in 1992, it has a stone-and-wood exterior as well as a metal roof.

The floor plan was flipped and the living areas were placed ‘high up’ to take advantage of mountain and valley views. The owner works in the financial services industry, he and his sister inherited their parents’ are collection. The home includes works by Yves Corbassiere, Jean Cocteau and E.L. Kirchner, among others. There are five bedrooms and 4-1/2 bathrooms. The home also includes a lofted office, a mud room, a laundry room and a two-car garage.

The kitchen features concrete countertops, dark walnut cabinets and a farmhouse sink.

The bedrooms and children’s play areas are on the lower level.

The master bedroom, shown above, has Italian limestone floors.

There are two gas fireplaces. The zebra rug shown here is real.

Photos: Photekt

A rustic and cozy mountain village cabin

This stunning cabin in Telluride mountain village, Colorado has been designed by architecture studio TruLinea Architects in conjunction with interior design firm Studio Frank. The owners of the cabin wanted a home that was rough, organic and timeless. The home’s original existence was a nearly derelict cabin, one of the first houses built in the area. The 3,871 square foot home with five bedrooms and five bathrooms was in need of a major overhaul.

Incorporating high-tech steel contrasting with low-tech logs into the design would solve a variety of design problems; leaving it exposed offered a fresh point of view. Most of the rooms on the main level were demolished and the upper floor with its new roofline offered unobstructed views of the San Sophia mountain range. Unified with wood, steel and ceramic tile, the rooms create a backdrop for the refined—mixed with fun—furnishings and fittings. The designer wished to have a contrast with the hard-edged architecture by infusing soft, handcrafted elements into the design.

A chandelier of vintage wood and wire cages custom designed by Studio Frank, supports this home’s old-fashioned-with-an-updated-twist design theme.

Smooth-to-the-touch linen upholsters a Montauk sofa while rugs throughout are vegetable-dyed Moroccan vintage pieces from the 1930s. The coffee tables are rugged, reclaimed wood from India with lots of hidden storage. Aluminum-clad Aviator chairs from Restoration Hardware add a unique touch to this space.

Viking appliances blend with metal cabinetry and contrast the custom designed island in this rustic kitchen.

In the dining room, a light fixture from Obsolete hangs over a metal topped dining table that is surrounded by leather-clad Gunnison chairs by Hickory.

Halcyon stone, concrete and wood cabinetry work together in this bathroom.

Modern rustic dwelling vanishes into nature

Trying to blend in with the beautiful landscape, this stunning Aspen, Colorado house was built with 300-year old recycled barn wood, locally sourced quarried stone cladding and enormous picture windows by Chad Opeenheim of Opeenheim Architects. Owner of this 3,200 square foot vacation house nestled on a quarter acre of land with a stream meandering through it; Opeenheim purchased the home for $3 million, which was built in 1971. In the interior the architect used invisible doors, fixtures, door openings and drains. Achieving this look, he used unframed doors and doorknobs that are narrow bronze strips, known as “knife-edge pulls”, which both seem to disappear. The light switches are also minimal, and the drains have narrow slits in the bottom of the sinks. The renovation cost $2 million, with four bedrooms for his wife and two young children. The home features five floors, which are mostly split-levels, creating a sense of intimacy. Some of the windows are as high as 14 feet, boasting views of the mountains, stream, and garden. The furnishings have also been minimally designed with a neutral color scheme of mostly gray, taupe, black and white, all hues that do not compete with the exterior landscape.

Most of the floors in the house are split-levels, creating a sense of intimacy.

The sofas are slipcovered in white during the summer, and gray during the winter.

Like the architecture, the furnishings are intentionally low key.

The library, which is tucked behind the dining area on the third level, is furnished with 19th-century French industrial steel chairs and shelving where artifacts collected on trips to Japan and Cambodia are displayed.

The abstract art in the dining area is actually moss.

Windows inserted between beams in the kitchen let in extra light.

The architect does not like visible light fixtures, so the staircase is lighted with concealed cove lights.

Oppenheim’s bedroom on the top level of the house is furnished simply.

The sink in the master bathroom is made of locally quarried stone, with nearly invisible drainage slits at the bottom. The cabinets are built out of 300-year-old barn wood.

Photos: Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

Stylish art-filled residence in Colorado

This 1980’s contemporary house has been renovated by Stonefox Design in Aspen, Colorado. The scope of the project was to create a home that expressed the home owner’s passion for art and their style for living. According to the architects, “the residence had been transformed over the years into an odd combination of conflicting architectural styles. The approach was to simplify the exterior and interior to make way for the couple’s extensive collection of avant-garde contemporary art. With an Asian tone, the house has a restrained yet strong architectural presence. The color palette is minimal, and the furnishings are simple and elegant. Luxury was an important element to insert into the project, and this was done through careful selection of flooring, veneers, fabrics and carpets.”