A Coastal-Inspired Colorado Home Makes for a Cozy Retreat

Backyard Pool The relaxed, poolside lounge area features a pair of teak and rope Tropez Outdoor Sofas and Tropez Outdoor Chairs with ottomans from Essentials for Living. The Anacapa Coffee Table is from Serena & Lily, the Bahia Outdoor Pendant is from Palecek, and the Montecito lanterns are by Hinkley. | Kathy Peden

Who says you can’t build a beach house in Colorado? A Front Range location certainly didn’t stop a couple of empty nesters with Southern California roots from creating their beachy dream home near Fort Collins.

The pair was looking for a casual and welcoming home, with ample outdoor spaces for relaxing, entertaining and savoring the mountain scenery. But they didn’t want a typical mountain style. Fort Collins-based architectural designer David Hueter, of David Hueter Design, helped make their seaside-inspired home a reality. “I enjoy designing homes with architectural styles that are not prominent on the Front Range,” Hueter says.

Porch The homeowners’ white-painted table joins Pacifica Dining Chairs from Serena & Lily, with extra seating in Dade Outdoor Swivel Chairs from Four Hands. | Kathy Peden

“This style brought me back to my West Coast roots.” Painted a fresh shade of pewter gray, the cottage-style home is clad in fiber-cement siding for a traditional shingle look, but with extra durability to withstand the harsh Colorado climate. “We call it East Coast meets West Coast, with a little bit of the formality that you get from a Nantucket home but the casualness of a California beach home,” the homeowner says. Mountain-facing outdoor spaces include a covered lounge area, fire pit surrounded by Adirondack chairs, outdoor kitchen with a built-in pizza oven, pool and hot tub.

When it came to the indoor spaces, the couple called on interior designer Susan Kosonocky, of Fort Collins-based Restyle Design, to bring their vision to life. “They wanted it to feel very coastal,” Kosonocky explains. “They wanted light wood floors, and they wanted all the walls to be white with lots of woodwork details, so that it wasn’t a boring white wall but an interesting white wall.”

Kitchen An unconventional layout features double islands, lit by a pair of Goodman Hanging Lights from Visual Comfort and a Tulane Chandelier from Arteriors. Titan Aqua tiles create an ocean-blue backsplash to balance the crisp white cabinets. | Kathy Peden

Kosonocky created bright and airy rooms with nautical touches and a beach-inspired color palette reminiscent of sand and sea. White oak floors and light fixtures made from natural materials warm the spaces, while comfortable furnishings are accented with texture-rich fabrics. Gold-tone cabinet hardware in the kitchen and primary bath- room add a warm glow. “When you do all white, you definitely need to have a lot of textural interest and other things to look at so that it keeps it interesting,” the designer says. “That was our challenge.”

Rather than create a conventional dining room, Kosonocky suggested an innovative kitchen design that includes two islands— one for food prep, and another for dining and entertainment. There’s also a casual eating nook with a round table that’s ideal for morning coffee or board games. The adjacent great room has a beachy-blue sofa sectional that’s low-profile so it doesn’t interfere with the mountain views, and sliding glass doors that open directly to outdoor lounge and pool areas.

Great Room With a vaulted ceiling, the beach-cozy great room is bright and open. The fireplace is framed by tiles that shimmer like mother of pearl, and the Nicolette Sectional is by Bernhardt. Balboa Rattan Counter Stools from Serena & Lily provide an island perch. | Photo: Kathy Peden

In this outdoor-friendly home, it’s appropriate that the homeowners’ favorite room began as a screened porch, but plans changed during construction. Now enclosed, the cozy porch has a white brick fireplace, the same paver flooring that extends outdoors, a shiplap ceiling painted a calm shade of blue, and windows all around. It’s become a laid- back space for year-round relaxation.

And what’s the perfect finishing touch for a Colorado coastal cottage? A cupola topped by a whale weathervane, of course. “I love it, and we got a lot of compliments on it from neighbors,” says the homeowner. After all, anything is possible at a Rocky Mountain beach house.

Eating Nook A round Baldwin table from Classic Home is the centerpiece of the pillow-packed kitchen nook. | Photo: Kathy Peden

Office Blue shelving combines with Paxton Chairs from Essentials for Living and a Pascal Coffee Table from Four Hands to create a seaside mood. | Photo: Kathy Peden

Exterior For cottage- style charm plus durability, the home is clad in Hardie cement board shingles painted a fresh shade of Benjamin Moore Pewter and topped with a cupola and whale weathervane from Cape Cod Cupola. | Photo: Kathy Peden

Details

Architecture:David Hueter Design
Interior Design: Restyle Design

As seen in CH&L’s July/August 2024 Issue