Mountain Modern With an Old-Homestead Twist

A home built to look like an early-1900s log cabin

August 8, 2016

Lacey Howard,

HOUSE NOTES

This house is built to look old. Really old. In fact, the master suite encompasses an early-1900s log cabin. Sort of. “Architecturally, we wanted the home to appear like an old Colorado homestead that evolved through the years,” says builder Tommy Gregg. “It looks like two different buildings—a log cabin and a barn—were connected and added onto over time.”

And that’s just what the client—an executive with two college-age sons—wanted in a mountain home: a unique residence with timeworn Colorado character. When the client couldn’t find what he was looking for on the market, he turned to Gregg & Co. Builders (Tommy and his father, Jim), architect Bill Nutkins of Nutkins Design Group and Laurie Gregg (Jim’s wife) for the interior. The team created a show-stopping (and believable) architectural story on a 10-acre property in Edwards, Colorado that enjoys a panorama of Red and White Mountain, Wolcott Valley, the Eagle River and Castle Peak.

From the outside, the home looks like a century-old log cabin and barn connected by a modern steel-and-glass breezeway. Authentic materials, such as dry-stacked Colorado Moss stone, a cold-rolled steel roof and reclaimed timbers stacked horizontally with chinking, corroborate the old-homestead story. A more posh hole-in-the-wall gang would feel right at home.

In the entry, steel stair railings and massive windows feel modern against the backdrop of the log cabin’s exterior wall—antique reclaimed beams cut into slabs and then chinked to appear authentic to the turn of the 20th century. The stairs—steel with open treads crafted from reclaimed oak—descend to the walk-out lower level, where a guest suite, bunk room, family room, bar and golf simulator await playtime and visitors.

“It is a strong house. Masculine, not fussy and very comfortable.”
—Laurie Gregg, interior designer

A voluminous great room gathers living, dining and cooking spaces beneath a soaring roofline clad in reclaimed timbers and supported by reclaimed beams. A wall of dry-stacked Colorado Moss stone anchors the kitchen’s Shaker-style walnut cabinets and inspired the room’s color scheme. “It is a strong house,” says interior designer Laurie Gregg. “Masculine, not fussy, and very comfortable.”

The design team turned to Houzz.com for “a modern-day tear sheet you can share from afar,” she says. The client compiled a portfolio of favorite interiors and exteriors on the website so that the interior designer, architect and builders could get a feel for what styles, colors and details he was drawn to. “A lot were mountain rustic, and then he’d throw in a contemporary,” Laurie says.

“In the master bedroom, the homeowner fell in love with the Phillip Jeffries gray wallpaper with rivets in it,” Laurie says. The natural-fiber wallcovering—handcrafted by artisans—has a raised relief pattern to mimic the look and feel of brass nailheads. A chocolate-brown leather bed, a bedside table with weathered-wood drawer fronts and a Hickory Chair bench each add metallic touches of their own. “He didn’t want anything fussy,” Laurie says, “so I stuck to a warm, neutral palette and clean lines.”

“Clean design with a lot of character—that’s what our client wanted.”
— Laurie Gregg, interior designer

The lower level of the barn structure “is a man cave on steroids,” Tommy says. A family room, golf simulator (that doubles as a TV) and bar with glass-walled wine storage room are wrapped in reclaimed wood planks and heavy overhead beams, in keeping with the architectural story line.

“They are all salvaged, reclaimed timbers, and the ceiling and floors throughout the house are all reclaimed,” Jim says, noting that the wood is a mixture of species. “Some is oak, some is fir, pine, maple. You never know when you’re using reclaimed. It is very difficult to get all the same species.”

Authentic materials—stone, reclaimed wood, iron—anchor the home to its location. The walk-out lower level, which houses a guest suite, bunk room, family room and bar, opens onto a wide terrace and, tucked into the hill below it, a fire pit with built-in bench seating and a hot tub, all situated to capture the commanding views. The client’s openness to different thinking made the project a success. “He was on board for things that were cool and out of the ordinary,” Tommy says. Jim agrees: “He was all about a very unusual product and unique place to live.”

DESIGN DETAILS:

ARCHITECTURE Bill Nutkins Nutkins Design Group Edwards, CO BUILDERS Jim and Tommy Gregg Gregg & Co. Builders Vail, CO INTERIOR DESIGN Laurie Gregg, Laurie Gregg Interior Design, Vail, CO