Tess Weaver Tess Weaver | February 10, 2022 | Home & Real Estate, Feature, Features, Home & Real Estate,
Through masterfully executed architecture and exquisite interior design, these four Aspen estates welcome in the outdoors.
Joe McGuire Design maximized the views in this West Buttermilk home.
West Buttermilk Great Room by Joe McGuire Design
Aspen- and Boulder-based Joe McGuire Design prides itself on creating comfortable and memorable homes that welcome in a relaxed and natural way. The interior design firm did just that in the great room of this West Buttermilk home. The large-volumed, modern space with high ceilings and an open floor plan needed warmth, while still maximizing the views and the accessibility of the outdoor living spaces.
Pocketed roller shades frame the windows without hindering views and allowing more light into the space. Plants and natural materials, such as stone and wood, bring the outdoors in. And the furniture layout invites circulation to the outdoor areas. For example, chairs are used in front of the view, rather than a sofa. Joe McGuire Design opted for comfortable, low-profile Italian-modern furnishings, upholstered in soft neutral fabrics and leathers that wouldn’t compete with the natural surroundings. “The warm, sandy palette of the furnishings and rugs creates a serene basis for colorful accents that speak to the natural beauty outside: the orange tones of the scrub oaks, the greens of the evergreens and the pale blue of the mountains and the Colorado sky,” says co-owner and principal designer Matthew Tenzin. 400 W. Main St., Ste. 205, Aspen
Snowmass Divide Great Room by Anne Grice Interiors
Anne Grice Interiors designed this great room in Snow mass Village.
The primary bedroom offers panoramic views
Bringing the outside in, the kitchen features intricate stonework.
“For the great room in this home located in an area of Snowmass Village called The Divide, we maximized views of the ski runs off the nearby Campground Chair by replacing the old windows installed in the ’90s with larger, uninterrupted windows,” says Anne Grice of Anne Grice Interiors, the interior designer for the project. “This client, like many in the mountains, does not have a formal lifestyle. They selected this home for the views and the access to the outdoors. It was important to emphasize that.”
Grice maintained a neutral and soft, textured palette so the furnishings, no matter the size, finish, texture or color, blended and worked together. And because of the room’s large size, Grice focused on a few larger pieces of furniture rather than multiple smaller pieces. The result? A cozy, comfortable and durable space for the client and their extended family. Even the resident dog is pleased with how the room turned out. The Leonberger’s favorite spot in the house is the giant window seat with the view of Mt. Daly. 408 Aspen Airport Business Center, #201, Aspen
Starwood Sitting Room by Della + Zella Interiors
Della Zella Interiors designed the living room to maximize views from every corner.
For this Starwood residence, Aspen design firm Della + Zella kept the focus on the view. “We kept the palette light and neutral. The walls are white plaster, floors European white oak and a sandstone fireplace surround,” says Maggi Whitmer Thompson, principal designer and partner of Della + Zella, along with principal designer and partner Carrie Wolfer.
Al Beyer Design, the architect, sited the house to take full advantage of its panoramic views. Della + Zella worked with the architect to select doors and windows on a grand scale to emphasize the indoor-outdoor connection. Even the lighting was designed to recede rather than having any decorative hanging fixtures to obstruct the outdoor view.
John Pawson, a British architect known for his minimalist aesthetic, inspired the underlying theme. Whitmer and Wolfe aspired to create a warm, layered space when selecting the furnishings. They focused on selecting fewer pieces of high-quality furniture with neutral, textured fabrics and clean lines. For example, the Holland & Sherry rug was custom designed with a subtle grid pattern to add interest without being overwhelming, and the espresso finish on the Christian Liaigre coffee table was selected to be the one contrasting piece to the rest of the light finishes. 410 N. Mill St., Aspen
The kitchen opens out to an expansive patio area with fire pit.
The great room features tall ceilings and cozy seating areas.
Karen White Interior Design included sitting areas by windows to bring the outside in
Made completely of glass, the door allows the light to flow into the space.
A Kitchen That Bridges by Karen White Interior Design
Maximizing light and creating an outdoor gathering space in this dense Aspen neighborhood was a priority for Karen White, who designed the interiors for the historic Victorian and a new build that’s mostly underground beneath narrow lot lines. White employed a large quadruple sliding door system to open the narrow bridge space between the cabin and the new structure. “The large sliding door system allowed for the interior and outdoor spaces to connect with fluidity and feel larger,” says White. “We worked with a very creative builder and architect to design the largest door possible to open the architectural bridge between the Victorian and the main house.”
The teams drafted options placing the kitchen in various spaces of the Victorian and ultimately placed it in the bridge space, connecting the house’s most popular gathering place to the outdoors. She focused on clean, simple lines in both kitchen design and furniture to allow the view to be the highlight. “The modern Adirondack chairs were carefully chosen to parallel the house’s design sense—classic and modern,” says White. “The dark finish of the chairs and bar stools complements the dark window cladding, while the kitchen has natural wood tones that complement the bridge’s rustic exterior siding.” 227 Midland Ave., #17A, Basalt
Photography by: JOE MCGUIRE DESIGN PHOTO COURTESY OF GIBEON PHOTOGRAPHY; ANNE GRICE INTERIORS PHOTO COURTESY JAMES FLORIO PHOTOGRAPHY; DELLA ZELLA INTERIORS PHOTO COURTESY OF DEREK SKALKO; PHOTO COURTESY OF KAREN WHITE INTERIOR DESIGN