An Arizona developer enlisted his commercial design firm to help update his private Red Mountain residence.
The secondary master bedroom featuring a four-poster bed and nighstands by Bernhardt.
Edward Robson built his Red Mountain home in the early 1990s, and it’s been renovated a few times over the decades. But when a leak in the kitchen was discovered, it prompted a more serious remodel. “We decided to move to the kitchen, and anytime you move a kitchen it adds a tremendous amount of work and planning,” he says. “So we ended up doing that whole side of the house.”
To tackle the project, he enlisted Denver-based Kimberly Timmons Interiors (ktinteriors.net). It was an easy choice since he has more than 20 years of experience with the design firm, as it’s designed the amenity buildings (clubhouses, fitness centers) in the several active-adult living communities he has developed throughout Arizona and Texas. At 89, Robson has lived a full life, serving as a U.S. Marine and playing for the U.S. Olympic hockey team in the ’50s before launching a career in real estate development.
“This was fun to do one of his own personal vacation homes,” say Nikki Holt, lead designer for the project from KTI. “We moved the kitchen to the dining room, the dining room into the living room, and the existing kitchen was expanded into a hearth room and butler’s pantry.”
The new format allowed for 180-degree panoramic views from the kitchen on a unique property—one that sits so close to the Roaring Fork River that county regulations don’t permit the proximity anymore (but the Robsons are grandfathered in). One of the home’s central points is a large flagstone fireplace that could not be moved, so reworking the layout around it made the process somewhat challenging, and more exciting, says Holt.
Once the transformation started to take place in the community areas, Robson and his family—he has five children and 14 grandchildren—saw the need to update the bedrooms and bathrooms too. In some rooms, the approach was minimalist with pops of glam. For example, bathrooms may have mixed metals and warm wood elements to make sure there was one “wow” feature when people walk in.
In terms of decor for the five-bedroom, 8,698-square-foot house, “Mr. Robson had a large art collection he wanted to keep that we used throughout the home and mixed in new more contemporary pieces,” says Kimberly Timmons, principal for KTI. “It worked out and gave the home a collected feel.”
Today, Robson and his wife still use the home, as do his children and their families. The new layout is functional for big gatherings and entertaining, ensuring memories in the making for decades to come.
Photography by: David Marlow
