Mountain home style designs often have a specific aesthetic value. Big albeit simple gable roofs imitate the shape of mountains while at the same time shedding snow and rain. Huge, tree-like timbers are normally used to hold up these roofs. All of the aforementioned rest on local stone constructed into chimneys, plinths, and foundations. Metal plates and anchors connecting those elements have a scale and heft to match the surroundings.

Source: Trilogy Partners

• Gable Roofs – Big and plain gable roofs allow homes to reflect a wide landscape of mountains and trees as well as provide shelter.

• Stones – Stone plinths, a stone base and stone chimney secure the mountain home style design to its site despite the fact that the roof is supported on all the tree-like poles.

• Metal Roofs – Choose a metal roof that looks akin to a tent, stretched taut over the simple pole structure. This gives your mountain home a more sophisticated look.

• Large Glass Doors – Large stretches of glass keep your home interior bright and light while at the same time, confining your home’s best views.

Contact us for information about hiring a professional to help you refurbish or construct your mountain home style design.

Attention future homeowners, now you can potentially set up your home loan at your neighborhood Costco. That’s right, not only will you be able to buy household products in bulk, but you’ll be able to buy a  house to go along with it. Talk about the one-stop-shop.

Photo via CNN Money

Costco has partnered with 11 lenders to offer their members mortgages. Costco already offers their members life insurance, car insurance and boat loans. According to CNN Money, “Much like LendingTree, the site gathers quotes from various lenders. However, there is one key difference. Under the Costco program, the borrower’s identity is revealed only after they officially select the lender, said John Alexander, business development director at First Choice.”

Would you go to Costco for a home loan? Do you think it is a good idea on their part?

As builders and designers, we like to see what new products are taking the industry by storm. And that is why we kept a watch for some of the latest trends and innovative products for the kitchen and bath at this year’s Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS), which took place in Chicago.

With over 300,000+ net square feet of exhibit space, KBIS, the world’s largest international tradeshow event for the kitchen and bath industry, had over 500 exhibitors and close to 20,000 attendees. Take a look at some of our favorite products featured at this year’s show.

Kohler ‘s VibraAcoustic bath, which allows you to listen to your favorite songs while you relax after a stressful day at the office.

Photo from Apartment Therapy

We love the texture of this geometric tile by artist Daniel Ogassian for Ann Sacks.

Photo via Apartment Therapy

Who wouldn’t want more sink space in their bathroom? With this extra wide bathroom sink from the Voss line by Moen, your kids will be able to share the bathroom sink without fighting.

Photo from Apartment Therapy

This Kohler top-mount, self-trimming, apron-front sink, is easy to install over existing countertops.

Photo from Kohler

What were some of your favorite products from KBIS?

The second issue of Trad Home, an online collaboration between Traditional Home magazine and Lonny, hit the proverbial “stands” last week and received rave reviews from the design community. If you haven’t already checked out this online publication than we suggest you click the image below and head on over to see what the fuss is all about (after you finished reading this post of course).

Their latest issue highlights 10 designers and their interpretation on what “Traditional” means to them.

Take a look at some of our favorite designs below.

Trad Home. Design by Christina Murphy

Trad Home. Design by Grant K. Gibson

Trad Home. Design by Nick Olsen

What does traditional design mean to you?

Visit Trad Home to view the complete issue.

The front entrance of your home makes a lasting first impression and sets the tone for the rest of the interior. Here are some pointers that we think might help in creating a great first impression.

1. It’s all about the lighting. If you have the height don’t be afraid of installing a statement piece in the form of lighting at your entrance.

2. Bring some of nature indoors. Living and working in Colorado, we find it is important to incorporate the outdoor elements inside our homes.

Photo from Trilogy Partners

3. Picking the perfect front doors. The first thing your visitors will see, the front doors are the gateway into your home.

Photo from Trilogy Partners

How do you create the perfect front entrance to your home?

Couture fashion today is seen as very structured, so it isn’t surprising to find some designs that look like they have been plucked right from the sketches of some of our more well-known architects.  Architizer takes a look at architecture and fashion in their interview with StyleMusée.

Photo via Architizer

Architizer: What were you looking for when you curated the first editorial, Architectural Interpretations?

Karen Moon, co-founder of StyleMusée: I think of architecture as a form of art, and the intersection between art and fashion is an important theme in the DNA of our company and our mission. Fashion is an art, and I want to help style artisans visually tell their stories so that others can discover them. It’s embodied in our branding as well has artistic references: musée means ’museum’ in French, and also stands for ‘muse,’ the main call to action on the site: saving the things that inspire you.

To read more about how fashion is influenced by architecture head over to Architizer.com.

We’d love to hear what you think. Leave  us a comment below.

Rustic! You might think of this word as an adjective to describe Colorado mountain homes, but did you know it’s also the name of an American architectural style of the early twentieth century? It’s a style similar to one of its fashionable predecessors, the Shingle Style.

Rustic Style architecture is characterized by the following exterior design features: over-hanging, steeply sloped roofs mirroring surrounding mountain features, and easily shedding snow; stone foundations, shingle roofing materials; and log, wood plank and shingle wall materials.

Interior and floor plan features include an informality of design and spatial arrangement, large stone fire places with stone slab fireplace mantels, and big rocking chair porches. The Rustic Style building is sited naturally to fit into the landscape in an informal and functionally efficient manner.

A few of the best examples of the style are located in US state and national parks:

Multnomah Falls Lodge (1925, A. E. Doyle, Troutdale, Oregon) is a beautiful example of this asymmetrical, steep flowing roof, wood and stone architectural style.

Timberline Lodge (1937, US Forest Service Architects, Oregon) with its stone foundation and steep roof lines, is a classic Rustic Style building of the period. Buffalo and bear head carvings decorate the exposed eave ends.

A contemporary Colorado mountain home example that is suggestive of the early American Rustic Architectural Style was designed by Trilogy Partners. Known locally as ‘Calecho’, the architects describe the Calecho design style as follows, “All elements combine to form a symphony that embraces mountain history and modern mountain living.”

If you are fond of the Rustic Architectural Style and planning to building a custom home, please contact Trilogy Partners of Breckenridge, Colorado at 970-453-2230 for information about their custom home design-build process.

Photo Sources:  Trilogy Partners and Wikipedia

The interior and exterior stone wall features at the Timber Trails residence are noticeably different than those of any other home in Summit County. This was purposeful design, and the combination of three different stones with a tinted cement grout made for the unique appearance. We studied a lot of stone design before coming up with something that we thought would be reminiscent of a small European mountain castle. Some of the design choices we made with regards to the walls include having the walls flare out at the bottom beginning about three feet above the foundation level. Above and below each window we have a grey sandstone header and sill sourced from Telluride Stone Company . And on the side of the windows acting as legs we have off-white sandstone bricks. The body of the house is a random sized gray and brown fieldstone that was locally mined.

Perhaps the single ingredient, subtle as it is, that transformed the walls of this house into “castle walls” was the use of a grout tinted toward the white and brown spectrum rather than the grey concrete mortar usually seen on mountain style homes. This colored grout represents a heavy limestone in the cement, something commonly seen in European towns and stone structures. The stone being such a successful design element, despite the cost the amount of stone used on the interior walls was increased substantially.