Trilogy Partners is a leader in the design and building industry in Summit County, and has proven unswerving dedication to the community in successful, sustainable living since 1998. Our efforts have led us to another Builder of the Year award from the Summit County Builders Association for 2012. This is our second such award including the Builder of the Year in 2007.

Trilogy’s Mike Rath was crucial to the development of SCBA’s global marketing campaign. He established SCBA’s new blog site, which offers invaluable assistance in building a home in Summit County.  His showed his integrity by going beyond his responsibilities to SCBA. Mr. Rath is actively planning all he can to strive to win the award again.

As a active member of SCBA,  Trilogy plans to continue to lend proactive support to SCBA in the popular annual Mountain Home & Outdoor Expo held in June. Equally as important  is the Summit County Parade of Homes that takes place in the fall.

There is no status quo with Trilogy Partners, as an exciting year is already in the planning, and continued community service is at the top of the list. Contact the Trilogy Team to learn more.

Today, we will review one of our luxury homes that truly reminds us of times gone by. Calecho, in Breckenridge, Colorado, is an eye-catching three-story home with a distinct and rustic style that embraces the history of Colorado mining. The home was converted from a mining structure built by an English miner early in the 20^th century in order to convince the woman he loved to leave England and live with him.

Everything about the home captures the essence of the mining era, from the antique timber frame, to the wood clad ceilings, to the stained, aged floors made of granite, sandstone, rejuvenated old wood and exposed concrete. The interior steel accents are forged by hand and the exterior incorporates hand hewn beams and recycled ski-lift cables. Victorian furnishings perfectly suit the period, and a mine shaft elevator connects all three stories.

Although Calecho was specifically modeled to look old, the home operates on cutting-edge building technology. Thanks to its use of recycled materials and the  modern building science here at Trilogy Partners, Calecho is very environmentally friendly. Radiant heat, humidification and air circulation are all regulated by a hybrid heating system, which reduces energy consumption and helps to ease the stress on our environment.

If you are interested in remodeling a rustic mountain home to feature new technology and sustainable feature contact Trilogy Partners at 940-453-2230.

Here at Trilogy Partners, we believe that each historical architectural style has something to teach. This week, we’ve been inspired by the upcoming Great Gatsby film to talk about Long Island homes of the past. Here are some of the features of these residences that inspire us:

• Solid materials. The Westbury House, pictured below, has a solid cedar shake roof and hand-made brick. The home, in the Charles II style, has undergone renovations that were respectful to its original architecture. It was completed in 1906.

Image via Curbed. Photos: James Robertson/Pbase.

• Balance and proportion. Winfield Hall embodies Classical notions of balance and proportion. The look may be a bit stiff and formal for some, but it certainly is not going away anytime soon.

Image via Curbed.

• Thoughtful landscaping. Native trees were planted on the grounds of Hempstead House circa 1912. Today, they look as though they have been there forever.

Image via Curbed.

A SIP – Structural Insulated Panel – is a building component sandwich. It’s an energy efficient foam core laminated between two layers of wood sheathing, faced with drywall, fiberboard, metal, and even plastic. Well-designed and manufactured SIPS will make a house more energy-efficient, stronger, tighter, and more comfortable. There are some other appealing virtues to structural insulated panels that will make you want to build with them, including:

Image: Solares Architecture via Houzz

• SIP’s are a green building product. SIP walls demand far less lumber than conventionally framed dwellings. Because the wood panels are made with wood chips, 95% of a tree can be used, as opposed to only 63% if it’s sown into solid lumber.
• SIPs outperform conventional walls in fires. According to data from extensive laboratory fire testing and reports on SIP houses from real-life incidents, they are more resistant to fires.
• SIP walls are highly efficient. Foam provides much greater insulating value per inch than fiberglass batting.
• The foam is continuous throughout the wall, without the pockets and flaws in batt installations between studs.
• Foam won’t allow air infiltration inside the panels; if installed correctly they can be completely sealed.

Since 1998, Trilogy Partners has been building the finest homes in Summit County, contact us about structural insulated panels at 970-453-2230.

We are always searching for unique ways to incorporate green design into our homes, and using reclaimed scaffolding wood for the home’s structure or in its interior design scheme is one way to accomplish this.

Image: Inhabit.com

An excellent example of a home that benefited from the use of reclaimed wood is ‘Casa Box‘, which is a spectacular modern renovation of a caretaker’s home located on a Brazilian island. From the coastline, the home is essentially a concrete cube, but its contemporary design utilizes reclaimed wood from the original structure for the doors, windows, and stairway. Architect Alan Chu of Silveira e Cristiano Arns Kato Architectos designed the home with the intention of using the recycled leftover wood from the original structure to create contrast and layers of depth to the unique and simple structure. The use of the recycled wood adds tremendous character to this already stunning home, reminding it of where it once came from.

To learn more about ways that Trilogy Partners has incorporated repurposed materials into our projects, please be sure to view our sustainable design portfolio.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on this design with BHH Partners, in Breckenridge. First, we fleshed out the basic floorplan and elevations. I then created a model and applied the exterior materials for the client’s approval.

East Elevation

To help the client better understand the orientation of the house, I geolocated it using Google Earth.

East Elevation with Ten Mile Range behind

After completing the exterior, I began to work on the interior, laying out all the walls…

West Elevation Partial Build

As I model I am also designing the post and beam structure. At the end of the day I sent this model to the client for his approval. The software we use allows the client to view and manipulate the model from an infinite number of orientations. He sees exactly what the design team sees. Because the timber frame is structural but also an esthetic, it is important that the client participates in its design.

Timber Frame Structure in Design

Timber Frame Structure In Design

If you want your bathroom to provide more than just a space to clean up, consider including some of these dream bathroom ideas to your home remodeling plans. They are all great ways to make your ensuite master bath feel more like a spa retreat-and we could all use a little relaxation in our day-to-day routine.

Image: Divine Kitchens via Houzz.com

• Spa-Like Shower – Build a shower area that provides plenty of space. You can even install a comfortable bench. Make sure you have plenty of shelves or niches to hold your bathing products.

• Universal Design – Make sure the shower is accessible as you get older and your mobility decreases. These days universal design features like grab bars and curb-less shower stalls can be included in stylish and subtle ways that you’d never notice-until you need them.

Image: Moroso Construction via Houzz.com

• Warming Features – It gets chilly in the Colorado mountains, so a small feature like warming bars for your towels will feel like quite a luxury when you emerge from the shower on a cold morning. For even more comfort, consider radiant floor heating.

• Hidden Convenience – Install drawers that provide storage for your hair dryer, straighter and other bathroom accessories. You can even include outlets into the drawers.

Image: Phil Kean Designs via Houzz.com

• Morning Kitchen – A shower and a coffee are necessary morning rituals. So why not add a coffee maker or espresso machine to your ensuite bath and closet area?

Which of these features would you love to have in your Colorado luxury home? Contact us today to discuss our luxury home remodeling services.

Universal Design is a concept that strives to create products and living environments that are functional for everyone, to the maximum degree, regardless of ability. According to Livable for a Lifetime, there are three principles of Universal Design:

1. Equitable Use
2. Flexibility in Use
3. Simple and Intuitive

One area of your home that can benefit greatly by applying the principles of Universal Design are accessories you can add to your kitchen’s cabinetry. These accessories will help create an accessible kitchen design that allows your family to easily get to what they need, while your kitchen stays neat and organized.

• Rollout shelves for base cabinets. These convenient additions will increase your storage while making the contents of your cabinets easy to access.
• Base cabinet drawers. Another more luxurious option is to install base cabinets with drawers instead of doors as your base cabinetry.
• Door-mounted rack system. A beautiful and functional door rack is great for holding thinner items like cutting boards, cookie sheets and dish-drain trays.
• Double waste containers. These waste containers, one for waste and the other for recycling, can also feature an automatic opening system for extra convenience.

Contact Trilogy Partners to get begin designing your universal design kitchen today.

Are you looking to remodel your home in the near future? If so we suggest that you consider these 8 strategies for home remodeling before building an addition.

1. Consider your needs now and in the future when designing your plan.

2. Remove previous additions that are out of date to improve the function of your home.

Image via Shutterstock.

3. Create efficient circulation with generous and open pathways. Think about how you will actually travel through the space in your day-to-day life.

4. Resurface rather than replace areas such as cabinetry, fireplace skins, and floorings in order to save on costs.

5. Reposition the stairway to a more central location and utilize space more efficiently.

6.  Improve natural lighting to make rooms feel more spacious and comfortable.

7. Make your patio an extension of the home with temperature control and improved lighting.

8. Insert openings where appropriate to create a more open floor plan.

For more information about the Trilogy Partners client service approach to home remodeling contact us today!

At Trilogy, we’ve been designing and building homes for 15 years. If experience has taught us anything, we’ve learned that the tighter the integration between design, budgeting, and construction, the better the results for our client, our subcontractors, and for us.

This year we took a giant leap forward to achieve a more perfect Design and Build process. As part of the design process, we are modeling in three dimension all project down to the slightest nuance and detail. Right down to the actual sink, the granite.

What’s different about Trilogy’s modeling process? For one, our clients our integral to the modeling and design. Because they participate fully. They have complete access to the working model. So that they know exactly how each design decision will look, work, taste, feel. Before the first shovel is turned, they know their new or renovated home INTIMATELY.

How else does the model benefit the project?

Now we can budget our projects with unbelievable accuracy. Because everything in the model has an assigned name and description including make, model, manufacture, dimensions and often serial numbers. And all those names can be printed out in a list and a price assigned and voila, a new and more accurate way to budget.

 Now our subcontractors know exactly what their tasks are because they know exactly how they should look when complete. And that eliminates the usual fluff or padding of the bid.

Many designers and architects use 3-d Cad Software to give their clients a taste of what to expect. But just a taste. Rarely do those models have the actual materials, plumbing, appliances, every design detail integrated into their model.

With our models “what you see is what you’re going to get.”

If you want to see the actual model you need to go to their office. You get an hour, maybe, with a rather roughly conceived model a couple of times during project design. You and your project our actually KEPT APART during the design process. When they send you a movie walk thru of the model how can you know that what they’ve sent is actually what you need to see?

Our model runs on our clients’ computers at their homes or offices. You can even view them on your phone or iPad. Our clients spend a lot of time in and around their homes before construction. They see it all.  All the good. All the not so good. They tell us what they like, and don’t, and we keep improving until they tell us it’s just right.

The result is no more wondering how the home will turn out. No more anxiety. And no more regret. Because of modeling, our clients know exactly what they are going to get. And that they are going to like what they get VERY MUCH.

Modeling reduces risk not only for client, but for builder and contractors. Design modeling creates a more fully optimized product than any other process. Car manufacturers have relied on highly detailed models for decades. So have airplane manufacturers. Most things manufactured these days are modeled first. So we thought, why not use modeling to make our design build process even better?

Below are still images of a homes in design or construction. If you’re interested in learning more about the modeling process, let us know. We can send you a couple of models you can test run on your computer. Or phone or tablet. It’s hard to explain just how REVOLUTIONARY this process is. It’s just something you’ll have to experience for yourself.