Do You Fondue? - Rockridge Building Company

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Loving life in the
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Do You Fondue?
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Winter 2011
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PAGE 18
FOR THE COLORADO MOUNTAIN LIFESTYLE
Merging
Architect John Gunsen designed this 8,574-square-foot
Silverthorne home to complement the surrounding enviroment,
from its building materials to its interior design and landscaping.
36 www.HighCountryHouseAndHome.com
landscape
life
with
BY JANICE KURBJUN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BOB WINSETT
Traversing the Blue River and winding through earthen
hues of gold, brown and red, the long entry to the Shapiro
home in Pioneer Creek Ranch, north of Silverthorne,
introduces visitors to the theme that runs throughout the
house: integration and harmony with its surroundings.
The 8,574-square-foot home, called
Three Shadows Ranch, is built on a
hillside opposite the Gore Range with
Colorado Highway 9 running along the
valley floor between. From the highway,
the structure looks like a simple house
tucked away in the trees.
Components of the home stand out
along the drive: stone, timber, water,
riverbed, and of course, amazing views.
Rockridge Building Company project
manager Michael Birch-Jones says he can
see the colors of the seasons in the home
— the autumn hues of the aspen, hints
of red clay from the soil, the grays and
browns of winter — illuminated in the
home’s timber siding.
“It’s a John Gunsen design,” BirchJones says, referring to the architect who
has been designing homes in Breckenridge
for more than 30 years under the
company name Custom Mountain
Architecture. “His designs go into a next
level of detail compared to even what
would be considered a very prestigious
mountain home.”
Creating the Design
Following the reasoning that the Texas
family selected their land for a purpose,
the design aims to make the house feel
like it’s a part of the environment – from
building materials to interior design and
landscaping.
“They had a vision for it, and they
accomplished it,” Birch-Jones says.
At least two years went into the design
and building process, he says, adding, “It’s
by far the most detailed house I’ve worked
on … Little to nothing is left to want in
terms of what goes where and how it’s
going to be built.”
For example, trimming was so detailed
and extensive that the trim carpenters
were on site for about four to five months,
working full time.
“That gives you an idea of the level of
wood finish in the house,” Birch-Jones says.
He added that Gunsen’s designs start
with long conversations with the owners,
and Gunsen remains involved throughout
the project. In this case, Gunsen was on
site every Tuesday afternoon.
“In a complicated and detailed design
process, that was invaluable,” Birch-Jones
says.
And because the architect and owners
stayed involved, it meant any challenges
along the way were snuffed out quickly. It
also meant huge triumphs along the way,
Winter 2010 37
Trim carpenters worked full time for
four or five months to complete the
extensive detail found in the home.
Dry-stacked stone archways complement
elements of the outdoor environment.
The home employs 200 custom beams to
accent ceilings and create a more intimate
feeling in rooms.
such as when Birch-Jones’ order of more
than 200 custom-cut beams was accurate
and arrived on time.
smaller kitchen, breakfast nook, dining
room and living area with adjacent wine
room and bar.
The master bedroom is accessed by
crossing another bridge over the water
feature and again entertaining dramatic
views of the Gore Range.
The downstairs includes Alex Shapiro’s
bedroom, a guest bedroom and an
exercise room, all adjacent to a recreation
room that contains a similar picture
window framing the outside views — this
time including a pond built onto a ledge
that blocks the highway below and creates
a picturesque view.
Birch-Jones points out that the home
is designed such that comfortable living
is possible for two individuals, or more
than 15 guests. The guest quarters can
be sectioned off from the main abode, or,
with the opening of a door, can become
part of the rest of the home once again.
front door.
In the library, a glance upward reveals
intricate beam work: The beams run
together to form a central point.
Throughout the home, the iron accents
made by Craig May of Dragon Forge
are shown off like pieces of art, such as
the kitchen’s iron hood. A copper trough
sink in the kitchen helps bring out a
country feeling, while retaining a sense of
sophistication.
Each of the home’s seven bathrooms
reveals intricate design elements that
are unexpected but delightful. One of
Niichel’s favorite elements is young Alex
Shapiro’s bathroom.
“It’s one (the family) had to trust me on
the most,” she says. “There were pebbles
in the ceiling and running down the wall
with tiles in strange places that start and
stop randomly.”
Pebbling is intertwined with traditional
tile work and runs from the shower
outward in a riverbed pattern into the
sink area. An irregular pebble-and-stone
counter design frames a trough sink,
created by Grand Spaces in Kremmling,
which slants downward in a rippling
pattern under wall-mounted spout faucets.
“They like it now,” Niichel says
of Alex’s bathroom, adding that she
conveyed her ideas through close
Flowing Details
The home is full of simple touches that,
when put together, present an elegant, but
livable, space.
One’s first introduction is the water
feature, over which a car bridge was built.
Visitors cross the bridge, park, and then
wander over a footbridge to approach the
front door.
Immediately inside, one is faced with a
perfectly-framed view of the Gore Range’s
jagged peaks.
“All the rooms on the west side are
meant to capture a different view,”
Rockridge Building Company’s DJ
Schappert says. “It’s not a coincidence. It’s
the way John laid the house out.”
In the space between the foyer and
the well-positioned living area are
components of the landscape: dry-stacked
stone walls with hand-scraped antique oak
flooring and hand-scraped spruce siding
topped by distressed Douglas fir trusses
and beams.
In the great room, it’s Gunsen’s design
and the use of space created by interior
designer Dixie Niichel that makes the
vast area feel divided into a comfortable,
38 www.HighCountryHouseAndHome.com
Striking Structural Elements
Though there are structural themes that
run throughout the house – stone, siding,
flooring, beams and a custom, antique
wood stain – the home has several subtle,
striking elements that help distinguish
room from room.
A 24-inch by 24-inch, 34-foot octagonal
beam holds the spiral stair adjacent to the
‘The home is full of simple
touches
that, when put together, present an
elegant, but livable, space.’
Masons acted more like jewelers as
they carefully fit stones into walls
and archways. Distressed timber
floors complement the stone walls.
Winter 2010 39
conversation, as well as showing
sketches and samples to help the owners
see her vision.
Thomas Konercy of TOMKO was the
tile artisan on the job. Birch-Jones said
that several times, as he was laying the last
tiles in a room, carpenters would come in
and gawk at the work.
“You know something special is going
on when that happens,” Birch-Jones says.
“As each component went in, you feel a
triumphant as it comes together.”
Outdoor Integration
Several rooms in the home access the
outdoors, where Silverthorne-based
landscaping company Neils Lunceford
created a space that transitions home into
wilderness beyond the home’s 40-acre lot.
A hot-tub enclosure is positioned
alongside a stream, providing a view of
the pond and the jagged peaks to the west.
The stream element runs from the front of
the house to the pond in the rear. Another
water feature runs into the pond on the
south side of the home, just under the
deck, which has the feeling of an outdoor
dining room. It includes furniture made to
look like aspen timber and an integrated
grill cooking space.
Elegant and striking copper gutters,
downspouts and flashing brings rustic
sophistication from the inside out, as it
integrates with the hand-scraped spruce
siding and stacked stone used inside the
home, as well as the natural-looking cedar
shingle siding.
On the deck, the use of flagstone recalls
the floor in the recreation room.
And, looking up, 75 beams jut out
with custom finish designs, supported by
numerous custom-cut corbels.
A Middle Ground
“Many houses are very rustic,”
Birch-Jones says. “The other extreme
to be very manufactured, modern, clean
and sophisticated. This house finds
the middle ground.”
Materials used on the home — and
the contractors who installed each piece
— created a natural, but sophisticated,
look.
“Gurolla Masonry workers were like
jewelers instead of masons,” Birch-Jones
says of the way they fitted the stones in
the walls and the archways and built
other elements, such as the recreation
room’s hearth and the art displays along
the spiral staircase.
“It’s not too rustic; it’s not too slick,”
Birch-Jones says, adding that the distressed
look of the timber isn’t over the top.
He says excitement started to build as
finishing touches were going in.
Niichel, who headed the intricate
additions that transformed house into a
home, says it was a fun, unique project
to work on.
“The clients were so open to doing
something different — things that they
haven’t seen in their friends’ or neighbors’
house or in magazines,” she says.
Many of the components that draw the
house together in such a sophisticated
country style came from antique shops
Several rooms in the home access the outdoors,
where Silverthorne-based landscaping company Neils
Lunceford created a space that transitions home into
wilderness beyond the home’s 40-care lot.
40 www.HighCountryHouseAndHome.com
from the Front Range to Leadville.
Others were custom-built by Imrovich
Strepman Furniture, such as an ottoman
composed of horns purchased along the
roadside by Niichel and put together with
hide-like fabric.
Niichel says there were few roadblocks
in the interior design process. It was
more a creative, evolutionary process of
making sure every part of every room fit
together. For instance, Steve Shapiro’s
office was meant to contain a blonde
cow hide, but when it didn’t fit, it was
moved to the floor of a guest room. Tying
in elements such as rope, horse bridles
and bits, unique sinks and other accents
were a challenge insofar as Niichel and
While designing the interior, the
owners aimed for a seamless and
sophisticated look that gave hints
of a ranch feel.
the owners wanted a seamless look that
merely hinted at a ranch feel.
The only challenge, Niichel says,
was in interfacing the unique designs
and “conveying our creative thoughts,
documenting them, relaying them
and getting them made and getting
them installed.”
Ultimately, Birch-Jones says, the home
was a simultaneously coordinated effort of
design, build and décor that “used natural
materials in a sophisticated way, creating
a sophisticated country mountain home.”
‘It was more a
creative,
evolutionary process
of making sure every part
of every room fit together.’
Winter 2010 41