Continuing with our effort to find distinctive items for the Iantuano’s mountain home, I came across the Danny sconce by MOTH DESIGNS. The mix of contemporary with a rustic reference seems like the perfect item for one of the guest bedrooms. I love how fun and playful this is, without being overly cute or typically nature themed.
 
Magazines are wonderful things. They expand our visual vocabulary and allow us to expand upon our own ideas.
These are two of the inspirational magazine pictures that the client, Karen has brought to me. They may seem very different, but both homes have a simplicity that is appealing. The rusticity of the one can blend with the black cabinetry and comfy red upholstered chair of the other to create the perfect environment for Karen.
The project is moving along and there is nothing pressing that the clients must decide at the moment. We can continue to look for special pieces. Small items can give a lot of bang for the buck.
These petrified wood sinks are very unique and this could be a possibility for the vessel in the powder room. Placed on a contemporary base, we can have the interplay of modern and rustic within the smallest room of the house.
 We create notebooks for everything! Karen has a copy of this room-by-room notebook to update as we go. There is a tab for every room with the floorplan attached to the front of the divider page. Inside will be the final space plan once decided, then pictures and information on pieces that she owns, and later, a power point presentation page showing the new pieces that will fill out the plan. A sleeve pocket is available for fabric samples.
Karen can take this on shopping trips, because she loves to find items on her own. It is also incredibly helpful to have on hand if she decides to look at tile and granite and to discuss the project with us by phone. Distance is not a limiting circumstance if we are organized.
 Throughout the winter the client was able to contemplate plumbing suggestions. We put together power point presentations on each bathroom and the kitchen, based on previous meetings, so that the overall style could form.
Because the contractor will need to install the shower valves soon, we like to have all of the plumbing decisions made ahead of time.
Karen likes to mix the traditional with the contemporary, as can be seen in choices for the powder room, above.
The bed for this room was the very first item that the client, Mollie, brought us a picture of when starting her project. She loved the distressed wood finish, traditional lines and pinecone finials on the bedposts. This was a perfect starting point for the room, and actually, the style of the entire house.
The bed is from Harden Furniture, which makes a wonderful product. Because I don’t like to match up my furniture in a master suite, the Woodland trunk is in a painted finish and the Antique Designs bookcase nitestands are in a darker finish than the bed. Although each piece of furniture is unique, we decided to use matching bedside lamps as a form of punctuation. Various forms of leaves became a theme as we put the room together, starting with the embroidered ferns on the bed shams, the artwork found in Yosemite and finally on the Objet Insolite lamp beside the chaise.
Just for fun, the two white throw pillows on the bed are a fluffy sheepskin, which appears again over in the sitting area (unseen) as a rug at the fireplace.
As the room came together, I did not like how close the two end posts on the bed came to the light fixture in the ceiling. I had Henry Means cut down JUST the two posts at the foot and create a copper cap on which to place the original finials. Now, the custom light fixture, from Originals 22 can have as much impact as the bed, in the overall scheme.
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 The bathroom may not be big, but the tall ceiling with the over-size light fixture from Richard Ray, really gives the impression of spaciousness. Interesting light fixtures add personality throughout the house, avoiding recessed cans wherever possible.
The freestanding MTI Linda-Soaker tub is also a good alternative to a built in tub, which could not have fit into this narrow space. The steam shower is off to the side of the vanity, out of the frame of this picture, but it is niched into the corner, adding more personality to this compact, yet full featured bathroom. All of the plumbing fixtures are done in an Tuscan Bronze finish from Rohl and the cabinetry in this space is by Peter Grisdela of Hollywood Sierra Kitchens. The heft of the cabinet hardware, from Rocky Mountain Hardware, keeps the cabinetry from feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the light fixtures and the interplay of light and dark finishes keeps the eye moving.
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 While three of the other guest rooms have king size beds, this one has two double beds. This could accommodate different possible combinations of visitors or the client’s three small children can stay in this room which is on the same, upper floor as the master bedroom. The bunk rooms are two levels down, so, it is important to have rooms grouped together that the family can occupy when it is just them in the house. The leather headboards, from Harden Furniture, are actually queen size, but we attached bedframes to hold double mattresses. Queens would have fit, but it would have been extremely difficult to make the beds and not even the very small nite table would have fit. All of the fabrics used in this room have some aspect of embroidery, including the drapes and the bedskirts. The light-hearted yellow continues on in the cabinetry of the adjoining bath.
 Every floor has a social spot and this den, on the uppermost level, is tucked in between two of the guest rooms. There are two steps down upon from the hall coming into this space and the bi-level entry adds to the cozy feeling. Figuring out how to fit the cabinetry in with the roofline was a tricky experience, which David Kuznitz solved perfectly. The cabinetry continues around the room and there is a TV opposite the Charles Pollock down sofa. We decided to bring in some geometric elements to this room to give it it’s own personality. The stripes on the roman shade and the checks on the Tufenkian area rug, along with the spheres on the table lamp do the trick. One of my favorite textures, mohair, covers the two wing chairs, which are also from Charles Pollock.
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 The Lamps in this room had their own blog entry back on 9/8/08 because they caused a lot of problems! Since they are a very strong feature in the room, I am glad that everything worked out. This room is intended to be more masculine in feeling and the details play to this aesthetic. The headboard is done in brown suede with nailheads and is from Hickory Chair. The striped pillows also have suede flanges and the throw pillows have a twig design that is similar to the lamp. You cannot tell from the photo, but the fabric on the roman s hades is a faux bois print, which is a pattern that looks like woodgrain, from Brunschwig & Fils. The bedspread is a textured chenille fabric that also has a faux bois look. For this woodland themed room, the artwork that I found in Yosemite fits in perfectly and I am encouraging the client to fill remaining wall space in this room with vintage sepia photos of the Mammoth Lakes area. I also wonder about using a burlap type wallpaper in this room to add another layer of texture, but this is something that could be done at any time.
This room is has a relaxing simplicity that is continued in the adjoining bathroom. Vertical copper tiles from Ann Sachs create lines that repeat on the floors and walls that add interest in a a very clean and simple way. More texture is added with the sheepskin shades on the sconces and the mica in the ceiling fixture.
For more backstory on the tile selection, see the blog entry on 6/6/2008.
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Enjoy our blog as we follow our step-by-step process of building mountain vacation homes in Mammoth, Vail, Aspen and other ski resorts!
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