Sally Stich Kimberly Gavin

Related Articles

• Window to the West
• At Home on the Lake
• The Connoisseur
• High Desert Style
• Tasteful Trimmings

The front entry greets visitors with a bold yellow built-in bench on a very practical black-and-white checkered floor. The hand-painted wallpaper echoes the fanciful colors of the bench and floor. The front door was designed by Gordon Pierce of Resort Design Architects. “He was the first architect in Vail to capture a mountain look with sophistication,” says interior designer Jan Chenault.

A custom-designed armoire suggests a separation between the living room and dining room. Mirrors, used instead of clear glass in the doors, enlarge the room while diminishing the size of the piece.

The juxtaposition of antiques and reproductions creates the feel of a multigenerational family collection.

A custom walnut table by New Classics and six white-washed reproduction Swedish chairs (each with a family member’s birth date on the back) provide a cozy, comfortable place to talk over the day’s events. The kitchen was refreshed with a coat of soft green paint on the cabinets and multicolored backsplash tiles. CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS IN OUR GALLERY

Designers are generally hired for one of two reasons: to stamp their signature style on a client’s space or to bring that client’s personal vision to fruition. Designer Jan Chenault tends to attract the latter clientele, so she was unruffled when a couple from the East Coast asked her to transform the family’s townhouse in downtown Vail into a space reminiscent of a Swedish country house. The family, not Swedish, didn’t have one stick of furniture from which to find inspiration for the project. “This couple are patrons of the arts and loved Swedish style for its joyous colors, clean lines and warmth,” says Chenault. “They wanted this townhouse to be a happy gathering place for three generations of family members.”

Though spacious at 3,200 square feet, the townhouse is far from the “McMansions” often found in mountain resort towns. The space offered three levels of living: a ski locker room on the ground level; a bedroom, office and bath on the second level; and the main living quarters on the top floor. But what the townhouse lacked was also the one thing the homeowners insisted on: more bedrooms and plenty of bathrooms. “I wanted guest rooms for my adult kids and their kids, and I wanted everyone to have a brightly colored bathroom,” says the homeowner, “so that in the morning, when they step into the bathroom, it feels great to be awake.”

To accommodate these “must haves,” Chenault redesigned the second floor to include three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Her next challenge was to find great Swedish antiques, commission some fabulous Swedish reproductions and mix the perfect fabrics to bring a bit of Scandinavia to Vail. “It’s not something I get asked to do very often,” she says, “but it was fun searching and I imposed certain design principles to keep it aesthetically organized.”

Because Swedes live where it’s gloomy for many months each year, their furniture finishes tend to be white or gray rather than heavy dark woods. Chenault followed suit, choosing antique pieces that were already distressed white and specifying white-washed finishes for the custom reproductions. Because the homeowners loved the idea of creating a contrast between white walls and bold splashes of primary and secondary colors, Chenault chose fabrics and accents in yellow, red and blue hues. “This color palette perks me up,” the homeowner says.

While the style of furniture ranges from Gustavian to Swedish contemporary, the juxtaposition of antiques and reproductions creates the feel of a multigenerational family collection that’s still expanding. A great mix of fabrics keeps it from looking like a movie set. Blue-and-white toile on one chair, yellow and gold stripes on another, a checked border on an ottoman, and lacy white curtains combine to create a casual and inviting sanctuary.

For Chenault, the key to allowing her design to flow from room to room was repeating certain motifs throughout the house. There are checkered patterns somewhere in every room, as well as hand-painted wallpapers. Personalized touches, like family names and birth dates, show up in the ski locker room, at the dining room table and in the master bedroom. But what really binds the rooms together is the homeowners’ collection of antique ski posters and original Norman Rockwell sketches.

At this time of year, the family loves to get together to celebrate the holidays, but in a not-so-big space with lots of family members, holiday decorations can be problematic. “If I put up too much,” says the homeowner, “people knock into things.” Instead, she aims to capture the essence of the season, placing bright red amaryllis around the living area, hanging an evergreen swag over the mantel, displaying silver julep cups and adding a wreath to the door. Like the Swedish pieces on which these seasonal adornments are placed, an ambience of simplicity and joy abounds—in other words, family warmth at its very best.

Signs of Aging

Although every piece of furniture in this Vail townhouse was new to the owners, the interiors have a comfortable, well-established appeal that appears to be the result of years of collecting. Here’s how to get that look in your own home, even if it’s brand new:
• Never buy a reproduction piece that looks shiny and new. Choose pieces with waxed finishes instead of polyurethane. Why? Wax lends a more matte finish, which will make your new antiques look older and more authentic.
• If you’re going to use reproductions, always mix them with real antiques.
• Every family has a collection of something. For these homeowners, it was antique ski posters and original Norman Rockwell art, all of which are placed around the house, giving it a very personal feel.