31 Days of Cozy: Day 11

Photo by D.A. Horchner

Location: Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado Cozy Factor: Once used as ranchland, this 40-acre site in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley had accumulated a collection of historic buildings. The original 1887 homestead and four other simple structures, dating up to the 1930s, peppered the landscape. Some of them were original to the property, and others had been moved to the site over the years. “They were on the verge of tumbling down,” landscape architect Richard Shaw says, “but the owners wanted to restore the buildings to something that was both usable and authentic to the property, creating a historic retreat for themselves and their guests.” Architect Heidi H. Hoffmann of Aspen-based H3 Architects led the restoration of the deteriorating structures. “The house and outbuildings were stabilized and rehabilitated to meet The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and guidelines for historic buildings,” she explains. The buildings were raised, set on new foundations and, in a nod to historical accuracy, given corrugated-metal roofs. The log building was rechinked and decaying siding was replaced. “Recycled materials were used whenever possible to match the patina of the historic materials,” Hoffman says. Learn more here: http://www.mountainliving.com/article/american-pastoral