Clean Lines and Warm Textures Define this Mountain Home

Designed to connect with impactful views of the Sleeping Giant, a couple’s Steamboat Springs house offers a calming retreat to share with family and friends.

February 17, 2026

Caren Kurlander,

“It fits into the landscape,” says the homeowner of the vacation retreat he and his wife share near Steamboat Springs, Colorado. “It’s set into the hillside rather than perched on top.” | Photo: Andrew Olson

This is really a place for us to share,” says the owner of a two-story contemporary residence near Steamboat Springs, Colorado. “Every time we come up here, I think, who can we invite?” It was that carefree and communal attitude that inspired the owners, a husband and wife who live primarily in Fort Collins, Colorado, to create a relaxing spot where they could gather with their family and friends—and dogs. “We wanted it to be kid and dog proof,” she adds. After finding a remote property that offers a 270-degree panorama of the mountains, including the Sleeping Giant (the local nickname for Elk Mountain), the couple knew they’d found the perfect spot to make their alpine retreat a reality.

A striking fireplace, featuring custom steel panels finished by Scherer Metals, anchors the open living area. Andrew Pharis selected low-slung furnishings, including a Lawson sofa by American Leather and a Joybird chaise, to complement the expansive windows and clean lines of the architecture by Brandt Vanderbosch. | Photo: Andrew Olson

From the start, the couple had clear ideas of what they wanted, and they brought in Brian Heit of JSM Builders and Brandt Vanderbosch and Andrew Pharis of Vertical Arts Architecture to bring those ideas to life. The house they envisioned had clean lines, warm textures and a layout that would feel open, while keeping the primary suite separate.“It’s a pod concept,” the owner explains. Vanderbosch, working with Austin Cuthbert, who was part of the architectural team, executed that vision by flanking a glassed-in entry hallway with low-slung, flat-roofed volumes.

The primary suite is on one end, and, on the other, the main living areas, which connect via a sculptural staircase to the guest quarters. “The entry is doing a lot of work for the overall design of the house,” says Pharis, who served as the project’s interior designer. “Spatially it’s creating that pod concept, and once you enter the front door, you’re confronted with a perfectly framed view of the Sleeping Giant.”

Pharis designed a sculptural plaster range hood, accented with tile by Arizona Tile, to play off the streamlined kitchen. White oak cabinetry by Fedewa Custom Works features Emtek hardware and encases a JennAir refrigerator. | Photo: Andrew Olson

The hallway also creates a compressive moment before entering into the window-clad expanse of the living area. “The fireplace was put on the side intentionally so it wouldn’t break up the view,” says Pharis, “and that presented this beautiful opportunity to have a double-sided fireplace.” The same limestone creates a seemingly continuous volume connecting the back-to-back fireplaces of the living area and an outdoor seating area. Heit, working with his JSM team, handled the installation to give “the appearance of a continuous material while still maintaining the thermal envelope.

Open to the living area, the kitchen is also oriented toward the mountains. “We wanted the sink to be on the west wall,” says the owner. That location was preferred “so you could look out towards the Giant,” she explains. Pharis designed the central space with white oak cabinetry, a large island and “a lower walnut portion that serves as a casual dining area,” Pharis says. A tall range wall with plaster hood acts as a privacy screen for the main dining area, where a rich blue-gray wall helps to define the open space.

A print by John Fielder hangs at one end of the glassed-in entrance hallway, where a ceiling of Douglas fir seems to pass from inside to out. | Photo: Andrew Olson

“I knew I wanted pops of color throughout the house,” says the owner. In addition to the dining wall, a muted teal accents the primary bedroom headboard wall, and the living area features a chaise covered in an orange chenille.To further emphasize the views, Pharis selected low-profile furnishings in natural hues and durable fabrics. And despite the house’s clean lines, the interiors are brimming with texture. “I’m sort of a minimalist, but I also like warmth,” says the owner.

Hand-patinated metal panels accent the living area fire surround, Douglas fir lines the ceiling, hand-hewn timbers help define the open plan, and tactile fabrics cover comfortable furnishings. The homeowners “were really drawn to contemporary styles, but they didn’t want their house to feel pretentious,” says Pharis. “They wanted it to be cozy and inviting.” And that’s exactly what was accomplished. “It’s a really wonderful feeling to be up here,” says the owner. “The house has a peaceful energy that just draws you in.”

Sherwin-Williams’ Rain Cloud coats a feature wall in the dining area, where a custom walnut-and-metal table sits beneath a Visual Comfort & Co. fixture. Hand-hewn timberas help frame the open space. | Photo: Andrew Olson

HOME COOKING

“What I love about this kitchen is how texturally rich it is,” says Andrew Pharis of the kitchen he designed for a couple’s Steamboat Springs vacation house. The residence itself features a lush mix of materials, creating a cozy atmosphere within the modern lines of the architecture. Pharis kept that throughline in designing the kitchen, adding, “There was a lot of thought about textural scale so everything would harmonize together.”

Mix It Up

“We didn’t want any of the textures competing,” says Pharis, who used a variety of materials and scale to create balance within the space. The plaster range hood features a “very rough matte finish, which is super textural,” and white oak cabinetry sports a “tight grain texture.” Perimeter countertops of leathered granite play off a polished quartzite slab crowning the island, and the hardware has a knurled finish. “So even the parts you touch have a texture,” says Pharis.

A walnut Marvin bed by Huppé faces the mountain landscape, visible through Kolbe windows, in the primary bedroom. The owner’s colorful rug pairs with a Roxy Would chair by Thayer Coggin. | Photo: Andrew Olson

The Hood Holds Its Own

Curved corbels beneath the range hood “create a moment of softness in this very angular environment,” says Pharis. The hood and surround went through a multi-step construction process ending with a local artist, Julie K. Anderson, coming in to install the plaster and perfect the finish over several days.

Function First

“We opened up the work triangle so the island could be incorporated into it,” says Pharis, who placed the range behind the island and the refrigerator and sink on opposite walls. “If you’re at the island working, everything you need is still close to you.” Pharis added a table of bookmatched walnut slabs resting on a custom metal base that connects to the island and hung a streamlined fixture by Visual Comfort & Co. above. “The kitchen,” says Pharis, “feels like the heart of this home.”

A Kravet textile upholsters the window seat of the second-floor sitting room. The small wall sconces in the niche and the large pendants above the stairwell are by Visual Comfort & Co. | Photo: Andrew Olson