Winter Wonderland
A multi-generational family settles into an everyone-is-welcome space at Loon Mountain.
On the sloping hillside of South Peak Resort at Loon Mountain, where the alpine breeze whispers through the birch and pine boughs, this Adirondack-style home has become a family affair. Multiple generations come here to inhale the mountain air and snowboard the nearby terrain, while five bedrooms across three floors and open living offer plenty of breathing room inside.
Warm hues of green, chocolate brown and antique brass saturate the dining room and built-in wet bar.
And while it may seem easy for a 5,400-square-foot home in the mountains to become a sanctuary when there are few neighbors to crowd you, the layout and design speak volumes about this abode’s user-friendly appeal and livability. With its open floor plan and large, cozy furnishings, the house is the epitome of hospitable: The message is, “Come on in and relax.”
“The homeowners were specifically looking to design a place that can be for family, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and then future generations, where everyone feels comfortable,” says Lindsay Miley, lead interior designer at Design House RI. “We made sure that all the bedrooms had a space for an adult and child — a full bed for parents plus bonus spaces with a bunk bed for kids. There are cool architectural spaces here, too, that are actually built-in bookcases that open to small hideouts that are super fun for kids.”
The basement is a haven for playtime, with a pool table and wet bar, along with cozy couches and plenty of seating for friendly games and movie nights.
The finished basement was dedicated to entertainment, where kids of all ages can hang out for movie nights and not worry about spills or banging a shin on a wooden table, Miley continues. An oversized sectional sofa in a stain-resistant, midnight-blue fabric provides both durability and coziness when the snow is falling, while leather swivel chairs and small ottomans in a soft bouclé Schumacher fabric invite guests to throw their feet up and relax by the fire. The pool table and built-in bar welcome game nights with beverages at the ready.
On the first floor, the cathedral living room with adjacent dining acts as a central gathering hub for game- and sports-filled holiday weekends and family reunions. But with the forest on full display outside, the stunning A-frame wall of windows is the true anchor, and everyone coming in the front door is drawn to it.
The master suite is a respite for the parents, with a built-in gas fireplace, velvet window treatments and a gilded iron chandelier from Visual Comfort above a hotel-like bed.
The home is sited to capitalize on the area’s natural surroundings and light, explain architectural designers Kelsey Birchenall and Hailey Medeiros of Longfellow Design Build. “Here on the north side of the mountain, we tried to maximize the height of the windows to bring in the most natural light that we could,” Birchenall says. For the same reason, there are few central walls that would divide and darken this large, V-shaped area with the kitchen in the middle and the dining and living areas each occupying one of the wings coming off of it.
Multiple seating arrangements in the open-concept room encourage socializing, and meals are taken at an eight-person dining table with room to expand. The openness also ensures that whoever is cooking in the kitchen can join in the festivities.
Miley describes the kitchen décor as soft, green fabrics complementing the eucalyptus-hued custom cabinetry by Longfellow Design Build — a neutral highlight among a sea of soft whites. A contrasting trim color in Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray set against the black-framed windows and walls in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace encourages the eye to scan the room and settle on a resting place by the striking stone fireplace, designed and built by Chad Sanborn of Stone Age Design in Gilmanton, New Hampshire.
The open kitchen in a soft eucalyptus green cradles a center island made of walnut, where multiple generations gather for waffles and coffee before hitting the slopes in the morning.
“With the stone and natural woods, it still lends to that mountain-house feel but a little more modern,” Miley says.
It’s all enveloped in an exterior with striking gables and natural details that blends in with its surroundings. Warm cedar siding and a locally sourced stone foundation further enforce this Adirondack vibe, while a front porch offers shelter from the elements in a space that is anything but traditional mountain home.
“Gable styles work really well here, because they provide an efficient floor plan and a nice exterior look,” comments Birchenall, who collaborated with John Taberski and Kaitlyn Minakin, project managers at Longfellow Design Build. “In the front, the house looks like a normal two-story house. In the back it looks like a three-story house, because it drops off as the mountain slopes down. It feels like you’re in the forest when you’re in the living room. And in the winter when the trees lose their leaves, you can see the silhouettes of the mountains in the background.” NHH
PROJECT TEAM
ARCHITECT/BUILDER/CABINETRY/PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
Longfellow Design Build
302-530-5368
longfellowdb.com
INTERIOR DESIGNER:
Design House RI
401-251-4035
designhouseri.com
STONE MASON:
Stone Age Design
603-267-6600
stoneagedesignnh.com
