Making the new look old

As you round the curve of a mile-long drive, smack in the middle of a field of cows, a seemingly ancient cabin appears in a nook of the land. The weathered appearance belies the modern methods that make the house appear aged. “We wanted to build a new efficient home, make it fit into the natural environment and look like it had been there for a hundred years,” Debbie Richardson said. To that end, the Richardsons chose modern methods to create an antiquated look. “We used concrete "cultured logs", a rusting metal roof and 200 tons of rock gathered from the property for the outside of our home,” Debbie said. The home’s walls are its star. They are built both of rock and a material called “cultured” concrete logs. The logs are molded concrete covering a Styrofoam core. Until you are beside them, they look like real wood. “Dick Morgenstern has a patent on the system,” Debbie said. Her husband “has known Dick forever,” and the couple liked the system’s low maintenance, energy efficiency and rustic look, so choosing the product was a no-brainer. Inside the house, the walls are studded and sheet rocked, with insulation sprayed in. “It gives you a large amount of thermal mass, so it takes a long time to heat and a long time to cool,” Dick said. The end result is “very reasonable heating bills.” “This winter we had a week where it was 12 below, and you couldn’t even feel it,” Debbie noted. Their metal roof is pre-rusted, washed with a solution of vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and salt. “You spray it on and within five minutes, it’s rusting,” Debbie said. The roofing is specially made so that it will rust to a certain point – then stop. With the inhibiting layer built in, “It’s much heavier than conventional metal roofing,” explained Dick. It should last 70 years. The couple used the same treatment on the base of their barn. “We just liked the look of it,” Debbie said. Decks are made of Brazilian Ipe wood. “It’s very dense,” she said. Due to that density, “You don’t have to treat it. And it doesn’t get slick when it’s wet,” Debbie said. North American woods were treated “with a product called ‘Lifetime,’” she said. “It’s what the Forest Service uses on their cabins.” The salt-based crystals, in solution, become a weather and bug-proofing treatment. “Supposedly you never need to treat it again. We’re trying to cut down on maintenance,” she said of their various choices. All the materials were selected for ease of care and longevity. This is the Richardson’s dream home, built in a spot Dick saw during his rounds as a veterinarian 20 years ago. “In 30 years, there’s very few places within 80 miles of Missoula that I have not been,” he said. Of all he’s seen, the one spot that struck him was the one where he and his wife now have their home. “I spent 20 years trying to buy it,” he said. The couple finally bought the adjacent piece of land, and traded that with the ranch family who owned their dream spot. “That’s the thing that makes a house special to someone,” said Dick. “They pick a special place and spend a lot of time planning.” Situated atop a knoll, with no other house in sight, their meadow is full of cows, lowing and ambling about. Their house sits in a draw toward a corner of the property. “We wanted to put it where it made sense,” Dick said, “where 150 years ago someone would have built a house – by the water, protected from the wind.” Debbie concurs. “It can be blowing outside, and here around the house it’s quiet.” The couple broke ground in March of 2007, and moved in in November of that year. The house was designed to look like an old National Park building, Dick said. Beamed porches, a rock base and “log” siding attest to that. The 4,000 square foot home spans two stories, although from the outside, it looks much smaller. An attached double garage faces the gravel drive, so only a portion of the house is visible. The remainder of the home is built behind the garage, tucked into the sloping land. The illusion is a small cabin, magically enlarged when you walk through the doors. “You need to give credit to our architect,” said Debbie. Kelly Karmel designed the home, making the outside look rustic, while the inside is anything but. Within, your eyes are met by a huge stone fireplace, created by mason Peggy Steffs, who also built the house’s rock base, incorporating stone arches over the windows. Cathedral ceilings and multipane windows lend a feeling of clarity and warmth. Radiant floor heat, granite countertops, sprawling halls and tile throughout the house gleam. Furnishings are polished cherry and leather. Everywhere is luxury, but no carpet -- “It’s nice when you have animals,” Debbie explained. The Richardsons own 62 acres, lease adjacent ranch land for their cattle, and have permission to use the neighboring ranches for riding, as well. “We have 600 acres we can ride our horses on,” Dick said. Outside the windows, the couple’s cow-calf pairs amble past. They are so close, the feeling is they are pets. Debbie said they wanted it that way. Another nod to the couple’s love of their animals is an expansive mud room, divided into two sections. One side boasts a full – sized fridge and sink, the other, a special wash area for muddy boots, dogs and buckets. “This mud room we love,” Debbie smiled. The upstairs is where the Richardsons live. “The basement is for guests,” Debbie said, crossing the two bedroom, 1,700 square foot lower level. With the idea of one day turning it into an apartment, the basement is wired and plumbed for an additional kitchen. Right now, where a kitchen could be, is Debbie’s old piano. “I never go in basement except to go to the barn,” she said. With middle age firmly upon them Debbie explained, “We wanted everything we needed on one level. We’re getting older and I don’t want to climb stairs.” Upstairs, gorgeous French doors, made of oak-encased ripple glass, open from both sides of an airy hall. One set reveals a vast laundry room, the other the master bath. The laundry room hosts a state of the art washer and dryer, plenty of room to fold and hang, and the working end of Debbie’s in-wall fish tank. “I’ve always had fish,” she said. This, however, is her first salt water tank. Windows pour light into the tank through its face in the couple’s large bedroom, and Debbie is still figuring out how to control the resultant algae blooms. The bedroom is simple, a combination sleeping and sitting room, with windows overlooking those golden cows. The room spans the width of the house, and windows on three sides give it a broad, airy ambience. You feel more like you’re on a deck than within a typical bedroom. The master bath is broad and spare, tiled in relaxing sand. “We had a teeny, tiny shower in our last place, and I wanted a bigger shower,” Debbie said, displaying the walk-in marble stall. “I hate cleaning shower doors, so we wanted something big enough that you don’t need a door.” At the end of the hall, solid French doors reveal an office. The Richardson’s halls are wider than average, about five feet wide, Debbie said. Angles allow for easy maneuvering around corners, rather than having sharp turns. All the doorways are double wide French doors. The house, Debbie explained, is built to accommodate aging and its needs. “I’m hoping I’m never in a wheelchair, but…” she tapers off. Wide halls, smooth floors, and extra wide doorways will all accommodate any adaptive or assistive devices the couple might need. Everything was designed with accessibility in mind. The space doesn’t give up luxury for practicality, but once pointed out, it is easy to imagine maneuvering a wheelchair through the floor plan. It’s simple, Debbie said. “I don’t ever want to move again.” Outside, a rock patio abuts the house, while landscaping is still in progress. It is here the house looks largest from without. Where the two segments of the house meet, the roof is flat and slightly recessed. “The flat roof area allows us to put solar hot water or solar panels on without having them visible when you look at the house,” Dick explained. “The thing we wanted to accomplish is to build the house out here and not destroy the scene of this pastoral view.” Dick said that sensibility is getting rarer these days. The view is as important to Dick as it is to Debbie. “I drive up and down this valley every day,” he said. “It’s a special place.”

Ranch club wonder

Marcia Holland’s house in the Ranch Club west of town is peppered with Alaskan art. Her family lived in that northern state until 2006, when they decided to build in Missoula. Holland, from Butte, moved here because her husband Chuck loved it, she had family here, and importantly, her son could breathe. “One of the reasons we moved is Mick’s allergy to birch pollen,” Holland said. Birch is common in Alaska’s wet climate, but far less so here. Still, the family didn’t move right away -- they needed a place to come to. “We were building our house in Missoula, but we were doing it while living in Fairbanks,” Holland said. Finding a designer they could trust to bring their vision to life was paramount. Page Goode, of Makeroom Design/Interiors, was the one. Though the family was only able to journey to Montana four times during the process, Goode made the most of their visits. During one, she had them scrambling from paint store to fixture store to lighting store, looking at pendants and paint colors and faucets and drawer pulls and cabinet knobs. “They were exhausted,” Goode said. The next day, they did it again. “What was most amazing about Page was the breadth and depth of her knowledge,” Holland said of their concentrated encounters. That knowledge, earned through 31 years of designing interiors, allowed Goode to select colors, styles and furnishings that matched the Hollands’ tastes. Rubber flooring in the kitchen is one example. “Chuck used to cook in a restaurant, so Page chose (this),” Holland said. The commercial flooring reduces fatigue, and it’s black. The countertop is black. The kitchen island is black. Appliances are black. Turns out, black is one of Holland’s favorite colors. “A friend from Chicago came and is redoing her kitchen,” Holland smiled, “and was stealing the ideas.” Off the kitchen, a small, quiet space hosts a gas fireplace, a soft couch and a small, designer table on a black rug. “We discovered we spend all this time just sitting here in the winter,” Holland said. Other rooms are treated differently. In the dining room, the accent wall is bold slate blue. Amber pendant lights balance that. The dining table of African wenge wood boasts seating for eight. The chairs are sleek black leather. The colors, Goode said, are intentional. They are designed to pull the outdoors in through the room’s large picture windows that overlook the Ranch Club’s golf course. From the panes, blue sky pours in, bouncing off a thick glass coffee table mimicking a slab of ice. Goode, with a background in architecture, said, “I tend to pay attention to the structure” of the home, and select design elements accordingly. Other touches in the house reflect the family’s personalities and preferences. In Micah’s bathroom, drawer pulls are small black stones. The counter laminate is called beluga. Alaskan art hangs on the walls. A special room off the garage was made for Chuck’s bicycle gear. Jerseys, bicycles and accessories all hang neatly in their own organized space. Green River slate covers the foyer, while blue-toned slate covers the bathroom walls. The flooring shows flecks of mica and garnet, polished to enhance the colors. Holland credits 11-year-old Micah with the stones’ selection. Off the foyer, the washroom sink is a glossy black basin-on-table, filled with river rocks. Holland chose it because she liked it. “Why not,” she asked of her accent rocks. The paint on the home’s walls was selected by Goode. Unbelievably, it is the same color throughout. Called netsuke, it appears warm amber in one room, cool cream in another. “I love it because it picks up the color of the landscape,” Goode said. “There really is a method to the madness.” The color flows from room to room, morphing to suit the personality of each space. In the master bedroom, the accents are all brown. “We found this bed that’s copper and steel,” Holland said of her platform frame, “and had a greened copper planter made into a side table for the room.” “This is a complete change from any color I had in my house in Alaska,” she admitted. A unique feature of her bedroom is a deep L-shaped closet that provides plenty of space to organize personal items, but minimizes wall space usurped by doors. The result is copious storage, “so we didn’t need to add another dresser out there,” Holland said. The basement, referred to as “Mick’s bachelor pad”, sports a Wii, large screen TV, pool table and prep kitchen. Admittedly, the kitchen with wine cellar is more for adults, but as a result of the design, Holland said her family spends more time together downstairs, playing pool, watching movies and making snacks. They also have a closet especially for hockey gear, so the family can leave their duffels packed and ready to grab for road games. “We have enough space now,” Holland said of her 4,000 square foot home. “It’s much bigger than our old house by a lot.” “When we tell friends that we built our house "remotely" and that it turned out beyond our expectations, they cannot believe it all worked - and it did only because of Page,” Holland said. “Page did everything from understanding our taste and recommending selections to finding craftsmen to take on projects. She helped select furniture and placement to maximize features of our new house, like our spectacular view,” Holland gushed. “I cannot sing Page's praises enough - she made our beautiful house happen.”