WOODSY CABIN GETS NEW WING & CREATURE COMFORTS
AN EXPANDED MOUNTAIN HOME WHERE WILD, WOOLY, & WONDERFUL MEET
By Joan Christensen / Photos by Carter Photographics

Wooded privacy gives this traditional log home serenity and charm, and its new addition blended balanced architecture, elegant details and green building materials.

Twenty-six acres of wooded privacy give this traditional log home serenity and charm. The new addition blended balanced architecture, elegant details and green building materials. A peek inside the walls of this Western-themed home reveals a huge dose of Mother Nature as well.

Few people finish home construction or the completion of an addition with the comment, “It was the most wonderful experience.” But that’s exactly what a Grand County couple had to say about their creative collaboration with Grand Lake builder, Jim Reed, and Hal Simmons of Neversummer Construction in Granby. They originally built this particular home, located outside Tabernash on a very private, 26-acre parcel, in the mid-90s. They were able to work on it again when a master suite was added in 2008.

“Working with Jim and Hal was wonderful. We used to come up on weekends to check on the progress and we’d look around and say ‘Wow!’” recalls the owner. And the creative juices were flowing both ways. “Working with [the owner] was a real treat,” recalls Simmons. “I give her a ton of credit because she has a creative mind and it was fun to work with her. We fed off each other’s ideas and then pulled them together and incorporated them into the construction.”

A fierce looking black bear standing in front of the moss rock fireplace measures over six feet, but its colorful accessories tone down any initial feeling of fear.

They have successfully integrated a riveting collection of wildlife mounts and western-themed furnishings into a traditional log home with balanced architecture, elegant details and materials – no easy task to achieve when adding a new wing. Additionally, a separate cabin office a hundred steps from the main house was added as a quintessential man study and retreat.

A self-confessed animal lover, the owner has decorated liberally with a variety of indigenous mounts. There’s a trophysize bull moose head presiding over the great room and a fierce looking black bear standing nearby measuring over six feet (but a traditional Indian headdress and brightly colored sunglasses perched on his snout reduce the fear factor to a grin).

A dramatic moss rock fireplace over a wood burning stove stretches up towards the vaulted ceiling and two of the jutting rocks provide a precipitous perch for a full-sized gleaming white mountain goat.

However, these owners aren’t hunters and these trophies are the products of shopping excursions, not hunting expeditions. Almost all the mounts are old and were collected from taxidermists around the state and beyond. Their love of animals extends to living ones including their yard full of rescued dogs – Tanq, Booker, Maddie, and Ebby.

The comfortable great room offers lots more visual candy – a cowboy country motif adds a secondary theme to the decorative symphony. The floor, made from reclaimed hickory, was chosen because of the owner’s commitment to eco-friendly building materials – and its beauty. The south-facing wall, almost entirely glass, adds passive solar heat on sunny days. French doors lead out to a party ready flagstone patio with a firepit and built-in stone barbecue grill.

The kitchen was updated with sleek and contemporary new appliances, and the space was enlarged by moving the old staircase into the new addition, and adding a stone archway to connect the remodeled kitchen to the new addition.

A New Wing for Master Suite
A decade after completing the original home, the owners decided to expand and renovate. Their primary incentive was to create a master suite that would provide the extra space they craved but just as importantly, would architecturally maintain the balance and symmetry of the original structure. Jim Reed was busy, so architect Scott Munn of Granby was brought in, and contractor Hal Simmons returned to help. And while they were re-envisioning the new room, the kitchen was updated with sleek and contemporary new appliances and rearranged to make it larger by moving the old second floor staircase into the new addition.

“The original building is a full log structure, so doing an addition created some crazy openings in full log walls in order to access the new space,” explained Munn. One of the most challenging tasks was moving the staircase from its original location in the kitchen. “We had to get creative on how to disguise some of the logs that were curved into the wall because as logs settle, they get tucked in,” explained Simmons. “When you start modifying the structure, you have grooves in the log walls that you have to patch, some you have to blend, some you have to cut, and some you add a different piece so it looks like it was made to go there.”

At first glance you might think the dog on the guest bed is real, but at a closer look it’s a reclining mount of a coyote.

The builder and owner both agreed on using earth-friendly materials for aspects of the addition that would add character to the new space. Most of the trim came from an old abandoned building on the owners’ property. “They wanted to use the old wood so we disassembled that building, ran the boards through the planer several times, cleaned it up, and made most of the trim from that material,” said Simmons. “Besides the recycling aspect, you get weathered wood with deep grains and a lot more character.”

The fireplace, radiant floor heat, and pine-hued carpeting in the master bedroom add warmth and color with a dramatic scene of a bobcat on his hind legs pursuing a fleeing pheasant on a wide landing above the master bed. The tableau is next to a triangular shaped window high up on the vaulted walls where the wide space does double-duty – the back wall of the cleverly designed landing provides abundant storage closets in space that would have otherwise been wasted.

The sumptuous master bath is exceptional with high-arched windows revealing some of the prettiest views in Grand County. The space is so large that the owners adopted a popular but unexpected kitchen design element into the bathroom – a granite topped center island perfect for laundry-folding with a stunning view. The oversized glass shower has mountain views out its full-sized window (one of the perks of living in the middle of 26 private acres).

“The addition does not look like an addition … it looks like it was meant to be there,” said Munn. “It mirrors the other side of the great room, and once it was completed, it really balances the exterior of the building.”

The ultimate ‘man cave’: A historic cabin from Kremmling was dismantled, transported, reassembled log-by-log then modified.

And For Him
Home might be a castle for some men, but a restored historic cabin makes the ultimate ‘man cave’ for this busy lawyer. Separated from the house by 50 yards and a wood bridge over a moat-like shallow ravine, the cabin’s independence and privacy is a nostalgic, albeit grownup version, of tree houses, snow forts, and the secret spaces revered by boys of all ages.

A ‘wanted’ ad for an old cabin in reasonable shape got a response from a Kremmling woman. Simmons evaluated the structure and then supervised the process of dismantling,transporting, and then reassembling it – log by log. It retains the original pine floors and rafters but a new ceiling was added. The old roof was caving in so they “modified” the cabin quite a bit. Although dubbed an office, the cabin clearly does double-duty as a musical retreat with its stereo, guitars, and keyboard.

Simmons’ Golden Rule when it comes to a construction project whether it is a new structure, a renovation, or an addition: “I always tell clients that there’s an 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of the project gets done in about 20 percent of the time but the 20 percent of finish work takes 80 percent of the time.”

Brenda and Hal Simmons of Neversummer Construction

SIDEBAR: BUILDING A FAMILY BUSINESS
For Neversummer Construction in Granby, building houses dovetailed into building a family. Or maybe it’s the other way around for the Simmons family. Hal started the company about 20 years ago, but his wife Brenda, daughters Mackenzie and Whitney, son Bryce, and son-in-law Matt Chisum, have all helped build the business with a philosophy that “Each House Has To Be Just Right.”

The solid foundation of this family started with a home school education. “There is a lot of freedom with home schooling and not everyone learns the same way, so you can tailor their education to the way each one learns,” explains Brenda. “It’s a lifestyle. We’d go on vacation and our motto was ‘Living Is Learning’ and we’re glad we did.”

The family business thrives along with the family. Hal does all the general contracting and hires the subcontractors but the family does just about everything else. “The girls do everything, in fact everyone does everything except for me,” says Brenda with a laugh. “I help with the bookkeeping, cook, and act as the support crew.”

And there is a lot of pride from both parents when they describe that their daughters do a lot of chinking and are really good trim carpenters. As for Matt, who joined the family and the business three years ago when he married Whitney, he came to Grand County to be a lift operator but didn’t like it and started working for Hal.

But perhaps the real secret to this family’s business success is their willingness to do whatever it takes to make their clients happy. “When people say ‘Can you do that?’ Hal always says ‘we can figure out a way to do whatever you want.’”

READ MORE STORIES FROM THIS ISSUE:
• Feature: Financial Focus - Changing "Seasons" of Life Requires Changes in Investment Strategy
• Green Parade: A Brighter Shade Of Grassroots Green
• Art & Design: Double Vision for Interior Designer & Artist Marjorie Cranston
• Lifestyle: A Trail Advocate Pushes the Pedals
• Summer 2010 Articles