A Home With Rhythm Between Aspen and Snowmass

Visible from both levels of the home is “Rolling Stones,” a collage in diamond dust, paint and resin by artist DeVon. Cozy seating includes a Verellen sofa, Restoration Hardware leather swivel chair and Maiden Home ottoman. | Photography by Brooke Casillas

High on a hill between Aspen and Snowmass is a residence that from the exterior looks like a classic mountain home. Built of sturdy lodgepole pine logs and accented with a long porch, forest-green window frames and a pitched roof, it nestles comfortably on a couple of steep acres, offering expansive views of nearby hills and valleys.

Anearbybarwithopen shelving and industrial-style lighting is convenient for entertaining.

Step inside, however, and you are in for something else. The interior logs and fireplace with stone that climbs two stories have been whitewashed, giving the space a light, bright appeal. With roomy gathering spaces indoors and out and five bedrooms spread over two floors, it’s ready for the homeowners’ family and friends, who visit year-round. Indoor-outdoor dining, check. Hot tub and fire pit, yes. Pizza oven, definitely.

Whitewashed walls are a clean backdrop for Louis Lochead’s “Mercury Rising” giclée, a tribute to Freddie Mercury that hangs above the fireplace, and “80s Mixtape,” an oil painting by J. Scott Nicol. The Restoration Hardware table and chairs are ready for company.

And to think something so perfect might never have happened.

“It was pure accident,” says the homeowner of the purchase she and her husband made in 2020. “We had shared a home in Edwards with another family when our children were young, selling it when the kids grew up and went off to college.” The offspring of the twice-married couple are now 25, 28 and 30.

When remodeling, the homeowners designed a spacious guest room with double bunks over a queen bed furnished with Pendleton linens.

“We didn’t want a second home,” says the homeowner, explaining that they envisioned their travels would take them many places. “Then COVID hit. I’m more of an introvert, while my husband loves being social. Some friends of ours had purchased a home in Aspen and we went to see them. We brought our road bikes and fell in love with the light, the area.”

They spent the next several weekends on repeat visits, she recalls, “and then started to look at real estate, in case something showed up.” Show up it did, in the form of a house that was built about 20 years ago and was in the midst of a major facelift. The home’s location—less than a 10-minute drive to either Aspen or Snowmass—also was appealing. They bought the property and enlisted the services of TMC Builders to finish updating the interior and Kristin Dittmar to modernize the furnishings. Artisans were brought in to do special finishes such as the built-in beds in the bunk room and an entrance gate spelling out the name of the residence, Satisfaction Ridge.

Painting the interior of the log home brightened both levels. A seating area for gaming is a favorite upstairs spot.

Music lovers who often travel to concerts, the couple saw the home’s light walls as the best background for art themed around their favorite performers. The first concert they saw together 15 years ago was the Killers at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and a framed poster from the concert hangs in their bedroom. Commanding center stage above the living room fireplace is a DeVon painting of the iconic Rolling Stones tongue-and-lips logo. Contemporary portraits of Freddie Mercury, Prince and David Bowie add pops of color and energy to the rooms. Artist Alana Rothstein was commissioned to make two art pieces composed of concert tickets and mementos.

Character-grade hickory flooring was original to the residence, here in the main floor bedroom suite and hallway leading to the living room.

Furnishings throughout are monochromatic and textured for warmth, with cushy rugs and pillows adding further softness. “Because the home is light and airy, we wanted the furnishings to follow suit,” the homeowner says. “Nothing in there is crazy fancy. It’s all really livable, but it looks great and transitions well from season to season.”

“Using a variety of textures in fabrics and leathers, it became cozy and super inviting,” says designer Dittmar, whose design business is based in Aspen.

On a hill between Aspen and Snowmass, this lodgepole pine home is filled with color and fun. Designed by Kristin Dittmar, the interiors utilize a variety of textures, fabrics and leathers.

The house is regularly filled with the sound of music as well as friends and family. “We are more summer than winter people, loving it from Memorial Day through October,” the homeowner says. Weekends when her daughter invites a handful of girlfriends to stay are common, and the home was filled with 14 people for their son’s recent 30th birthday celebration.

“It’s my favorite place to be,” says the homeowner, who is a writer. “I’m not a skier, but I also love it in the winter. The views are exceptional, and I love to read and write there.”

The homeowners’ primary suite is decorated with an Interlude Home bed, Verellen wingback chairs for reading, an ottoman and Jaipur Living hide rug.

Her husband, a real estate developer, says, “When the kids are around, they’ll kick my butt down the mountain. I love to ski with them. In the summer I play golf. And I love the bakeries and breakfast joints down valley. It’s an escape from the city.”

Though the Rolling Stones famously sang “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” this family is finding plenty in the high country.

DESIGN DETAILS

INTERIOR DESIGN Kristin Dittmar Design
BUILDER TMC Builders
PHOTOGRAPHY Brooke Casillas