The opportunity for an architectural do-over is rare in Aspen’s West End, where the Historic Preservation Committee keeps close watch over every addition and alteration made to the neighborhood’s charming homes, many of which have been around since miners and silver barons first settled in town more than a century ago.

So when a corner lot occupied by a 1970s-era house came up for sale just a few blocks away from their West End summer home, a Houston-based couple saw their chance. Certain that the Historical Preservation Committee would find nothing there worthy of saving, they purchased the property and began making plans to rebuild the home from the ground up. At their former residence, a gingerbread-trimmed Victorian, a historical designation had prevented them from changing much more than the paint color. But here, they’d be able to explore a style all their own.

5280 Home August/September 2023
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The homeowners had already drafted initial plans with a local architect by the time their longtime designer, J. Randall Powers, entered the picture, but they sought his guidance on all the details that would shape the home’s style. For the exterior, the Houston-based designer specified hand-cut cedar shake shingles, a keyhole-shaped entryway clad in copper, and stone detailing “that’s more in line with what you’d see in Europe than in Colorado,” Powers says. Inside, he added antiqued oak flooring, plastered the walls and baseboards, and designed a stair railing with bronze balusters that are “beautifully subtle,” he says. “Our vision was that you might have been wandering through the Belgian countryside and stumbled upon this house. Nothing about it was meant to scream that it was new.”

Dining Room Table Place Settings. Photo by Max Kim-Bee/OTTO, Styling by Carolyn Englefield
Dining Room: Rather than hang a painting on the dining room wall, designer J. Randall Powers had antique wallpaper panels framed. Small sconces from Galerie des Lampes, a shop on Paris’ Left Bank, feature custom silk shades. A pair of 18th-century doors from Houston’s Chateau Domingue allows the homeowners to close off the adjacent kitchen during formal gatherings. Photo by Max Kim-Bee/OTTO, Styling by Carolyn Englefield
Entry: A French faux bois console table from Houston antiques trove W. Gardner, Ltd. sets the tone for the home’s interiors. “The owners have a more informal lifestyle here,” Powers explains. The table’s concrete base rests atop oak planks by Custom Floors Unlimited. Photo by Max Kim-Bee/OTTO, Styling by Carolyn Englefield
Kitchen: Powers had the kitchen’s custom cabinetry glazed for added depth and dimension. The island’s muted blue-green hue and soapstone top contrast with a perimeter of white cabinets and Calacatta marble. Glass lanterns by Formations, brass hardware from Fixtures & Fittings, and brass strapping on the custom brushed-steel hood add shine. Photo by Max Kim-Bee/OTTO, Styling by Carolyn Englefield
Main Bedroom: A custom bed by Neal & Company Upholstery is dressed in Bermuda-blue velvet from Rose Tarlow; the matching bedside tables are topped with Rogers & Goffigon fabric skirts. “We all remember the throw-style skirted table that became one of the enigmas of the 1980s,” Powers laughs. “We’re trying to bring it back— but in a rectangular shape with very simple tailored pleats.” Photo by Max Kim-Bee/OTTO, Styling by Carolyn Englefield
Powder Room: “This was the only room in the house where we were allowed to use a strong color,” says Powers, who chose a reddish-brown hue for the Pindler fabric wallcovering and matching cafe curtain. The 18th-century stone sink is French. The sconces feature custom shades in Fortuny’s Glicine damask fabric. Photo by Max Kim-Bee/OTTO, Styling by Carolyn Englefield

Nor was it intended to announce “mountain house” with the typical trappings of alpine decor. “The clients are more informal with their lifestyle here; they love to throw open all the doors leading to the garden,” Powers says, “but their style is traditional; their happy place has a little bit of fanciness.”

A massive, antique French faux bois table, placed behind one of the living room’s sofas, is one of the first things guests encounter upon passing through the front door—and was the first piece Powers selected for the house. “I said, ‘This is the direction we’re going to take with the interiors,’” he notes. “It’s a nod to Colorado but also so unusual.”

This piece and a 17th-century French limestone mantel serve as bookends for the living room’s “menagerie of things”—Powers’ description of furnishings that range from a new lounge chair upholstered in a Fortuny damask to an 18th-century Spanish armchair, a vintage Italian chandelier, and a chinoiserie coffee table.

“The wife loves all the little nuances of antiquity,” notes the designer, who ensured that pieces with a timeworn patina would occupy most every sightline. In the powder room, an 18th-century French stone sink rests on a floating soapstone countertop. In the dining room, a long table custom-made from 17th-century Belgian barn beams complements the warm tones of antique wallpaper panels, which Powers placed in bronze frames and hung as art. In the kitchen, where every detail is new, he relied on custom finishes to convey a sense of authenticity, from glazing on the cabinetry to a brushed patina on the steel hood.

Dining Room: A coved ceiling and custom curved cabinets by Dennis & Leen create the impression that the rectangular dining room is oval-shaped—a soft contrast to the angular steel French doors that open onto the garden. Three timeworn wooden beams from a 17th-century Belgian barn compose the long tabletop, which was custom designed to float just above the arms of slipcovered chairs by Saladino. Photo by Max Kim-Bee/OTTO, Styling by Carolyn Englefield
Patio: A heavily mortared stone chimney, stone lintels, copper gutters, and hand-cut cedar shake shingles nod to the aesthetic of an old Belgian farmhouse, while steel French doors place the house firmly in 21st-century Aspen. Powers struck a similar balance when furnishing the patio, pairing Janus et Cie’s woven, wickerlike Arbor Club sofa and chairs with a streamlined firepit and side tables. Photo by Max Kim-Bee/OTTO, Styling by Carolyn Englefield

Perhaps no room conveys the clients’ style more clearly than the main bedroom, where a grasscloth wallcovering—which Powers took all the way up onto the vaulted ceiling to “cocoon the space”—provides a warm backdrop for formal furnishings that include skirted nightstands and a grand, velvet-upholstered bed dressed in crisp linens. “This is not your typical Aspen bedroom; these are pressed-sheet people,” Powers laughs.

The colors the homeowners favor, however—rich creams, mint greens, and pale blues—maintain an easy and serene mood. “It was especially important to keep the palette soft, because when you’re in Colorado, you don’t want to overtake the beauty of nature,” Powers explains. “What I love about people who love Aspen is that the outdoors are paramount [for them]. My job was to ensure that these interiors would never compete with that.”

Design Pros

Interior Design:  J. Randall Powers Interior Decoration
Architecture: Gretchen Greenwood & Associates
Construction: Hansen Construction