An Eye-Catching Bohemian Rhapsody

A century-old house in Crested Butte's historic district comes to life with a meticulous renovation and layers of color and pattern.

The vision homeowner Ingrid Gebavi had for the timeworn house was to revive it with a style that both respected the home’s origins and referenced the later influx of hippies who put their stamp on the town in the 1960s and ’70s. To realize the bohemian style of the latter, she hired designer Andrea Schumacher to help with the fabrics, wallpaper and furnishings. But before the designer could work her magic, Ingrid first spearheaded a dramatic top-to-bottom renovation of the run-down home. “I wanted to buy something that needed a lot of work so I could make it my own,” she says. For the walls of the entry foyer, the designer selected beadboard, “a material used historically in Crested Butte,” she says.

From there, the floor plan moves toward an informal kitchen and a living room, where Fechino-Alling incorporated a bohemian reference with circular-patterned ceramic tile that frames a wood-burning stove, softening the black metal. As the renovation progressed, designer Carolina Fechino-Alling worked with the owner to set the past-meets-present aesthetic by specifying the flooring and tile and designing the intricate millwork and built-ins throughout. “The whole idea was to reference the house’s history, even though the inside is brand-new,” she says. Schumacher designed a tufted sofa, covered it with a shimmery paisley velvet and paired the piece with a custom ottoman dressed with an embroidered textile. “My goal was to create a warm, sophisticated and earthy home,” the designer explains. 

An 1890 Crested Butte house was revived through a thoughtful renovation and bohemian-style interiors. Designer Andrea Monath Schumacher selected furnishings, including a custom sofa upholstered with Holly Hunt velvet and a Palecek armchair, to play off the backdrop established by designer Carolina Fechino-Alling, who framed the living room’s stove with Rookwood Pottery Company tile.

Once the renovation phase was complete, Ingrid asked Schumacher to build on what Nichols and Fechino-Alling had so thoughtfully established. “Andrea came in and added her spark and renewed the energy of the project,” the owner explains. Schumacher worked with a layered approach, wallpapering nearly every surface, hanging beaded trim on fabrics and choosing lighting that resembles jewelry. “She’s got guts,” Schumacher says of the owner. “She wasn’t afraid to take risks.”

For the office nook, Fechino-Alling specified unfinished cabinetry from Crestwood in Salina, Kansas, and had it painted by Dan Church and waxed by Crested Butte Faux Finishing. Rampura wallpaper by Schumacher highlights the space.

Inspired by the colors in the existing scheme, Schumacher seized on the blues in the kitchen cabinets to inform many of her selections. “We wanted Ingrid to look beautiful in her space, and she has beautiful blue eyes, so we added more blue everywhere,” the designer says. One notable choice was the seat back fabric in the breakfast nook, an exuberant toile with a vivid blue base. The background color matches the cabinets, while the toile’s other hues—reds and golds—inspire the rest of the room’s palette.

Schumacher played up the kitchen’s color scheme by using Cowtan & Tout.’s Hurlingham fabric on the seat backs of the breakfast nook banquette. A Bubbles light fixture by Solária Lighting hangs above a custom table, and the valance sports a Groundworks fabric with trim by Robert Allen.

In the kitchen, she worked within a lively palette and had the cabinets hand-painted in a shade of blue and then given a wax finish, an old technique used in the town’s early days, for an aged look. Schumacher employed a similar bold approach when it came to selecting a mix of patterns. Across from the breakfast nook’s toile is a funky ikat wallpaper covering the kitchen’s vent hood and a suzani-like fabric paired with stripes on the counter chairs. 

Schumacher added colorful layers to the lively kitchen by covering the vent hood with Martyn Lawrence Bullard’s Darya Ikat for Schumacher. Counter chairs by Ballard Designs are upholstered with Zarafshan by Carleton V Ltd. on the backs and Portico Stripe by Rose Cumming on the fronts.

Fechino-Alling purchased the kitchen’s backsplash tile, from Pratt & Larson’s Scraffito series, through Decorative Materials. The unfinished Crestwood cabinetry was painted by Dan Church, and Crested Butte Faux Finishing added the wax finish. The farmhouse sink and faucets are by Waterworks.

Upstairs, Schumacher created a luxurious, gypsy-like feel in the master bedroom, cladding its walls with silk grass cloth and crafting a canopy of medallion-print fabric over the bed. “It was a difficult space to have a large headboard, but with some brainstorming, we came up with the idea for the canopy,” she says.

The lines of the ceiling in the master bedroom made it difficult to have a large headboard, so Schumacher created a canopy using Kaya Medallion fabric by Schumacher. An elegant two-tier Jacqueline chandelier by Aerin illuminates the space.

The master’s custom platform bed is upholstered with Classic Cloth’s Limoges fabric; the silk grass-cloth wallpaper is by Kravet. The colorful nightstand is a repurposed antique tea table from Beijing, purchased through C.A.I. Designs.

To comply with the existing window placements of the house, builder James Nichols, who handled the structure’s extensive renovation, positioned the master bathroom to act as an anteroom to the master bedroom.

In the adjacent bathroom, to complement the pale-blue shower tile, Schumacher suggested painting the claw-foot tub a similar shade. Ingrid added her own touch of blue by displaying one of her 12 deep-blue Matisse cutouts on the washstand next to the tub, serving as an artful accent. 

The master bathroom combines a cast-iron tub by Kallista—painted Benjamin Moore’s Stratton Blue—with fixtures by Hansgrohe and a glass-enclosed shower with tile by Ann Sacks. Van Treeck Construction fabricated the millwork throughout the house.

A Sunburst light fixture by Global Views shines over a guest bedroom in the new basement, while Schumacher’s Rajasthan Paisley wallpaper adds to the home’s bohemian lean. Built-in shelving provides stylish storage solutions.