An Eye-Catching Bohemian Rhapsody

After a couple of years of renting in Crested Butte, which was established as a mining town in the late 19th century, Ingrid Gebavi was determined to purchase her own home in the area. “I’m drawn to the charm of old houses,” she explains. And when she first saw the 1890 structure in the Historic District she would ultimately buy, it had all the charm and character she was looking for. But, it also had a lot of challenges. The wood-frame structure had been neglected for years and was in a dilapidated state. Ingrid, however, was undeterred. “I never considered tearing it down,” she says. “I like preserving old homes.” That turned out to be a good decision. “It’s a sweet little house,” says designer Andrea Monath Schumacher. “It’s quintessential Crested Butte.”

Ingrid had befriended builder James Nichols while she had been renting, and they spent a lot of time discussing the possibilities for the house, including completely reimagining the floor plan, before she had even committed to buying it. “It had no foundation,” he recalls. “The floors had deteriorated, and the walls were sagging.” But he was confident they would be able to raise the house off the ground, excavate a foundation and basement, and gut everything but the outer shell to give Ingrid the home she imagined. “It’s one of the smallest houses I’ve worked on but one of the most detailed,” Nichols says. “Everything was so thoroughly thought through.”

Although Ingrid has a lake house in Wisconsin, she claims Crested Butte as her primary home. And the free-spirited nature of her new hometown now bubbles up effortlessly through its design, a whimsical nod to the area. “I was able to be more adventurous with the décor,” she says, “because I wanted it to reflect the adventurousness of Crested Butte.”

—Jennifer Sergent