Dramatic Vistas + Whimsical Interiors Converge In A Big Sky Home

"It really feels like a destination,” remarks architect David Marchetti of the journey up (and up and up) to the modern, mountain-ringed Big Sky getaway he designed for his clients as a family retreat. To make the most of their sloped property, which overlooks a meadow and boasts sight lines out to Lone Mountain, Fan Mountain and Spanish Peaks, Marchetti and his firm associates Erik Bredberg and Kristin Hensley had one momentous architectural goal: optimizing those views. On an early site walk with the homeowners, they discovered a spot that brought the peaks of both Lone and Fan mountains into view—and at the wife’s request, that sight is captured in the primary bedroom’s seating area, framed by wraparound glass. “It’s like the prow of a ship,” Marchetti describes. “That request became an anchor point that drove the shape of the house.”

The shape that emerged is composed of two rectangular volumes that intersect. The first houses an expansive great room with 15-foot-tall ceilings and an awe-inspiring window wall that spans the living, dining and kitchen areas. The second, meeting it an angle, is a wing housing the primary suite, a boot room (obligatory for a ski in, ski out home) and the garage. Guest rooms are downstairs, alongside a media room and a covered terrace with an inviting hot tub. “The owners wanted their house to be spacious, but it was about creating communal experiences, too,” Marchetti says. The great room’s double-island kitchen layout is indicative of this point, as it includes an elliptical booth off one island, facing the windows, and counter seating at the other. Similarly, the living area’s lengthy sectional handles a group with panache. A dining table floats at the great room’s center, allowing conversation to flow across the entire space.

As this is the second project Marchetti and his team had undertaken for their clients, “We got right to the fun stuff,” he shares. “The homeowners value all the same things we do as a firm, down to picking the finishes and materials.” Their choices include weathered cedar, locally quarried stone and patinated stainless steel—a classic, durable envelope of materials that fits the mountain vernacular. “This house is warm, easy and really melds into the surroundings,” adds general contractor John Seelye, who worked with project manager Anna Louttit-McKay and site supervisor Davy Williams on the build. (He recalls that many mornings began with site checks to ensure no bears were trying to make the house a winter retreat of their own.) Also essential to the project was landscape architect Troy Scherer. “Troy informed not only how the site looks but how it functions,” Marchetti notes. “Because the house is set into a hillside, we took extra care to manage snow melt.”

While the architecture is crafted to capture the views, the owners saw the finishes and furnishings as an opportunity to weave in character, color and whimsy. Enter Sally Breer, a designer whose imaginative interiors the wife had fallen for in a magazine. “The house she saw was really saturated and a little irreverent, so that helped paint a picture of what they wanted,” says Breer, noting that their discussions centered on crafting joyful, layered, feel-good spaces. “Many mountain homes are earth-toned and more demure, as people worry about color competing with the views,” the designer muses. “But I think you can live with color in a way that allows nature to be the show without sacrificing the spirit of the interiors.”

To wit, Breer chose an unexpected blue botanical fabric for the living room sectional, surrounded the dining table with chairs covered in a deep-purple mohair, and worked with the design team to specify a powder-blue stain for the kitchen cabinetry. Surprises delight around every corner: See the humanoid wicker chair that waves hello near the front door; the striking blue-and-mauve hair-on-hide wallcovering of the primary bedroom; and the seasonally themed guest bedrooms—green predominates in a “spring” room while peachy tones define the “autumnal” sleeping quarters. “The brief was ‘Fun with a capital F,’ ” the designer says. “And we didn’t pull back.” Marchetti agrees, concluding of the collaborative effort, “This home has materials appropriate to the place, but it’s also not too serious. It’s just the right balance of rustic charm and playfulness.”

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