This Painter's Park City Sanctuary Embraces Historical Charm

As designer John Bambick and his client, painter Cheryl Appe, reflect on the renovation of her Park City home, they both recall the same starting point: flipping through a paint deck. “We sat on a sofa for hours going through colors,” remembers Bambick, who has known Cheryl and her husband, Don, for over a decade and has a keen understanding of their lifestyle. “I think we annoyed others around us with our slicing and dicing—which white and why, the historical context, we went the whole gamut,” chimes Cheryl with a laugh. “As an artist, I’m kind of a colorist,” she adds, “so I appreciate John’s finely tuned sense of color.”

Indeed, as Bambick’s path to interior design is informed by an education in visual arts and architectural history (subjects that remain his passions), he looks at color with an artistic eye himself—a vision that underscored how he approached the Appes’ winter residence. Cheryl maintains studios and houses in both Vermont and Park City, so this dwelling serves as a home gallery and gathering place for the couple to host their adult children and grandchildren. That said, a very particular shade of white with a hint of gray (“and absolutely no yellow,” notes the artist) became the quiet backdrop that sets off specific works she created for each space amid Bambick’s nuanced textures and elevated mix of European, 20th-century and new furnishings.

But first, “simplify” became the key word for the residence’s renovation, which focused on its surfaces. Working with general contractor Leon Schwab and team, the designer specified that the beams that traced the home be toned down from an orangey-brown to a softer gray; distracting travertine flooring was traded for quieter hardwood; ornamental dentil trim was nixed and the heavier upper cabinets of the high-ceilinged kitchen were removed to create more openness.

Bambick then balanced the architectural envelope of beams and stonework with a Modern vibe—“specifically, capital-M Modern,” notes the designer, citing the movement. “I felt that we needed to bring in pieces from the 20th century, because the historical context blends with the mountain environment.” For inspiration, he looked to 1920s–40s lodges and came across imagery of the Llao Llao Hotel in Patagonia when it first debuted in 1938. Its similar post-and-beam build was offset by clean-lined minimalistic furniture made of natural materials, a style that the hotel’s designer, Jean-Michel Frank, had dubbed classic rustic modernism. The look resonated with Bambick. “Frank’s furnishings added a lightness to the heavier woodwork,” he explains. “I love the tension that provided.”

Like the Lhao Lhao Hotel’s original interiors, the Appes’ home isn’t overcrowded. The great room, though grand in scale, groups two sofas, a set of swivel chairs and a pair of upholstered Italian benches around a large coffee table in the living area. Modern in style with classic clean lines, the custom sofas are covered in inky-purple fabrics. The colors play into Cheryl’s painting above the fireplace and pick up on the aubergine tones of the landscape. Floral and striped fabrics on various throw pillows add complexity, says Bambick, tying back to details like the lotus flowers of the dining area’s chandelier.

Historical notes thread the residence. See the custom dining chairs with a ’30s French feel that rest near a cabinet from the same era in the dining area; vintage lighting, like the striking Netherlands-found kitchen pendant; and the midcentury Italian armchairs that beckon from the primary bedroom. There, the walls are awash in a very subtle gray-violet hue—a hushed departure from the rest of the home that picks up on similar tones in the painting Cheryl hung above the headboard after conferring with Bambick. “It was a gift to collaborate closely with someone who was willing to work with an artist and appreciate my point of view,” she notes. “We really enjoyed each other from a creative perspective.”