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The Breck Home
by Karen Bossick

Peter and Toni Breck's home, with its timber beams and simple, rustic detailing, reflects a Belgian farmhouse look that is completely in character with its setting along the Big Wood River. Toni studied interior design in London during the late 1970s and was taken with the neutral muddy colors, the weathered patina, the simple linens, and the unassuming, quiet feel of Belgian interiors. Inside the house, the hand-hewn beams and trusses overlook spaces adorned with an interplay of finishes and found furniture.

The view of Griffin Butte to the west is a focal point. Toni and Peter have admired the view since first bringing their family to Sun Valley on ski trips 32 years ago. The property is situated close to the Harriman Trail, where the Brecks love to skate-ski with their dogs. Landscape berms designed by Clemens and Associates Landscape Architects provide seclusion.

A friendly veranda resembles a covered porch, where the old stone meets reclaimed barn wood. Windows are trimmed in wood reclaimed from a timeworn corral fence. The barn wood was recovered from barns throughout the west by Henderson Corporation, based in Boise, specialists in authentic antique and reclaimed building materials. Peter Dembergh (Dembergh Construction) cleaned and dried the wood, re-planed it and then matched it according to its gradation of color. The Brecks quip that they cornered the market on gray and silvered barn wood: "We laughed that we were building with old wood that had a whiff of manure," says Toni, whose parents honeymooned in Sun Valley in 1953.

With its center section constructed of dry-stack stone, the home is meant to look like a weathered homestead. The bedroom wing has a lighter, more refined feel with its painted plank walls and sloped ceilings. The bedroom wing walls were made from cost-effective, energy-saving, structural, insulated panels clad in barn wood. The master bedroom features a mirror framed by old pressed tin ceiling squares, and linen drawers beneath an expansive window seat. The botanical painting was created by Kenna Moser. The planked wood is called "back-side brown" -- the buff and tanned tones are the result of the wood having never been exposed to light. The floors are ammonia-fumed white oak, a process used in early Arts and Crafts furniture.

Guests enter the home through an extended hallway featuring hangers made from antique harness hooks. Farther down the hallway is a gallery designed to show off "rusty stuff"-farm implements that Toni thought a perfect match with her home's old barn wood and reclaimed timbers. The knick-knacks on the shelves include old cultivator wheels, pitchforks, pulleys, cart wheels sitting on custom-made stands-some of which were found at Lone Star in Hailey. "We love the ones that move and spin," says Toni.

Transom windows in the living room extend the views of Griffin Butte. The cabinets in the wine nook are made of wire-brushed white oak left natural. Three bird-on-cigar box pieces by Ed Musante accent the bar. An encaustic piece by Belgian artist Raphaelle Goethals and a James Cook painting of Silver Creek finish off the living room. They are among several works that Gail Severn Gallery helped the Brecks acquire.
The walls are covered with plaster applied using an unusual Mediterranean plaster technique suggested by architect Janet Jarvis, which adds an earthy, organic feeling to the house.

The powder room to the right of the living room features a painted French commode plumbed for the sink. The pine buffet by the stairs is an old French baker's rack with drying trays inside.

In Peter's study hangs a vintage black-and-white photograph from Charles Lindsay's UPSTREAM monograph. This is one of a series of abstract fly-fishing-related images by part-time Sun Valley resident Charles Lindsay, who is a Guggenheim Fellow and currently serving as the first Artist-in-Residence at the SETI Institute in Silicon Valley. Lindsey has been featured locally at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and the Boise Art Museum, and around the world.

The Brecks' love for old industrial furniture is reflected in the Belgian work table used as an island in the kitchen. They outfitted it with a new top, as the original looked as if it had been used in a factory. The art, featuring quirky people on tin, is by Morgan Brif, and the dining room painting by Kris Cox. The dining room is a nod to Peter's desire to have at least part of the interior covered in barn wood paneling, and it has turned out to be one of the coziest rooms in the house.

The wagon wheel over the fireplace in the family room is actually an 18th-century window from Vermont that Toni thought captured the spirit of the house. An industrial table with an old steel riveted top has been turned into a game table.

The utility rooms and rec room above the garage continue the country feel with grain sifters, wire-laced cabinets, a milk jug lamp, a wooden French rake holding the Brecks' ski passes, wooden skis and snowshoes and art made out of a Big Chief burlap sack. Mittens and sport shoes are stored in old pool locker baskets (remember those?) Toni found at a salvage yard in California.

The Adirondack chairs in the backyard are made of barn wood, while the hot tub surround is constructed from leftover corrugated tin from the dining room roof. The Brecks cover their fire pit in winter with a cupola they found in Ketchum. The cupola serves as garden décor in the summer.

The Brecks frequently lunch on the terrace or at the picnic table under the cottonwoods during summer.
Come evening they love to cast a fly-fishing line in the Big Wood River, which splashes past their house. And at night they sit around the fire pit watching deer, elk and moose nibble on the native fireweed that grows in the meadow-the other residents of their Belgian country home.

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The Gillespie Home
by Sabina Dana Plasse

When Ellen and James Gillespie bought their piece of paradise nestled in the Eagle Creek hillside, they realized that a full remodel was needed in order to reflect not only the comforts of contemporary living, but also to fully acknowledge the high-desert environment. James, an owner of Habitat Landscape Architecture as well as Native Landscapes, two of the Valley's premier landscape architecture and landscape construction firms, and Ellen, owner of Sun Valley Events, both have busy schedules, which include raising three children and two dogs.

Simplicity and style with low maintenance were primary goals in remodeling the original 1960s ski home. They placed a priority on maintaining stunning mountain views of Baldy, Fox Creek, Chocolate Gulch, and Durrance Peak. "We sit here and dream of skiing," said James. "The goal of the remodel was to take in the views and have the landscape blend continuously with the environment."

The remodel, by architect James Bourret, was focused on bringing the structure up to code and changing the tumbledown board-and-batten house by designing a combination of steel, stone, concrete, and wood materials. This included adding bamboo floors to the entire home, which includes two floors, with a den on the lower level and a staircase leading to an open family room with fireplace and kitchen. The new fireplace sites in between the dining room and living room, heating both spaces but creating an open, airy space. "The fireplace manufacturer loved its placement in our home," Ellen commented. "They even visited us and took a photo!" Rocky Mountain Hardware fixtures are used throughout the home. Gallery spaces on the second floor house the couple's favorite works of art.

A small stairway from the main part of the house leads to a bedroom and bath tiled with sedimentary rock, creating an interesting transition to the outside. The modern, inviting master-bath soaking tub has a direct sightline to Neal Canyon. Towel bars and shelving integrated into countertop and tile treatments were contemporary ideas by architect James Bourret. "We have great craftsmen in the Valley," said Bourret enthusiastically.

Megan Edwards at Stuhlberg Interiors provided all the interior design direction, including paint colors and arrangement of furniture into cozy, inviting spaces. "She had fantastic, creative ideas about designing all aspects of the home," said James. Interior decorator Gail Dwyer brought her international sensibility to the Gillespie home, with functional and durable touches, including Mama Green patio furniture with contemporary style and form. "The simplicity, cleanliness and use of natural colors and tones with a contemporary edge are excellent," Dwyer said. "A sunshade is a sleek look and a Sun Valley necessity."

Bourret worked with the Gillespies to design a better site for the home. Re-designing the driveway and landscape would focus on the land rather than the previous, predominately concrete building site. "There was no year; it was all concrete," Bourret said. "We got rid of the pavement and original garage and built a much-needed guest cottage and new garage." It was also important to James and Ellen to create a landscaped area so the family could enjoy outdoor space. The guest cottage provides a recreation space for the family, with doors to the outside that completely open up the room. The sliding panel doors afford privacy and can be illuminated, creating an artistic effect. The neutral walls in muted shades echo the adjacent landscape palette.
The new home, with an exterior of concrete, wood and steel, is insulated and much, much more energy-efficient than the old one. "Bill Sherrerd at Sherrerd & Wall Construction came up with all sorts of creative solutions that really made the house work," said James. "From a construction point of view, he delivered a piece of art." The home's passive solar windows are another green addition, as well as the outside walls, which are insulated with a special material for extra energy efficiency.

The Gillespies wanted a green, sustainable home, including a green roof. Bourret and the Gillespies planned a new and natural landscape to integrate with the home's architecture. "We picked materials with colors of the site and hillside," Bourret said. "We used delicate lines, slots, and stones, and created a new entry. I know Habitat Landscape Architecture would design, and Native Landscapes would install, a balanced, functioning, integrated landscape. The rock work, terrace, and outdoor space all worked."

The guest cottage roof is seamless with the hillside behind it. It is cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and the technology to create the green roof is innovative and appropriate to the Rocky Mountain West (having to do with snow load, water management, and the local plant palette). The green roof on the cottage makes the Gillespie home a one-of-a-kind model for future high-desert dwellings. "The stone materials match the decomposed soils," said James. "A drip system on the roof allows for minimal water flow off the roof. "The system is energy efficient, self-sustaining, and supports the minimal landscaping."

The landscape design succeeded in fulfilling the Gillespies' desire to connect where they wanted to live with how they wanted to live, matching the different functional needs of the family with an aesthetic that is pleasing to them, integrating their home and surroundings into the natural beauty of the sagebrush hills. "It feels good coming home, to our home," said James.

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North Country Home
by Jima Rice

Tucked in the trees up a hillside just north of Ketchum is situated a graceful, contemporary home, a signature remodel by local architect Mark Pynn, that celebrates the horizontal plane both outside and in. As one drives toward the tranquil setting, the home peeps out here and there with a slight air of mystery, apparently floating.

Close up, the home's exterior imparts a Zen-like quality: stillness captured by clean, definitive architectural lines. The circular driveway curves beside a large stone wall that screens three garages and moves the eye horizontally from the building back to the existing hillside.

Harmonious with Mother Nature's beauty and strength, the home's exterior is wrapped in a combination of stone, taupe stucco, native Idaho quartzite, bonderized steel, and architectural concrete: durable, natural materials that resist wildfire and visually disappear into the scenery. Stepped hip-roofs of asphalt composition shingles reinforce the home's horizontal line and anchor it in the hillside setting. Stone walls with randomly layered ins and outs further evoke the horizontal line; small multi-level terraces dotted with waterfalls and pools abound. "I wanted to calm the home," explains Mark, "and ground it in the surrounding landscape. By collaborating on the design for the remodeled building, exterior hardscape elements, and the grounds, with landscape architect Bruce Hinckley of Alchemie, we were able to achieve a seamless transition and celebration of the natural exterior environment and the newly-fitted building to its site."

Enter the home through a stunning 6' x 8' pivoting glass door that deposits you in the two-story foyer of the first floor. Note the sprinkling of natural stones to your right and the long entry table, a reclaimed fallen Washington State cedar. These are just some of the natural materials that distinguish every part of the house. Ascend the balustrade of pre-cast concrete stairs with its curved Sapele mahogany banister and hidden down-lighting. (Sapele, pronounced suh-PEE-lee, is an African hardwood named after a port on the Benin River in southern Nigeria.) The foyer's one-of-a-kind metal and glass chandelier was designed by Mark to align with the style of commercially-purchased sconces throughout the home.

As you step into the rectangular great room, feel its welcoming pull and the calming effect of its interior design, both of which pay homage to wide views from every window. Neutral colors (slate, beige, persimmon) and natural textures (alpaca, wool, mohair) adorn the room's transitional-style furniture (a marriage of traditional and contemporary) set off by a heather-brown rug braided of chunky wool. Hanging on the far left wall is an original grain thresher, adding texture and warmth.

Sapele mahogany window trim, flooring, and cabinetry (with sand-blasted clear-coated steel horizontals) stand out against the natural plaster walls. A cantilevered bench built into the right-hand wall echoes the home's horizontal and floating themes, as do the horizontally-striped upholstered armchairs by the fireplace and the horizontals of slate-gray wool backing the dining chairs.

The Sapele mahogany and steel theme recurs throughout the home, including the kitchen (which spills into the great room), and bathrooms. In these more utilitarian rooms, countertops, floor tiles, and bath tiles are Atlantic Bluestone; the kitchen's central island is topped with a massive four-inch thick slab of galaxy schist.
Pass through the great room to the master suite with its comparatively huge cantilevered "sky terrace" featuring a 270 degree northern view. This expansive space invites entertaining and twilight family time with its resin wicker sofas and chairs, teak dining table, and dramatic, waist-high, eight-foot-diameter stone fire pit. Before leaving the master suite, note the bed's headboard, made from linen upholstered horizontal tiles, and its footboard, which hides a large flat screen TV.

Back on the ground floor, explore the family room, two guestrooms, the family bedroom, and the study, each one opening onto its own terrace with peaceful water features and more wicker furniture. This level has a bit more traditional style and color. Guest rooms show soft greens and purples; one sports drapes as well as the natural woven-grass blinds installed throughout the home. The study's distinction is a 1,000 pound Atlantic Bluestone desk which Mark and five other men placed on its base.

Outside again, you'll walk away a little calmer and more peaceful, basking in the distinctive, personal style of this remodeled home with its arcing views, gentle symmetry and asymmetry, horizontal float, and alignment with Mother Nature.

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The Hitchin Home
by Sabina Dana Plasse

For 25 years, David and Jill Hitchin lived in a Weyyakin house as their Wood River Valley residence. With homes along the California coast, the Hitchins searched for a perfect mountain property for their retirement. When they found the property north of Ketchum off Highway 75, around the bend from Lake Creek, they realized their life-long dream by building Chanteclair, a European contemporary home designed by architect Jim Ruscitto, who provided the important details that make the property a stunning retreat. The project was five years in the making.

With a spectacular view of Griffin Butte, the house is surrounded by national forest on three sides and includes views into the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Ruscitto suggested lowering the property site lines by three feet to create an oasis-like feel. Reclaimed earth sculpted into berms on the property added additional privacy.

The stone pavers in the driveway complement the color of the wood rafters along the home's overhang to create a warm ambiance at the entryway. Asymmetrically on either side above the entrance are two trapezoidal windows showcasing Swarovski crystal chandeliers. The crystal Art Deco fixtures are copies of those the couple admired and loved at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York City. These limited-edition reproduction Met chandeliers, a 40th-anniversary gift, were originally designed by Hans Harald Roth for J&L Lobmeyr Glassworks as a gift from the Austrian government to commemorate the Austrian peoples' gratitude to America for its help in reconstruction after World War II. The metal spheres, called "sputniks," hold together the metal rods, known as rays, which reach out from the sputniks.

The Hitchins are a bon vivant couple, with an apartment in Paris and a distinct wanderlust (which they sometimes satisfy on a motorcycle). Their flair for European style is noticeable throughout Chanteclair in the found objects, antiques, rare collectibles, and overall design.

A grizzly-bear sculpture greets visitors at the front door, characterizing David Hitchin's Canadian roots. This sculpture complements the Bear's Lair, the so-named fireplace-a 1,750 pound piece of stone. The great room features a rustic hickory floor and wood-coffered ceiling along with chamois-hued, plastered walls to create a mellow and warm appearance.

A vaulted stone hallway entry leads to eye-catching décor including a hanging water fountain, which is just one of the many meaningful and memorable objects the couple found on their journeys. Pieces from a furniture show in Las Vegas, from a village in Burgundy, France, as well as collectibles from Jill's travels to the Himalayas and a Cotswold table from 35 years ago all found a new life in the Hitchins' Sun Valley home.

The spectacular outdoor space, which has been the setting for numerous events such as a gathering for members of the Idaho Bird Observatory and other Valley non-profits the family supports, includes a surround-sound music system and a stone fountain patterned after the Aga Kahn's signature fountain in Sardinia. The large custom-crafted sliding glass doors invite the living room and dining room out and into the beautiful environs, and vice versa.

"We have a special chandelier," Jill said. "It is from the Community Library's Our Moveable Feast silent auction. Our house had not even been framed when we bought it several years ago!" Kipp Nelson, a long-time Sun Valley resident, donated the Venetian Murano-glass chandelier to the Library event. And now the Hitchins are once again supporting the Library by featuring their home on the annual Home Tour.

The Hitchins' three Labradors, all related, enjoy the Idaho great outdoors, and when their travels bring them home with muddy paws, they have their own washing facility in the expansive garage, three-and-a-half cars wide, that includes a special motorcycle area. Behind the garage is a horse ring for Jill to keep her horse in overnight.

The master bedroom features a sleigh bed, a marble fireplace, and an antique dresser from Virginia. Other touches worth noticing in the chic-and-cozy vanity areas are the radiant heated floor, pocket doors for the closets, the Art Deco lighting, and the Rocky Mountain Hardware (throughout the house). A corner dressing area holds objects especially significant to Jill.

The landscaped courtyard and patio, a summer delight, affords year-round views north to the Boulder Mountains. Talk about a room with a view!

The spacious kitchen include a Subzero refrigerator and drawers, two Miele dishwashers, and a handmade La Canche range from France. The kitchen also includes a breakfast nook, where Jill and David enjoy meals together when the home is quiet. From the kitchen, a stairway leads to the second floor's guest room, David's study, and a loft. Breteau paintings, two of which were commissioned for the 1980 U.S. Olympic pavilion, don the walls.

A European contemporary home, Chanteclair delightfully expresses the Hitchins' travel-focused lifestyle, but it is their refuge as well, and the embodiment of the phrase: "There's no place like home."

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