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Customize your great room with a remodel

You know how you want your great room — one of the main areas you gather with family and friends — to feel: open, light, welcoming and warm. But how do you actually achieve that? Here at Kasia Karska Design, we’ve been creating custom homes and interior design that fits each client’s individual style since 1999. 

One Bachelor Gulch project we recently completed focused on transforming an older home, built in an era characterized by heavy logs and ornate furnishings, into a modern and youthful one. 

The question for the homeowners was: how do you go from Beaver Creek’s original Parkitecture aesthetic, which emphasized logs, dark wood and antler chandeliers to a contemporary home that still honors, respects and reflects nature? 

The first thing we do is deeply listen to you and guide you through the process of bringing your vision to fruition, no matter if you’re a first-time home remodeler or if you’ve built from the ground up multiple times. 

It’s usually easy to talk about the feel and look you want, but sometimes visualizing the elements all together is a completely different matter. That’s where mood boards, floorplans, technical drawings and computer-generated renderings come into play. Through a variety of drafts, we zero in on the best plan for you.

One small example of how computer-generated renderings help homeowners make decisions involved the location of the television in this Bachelor Gulch home. The new owners knew they wanted to remove the log siding that gave the luxury home a cabin-like look and feel, and they knew the antler chandelier and dark-rock fireplace didn’t suit their taste. But they hadn’t visualized small details, like the location of the TV. So when they saw a computer rendering of it above the Colorado ledgestone, floor-to-ceiling fireplace, they noticed it was more of a focal point than they had expected. To remedy the issue, we moved it to the right-hand corner and hung a large bison painting on the fireplace, which brought a bold yet nature-inspired focal point to the room. 

Of course, there are plenty of other ways to disguise televisions, whether that’s through a mirror or a piece of artwork that efficiently fits over, and opens to, the TV. Drawings help you decide what you want before construction begins, saving you time, effort and money.

In addition to removing outdated log siding, we changed the textured, yellowly-colored “orange peel” walls to a clean and modern finish. We also sanded the dark floors, maintaining the hand-hewn finish but brightening the gorgeous wood to bring out its best qualities. The refinished window trim contrasts the light ceiling, walls, floor and kitchen countertops, making it more personal, brighter, friendly and happy.

The relatively simple project just goes to show that you don’t always have to do a lot to completely change a home. There are easy tricks to changing the feeling of a space from dark to light.

If you’re looking for an expert eye to personalize an outdated home, no matter how big or small the project, let our team at Kasia Karska Design simplify the process. Contact us so we can discuss how to make your house a custom home that caters to your lifestyle and aesthetics.