09 Apr Peak Performance

Architecture and Interior Design | SHM Architects
Construction | Big Sky Build
Specialty Wood Products | Montana Reclaimed Lumber Co.

“I was blown away by the view,” says SHM Architects’ Mark Hoesterey of his first impression of the lot his clients had purchased in Montana’s Spanish Peaks Mountain Club. “It was breathtaking.”

It’s a word that gets tossed around a lot when discussing the state’s landscape. And while it’s true SHM is headquartered in Dallas, where things are pretty flat, the 5,700-acre ski-in, ski-out, membership-only resort’s Wildridge neighborhood is known to offer a singularly commanding panorama of Big Sky’s jagged, snow-capped peaks that’s truly worthy of the accolade. No wonder, then, that the 11,000-square-foot house, perched on the east side of Lone Mountain, seems to be almost all windows.

Visual Comfort’s Paxton light illuminates the entryway, while John Pomp’s playful Clear Band pendant hangs above the staircase beckoning visitors to explore the home’s lower level.

John Seelye, founder and CEO of local construction company Big Sky Build, was also impressed with the view. “It looks out over the Gallatin River toward the Gallatin Range, the Spanish Peaks, and even some of the peaks in Yellowstone National Park,” he says. “The owners made a great lot selection.” His company handled the construction, while SHM Architects oversaw the home’s architecture and interiors.

The kitchen’s cabinets are washed in Sherwin-Williams’ Storm Cloud, a sturdy gray-blue that mimics the color of the sky and holds its own against the home’s rustic materials. Bar stools from Interior Define sidle up to a countertop created from Pure Surfaces’ Statuario Milane. The Ralph Lauren Modern Large lanterns are from Visual Comfort. The 48-inch stainless steel range is by Wolf.

“We like to get our interiors team involved early on because then we can collaborate and build the story together,” says Hoesterey, explaining that the clients came to SHM dreaming of a timeless vacation home where they could entertain their friends, extended family, and, eventually, their grandchildren.

“I think they were drawn to us because of our focus on modern design and expansive layouts that would allow everyone to be in the same room together,” says Mckenzie Beckham, who heads the interior design team at SHM. Beckham worked closely with Seelye and Hoesterey, alongside SHM senior project manager Phil Hoffmann, project architect Emily Collins, and project coordinator Nick Vezinaw to produce a home that riffs off the firm’s focus on relationships between people, but also between indoors and out. “You have this amazing landscape around you, so you don’t want to block the views.”

“We really liked that both of the front doors could fully open and there wouldn’t be a mullion to block the view all the way through the house to the other side,” says Mckenzie Beckham, who leads SHM Architects’ interior design team. “The ceilings pop up and there’s this feeling of expansiveness.”

Hoesterey agrees. “The precedent in mountain homes is pretty dark, with heavy woods and not a lot of windows,” he notes. “They’re about hunkering down and keeping warm.” That image stands in sharp contrast to the firm’s portfolio of bright, modern, and open retreats. “We’re known for our big windows and really emphasizing those indoor-outdoor connections,” he adds. “So I spent a lot of time just walking the site, identifying the premier vantage points.”

Though SHM recently launched a satellite office in Crested Butte, Colorado, this was the firm’s first project in Montana. “While working in a new place is always a challenge, it’s been really fun for us,” says Hoesterey. “In each area we build, whether we’re in a coastal wetland or on arid ranchlands, we have to familiarize ourselves with the ins and outs. There’s always things you need to consider.”

The kitchen’s nook offers a cozy spot for breakfast or catching up on emails. White oak wood walls link this space with the view of the trees and sky just outside the window. The custom banquette is swathed in fabric from C. Maddox. The chairs are from Interior Define.

He quickly learned that Montana, of course, is all about the snow. He had to take into account how snow would shed from the structure and plan where it would be plowed. While that meant peaked roofs, deep overhangs, and outdoor heaters, new technologies enabled the firm to exploit ideas that wouldn’t have been possible a generation ago.

The side entry’s hallway leads to the husband’s fly-fishing room.

“Now we can have big windows and lift-and-slide doors that open up an entire wall to the outdoors and still have great thermal performance,” Hoesterey says. “These are the kinds of things that people would have loved to have 50, 100 years ago. Now you can do these things and still have a home that’s warm and comfortable.”

An armchair with a coordinating footstool by Bassett offers a comfortable place for the husband to read or tie flies while keeping the inspiring landscape in sight. The aged-iron Halle lanterns were found at Visual Comfort.

Big Sky Build was instrumental in translating SHM’s plans into the realities of the area’s extreme environment. Windows, Seelye mentions, offer the least insulation of any building material. “We can hit 100 degrees in the summer, and then, in winter, it can swing from minus 40 at night to 30 during the day,” he explains. “So you’re relying on high-quality, high-performing, triple-pane window packages, extensive insulation practices, and robust mechanical systems to withstand those fluctuations.” Fortunately, the custom home building company, which is approaching its 30th anniversary, is well-versed in these challenges.

On the upper porch just outside the great room, a quartet of generous chairs and a sofa, all found at RH, are clustered around a fire pit.

The home, like many in the area, is two levels to accommodate the sloped lot, with the entryway at the uppermost point. “It takes a lot of work — soil preparation, orientation, making sure the driveways aren’t too steep — to sculpt the lot to fit the home,” Seelye says.

In the primary bedroom, Bernhardt’s oak Ritter nightstands, topped by Arteriors’ Pacifica lamps, flank a custom bed covered in fabrics from Bernhardt and Holland & Sherry.

“The fun thing about this house is that it’s a surprise,” Hoesterey explains. “You pull up to this low-slung house, walk through the gates and the courtyard, and up to the front door; that’s when the whole story opens up and you’re looking straight through the house to the mountains.”

Seen from the rear, the house seems to be almost entirely windows, offering an endless panorama of the Gallatin River, the Gallatin Range, the Spanish Peaks, and, in the distance, the peaks in Yellowstone National Park.

Lofty cathedral ceilings lined in reclaimed wood and floor-to-ceiling windows punctuate a design that seamlessly connects interior to exterior, highlighting the home’s elegant construction by exposing its framework to reimagine the classic cabin as something streamlined and refined.

In a guest room, a sturdy, weathered, custom oak bookcase with open shelving doubles as a ladder to access the upper levels of the room’s custom twin-over-full bunk beds.

“I think what sometimes gets overlooked in design is the importance of the other senses — the feel of a well-made door handle, the sound of crushed gravel under your feet in the courtyard, the smell of the trees when you open a door — that ground you in a place and a space,” Hoesterey says. Given the visual restraint of these rooms, such details hold even greater weight.

“Because this was the clients’ second home, we could have a little more fun with it,” Beckham says.

The primary bathroom’s mirrors, hung opposite each other above his-and-hers Kohler sinks, are perfectly placed to reflect the scenery outside the room’s central window. Suspended above Duravit’s Cape Cod bathtub is Visual Comfort’s Talia Linear chandelier, a whimsical array of glass bubbles.

Hoesterey echoes her observation. “It’s a lot more enjoyable for me to think about how to display a collection of bamboo fishing rods than it is fine china,” he says with a laugh.

“The goal was not to create a heavy traditional interior but something that was light and relaxing that didn’t detract from the views,” says Beckham. Here, that means simple, clean lines; strong shapes; graphic lighting; and a neutral palette highlighted by touches of a soft blue-gray that seems to bring the sky inside.

“The wife loves blue and that works really well here,” Beckham adds. Strategically placed mirrors echo the landscape and keep the focus on the views. “They draw your eye around the space and bounce the light around, underlining the interior’s bright, expansive feeling.” Large, open-plan rooms encourage togetherness.

The home’s focus on the connection between indoors and out drove every decision. Everything — the placement of the primary bathroom’s his-and-hers sinks on opposite walls, where their mirrors perfectly reflect the vista outside the room’s central window; the leggy nightstands in the primary bedroom that allow light to slip through their supports; the floating shelving over the bar in the walk-out basement’s pool room; the slender blackened-steel frames of the bunk room’s beds; the kitchen’s blue-gray cabinetry, and the reclaimed-wood wall that frames the room’s cozy banquette — was measured against whether it would pull focus from the view.

“It was really about bringing as much light and outdoors into the space as possible,” says Beckham. Even the fly-fishing room, a tribute to the husband’s favorite pursuit, is wrapped in windows. She explains, “He can tie flies while enjoying the view.”

Abigail Stone is a New York-born, Los Angeles-based freelance writer covering lifestyle, culture, and design. Compulsively curious, she has a knack for turning complex topics into compelling and elegant stories for outlets that include California Home + Design, Vogue Living Australia, Architectural Digest, and The New York Times.

Whitney Kamman is an architectural photographer based out of Bozeman. Her love for architecture came naturally growing up with an architect father and interior designer mother. Kamman’s work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, Robb Report, and Mountain Living, among others.