Tour a Scandinavian-Inspired Vermont Retreat

To the left, through the glass door, lies the laundry room of this Vermont getaway; straight ahead, past the post-and-beam gateways, are the family bedrooms

The dining room serves up a stark textural pairing: the industrial-style chains of the Lucent Lightshop chandelier add heft while the alabaster globes lend glam. “At night they kind of glow,” says interior designer Gabrielle Bove

Scandinavian-style peaks that echo each other allow for a quainter, homier scale than one big volume. “The knotty western red cedar siding brings further warmth to the snowy landscape and efficient forms,” says architect Kevin ten Brinke.

The mudroom, fabricated from a plain-sawn rustic-grade oak, has an island that mimics the cubbies you’d find in a ski lodge.

Tall ceilings define the great room.

Bove’s team chose rift- and quarter-sawn oak to give the kitchen a uniform look. Wooden ceiling beams designed by ten Brinke ratchet up the kitchen’s cozy factor.

The richly textured powder room sink is a 700-pound cow trough imported from France, which builder Fred Igoe secured with steel beams that go down to the home’s foundation.

A lounge/bar area serves as an entertainment zone on the home’s lowest level.

Each child’s bedroom sports a different colorway of the Fox in the Snow wallcovering by Lake August (the green pictured here is called Scots).

In the children’s bedrooms, niches in the walls above the queen beds take the place of nightstands.

The clients were nervous that the red and blue in the antique rug chosen for their own bedroom wasn’t going to suit them, remembers Bove, “but they trusted the process.”

A wood floor and wall paneling warm up the primary bath; the tub is surrounded by Calacatta Bluette marble.

While the view from the A-framed guest room is certainly dramatic, the scale and materials are “very cozy, very human, making you feel safe, protected,” says ten Brinke.

The small volumes at the top entrance of the home, before it cascades down the steep slope, suggest a Nordic village.

A Modern Vermont Getaway with Cozy Cottage Appeal

Much on the couple’s wish list for their ski-and-summer getaway in Vermont was counterintuitive: a modern design but an exterior that suggests “cottage”; large, open entertaining spaces that still feel intimate; and a warm vibe but with very little color. “I’ve looked at millions of pictures of houses,” the wife says, “and was never drawn to the room that had orange walls. My color palette tendencies—in clothing, in furniture, in houses—is more neutrals.”

There was more. The house had to be built on a lot that sloped steeply; the structure was literally going to have to cling to the hillside. Finally, this second home had to have enough space for the couple’s children and regular visitors.

It happened—all of it.

Scandinavian-Inspired Architecture in Vermont

To break the mold of the contemporary white box, architect Kevin ten Brinke, principal of KT2 Design Group, took inspiration from modern Scandinavian design by dividing the house into what he calls “simple, clean, repetitive volumes” and roof slopes that are “very peaky.” Apportioning the massing across different volumes with pointed tops telegraphs homey, while a steeper pitch than what you’d typically get in New England makes it easier for the roof to handle the weight of heavy snowfalls.

Indoors, ten Brinke varied room scales. Some celebrate open space and suggest social gatherings with high ceilings and huge windows that drop away to Sound of Music-worthy views of a lake rimmed by mountains. Others, with lower ceiling heights and wood beams, “enclose you a little bit more,” ten Brinke says. Six just-right bedrooms that sleep eighteen complete the program.

Layered Textures Bring Warmth to a Neutral Modern Interior

Interior designer Gabrielle Bove, principal of Opaline Interiors Studio, says the trick to making the interior design warm without color was to incorporate “layers of texture, subtle ones that add up and speak to one another.” This addresses her clients’ wish to “retain the modern feel with elements of rusticity but also hints of glamour,” she says. A good example of this ethos is in the kitchen where the backsplash, comprised of handmade ceramic tiles with a shimmery crackle glaze, are juxtaposed against an oven hood that will patina over time.

Ten Brinke credits builder Fred Igoe’s civil engineering background for his ability to handle the complicated build, while the owners praise Igoe’s work style. “Fred’s model is one house at a time,” the husband says. “He was on-site every day, not a GC who rotates projects.”

Igoe, principal of Tappe and Igoe Fine Homes, took the work in stride: “I would ask the structural engineer, ‘Could we raise these beams here for ducts to go through?’ It’s second nature to me. I’ve been at this a long time.”

Any jiggering required was worth it. Says the husband, “Kevin was able to take what effectively was just a slope and somehow managed to create a layout that not only is very functional and beautiful but also uses the topography to advantage for the combination of space, privacy, and view.”

The wife puts it even more succinctly: “The thrilling part is walking in and seeing the lake and the hills unobstructed.”

Project Team
Architecture: KT2 Design Group
Interior design: Opaline Interiors Studio
Builder: Tappe and Igoe Fine Homes
Landscape design: Bonin Architects & Associates