SO, YOU’RE BUILDING A MOUNTAIN HOME IN PARK CITY
A few things to know before the plans, the Pinterest boards, and the approximately 4,000 decisions begin.
First of all, lucky you. We love living here, and we cannot wait for you to love it too.
This is Part One of The Mountain Edit, our Williams Metcalf Interiors Journal series on designing, building, renovating, and actually living well in the mountains. We are starting with Park City because, well, it is home to us and to Williams Metcalf Interiors.
There are few things better than a home in the mountains. The views, the snow, the après-ski afternoons, the muddy dogs, and the boots that somehow multiply by the front door.
But designing a mountain home takes a little more thought than adding a fireplace, throwing a plaid blanket over something, and calling it cozy.
At Williams Metcalf Interiors, we design luxury residential interiors, renovations, and new construction throughout Park City and the Wasatch Back. And if there is one thing we have learned, it is that the best mountain homes feel completely at home in their surroundings without feeling overly “mountain.”
So before you break ground, start a renovation, or save your 947th kitchen photo, here are a few things we think are worth considering.
Designing for how you actually live means making room for everyone. A big, cozy sectional? Yes, please.
START WITH HOW YOU ACTUALLY LIVE. and be honest.
Before we talk about stone, cabinetry, tile, or the perfect shade of warm white, we want to know how you actually use your house.
Do you ski every weekend? Are twelve people descending on you for Christmas? Is your dog going to come home covered in snow and immediately shake it all over the mudroom? Do you cook for two or twenty? Do you want everyone gathered together, or do you secretly want a few places where everyone can disappear?
These questions matter. And we are going to ask them. Probably a lot of them. Maybe too many.
We just want you to answer honestly.
At the end of the day, this is about how you and your family actually live in your home, not how we at Williams Metcalf Interiors think you should live in it. The more we know about your routines, habits, priorities, and even the slightly less glamorous parts of everyday life, the better we can design a home that genuinely feels like you.
A beautiful mountain home also has to work hard.
That might mean a mudroom with a place for every boot, glove, helmet, and coat. It might mean performance fabrics that can survive dogs, children, and red wine. It might mean a kitchen island large enough for everyone to gather around after skiing.
The pretty decisions are coming. We promise.
But the practical ones are usually what make the pretty ones work.
PARK CITY IS NOT ONE DESIGN STYLE
This is important.
An Old Town renovation is not a Park Meadows renovation. The size, location, architecture, and layout create entirely different ways of living. A house tucked into the trees in Pinebrook presents different opportunities than a ski home in Deer Valley. And a new build in Promontory is not going to live the same way as a family home in Trailside.
And we do not think they should look the same either.
Park City gives us historic homes, ski-in/ski-out properties, sprawling custom residences, family neighborhoods, wooded retreats, golf communities, and everything in between. The address gives us context. It does not give us a design formula.
MOUNTAIN DOES NOT HAVE TO MEAN “MOUNTAIN THEMED”
We love designing mountain homes. We do not necessarily love putting a moose on everything. There is a difference between a house that belongs in the mountains and one that looks like it was decorated from the “mountain” section of a catalog. Natural stone, beautiful woods, plaster, wool, linen, aged metals, and tactile materials can create a sense of place without becoming thematic. The mountains can be the inspiration.
They do not need to become the theme.
How about this view from one of our recent Deer Valley projects?
LET THE VIEW DO SOME OF THE DECORATING
Sometimes the best thing in the room is already outside the window.
When you have an incredible mountain view, the interior does not need to compete with it. Furniture placement, window treatments, lighting, architectural details, and even the height of a sofa can change how you experience a view. Sometimes good design is knowing when to add something. Sometimes it is knowing when to leave the view alone.
PLEASE THINK ABOUT LIGHTING BEFORE THE ELECTRICIAN ARRIVES
We say this with love. Lighting seems very far away when you are staring at architectural plans.
Until suddenly it is not.
Do you have a beautiful piece of art that you want to be a focal point? Where is it going to hang? Do we have enough wall space for it? How should it be lit? Is a sconce competing with it? Is the furniture placement going to change how you see it when you enter the room? These are all things we think about in tandem at Williams Metcalf Interiors.
Lighting does not exist separately from the art, furniture, cabinetry, or architecture. We think about decorative lighting, architectural lighting, art lighting, cabinetry lighting, dimming, switching, furniture placement, and wall space together. We are even thinking about the color of your outlets and switches, because nothing ruins a beautiful wall quite like an outlet that suddenly becomes the focal point.
A beautiful pendant is wonderful.
A beautiful pendant that is centered over the table, hangs at the correct height, works with the ceiling architecture, and turns on from the place you expect it to?
Even better.
We love electrical plans. Yes, really. Here is a peek at just how into the details we get on a recent Promontory project.
BRING YOUR INTERIOR DESIGNER IN EARLY
If you are building a custom home or undertaking a major renovation, your interior designer should ideally be involved well before anyone starts asking you to pick tile.
Interior design during new construction is much more than furniture.
We collaborate with architects, builders, cabinetmakers, electricians, plumbers, tile installers, and craftspeople on cabinetry, lighting, plumbing, flooring, fireplaces, millwork, hardware, paint, furniture, window treatments, and all the little details in between.
It is all connected.
The earlier those conversations happen, the fewer compromises have to be made later.
FINALLY, MAKE IT YOURS
Park City has plenty of beautiful houses. Your goal should not be to create another one that looks exactly like them. The homes we remember tell us something about the people who live there. Maybe it is an antique that has been in the family forever sitting next to a very contemporary chair. Maybe it is an unexpected fabric, art collected over years of travel, a custom piece made by a local craftsperson, or a room designed entirely around the way your family spends Sunday mornings. Those are usually the details that make a house feel finished.
Not because everything matches. Because everything belongs.
Our client’s record wall. Proof that art does not have to match to work perfectly together. In fact, we prefer it that way.
THINKING ABOUT BUILDING OR RENOVATING IN THE WASATCH BACK?
Williams Metcalf Interiors is a full-service residential interior design firm with offices in Park City, Utah and Hanover, New Hampshire. We work on luxury new construction, renovations, mountain homes, and complete residential interiors, collaborating closely with our clients, architects, builders, and craftspeople from the earliest plans through the final layer.
And yes, we are always happy to talk about your home before you know exactly what you want it to be. We love meeting new people, hearing about their ideas, and talking about beautiful homes, whether you are building from the ground up or reimagining the one you already have. Call us!
