In a thoughtful remodel, LMK Interior Design brings modern elegance to a traditional Park City home while honoring its mountain roots
Photos by Scot Zimmerman
When clients hired Rion Locke and Richard Miller of LMK Interior Design to take their traditional mountain home from rustic to contemporary, the designers—alongside Beehive State Builders— were tasked with modernizing the residence without losing its connection to the surrounding Park City landscape.
The designers employed neutral tones, rich textures and strategic wood elements in the living room to create warmth while complementing the multi-colored flooring. “The arrangement they had in the great room was very compact, and it didn’t take advantage of the scale of the room,” says Miller. “We brought in new furnishings with those matching wood elements, expanded the ceiling and employed custom lighting to utilize the entire space.”
The first and most significant challenge was integrating the home’s existing, statement-making flooring into the redesign—a bold grid of slate and wood that spans the entry, great room and kitchen. After refreshing it with new stain, LMK celebrated this original flooring as the pattern-rich anchor for modern furnishing, updated fixtures and creative treatments that lighten the interior’s look and streamline the home’s primary public spaces.
Custom Hammerton lighting fixtures illuminate individual spaces throughout the main living area, beginning in the entryway, where the Parallel Ring chandelier accentuates warm tones from the area’s flooring and adds ambient glow to the room.
A Hammerton Parallel Curved Linear Chandelier helps define the dining area within the open floor plan. Staged in front of wide windows, a two-tone Century Furniture table teamed with stylish McGuire dining chairs nods to seating in the adjacent kitchen. “We wanted these chairs to speak the same language as the barstools, but in a different dialect,” the designers share.
Throughout the home, the designers also enlarged windows and doorways to bring in more light and take advantage of the home’s impressive views. In the living room, Locke and Miller transformed the fireplace, elevating it as a key focal point that draws the eye up toward dazzling custom chandeliers.“A beautiful backlit stone mantel teams with sleek updated cabinetry to draw attention upward away from the floor and toward the incredible lighting,” says Locke. “The lighting gives this space the extra ‘oomph’ it was calling for.”
Replacing a boxy cabinet, sleek open shelving constructed by Dwell Cabinet Company wraps the corner leading from the entry into the living room, creating a modern transition between the spaces. The designers ensured that all furniture pieces in the great room—including a sculpturally channeled sofa and angular chairs by Nathan Anthony—are beautiful from all sides, due to their visibility from all angles within the space.
Two other major spaces were at the heart of this home’s overhaul: the kitchen and the primary bathroom. A key component of the open floor plan, the kitchen received a full facelift with simplicity driving the design. With its waterfall-edged quartzite bar seating and rich dark oak cabinetry, the sleek island centers the space, acting as a moody contrast to the elegantly lined quartz countertops and tile backsplash. Behind the range, an open pantry offers hidden storage and easy access to kitchen necessities. The new cabinetry throughout the great room echoes the straight lines from freshly squared-off doorways, delivering sophistication to the home’s rugged location.
Open to the living and dining areas, the kitchen boasts clean lines and eye-catching materials. A new two-level waterfall island provides casual seating and ample workspace. A raised section of marbled Vittara Crystal quartzite forms a bar-height seating shelf, housing woven leather McGuire barstools. At counter-level, neutral quartz blends with texture-rich tile backsplash to create clean-lined cooking space that doesn’t compete with the floor’s bold pattern. The designers pulled space from the original kitchen to create a pantry behind the new range wall. Cabinetry by Dwell Cabinet Company.
Naturally, the primary suite acts as a sanctuary for the homeowners; an interlude within the symphony of the design. Locke and Miller stripped the primary bathroom to the studs, building from the ground up to maximize space and continuity with the rest of the home. Minimal cabinetry is encapsulated in stone to match the kitchen’s waterfall island, while the linear pattern of the tile floor subtly repeats the checkerboard pattern from the great room and entry. A fresh configuration in the shower alcove celebrates mountain views and provides ample room for a sculptural standing tub.
The materials in the primary bath echo the home’s overall design, but with a softer, more tranquil tone. Light hues dominate the palette, creating a sense of serene sanctuary, while darker elements, such as repeated quartzite from the kitchen, provide grounding. A linear tile pattern visually expands the space and subtly nods to the checkerboard motif featured in the great room.
“Clean, calm, collected.” That’s how the designers describe the primary bedroom’s zen decor. A richly textured, neutral-toned travertine clads the fireplace, providing dimension and interest without overwhelming the space. Woven tapestry shades from Park City Blind & Design dress windows with natural texture and modern flair. Bed by Nathan Anthony. Dresser and nightstands from Century Furniture.
A new glass-walled corner shower opens the primary bath, where a second vanity and storage tower share the same side of the room. Dark cabinetry contrasts with the room’s light, airy palette for a dramatic effect.
“In this home, we were challenged with having to incorporate strikingly traditional elements, subtly diverting the attention to the more modern elements while maintaining cohesion within the space,” says Miller. Those subtle swaps are what drive the design home: spindle railings traded in for metal handrails; rustic carvings replaced with smooth lines. Somewhere in the blend, a new definition is made: the designers’ modern take on mountain living.
Designers Rion Locke and Richard Miller, principals of LMK Interior Design.
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