One of my favorite locations in Heber Valley is the river bottom area just as you come down the grade from Park City. There’s a fairly new development within easy walking distance to the Provo River. Here, where I recently photographed a new home and its guest house, the homeowner just steps out and commences flyfishing. Kent Construction of Park City (Jamie and Cheryl Catley) just finished building the home, which is designed by architect Costantino Grandjacquet, also of Park City. Almost Nordic in its simplicity, I appreciate the clean lines and understated furnishings. This makes me perhaps sound better traveled than I am, but as a dedicated viewer of Wallander, I do have some credentials.

Photos by Scot Zimmerman

The home is designed in a cruciform pattern. The garage occupies one wing with the main entrance adjacent. The wing to the right of the entrance is the master suite, and the one opposite is an office and guest rooms. The main living wing is seen in the opening shot with a long, covered patio on the side. In the foreground is the guest house with its own covered porch that is planned for such comfortable living, I am surprised that guests ever leave. I plan to feature it in a future blog. 

The entrance demonstrates the clean simple lines that I find so appealing about this home. The furnishings are simple: a pair of candle sconces and a painted canvas with a clerestory window running above. The natural light wood floors continue uninterruptedly through the master wing. The dark front entry door makes a dramatic statement, but even the door maintains clean lines complemented by sleek hardware.

The main living wing has tall cathedral ceilings supported by natural wood beams. Windows take up most of the wall space providing views to the surrounding landscaped acreage, the cottonwoods of the river bottom, and the Wasatch Mountains and Mt. Timpanogos in the distance to the west. To the south are hills that are part of Wasatch State Park and crisscrossed with hiking and mountain biking trails. 

First, one enters the kitchen with the dining table adjoining and the fireplace seating area defined by a spacious pale area carpet at the far end. The furnishings, such as the log legs of the dining table, suggest a Scandinavian influence. To the right is the long, covered outdoor living patio.

Looking at it in the opposite direction from the far end, you can see how the space unfolds and the dominance of the windows, where the views themselves become the artwork in the space. 

The primary bedroom offers the same large windows. Vertical wood slats make up the built-in headboard, and the same tones of light wood continue throughout. The white duvet and the white upholstery on the corner chair and ottoman and fabric overhead light fixture again seem Nordic and very much appropriate with the simple lines of the home. 

Spaciousness with simple lines again define the master bath.

Daytime seemed like the best time to show how the natural light fills this home. With the recent rains, the grounds were a happy green and the trees were just beginning to turn. To best show the fenestration and the emphasis on numerous large windows, I photographed the exterior again in the evening. It just glows, doesn’t it? 

This is an especially beautiful autumn for photographs. It’s a wonderful time to be out with a camera being able to capture so many recently completed homes.

You can find more Photo Fridays from Scot here.

Some people live life boldly. A delightful couple I just met were looking for a change. As they told the story, they had lived in a family home in Bountiful for over 30 years. With their family grown, they were ready for a big change, and a change that would last. They were attracted to the 9^th and 9^th neighborhood, which just last weekend hosted Preservation Utah’s annual home tour. It’s a vibrant urban neighborhood with a rich lifestyle of locally owned shops and restaurants and sidewalks filled with people walking arm-in-arm, exercising dogs, pushing strollers, or just taking in the friendly atmosphere.

Photos by Scot Zimmerman

The couple found a charming 120-year-old brick bungalow across from a school and down a half-block from the commercial area. The goal was to make it a home specific to their lifestyle and designed to carry them through the next 30 years. They called on the architectural skills of Capitol Hill (David Richardson) to design a workable floor-plan and to preserve the historical street presence. Living Home (Chris Towson) built the home. When he began, he found significant structural issues. As a result, much of the home is new, but materials were retained and the craftsmanship replicated to keep the home similar to before. The homeowner summarizes that only two walls are original, and the rest is new. Larkyn Interiors (Larkyn Mungoran) executed the interior design to fill the bright connected spaces with interesting details.

The rear addition, finished with white vertical board and batten, creates a space for the master bedroom and bath with a spacious office on the second floor. A deck fills the area between the addition and original home. For a small urban lot, there is ample outdoor living on the side yard where the driveway once led to the back, on the decks, and the front porch. The large new garage is at the back and accessed by through the alley. 

The front door leads into the open social space of the home with the living area on the right and the kitchen and dining on the sunny south side. The sectional subtly separates the living area and the area carpet offers further definition. Behind the partial wall to the right is a bathroom and beyond the master bedroom and bath. A long-term consideration for the design is future mobility and being able to live on one floor.

The banquette and chair seating allows for seating a group or a cozy place for mornings. A door connects to the patio seating and umbrella table on the side yard. Note how the gray blue of the kitchen backsplash gently defines the kitchen work area. At the far end of the kitchen is a door to the combination pantry/laundry. The stairway leads up to the office and an imaginative attic play area and bunkroom that the homeowner built himself for the grandchildren. The stair risers are painted like the spines of the family’s favorite books, adding color and an interesting topic of conversation, as the titles range from Harry Potter to nuclear physics. 

Here is a detail of the sunny corner dining area.

The wall off the deck tells the story of how the brick wall was demolished, the bricks were retained and color-stripped, and the new brickwork skillfully reproduced the original. The homeowners decided not to paint it so the mastery of the craftsmen can be fully appreciated. The yellow selected for the exterior paint matches a previous yellow of the home. 

It has been a big and welcome change for the couple. They enjoy their city lifestyle, leisurely strolls, and the friendly families in the neighborhood. In turn, their neighbors appreciate the efforts they made to restore the happy yellow house. They hope to make it their home for a long, long time. 

You can explore even more charming Salt Lake bungalows here.