Magnificent Makeover
Blending chic cosmopolitan and classic western produces stunning results
Photos by Billy Doran
Two gigantic abstract paintings by German artist Augustus Goertz punch up the remodeled great room with bravado color. Inset: The great room prior to the remodel.
This SaddleRidge enclave was originally built at the end of the road in Beaver Creek in 1988 as a corporate retreat where the executives and clients of the Shearson Lehman/American Express financial firm could hobnob while indulging their inner cowboys.
Famed New York interior designer Naomi Leff – her clients included Tom Cruise and Nichole Kidman, Steven Spielberg, and Diane Sawyer – made sure the fantasy was complete by filling the meeting lodge, restaurant and 11 residential townhomes with a remarkable collection of museum-quality Cowboys-and-Indians artifacts from before the turn of the 19th Century.
Authentic vintage pieces like chiefs’ headdresses, papoose cradleboards, old cowboy saddles, and even Annie Oakley’s personal rifle, accounted for a hefty chunk of the $24 million the heavyweight Wall Street firm spent on the place – and that was real money 20 years ago. 
With SaddleRidge now in the hands of private owners, one of the four-level townhomes was recently purchased by a London couple, who hired Patti Dixon of Morningstar Interior Design to take charge of the remodel.
They chose Dixon, a principal in Morningstar Interior Design since 1982, because of her passion for transforming spaces.
They also admired the firm’s personal service and a team synergy that has contributed so greatly to its success.
Says Dixon, “I assembled what I believe to be the best ‘team’ for the project. Our staff, contractors, architects, lighting, audio and video technicians, furniture fabricators, flooring contractors and cabinet makers all worked together to achieve our common goal.”
Dixon says the clash of eras was overwhelming at first, as the hip, urban Londoners found themselves in possession of a place where it looked like Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp could have hung their spurs.
Dark-varnished beadboard covered many of the walls, and the well-trod pine plank floors would have felt at home in a mining town boarding house.
The dark leather couches, antique press back chairs and oak tables could have witnessed a lot of killer poker games in any western movie saloon.
Though most of the Native American and cowboy embellishments scattered around the place found their way to auction or to collectors, the owners wanted to keep a few important pieces. Dixon’s task was to blend them into a new contemporary theme.
“The clients wanted a bit of the west, just not quite as much of the west as was originally there,” the designer notes. “No antlers, not too rustic -- but they didn’t want cold contemporary either.”
When the design staff powwowed with David Floyd and his team from Floyd Custom Builders, it became apparent some serious wall demolition was in order.
The townhome steps down the mountainside, its loft-like fourth level overlooking the great room and towering river rock fireplace below.
Originally, this top floor featured a small room for the kitchen and breakfast table, plus a separate formal dining room and adjacent den/TV room.
The compact, walled-off rooms belonged to a bygone era, before our modern enthusiasm for wide-open floor plans.
All the walls came out, the ceilings were dramatically heightened, and suddenly a big, comfortable family living area took shape.
The new space includes a completely redone kitchen and huge granite island, a formal dining room with mountain views out the great room windows, and a family entertainment area with flat-screen TV and a sprawling sectional upholstered in cushy-soft chenille.
The antique reproduction trestle dining table is surrounded by chairs custom covered in nubby linen with nailhead trim, and the half-wall separating the dining room from the great room below became a low tier of bookshelves. 
The abstract Indian blanket-like motif of the spectacular custom-made Tibetan rug stretches from room to room, tying the spaces together with vivid red.
Since the owners typically employ a chef to attend to meals during their Beaver Creek visits, the kitchen is outfitted with the latest and greatest.
There’s a special built-in steam unit in the Wolf cooktop to steam vegetables for the wife, who is a vegetarian.
Custom alder cabinetry glazed in a gray-sage tint hides the Sub-Zero refrigerator and additional refrigerator drawers, plus a wine chiller and Asko dishwasher as well as a dishwasher drawer especially for wine glasses.
Dixon teamed with Carolyn Samelson of Wm Ohs Kitchens to design the kitchen.
Dixon and her crew used a neutral palette throughout to provide a calm backdrop for the bold art and rugs whose rich colors electrify the entire home.
At the stairway, a dramatic Indian portrait splashed with red by Colorado artist Carrie Fell sets the tone for the marriage of western and contemporary.
“This is the pivotal piece that pulls the abstract modern art, the Indian artifacts and the rugs together,” says Dixon.
Some of the original Indian antiques stand out here and there, including an ornately beaded saddle, a beaded deerskin cape, and a collection of peace pipes on the sofa table.
An Indian-style rug echoing the orange, red, and browns in the Fell portrait is from The Scarab in Eagle-Vail, as are many of the other distinctive rugs throughout the home.
Downstairs, two gigantic abstract paintings by German artist Augustus Goertz from the owners’ New York City place punch up the great room with bravado color.
Flanking the floor-to-ceiling river rock fireplace, a unique woven Tibetan saddlebag on one side and a Kirby Sattler Indian brave on the other demonstrate the surprising harmony that vastly different cultures can bring to an interior. Enhancing the ambiance is a contemporary Tibetan rug from Ruggs Benedict.
The next level down — which is actually the second level up from the ground floor entry — holds the master and guest bedroom suites.
The master originally boasted two queen poster beds and gingham curtains, is now transformed into a chic modern bedroom gleaming with pearly gray and champagne tones.
The owners brought the two nude serigraphs by French master Auguste Rodin from their New York collection; the art provides inspiration for the room’s subtle grace.
At the wife’s request, Dixon added a huge, walk-in custom closet to the space – a rare luxury in English homes.
All the bathrooms including the master bath were totally remodeled, the light pine floors replaced with limestone and the old-timey fixtures and sinks with modern ones.
Arrigoni Woods in Minturn installed wide, pillowed-edge elm floors in the major living areas and bedrooms.
Another guest suite occupies the 3,500- square-foot townhome’s ground floor, along with a slate-floored entry gallery whose walls are covered with historic sepia photographs of Indian life taken over a century ago by famed western photographer Edward Curtis.
The owners love the exciting and unexpected way their modern art, Indian antiques, and dashing rugs all bring their personalities to the party but still get along beautifully.
Says Dixon of the successful remodel, “It can be dangerous to mix all of these elements, but it’s fun and a challenge.”
Joy Overbeck is a regular contributor to Vail-Beaver Creek Magazine. Her work has appeared in Redbook, Health, Parents, Woman’s Day, TV Guide, Colorado Expression, 5280 Magazine, and more. She is also the author of three books.
