Modern Home Tours is coming back to Denver, in conjunction with Sunset Magazine and the amazing Sunset Magazine Idea House!

DATE: Saturday, August 22, 2015
TIME: 10:00am – 5:00pm
AFTER PARTY: 5:00pm – 7:00 pm – Sunset Idea House
COST: $60 Online, includes after-party.
LOCATION: Map link will be published here
TRANSPORTATION: Self-driving, Self-paced

 

 

Advance tickets are on sale through FRIDAY, August 21 at 8:00 PM for $60 each. Tickets purchased after that time MUST BE PURCHASED AT THE SUNSET IDEA HOUSE beginning at 10:00 am on August 22 for $60 each. Children 12 and under are free.

 

 

Featured Homes

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A – SUNSET Idea House by Design Platform & key design – Denver, CO

The nation’s gateway to the West and leader in housing growth is the location of our 2015 Idea House. Denver is a uniquely Western city that embodies Sunset’s forward thinking and outdoor loving lifestyle. Sunset is collaborating with Denver’s design leaders: Design Platform and cky design. Together, we have transformed an iconic 1954 bungalow into a three-level 5,100-square-foot warm modern home.

 

 

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B – Golden, CO

Architect: TKP Architects pc

This custom home for an empty-nester professional couple replaced an existing 1980’s home in an established Golden neighborhood. Sited on the lower flank of North Table mountain, the site has spectacular views of Clear Creek Canyon to the west, the city of Golden and Green Mountain to the south, South Table Mountain to the east, and the cliffs of North Table Mountain to the northeast. The site constraints dictated a home that entered at the lowest level so the entry experience is organized around a spectacular open steel and wood stair rising three floors through a windowed atrium, and paralleled by an adjacent elevator. This allows for complete accessibility to all functions in the vertical three story plan. The primary living spaces, an open living, dining, kitchen, a more private den, and a powder room are on the second level. The upper floor houses the private Master Suite, with bath and closet and a laundry/home center. The low er level has two guest suites with walkout patios, a collectors display wine room, mud room, stop and drop, and additional laundry functions. The living level features an expansive west side deck with breathtaking 180 degree views, as well as a small, intimate east side deck off the den for morning coffee and views of North and South Table mountains. A large deck on the top level features a private hot tub for two, accessible through both the Master bedroom and Master bath. The views from this level are equally impressive with the added sense of being virtually airborne over the steeply dropping site.

Exterior materials are ground face concrete block, stucco, and T&G cedar siding. Interior finishes feature a custom limestone fireplace surround, flooring, doors, and trims in a grey tinted white oak, unique glass and porcelain tiles, and creative use of IKEA cabinetry throughout the home.

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C – Denver, CO

Architect: Semple Brown Architects and Designers
Photo Credits: Tom Gallagher and Sarah Semple Brown (top image)
Photo Credits: Raul Garcia (remaining images)

885 South Milwaukee is a sculptural, thoroughly modern, light-infused home woven throughout with outdoor rooms and moments. It represents the ultimate in collaboration between the Owners–a Landscape Architect and Wine Collector, and Semple Brown, to create a subtle and crafted Urban Home.

 

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D – Denver, CO

Architect: Cadence Design Studio
Photography: Cadence Design Studio

This mid century modern home is located in the neighborhood of Krisana Park, an enclave of about 150 mid mods in Denver. This is both the home  of and the office for Cadence Design Studio and it’s owners. For awhile we have been intrigued with certain aspects of the mid century modern Eichler style home – the ease of living on a single floor, the indoor/outdoor connection with floor to ceiling glass, and the smaller efficient size were all appealing to us. In 2013, we purchased one that needed a lot of work – it had no original features intact and had been minimally updated with Home Depot products. We lived in the house for a year while we designed the reconfiguration of the spaces. Top items on the list included more square footage and storage, as well as a more open kitchen/living area, better visual and physical access to the outside, and all new systems.

The original home was just under 1600 SF and has been updated and expanded to 2000 SF. The only items we kept other than the shell were the exposed post and beam structure, the exposed wood ceilings, and the flooring. All the interior walls were reconfigured for the new layout. With two kids and a home office we needed to maximize the square footage, but felt a responsibility to respect the vernacular architecture of the neighborhood. We preserved the low horizontal roof lines, pushed out to the back to increase the square footage and dug down for a partial basement to add more storage. We kept some of the original aspects of the style too, like the “lanai” patio off the side of the house, and by retaining the floor to ceiling glass that was another original defining aspect of the home.

Prior to the renovation, the house had no views out to the front yard or the backyard – in our view, a major drawback of the original design. While it was meant to provide more privacy to the residents, we don’t think it reflects modern day living. To remedy this, we opened the front up all the way through to the back so that you can clearly see both front and back yards.

For the front façade we had clear cedar milled to mimic the original redwood siding, however, we decided to run it horizontally on the façade only, and stained it as it was originally.

We added all new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems replaced and expanded the amount of glass throughout, added more lighting, and opened up the kitchen and living room.

Our design goal was to create a comfortable modern Scandinavian feel while still paying attention to the original intent of the developer. We wanted to use the space efficiently and make the small spaces feel larger than they are. We achieved this through adding significantly more floor-to-ceiling glass, as well as keeping the walls and ceilings white.

In terms of sustainable measures and energy efficient goals we did the following:
• Reused the existing structure and roof system
• Kept the original flooring
• Used conventional but high efficiency heating & cooling system
• White TPO roof
• Deep overhangs and patio roof to minimize heat gain
• Utilized products from green companies Hansgrohe Plumbing Fixtures, Porcelanosa Tile, Mosa Tile, Neolith countertops
• LED lighting
• Toto toilets

 

 

 

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E – Denver, CO

Architect: , Matthew Lawton, Sexton Lawton Architecture
Interior Design: Sexton Lawton Architecture
Photos: Raul Garcia Photography

The project scope involved a renovation and addition to an existing 1960 ranch house in the Belcaro neighborhood. The overarching vision was for an updated and expanded house that revived the mid-century spirit of the existing house and blended in with the neighborhood context.
Over the years, there were many renovations to the home that created a convoluted floor plan, concealed original stonework, and closed off interior spaces from the large rear yard. Our approach was to strip away the layers to reveal the original framework of the house, and reintroduce minimal elements back into the space. Two original flagstone fireplaces, a flagstone exterior barbeque and a flagstone wall at the entry were retained, cleaned and in some cases unveiled. These elements served as the bookends/historical markers to the new opened-up space. New forms, clad in walnut, were inserted into the plan to delineate programmed spaces– these elements act as furniture pieces, incorporating kitchen cabinets, coat closet, desk, pantry and bathrooms. This strategy harkens back to the 50s and 60’s, and imbues the house with a sense of tailored craftsmanship.
New operable glass walls were positioned to create optimum indoor/outdoor connections. Three separate program zones were created at the exterior rear yard:
• Recreational: Cabana room / new swimming pool
• Formal: Living room / covered terrace for dining / lounging
• Kid’s Zone: Kid’s play room / terrace for kid’s activities
The new second floor addition, containing all of the bedrooms, was positioned towards the rear to minimize the visual impact from the front. The new stair to this level is positioned adjacent to a new 2 story glass wall on the south side of the house to bring light into both levels.
The house was re-skinned with a mix of variable-sized painted wood vertical slats that mimic patterns on neighborhood houses as well as stained cedar cladding on roof eaves and the garage door.

This project was the product of a uniquely collaborative process. The owner, contractor and I met frequently to discuss ideas during the design process and used the construction stage as a way to test those ideas. Weekly meetings continued during construction, allowing all parties to participate in design decisions. As a testament to success of this process, the owners feel that the finished house fits seamlessly into their lifestyle as well as the context of the neighborhood.

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F – Wheatridge, CO

Architect: Angela Feddersen, Elevate Architecture
Interior Design: Angela Feddersen, Elevate Architecture
Photos: JC Buck, Black Bike Productions (1-4)
Photos: Tahvory Bunting  (5&6)

The site included only an existing garage and several beautiful trees when the owner bought it from the adjacent neighbor and charged Elevate Architecture with designing his dream house around them. An L shaped plan with the garage at the knuckle separates public spaces for entertaining from the private living spaces which were stacked as a two story wing engaging the back yard. The L shape allows both the public & private spaces to access the south facing back patio, sheltered between the two wings. Identical master suites were stacked, the first floor to be used as a guest suite until such time it is necessary later in life.

The high pitched roofs created voluminous open spaces, connected by an open stair overlook into the living room below. A family room and office at the top of the stair still feel connected to the main floor with the open view. Each room in the home was designed around the furniture and artwork intended and the views into the expansive yard.

 

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G – Denver, CO

Architect: Lubowicki Architecture, Steve Lubowicki
Photography: Steve Lubowicki

At the first visit to the project site, the building’s history was evident in the different building forms – from the 1886 original framed homestead to the 1930s Snow White Beauty Parlor block addition and the 1950s renovation. As opposed to scraping the house, the project recognizes the importance of maintaining and building upon the history of the site and neighborhood. The original traditional “house” shape was celebrated by revealing the 1888 framing to become the figurative and literal center of the house. The spine of the original roof soars above the light-filled, open plan and creates an interior courtyard. To further this concept, a framed multistory sculptural wall serves to unify all three floors of the modern addition and borrows the aesthetic of the existing framing. A terraced plan was utilized to capitalize on the city views, as well as inform a sense of space at each level, and the simple palette of materials, al ong with re-use of the existing structure, kept the overall building cost within a minimal budget. The result is a home which uses its history as the building blocks for its new and functionally contemporary style.