Curb Appeal

In the mountains, summer issues a fresh invitation to consider the context enveloping our homes. The more time we spend entertaining outside, the more we see our homes as sites to behold and beckon. Recognizing this tantalizing potential, we offer strategies for sprucing up your homes’ curb appeal:

Continuous Cozy

Transform a covered front stoop into a cozy spot with an inviting yet sturdy accent chair and a vessel with gravitas and botanicals (the ingredients we always use to make a nook inviting). No matter the weather, this vignette welcomes with warm hospitality.

Sneak Peek

Picture windows, particularly when flanking a front door, provide a sneak peek at the aesthetic intrigue that awaits inside. Curate the framed view with statement pieces, like a monumental painting or a sculptural console.

Highlight Light

The layered architecture of this front facade calls for a quiet complement in minimalist landscaping and accents. As such, the light fixtures became a moment to shine—quite literally—with a statement sconce at once sculptural and serene.

Happy Hour

When approaching from the road, outdoor patios can serve as invitations to socialize. In the mountains, no party is complete without some sort of campfire camaraderie; this built-in fire pit, encircled by classic Adirondack chairs, makes a kumbaya moment out of any soiree.

Featured Finds

Greet guests with character; one-of-a-kind finds, like this antique wheelbarrow repurposed as a planter, convey your creative joie de vivre. Such stylistic flare hints at the inspiration to come indoors.

The Eye has to Travel

Travel supercharges Elisa and her eye. A designer to her core, she is incapable of turning her sight off, so she remains on—noticing everything around her. “I’m constantly scanning—color, materials, scale,” Elisa says. “I’m dissecting to the point of the smallest detail. I log inspiration in any format.”

The Chambers’ recent family vacation to Mexico found her taking a vast amount of photos. Such sourcing inspo spans the mundane and the monumental: from stone inlay within baseboard molding to the sloping staircase leading to a primary suite and a sculptural installation of concrete vessels as fencing.

Unfiltered in her absorption, no detail seems too small, no idea too ambitious. She takes it all in. Only upon reentry does she begin to scroll through her images, pulling specific moments out, letting them percolate into current or future projects. “A lot of my pictures don’t make sense to anyone but me,” Elisa says. Momentary epiphanies, elusive even to Elisa after the fact: “Sometimes, I have to go through and say, ‘Why did I take this picture?’”

MATERIALITY:

In Mexico, Elisa traced the abundance of sand into the preponderance of concrete, used widely and wonderfully. In keeping with such sourcing, she found nature informed so many interesting design elements, from palm fronds as canopy to masonry as continuous floor-to-wall treatment.

SCALE:

From pebble accents to sculptural installations: Elisa registered shifts in scale and the drama they delivered. Vessels, blocks, bricks: common forms became artistic when oversized.

SOCIAL INTEGRATION:

“I’m always in tune with how people live in spaces,” Elisa says. “I’m constantly making note of how other people live and how they integrate their families.” After staying in several communities in Baja, she found domestic layouts successful if they stirred easy, integrated living. The stone built-ins surrounding a pool—set between primary and guest quarters—underscored the amenity as the social hub of the house.

“I love to see the way people interact and how they integrate all parts of their lives into their home,” Elisa says. “A home is such a major investment, both financially and emotionally. You want it to be generational.”

Jewel Box Powder Rooms

Elisa approaches tiny toilettes as jewel boxes—small spaces containing enormous potential for expressive style.

Public facing yet free in spirit (untethered design-wise to other rooms), powder rooms present an opportunity to have fun and be bold.

Elisa ensures her clients see such spaces as outlets for expressions. In initial budget conversations, she often begins by outlining her allocation hierarchy by room:  she always advises spending the most on the places where you spend the most time, like the primary suite and the kitchen. Perhaps surprisingly, the powder room rates high for her for high impact. Every other bathroom in a house carries the potential for significant wear and tear (i.e. bathtubs overflowing in kids’ en suites). In contrast, powder rooms often exist in proximity to the highest traffic yet removed from rugged use. As such, spectacular pieces can take centerstage, safely. “The lighting can be drop-dead. You can have fun with wallpaper. You can play with a statement sink,” Elisa says. “Powder rooms are a public space that you want to be beautiful.”

As such, she shares her favorite moments from powder rooms she has designed over the years:

Sculptural pendant lights, threading together stone and glass, add drama to this otherwise classically sophisticated powder. Chrome fixtures provide a clean contrast to the textured drops.

To celebrate the joie de vivre of a family farm, Elisa picked a fun wallpaper for the powder room, aptly (and quite literally) toasting chickens and cocktails. The color play continues with the orange sconce from Urban Electric. Perched beside the laundry room and garage, this riotous nook sets a fun tone for all.  

Epitomizing the style spectrum made possible by an expressive approach to powder rooms, a second small loo in the same family farm as above channels a more moody, masculine vibe in keeping with its location off of the husband’s bar. A vanity with gravitas—made of Taj Mahal quartzite—anchors the space, with a cluster of handblown glass pendants as lighting.

Texture sets the tone in this powder room: grass cloth wallpaper complements the antique sink made of carved stone (atop a custom black metal base) and the classic punctuation of black fixtures.

Crystalline pendants from Christopher Boots add an ethereal element amid the elegance set by the lustrous walnut vanity and the subtle grass cloth walls.