Historic Shotgun Cottage

Several years ago, I decorated the interior of Travis and Sherri West’s Austin

residence—a glamorous and sophisticated traditional project. While we were

still working on that house, they purchased a property in the quirky mining town of

Crested Butte, Colorado. Knowing, as I do, Sherri’s refined taste and style, I was in a

state of shock when I received the first photographs of the house—a small, historic

shotgun cottage with much work to be done. I had no idea how Sherri’s particular

style could possibly be translated to work in such a space. However, the moment I

saw architect Daniel Murphy’s plans for the house, which make such smart use of the

shotgun-style space, I knew it had great potential.

Travis’ mother and father have long had a place in Crested Butte, and he and

Sherri have been going there for years. Since I had never been to Crested Butte

before beginning this project, I had no idea of the history and charm of this small

town. When I finally visited, I instantly understood the appeal for the Wests. It’s like

a little village, where their children, Tyler, Georgia, and Jack, can experience and

enjoy small-town life. Travis and Sherri have busy, complicated lives back in Austin,

and their Colorado house is meant to be a refuge for relaxation and the enjoyment

of the outdoors. Though they travel extensively, Crested Butte is where they prefer

to spend their summers.

I had a vision of transforming their house into something completely

unexpected, starting at the entry. Because the ceiling height is low—not quite

eight feet—I knew I wanted to paint the walls and ceilings of every common area

in Donald Kaufman #33, a muted French blue, to make the rooms feel limitless.

Although people often mistakenly believe the opposite to be true, darker colors

make walls recede, the result of which is that the space feels much larger. Since they 

spend summers there, blue was an easy choice. It is such a part of nature, and it

looks great with the mountain landscape just outside their house.

Sherri wanted a complete La Cornue kitchen, which was custom built with

La Cornue panels to match Donald Kaufman #33. Matching the cabinets was a

challenge, but it was well worth the trouble. It made the space feel more open. We all

agreed upon the subdued blue color throughout. With the exception of two upstairs

rooms, the entire house is painted in this rich color, which dictated almost every

other color we selected.

The glamour quotient, which is essential for Sherri’s style, meant lots of interesting

and appropriate antiques, lamps, and rugs used throughout the house. Downstairs,

we mixed so many styles and periods, using a 1970s Jansen-style sofa with

a pair of late nineteenth-century painted lamp tables and interesting 1950s handpainted

ceramic lamps. A truly fabulous 1970s cast bronze double ram’s head coffee

table with a glass top is the centerpiece of the room. Along with a pair of whimsical

tufted porter’s chairs in the style of Louis XVI, all sitting on a luxurious Oushak rug.

Behind one of the porter’s chairs, a mirror creates the impression of a

window and visually opens the space. As I have said many times, a mirror belongs

in every room for this very reason. This one is Napoleon III plaster faux bois with a

woodland theme.

The Wests already owned a pedestal dining table in an English style and a

painted nineteenth-century French buffet that had not found a place in their Austin

house. They were a perfect fit, however, for the Crested Butte house, paired with

more glamorous elements.

I found the white Swedish dining chairs on a trip to Paris and bought them

especially for this house. A beautiful collection of vintage matte white Rosenthal

porcelain, in lieu of a dining room table centerpiece, makes the space feel even

lighter. The honey-colored Murano chandelier over the table is from the 1930s. We

used another mirror in this room, as well as a pair of pretty opalescent lamps on the

French buffet.

In the family room at the rear of the house, we used linen drapery and painted

rods, once again, to match the wall color. This room is all about comfortable seating

for relaxed lounging. A pair of French Louis XV bright yellow faux suede chairs and

the appropriately titled painting, Miss Rose by Rimi Yang, are the focal points of the

room, but the coffee table is my favorite piece. Custom made in cerused oak with an

inlaid north star in the center, it was inspired by a small table I found in Paris that

was not large enough for the space.

As you reach the top of the stairway, there are three bedrooms, all with

pitched attic ceilings. The roofline presented many limitations on the second story,

but we overcame them beautifully.

The children’s room is the first at the top of the stairs. Georgia and Jack

share this bunk room, and they love to bring friends for sleepovers. Sherri had a

photograph that we used as inspiration, and we custom designed the bunk beds with

draperies that can be shut for privacy.

We decided to upholster all the walls in the master bedroom in an exotic

blue-and-white toile, in keeping with the blues throughout the house. The bedding

and Roman shades are in the same toile pattern. There were so many architectural

issues with the ceilings, and the pattern helped to hide any irregularities.

We used ivory lacquered Dorothy Draper commodes on either side of the

bed and, across the room, a French parquetry sycamore credenza, which I found in

Paris for the Wests. When designing a completely toile room, it’s fun to add pops of

a singular color. In this space, we opted for canary-yellow accents.

The master bath is both luxurious and glamorous and is at the entrance of

the master suite, which is quite unusual. The layout of the house necessitated this

arrangement and meant that the bathroom had to be treated with special care to

make it feel like a beautiful entry as well.

The terrace off the master bedroom is a lovely retreat where Travis and

Sherri share private moments with a glass of wine at the end of the day.