Luxury Vacation Rental Design

The aesthetic of a successful high-end vacation rental

6/16/19 | Christopher D. Davis

Our luxury vacation rentals feature sophisticated interior designs meant to introduce a layer of refinement to the rugged mountains that surround them. In this post, we'll share with you the vision our owners have when designing their one-of-a-kind properties, and explain the creative process from concept to completion.

Sarah P. was the interior designer of our home Three Cheers in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Sarah sat down with us to explain what makes a mountain home livable, beautiful, and fit for the most discerning guest. 

A High-End Mountain Home with an Inviting Feel

Sarah’s Mission: To create a luxury, high-end modern mountain home with a warm and inviting feel.

“White is your friend. Use it, welcome it, and love it."

Sarah offered these words to anyone thinking about redesigning their mountain home or vacation rental. It was her basis for the entire project, and after seeing the finished product, it's no wonder she chose this aesthetic. 

The fresh and inviting spaces inside Three Cheers prove Sarah knows how to transform a space from tired to alive by using this color throughout every room. A former model agent in a previous life, Sarah has an eye for even the tiniest details. She takes life's palest color and pairs it with textures and additional furnishing to bring together every element of the home. The result is a warm, inviting feel, with soaring windows and high ceilings that shine natural light onto the carefully curated furnishings and artwork.

"You cannot go wrong with a white wall – it brings in light and opens up a room. A white room allows you to be bold with your accents and furnishings and you can always change these as time goes by," Sarah noted.

Most of Sarah’s energy was focused on creating a cozy and inviting feel in every room.

“I wanted everybody who came through the doors—whether a family or a corporate group—to feel immediately at home and welcomed," Sarah said. "I wanted Three Cheers to feel like they have walked into a home, and not a tired rental property. Somewhere they could host and entertain but also put their feet up and relax.”

Sarah’s eye for design and focus on the smallest details was apparent in the end result– See for yourself!

The Great Room

A once tired and generally unloved space, this room was to become one of the main focal points of the house. The high cathedral ceilings and oversized windows made an amazing backdrop for all the furnishing and accents.

Sarah utilized antique and rustic hangings that she meticulously collected and stored in the months leading up to the home’s redesign, and by pairing these with crisp, detailed furnishings, a true modern mountain feel emerged.

The Dining Room

Accents and layering are two of the many tools Sarah utilizes from her endless bag of tricks and treatments. Warming fabrics, welcoming wall textures, and inviting minimalist furnishings all come into play to produce a one-of-a-kind outcome. And the new dining room shows how harmoniously it all comes together.

Gone is the colder, more standard approach, and in comes a more comfortable atmosphere. A taupe rug and new lighting brightens the space, and an oversized custom table and more comfortable seating brings the room into the 21st century. And while the bookcase, antique skis, and bear sculpture still maintain the home’s rustic charm, Sarah always keeps the table set to provide a certain level of sophistication–and anticipation.

“If you set a table, it automatically invites and encourages people to want to eat together," Sarah explained.

The Kitchen

The kitchen required a complete overhaul with new appliances, counter tops, an up-to-date sink, and an all-new herringbone backsplash to brighten the space and add texture. Wood casings were custom created and placed over the dated ceiling columns and arches to create a bold structural presence through a solid, rustic beam look.

The Living Room

Adjacent to the kitchen and dining room lies the new living room. Keeping the design consistent within each room of Three Cheers, this space achieves a comfortable and accommodating feel through its deep leather L-shaped couch, warm-textured rugs, and wood burning fireplace. It was important to Sarah to achieve a friendly and hospitable feel with a cohesive union between the kitchen, dining, and living rooms.

The Second Living Room

Three Cheers is a multi-tiered home with ample space, but before Sarah came in, some of that space was just an unused afterthought. Sarah saw the potential for one of these rooms—an upstairs living area—to be just as stylish and chic as the rest of the house. Her goal was to make it a comfortable area for kids to hang out separately from the adults when needed, while still maintaining its appeal to an older crew.

With old-school mountain memorabilia lining the walls, the eye is drawn up to the tall ceiling, providing a perfect example of how white colors contrasted with textures and textiles can give a room a whole new flavor.

The Bathrooms

From dated sunken tubs to tired tile, the original bathrooms left a lot to be desired. Sarah embraced the challenge willingly by again showcasing her love of white and applying it floor to ceiling with tile, creating a clean, modern, and refreshing space.

She used chandeliers with perforated shells to create an effortless romantic lighting scheme for relaxing in the freestanding tub. Angles were accentuated, but softened, by hanging robes and towels for both form and function.

The Study

You will notice in the below “after” photo yet another example of Sarah’s signature style: Her use of layering with pillows and throw blankets. You'll find this throughout Three Cheers’ beds and couches, and as she reminds us, “When you have a base of white, you can always change your accents to reflect what you love right now. The more throw pillows and blankets you use, the warmer and more inviting the space will feel.”

The Bedrooms

The top-floor master bedroom is one of the five completely remodeled and reinvigorated bedrooms. Bringing in the same welcoming textures found throughout the rest of the house, the bedrooms were quickly transformed into a space people want to actually be in, not just sleep in. Her style shows us how transformative white accents and texture can be. There’s a genuine kindheartedness to her style, something she finds important (and easy!) when creating new spaces. She saw the bedrooms as clean canvases, and the possibilities were endless when armed with a clear vision of an outcome for an individual space.

"Creating spaces within spaces is just as important when executing a look," Sarah said. "Don’t overlook the possibilities and potentials of a room. Warm reading areas under brightly lit windows are as inviting as a well-presented bed."

As such, all the bedrooms were given the same amount of attention and detail. Sarah stresses the importance of keeping the design consistent yet slightly different in each space and to “always give each room the same amount of love that you gave the last."

The Kids' Bunk Room

The kids' bunk room remained consistent in design but had a playful twist. Sarah incorporated a more relaxed and fun feel with the animal-shaped pillows, children’s books, toy baskets, and even a few bronzed fox-shaped wall hooks.

Sarah always creates spaces within the houses that she would be happy to have her own family stay in.

"I would never make a space that I, myself, or my family would not feel happy or relaxed in,” she said. "If I don’t want to stay there myself, then it just isn’t good enough and we’re back to work."

The Laundry

Laundry rooms are so often forgotten or neglected. But Sarah spends so much time in them that she believes it's important they feel as light and bright as any other room in the house. However, in the laundry, she was somewhat restricted by space. Adding a countertop and floating shelves provides valuable real estate for the entirety of the room. Again using white throughout, it helped to open up the space and add to the clean and fresh feeling of the laundry room.

The Entrance

With the interior now complete, there was one area that was not. The outdoor deck and entryway needed to be as welcoming as any space inside this towering, ski-in home. Sarah added her particular modern-mountain flair with the addition of shrubberies, heat lamps, throw pillows, and other accessories to complete the look and feel of Three Cheers. And with that, her mission was complete.

Allow us to add one more cheer for Sarah, and thank her for sharing her vision and journey in creating this beautiful hillside mountain retreat as well as her invaluable tips for beautiful Interior Design. 

A Place to Call Home

The care and attention to detail found in Three Cheers is exactly what we look for in every home in the InvitedHome portfolio. This approach gives our guests confidence that every home they book will offer the luxury of a fine hotel with all the comforts of home. Whether you're a potential homeowner working with InvitedHome or a guest looking for an idyllic Mountain Modern rental, we encourage you to look through our entire portfolio of stunning luxury mountain homes in Colorado, Utah, and California. 

We hope to serve you soon!

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