Laura Arledge (Designer and Founder of State, an interior design studio based in Fort Collins, CO) and her husband Scott transformed their 1967 raised ranch over a period of several years. They did most of the construction on their own and with the help of Laura’s brother (Anchor Built).
Project Name -1967 Fixer
Studio Name -State.
Project size– 2800 ft2
Completion date– 2020
Building Level – 1
Location– Colorado, United States
Photography– Davin Lindwall
The 2800 sf raised-ranch had been remodeled in the 1980s and was appendaged over time with additions, faux painted walls, mauve rainbow tile in the bedrooms, and dark colors that took away from the main feature of the home: a 17 lineal ft moss rock wall with double-sided fireplace (when they purchased the home, the opening was blocked by a one-sided pellet stove). They wiped the slate clean with all-white walls and did as much as they could to highlight the original bones of the home. The clean backdrop serves as a canvas for their rotating curation of furniture and art (including a weaving installation climbing the corner of the Family Room ceiling by local artist Sarah Neubert, prints by Brooke Holm, Martine Johanna, Robin Eley, Joan Miro, and some of her own art).
The fresh new palette is full of texture; A cozy reading area with a cream-colored Arne Norell canvas Safari Chair sits on a plush sheepskin and is illuminated by a caramel- colored Luigi Massoni 1970s table lamp. The reading nook is sandwiched between an open Living Room (with a Jan Ekselius Etcetera Lounge Chair and a 1970s chocolate channel-tufted sofa) and the Dining Room—anchored with a cream and black-rimmed 1950s enamel Anvia Counterbalance light delicately suspended over the top of a black dining table with cognac leather and tube steel cantilever chairs. But what really pulls you in at the end of the long and narrow Living / Dining Area is the dark, majestic portrait at the end of the long room (“Black”) by artist Aykut Aydogdu.
A chopped-up kitchen with dysfunctional work triangle was transformed into a modern mid-century inspired test-kitchen with a vastly improved work triangle and a dark charcoal wet bar nestled into the rock wall (the niche originally housed a cramped range and oven). Large stainless appliances and a boxed-out range hood and refrigerator/freezer cabinetry surround were designed to draw your eye up, to balance out the scale of the rock wall and original vaulted beam ceilings.
In contrast to the all-white walls, a moody black hallway joins the common spaces to the bedrooms at a 4ft lowered level. Adjoining the hall, 3 bedrooms and 2 baths sit on exposed concrete flooring (the original slab under the demo’d rainbow tile). Interface FLOR carpet tiles serve as a color block and concrete pad for her daughter’s room, layered with a Floor Story pinwheel wool carpet. Phase 2 of the project will be finishing the Primary Bedroom and Bath.
