As someone who goes into hundreds of homes a year, it’s unusual for me to be stunned by a property, but I was recently bowled over by three because of how deeply they reflect the people who own them and love them. Each fits perfectly into its context, whether that’s surrounded by barns, buildings, or the forest—but they are also truly original.
These homes are a stark contrast to Pantone’s color of the year, Cloud Dancer, and a reminder that collecting takes a lifetime and style should be personal. As architects and designers, each owner is in the home business, and they’ve given us a peek into what they do when they don’t have rules or clients, other than themselves and their families.
Susan McGrady, Owner of Low Rider
Low Rider is an institution in the Boulder community—a second home for artists, artisans, and unique home goods. But once it was an abandoned gas station, and it took the vision and courage of Susan McGrady to transform it into the store we see today.
In addition to collecting for and managing Low Rider, McGrady also works with home design clients who want to cultivate a home full of items that tell a story. When asked about her favorite pieces in her own home, McGrady struggles to answer because every single piece has a backstory.
“Everything I have I choose,” says McGrady. “I can tell you a story about every single thing here.”
Many items are made by friends or family members, like the large Butch Anthony piece that greets guests right when they walk in and the Laura Morningstar pottery that accompanies it. Some were traded at a swap meet with friends, like the end table and barstools she traded for her current bathroom cabinet.
Because McGrady and her husband built the home, most of the construction materials were also salvaged, like the ceiling constructed from an old train depot and door frames built to work with found doors. At around 2,000 square feet, the home isn’t massive, but it's incredibly functional and can flex to four bedrooms if you include the Airstream parked outside. It also has stunning mountain views and more than enough wildlife to keep them on their toes and entertained.
Harvey Hine, Founding Principal Architect at HMH
Back in 2009, Harvey Hine designed and developed a mixed-use building, and currently lives in one of the two-bedroom condos with his wife, Gail Ramsberger. Although it’s not very large, the space plays host to a number of creative activities.
Hine built a full-scale jewelry workshop into the oversized primary closet and a painting studio for Gail in the guest suite. He designed the entry as a sixty-foot art gallery to display their art collection, many of which were painted by relatives.
"Art is very important for us,” says Hine. “When people visit, they ask about the paintings and furnishings; there’s a story about everything. It’s a conglomeration of our life.”
On a recent trip back to Austria last year, Hine found himself regularly participating in salons. His friends would host 14 people for dinner, but the evenings were not about the food. Sure, they’d have spaghetti, salad, and lots of wine—but the focus was the discussions. Since returning to Boulder, Hine and Ramsberger commissioned a 12-foot table and have begun hosting salons of their own, bringing together people who did not previously know each other.
Hine also works on his 1969 Jaguar XKE and sees learning car body work as an extension of jewelry making at a larger scale. Between jewelry design, car restoration, and architecture, Hine does not differentiate one scale of design from another.
"It is all a creative process,” says Hine.
Emily Tucker, Interior Designer
This year, Emily Tucker and her family completed Camp Grizz, a weekend getaway perched on just shy of 8 acres of pine forest in Ward. Thanks to her training as an architect, Tucker drew up the house herself and designed it with plenty of room to host family and friends.
For the interiors, she explored styles and colors that she wanted to try throughout the years, but hasn’t had the right home or client. There’s an eggplant-purple kitchen, a cherry-red bunk room, ochre-brown tile in the bathroom, and mustard-yellow trim around the picture windows, creating a distinct juxtaposition with the surrounding land they love so much.
“For me, it wasn’t bringing the outside in,” says Emily Tucker. “We can step out and be immersed, but I really wanted the house to be distinct.”
This cabin is a dream come true. In her work as an interior designer, she loves creating meaning for families in their homes, and that’s exactly what this process has been for her with her family.
Through a mix of her California-casual childhood and New York-formal twenties, Tucker has a wide breadth of knowledge and inspiration to pull from to help every client cultivate their style at home. She’s very grateful to be able to partner with all of the amazingly talented craftsmen in Boulder County and throughout Colorado.