Perched in the Colorado mountains, this striking Breckenridge vacation home is outfitted with everything you need for enjoying your surroundings, relaxing with convenience and resting with comfort—the window treatments included.

Complementing the home’s rustic sophistication, our

Michelle Adams has cast her creative eye toward plenty of taste-making projects in her career, as co-founder and editor-in-chief of Lonny

She sat down with Hunter Douglas to chat about design leftovers from the early aughts, designers who inspire her, and how using the right shades can transform the light — and the mood — in a home.

Provenance Woven Wood Shades, Fabric: Glace  Color: Carmel and a Designer Roller Shade in Fabric: Palmer  Color: Iced Slate

Tell us about your home. Why did you initially choose this house? When did you start renovating?

We started renovating our home in May of 2022 and made a tremendous amount of changes. We moved in in June and lived in the basement for a full year during renovations! We created a full vault in the living room, built a chimney and added a fireplace, designed a new kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry, and updated the facade as well.

Although I wasn't a fan of the home aesthetically when we purchased it, I loved that it was only 20 years old, solidly built, and that it didn't need any structural work, allowing me to simply focus on updating the design. The high ceilings throughout the home gave it an open and airy feel, and offered ample opportunity to add character with trim and transoms. Additionally, the property came with a large barn in pristine condition and a rather dreamy lot in a peaceful country setting. Lots to work with!

Your house sounds like it was, before your renovation, a relic of the 2000s! Share your approach to the redesign. What was your jumping off point?

I started by changing the home architecturally to make it look classic and timeless. This meant removing its 1990s timestamps! Uneven drywall, little to no symmetry, honey colored floors and trim, mauve walls, maple cabinets, a diagonal whirlpool tub — basically every major 1990s design trend was packed into our early 2000s home and had to be removed.

Provenance® Woven Wood Shades  Fabric: Auckland  Color: Kiwi

Provenance® Woven Wood Shades  Fabric: Auckland  Color: Kiwi

Provenance® Woven Wood Shades  Fabric: Charleston  Color: Lantern Glow

Provenance® Woven Wood Shades  Fabric: Auckland  Color: Kiwi

Heritance® Hardwood Shutters in Driftwood and Pirouette® Window Shadings   Fabric: Satin  Color:  Metallic Wish

Provenance Woven Wood Shades, Fabric: Glace  Color: Carmel and a Designer Roller Shade in Fabric: Palmer  Color: Iced Slate

Were there certain interior designers who inspired you along the way? Whose work played a role in your approach?

Gil Schafer's books on architecture and design to get ideas for adding classic trim work, transoms above main entrances, symmetry, fireplaces, bath fixtures, timeless hardware, lighting, and so on. I also looked to one of my favorite interior designers, the late Sandy Gallin who was known for his signature look: bright white walls, darkly stained wood floors (almost black!), white slipcovered upholstery, and woven wood window shades. His work heavily inspired the palette of our home, and made me super excited to use

heavily

Provenance Woven Wood Shades, Fabric: Glace  Color: Carmel and a Designer Roller Shade in Fabric: Palmer  Color: Iced Slate

Tell us a bit about the light in the house. How did you use window coverings to change or enhance the natural light? Were there any lighting challenges?

I'm attracted to bright, sunny homes, so we added a large window in the living room to highlight the view and bring in more light. Our living room is where we watch TV the most though, so having shades to block reflection was important. In the bedroom, we added shades with an attached liner since I'm very sensitive to light when I sleep, and it's been wonderful having something that I can easily close before bed to block our outdoor lighting. Our shades have PowerView® Automation and we were delighted that the remote open and close feature still worked when we lost power for several days during a recent winter storm.

Provenance Woven Wood Shades, Fabric: Glace  Color: Carmel and a Designer Roller Shade in Fabric: Palmer  Color: Iced Slate

Is there a particular space in your home that’s benefited from window coverings?

In our primary bath, the NewStyle® Hybrid Shutters have been a game changer. The Hunter Douglas team designed them to close on the bottom — where my neighbors can see into our home — and remain open on the top, to let in sunlight during the day. At night, I can fully close the shutters as well. They are the perfect solution, and also add that classic and timeless look I was after.

Provenance Woven Wood Shades, Fabric: Glace  Color: Carmel and a Designer Roller Shade in Fabric: Palmer  Color: Iced Slate

Speaking of windows, the views from your house seem exquisite!

The views of our property are spectacular, which is one of the key reasons we purchased this home. Our neighborhood backs up to a wetland area that can't be built on, so we can see endless trees and wildlife from our north-facing windows. Having lived in several densely populated neighborhoods in the past, it's been a really nice change to look out most windows and see uninterrupted nature.

Frederic last year. Interested in gleaning more style tips from Michelle, and her new Lonny team? Be sure to follow them on Instagram

Woven Wood Shades

Provenance

Shutters

New Style

Smart Motorization

PowerView® Automation