Contemporary Rustic--That's What I Call Today's Mountain Style

Contemporary Rustic is the term I've been using to describe today's most popular mountain building style. Today's modern mountain houses feature spaces that are large and have big ceiling volume. In fact, almost all new mountain construction features a Great Room configuration. The emphasis is on the views and windows are stacked to the rafters. 

Contemporary mountain building materials are rustic and include a great deal of wood, stone and metals. Sometimes the materials are urban/industrial with lot's of concrete, corrugated and steel. 

Sometimes they are old, antiqued and patina-ed.  We see a lot of reclaimed wood on walls, floors and beams.  In fact reclaimed is used for just about anything these day including kitchen cabinets. Another older material I love to see is rusted steel panels.  Sometimes both urban and antiqued materials are used in the same project.   

As for style influences, there are lots of references to the Arts and Crafts movement and of course these are often mixed with traditional cabin style elements and log construction details.  Hand crafting is important. 

How do you decorate a Contemporary Rustic style house?

Of course, I like to fill these rooms with luxurious comfortable large-scale sofas, lounges and sectionals, but it's a little tricky finding just the right tables and case goods to use in these large rustic interiors. I'm a big fan of some of the Artifacts International line of furnishings for contemporary Mountain Houses. Their pieces have the weight and size to anchor big volume rooms. And importantly, they feature natural woods and materials which are hand-crafted, highly distressed, and rustic in design.

Artifacts makes a Mill Valley line that I especially appreciate. Here are some of the pieces in this line.

Mill Valley Chest   50"wide x 33 high    You usually think of a chest as a piece of furniture best used in the bedroom. In this case, however, bring the piece out into the main rooms and show it off! I love this in the entry way, or for under the big screen TV as well as a substitute for a sofa console table. In all cases the drawers provide extra storage for games, DVD's, winter throws and other Great Room paraphernalia.

Mill Valley Cocktail Table Huge. Stunning. Not too delicate to put your feet on! 

Canyon Mirror   Huge at 66" high x 48" wide. Some rooms just need this kind of scale.

Mill Valley Armoire   Here's the answer to the question of what to put on that really tall wall.

Mill Valley Console A great piece to fill up an empty wall space. Just put a pair of large lamps on either end and a fabulous piece of artwork on the wall behind it. 

All Artifacts furnishings can be ordered through Dragonfly Designs.  Email dragonflytahoe@att.net for details.