Anthony Baratta does Camp Style

Here's another Americana-on-steroids ski house by Anthony Baratta.  I'm a big fan of his colorful, creative and crazy mix.  In this Sun Valley house, the emphasis, as usual, is on the exuberant, the whimsical, and the, well, fun, fun, fun!

It must be delightful to be a guest in any his design projects, but particularly the ski houses, where there are so many "camp" themes Baratta can develop and play with.  Like a musician, Baratta rifts on a theme, twisting and turning it, repeating it, changing it and repeating it again.  One of his first themes is always color...

In the great room, bright color dominates.  Baratta loves primary colors; red blue and yellow.  But that is never enough--Baratta always has to throw a few more hues into the palette as well.  More is always more with Baratta.

 Another theme is custom-made.  Baratta loves to take a motif that everyone recognizes and blow up the scale, amp up the colors and turn it into custom furnishings and finishes.  A great example of this is this Chinese checkers inspired custom area rug.  This is a perfect motif for a family cabin, since playing games has always been a big part of "camp" life.  Another motif used in this room is the star. Whether this comes from traditional American quilt motifs or whether it is a nod to the American West (ranch brands, sheriff's badges), it's hard to be sure.  It doesn't really matter, though--it looks great in the room.  I can see a lot of other motifs used here, like canoes and paddles on the coffee table, the cabin miniature on the coffee table, the Indian head on the mantle, the checkerboard lampshade, and of course those amazing full-scale totem poles that have been energetically painted in Baratta's preferred bright color scheme.  

Bird's eye view of Baratta's custom area Chinese Checkers rug.

Nothing is ordinary.

Above, Baratta has turned a simple hallway into a wild mix of fun and color. Again, he's combined lots of themes together, like the pine trees and tents custom painted on the dressers with antler handles.  The old kerosene camp lantern, a rooster door stop, a tramp art box, gasoline can lamps, and of course another custom rug that mimics old hook rugs, but again, increased in scale and impact.

Charming European painted antiques mix with more Americana and plaid, of course.  Yet again, the custom area rug, a vintage inspired image of an Idaho tourist map featuring Sun Valley.  Really, how charming is this mix?

In the entryway, a braided rug, painted European antique chest, Americana quilt and folk art.  

Traditional lodge furniture, skier fabrics and plaids.

In the sitting area, above, lot's more camp and cabin-life motifs mix with another of Baratta's favorite themes: plaids.  As in almost all of his designs, plaids play an integral roll.

Okay, let's get the party started...here come the plaids.  This is a signature Baratta look, plaids on the furniture, walls and ceilings.  Again, the carpet has quilt inspired motifs.  Or are those Parcheesi board motifs?  Frankly, I'm not sure, and it really doesn't matter.  What matters is the whimsy and delight, right?

Another rug to love, especially that Airstream!  The red deer fabric is called Robin and it is available here. 

Fish, bears, canoes and winter scenes are inset into a braided area rug. Notice the side chair beautifully upholstered in a handmade quilt.  Take a moment to look closely at all the charming winter scenes in this, yet another, fabulous area rug.  Love it!

A custom made headboard hand-crafted in sticks with a beautiful painted summer lake scene topped with a stag painted medallion.  The fabric is an old Pierre Frey snowflake fabric, now discontinued.  

And below, a sitting area in the same bedroom... big, bold stripes mix with an amazing custom area rug that uses vintage ranch style motel signs for inspiration.  Look closely and you'll see that he has framed each sign with a course or two of traditional braided rug. So clever!

Another fabulous custom area rug, vintage rattan furniture painted red and a European painted trunk.

A bunk room to love.  Camp blankets, skier area rug, snow flake ceiling and charming folk art accessories.

Another seating area.  The area rug here relates to the Chinese checker rug in the first photo, but the images have been tweaked for this room.  The plaid fabric is a Diamond and Baratta design for Lee Jofa.  It has been discontinued, too. (William Diamond, now deceased, was Anthony Baratta's design partner for many years.)

Baratta bathrooms are never overlooked.  Here door panels have been painted with winter scenes and a red and white picnic table-themed fabric has been used as wallpaper on the walls and ceilings.

If you love Baratta's wonderful, crazy mix, and want to see more, here's another ski house project he designed.  Click here, to see more, more, more plaids, folk art and quilts!