Shed style: recycled wood warms up a Rocky Mountain retreat

Sunset, Dec, 2004 by James Boone

The challenge for Liz Le Coq Currier and her husband, Joe Currier, was to design their new home in Crested Butte, Colorado, around two 120-year-old wooden industrial sheds. A National Historic District, the area has strict preservation rules. The couple envisioned a rustic structure that would incorporate recycled building components and blend into the neighborhood. "We wanted passersby to wonder, 'Hmm, I never noticed that neat old place before,'" Le Coq Currier explains.

Local design and building firm Coburn Development worked with the couple to keep the sheds intact while linking them to a new two-story structure containing the living/dining area and kitchen. "We utilized shed dormers, tall, double-hung windows, antique plank siding, simple trim, and a corrugated steel roof to make this house look like it belongs here," says co-owner Bill Coburn.

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Builder Mike Fahrlander reconfigured the detached smaller shed into a bunkhouse that sleeps four and developed the larger shed as the master bedroom suite, connecting it to the house's new foyer via a closed breezeway. Le Coq Currier shopped the Internet for salvaged wood materials to bring a warm, authentic ambience to the living spaces.

Fahrlander incorporated Le Coq Currier's online discoveries into the design, treating them like pieces in a giant puzzle. "You just can't replicate the character of these genuine old woods," he explains.

DESIGN: Dan Rotner and Peter Weber, Coburn Development, Boulder and Crested Butte, CO (www.coburndev.com, 303/442-3351; or 970/349-1366)

CONSTRUCTION: Mike Fahrlander, Mountain Home Construction, Crested Butte (970/209-5913)

RELATED ARTICLE: Recycle savvy

Old wood appears throughout the house. Builder Mike Fahrlander constructed the large trusses out of old-growth fir beams from Oregon, installed 300-year-old planked Eastern heart pine flooring from Virginia, and painstakingly hung antique doors from Mexico.

"Of all the great elements of this house," owner Liz Le Coq Currier says, "the old floors are our favorite--like coming home to Grandma's and feeling all warm inside." Fahrlander sealed the floors to bring out their warm honey tones.

Even the siding is recycled barn wood. Fahrlander has been working with it for 30 years and says it's tough stuff, well seasoned for dry Western weather, with no need for finishing. He advises letting the natural wood shine through, making sure it has good drainage to ward off possible decay. For interiors, lightly wire-brush surfaces to take off loose debris.

Resources

* Antique Mexican doors and furniture. Salsa Trading Company (www.salsatrading.com or 707/939-1710)

* Recycled flooring. Carlisle Wide Plank Floors (www.wideplankflooring.com or 800/595-9663)

PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS J. STORY