Fantasy Friday - Mountain House in Olympic Valley, Squaw Valley, CA

I love looking at houses for sale! Today I thought it would be inspiring to post a mountain house for sale near Squaw Valley ski resort (a.k.a. Olympic Valley, California - home of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games).

The exterior of the house has an interesting roof line and stone work that evokes Craftsman style.

This patio looks like a relaxing place to hang with friends after a day skiing, snowboarding, hiking, mountain biking, kayaking .....

The living room fireplace is a work of art and carries the rustic stone motif inside. The exposed beams are ruggedly beautiful as are the window casings. I'd add a few pops of color to the room with furnishings and accessories.

The living room adjoins the dining area with its beautiful light fixture and skylight above to brighten the space during the day:

The kitchen looks amazing.  I love the range hood that looks like a Craftsman-era Mica lampshade - echoed by the pendants over the island. Built-in glass front cabinetry makes it easy for house guests to find their way around the kitchen.

The view, particularly from the master bedroom, is gorgeous! Those little doors on either side of the window are charming. (Does the fact that the beam is partially buried in the fireplace bother you?)

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What a bathroom. I love the tub as a focal point! Great light from windows and I expect there is a view from the tub? Maybe the shower, too?!?

That's all for this house tour. Hope you enjoyed snooping looking as much as I did.

(The particulars: 4 BR/5BA; 5025 square feet; built 2011. If you need to ask the price you can't afford 107 Rock Garden Court, Olympic Valley, CA 96146.)
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Football Cake Balls for Superbowl Sunday

We are having a little superbowl gathering and I am making dessert. I am a fan of the TV show "Cake Boss" so I thought I'd try something creative. Since Charm City Bakery is in Baltimore, this is a nod to the Baltimore Ravens, who are playing the San Francisco 49ers.

I learned how to make cake balls thanks to a wonderful YouTube video by the very sweet Zoe Miller. This video shows exactly what I did (with minor modifications noted below.)

I wanted to use ingredients that I had on hand. So instead of using colored candy chips like Zoe, I took out a bag of leftover holiday morsels and enlisted the kids to separate the different color chips.

We used green to simulate the turf and chocolate for the footballs.  (The red will be used for a Valentine's day project.)

I made the cake balls just like in the video using a simple mix and canned frosting. But instead of keeping the balls spherical I made them rather pointy on the ends so they looked like footballs.

While the cake footballs were chilling I melted the green morsels and spooned some into a candy tray, nestled the chilled cake footballs into the melted green and then chilled some more. While the cake footballs and green firmed up in the freezer, I melted the chocolate morsels and then dipped the chilled footballs into the melted chocolate. After the cake footballs were firm I piped on a little bit of white icing to make the football lacing.

Adding Icing to make laces on the cake football

Very easy and pretty dang cute. I am hoping they will be a hit at the party this Sunday!

Dishes and Dinnerware for a Rustic Lodge

I love dishes! If I had unlimited space I'd have several patterns and, ideally, mix and match them for fun. In a rustic cabin or lodge the style of dishes can be classic, whimsical, or casually collected.
These ski plates and pole bowls would be great at a mountain lodge in winter:

Eclectic Dinnerware design by Bedding And Bath Garnet Hill

I really like these Animal Print Dessert Plates (available from Target and part of the Patch NYC collection).

Target also has dessert bowls in the same animal print theme with a woodpecker, stag, fox and owl motifs.

Source: Target - Patch cereal bowls

Traditional dinnerware designs always seem to be appropriate in a rustic lodge. Here are some examples that I think are beautiful.

The Spode company has a "Woodland American Wildlife Collection" which includes elk and birds. Spode also makes the eternally classic blue and white "Willow ware".

Traditional Dinnerware by Spode

A lot of people find pine cone and bear designs on their rustic lodge style dishes or dinnerware to be appealing.

Then again, one can always use paper plates!

Wyoming Style Inspiration

Howdy from Wyoming!

I just had the great pleasure of visiting my parents and friends in Wyoming. I am so excited to share some pictures I took at my friend Bonnie's house. What a sense of rustic lodge style! I love the antler mirror and window treatment in the bath

 and the sweet little vignette of vintage grooming supplies on the window sill:

Wouldn't you just love to soak in this tub?

Have you got a collection of colorful cowboy boots? Try lining them up in a corner display or...

display them on shelves - particularly cute with vintage children's boots!

Or tuck a pair of cowboy boots in a corner with your favorite jugs and a skull - if you've got one handy...

What rustic lodge doesn't need a cozy window seat?

The room I envy most in Bonnie's house is her sewing room - complete with vintage storage for notions.

So organized - with thread and work tables

In another post, I'll show you some of the sheep wagons - but for now, I hope you've enjoyed a little glimpse into Bonnie's rustic lodge home on the range in Wyoming!

Metal Work - Focus on Hunter Metal Forge & Iron Works Inc.

I grew up around metal shops. It's in my blood. My great grandfather, grandfather and father all worked in metal creating beautiful railings, towering skyscraper beams and everything in between. So when we remodeled our mountain home I knew I wanted metal elements. 
Our contractor introduced me to metal worker extraordinaire, Brian Spanier, who, along with his team, does an amazing job with metal. They are located at Lake Tahoe on the north shore in Tahoe Vista. Here is some of their work.

Doesn't this gorgeous, rustic fireplace screen look like it's been there for years? 

I just love how the smooth textures of this inset mantel contrast with the stone, don't you? 

(One could hang the Christmas stockings using neodymium magnets!)

Maybe your retreat has a contemporary style. This metal fireplace and metal "logs" look so striking.

The graceful curve of this beautiful staircase complements the wood stairs and the stone tile at the landing. Making straight metal into graceful curves is not easy!

The beefy metal and hand forging of this custom banding really accentuates the solidity of the wood post and beams. It almost looks as malleable as lead!

Lastly, here are some photos of the work they did for me. The fireplace is my own design. My crude sketch on paper was transformed into this!

Mantel by Hunter Metal - metal under hearth protects the wall from firewood that gets tossed underneath!

Detail of mantel by Hunter Metal 

Hunter Metal also made the fireplace tools!

I hope you've enjoyed this little tour today. To view more gorgeous work by Hunter Metal click here. (Disclosure: I have no affiliation nor did I receive any compensation for this post. I am just a very satisfied client!)


Do you have metalwork in your retreat? If so, please do share a photo or link. If not, maybe you want to contact Hunter Metal!