Husband-and-wife Group Brent and Autumn Simmons Are a part of the Blue Ridge Mountains Area around Boone, North Carolina, their Whole lives. They climbed up there and studied design in Appalachian State University there (he studied construction science; she, inside layout).
They wanted to deliver the sustainability techniques they’d learned in school to the community they loved, while observing the historic style of this pastoral mountain region. After launching their own design-build company, they built this contemporary rustic cabin for themselves, keeping in mind they’d be selling it a few years in the future. “This house was an experiment in creating the very best of both worlds: mountain rustic and minimalist contemporary,” says Autumn Simmons. Have a closer look and see if this style mashup calls to you, too.
in a Glance
Location: Banner Elk, North Carolina
Who lives here: Its designers, Brent and Autumn Simmons
Size: 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms
Year built: 2007
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
The couple wanted to respect the rustic website and provide a nod to the area’s earliest settlers. They accomplished this by incorporating barn-like contours and barn-red color. “It had been an attempt to bottle a tiny bit of the nostalgia you get from driving through the area, seeing beautiful old barns that have weathered some tough years,” Autumn Simmons states. The facade incorporates reclaimed barn wood and shingles made from poplar bark.
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
“This area is a favorite with second-home retirees in summer time for the gorgeous scenery, fantastic golfing and quaint stores, together with arts and culture festivals hosted by the university and surrounding cities,” she states. Hikers, bikers, kayakers, skiers and fall-foliage seekers also flock to the area. The house is in a growth known as “The Farm,” which caters to part-time hosts and inhabitants year-round residents.
The house borders several acres of horse paddocks and stables for occupants from the Farm who want to board horses, which can be accessed only a couple yards from the back door.
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
The bark shingles have a long local history. “Bark from the shingle form first appeared in the resort city of Linville, only a few miles from Banner Elk, in the late 1890s,” says Simmons. “Architect Henry Bacon, who made the Lincoln Museum, is credited with its own formal debut. Chestnut bark
was used on those first structures, some of which could nevertheless be found undamaged in the area today.”
The use of bark shingles halted with the chestnut blight that struck in the early 1900s before 1990, when a second husband-and-wife team situated BarkHouse, which attracted them back (they use poplar bark). “Tree bark was traditionally a waste product but has become a sustainably fabricated, maintenance-free product with natural beauty that will remain intact for decades,” says Simmons.
Windows: Kolbe Push Out Casement Windows in Chutney, Mountain Lumber Company in Boone, North Carolina
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
“In designing a house, we believe it is extremely important not to design and build independently from the natural environment, and we incorporate the area’s native substances,” says Simmons.
The area and the website strongly influenced the property’s shape, orientation and details. The house gives a nod to local and historical architectural customs, takes advantage of the views and consists of components such as the bark shingles and locust posts.
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
A porch off the side of the house, complete with an outdoor fireplace, provides room to enjoy the gorgeous environment throughout the seasons. Cable railings leave up to the sweeping mountain views open as you can.
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Following is a closer look in a locust post. “One of my favourite things about living in the house has been the sight and sounds of birds and squirrels scaling on the bark siding and hammering seeds onto the locust articles. It’s a fantastic feeling to know you’ve used a material that blends so seamlessly with nature that animals don’t treat it any differently than a tree from the woods,” says Simmons.
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
“The casement windows create clean, simple lines that complement the form of the house, and the easy grill pattern reinforces traditional farmhouse design,” says Simmons.
Component of the versatility and sustainability of the house is from the attic’s potential. Finishing it can include 456 square feet of living space. It had been wired for future growth, and a place for a future staircase was planned and left open. Additionally, the roof blocks 97 percent of the sun’s radiant heat from entering the atti, thanks to the LP TechShield Radiant Barrier Roof Sheathing. This retains the entire home cooler and reduces energy bills.
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
The trimwork around the walnut door additionally brings rustic logs to the plan.
Door: habit, Vaughn Woodworking
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
“This is the first house we made and built to live in ourselves, with the intent of promoting a few years in the future,” says Simmons. “While we were in our mid‐20s and wanted to bring something fresh and unique to the traditional styling of mountain homes, we knew we wouldn’t be the long-term residents and were challenged to balance our personal vision with demands of a prospective proprietor, who would potentially be in a very different period of life.”
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
Thus, the Simmonses made for their own lifestyle but keep in mind that the property’s design and functions ought to be versatile — suitable for retirees living there full time or using the place as a second house, perhaps for hosting big extended family gatherings.
Range: Jenn-Air; Granite: Merillat; hardware: Rocky Mountain Hardware
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
More Bark House bark made its way inside, in this case as a 4- by 9-foot panel on the walls of the half tub. A live-edge slab functions as the vanity.
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
“While the inside is straightforward and not the typical rustic cottage design usually found in our area, we did incorporate some reclaimed timber,” says Simmons. 1 example is that this sliding barn door in the master bath. The tongue and groove ceiling provides a dash of farmhouse style.
Hardwood flooring: American black walnut; base sinks: Kohler
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
More cases of rural details: board and batten siding, a live-edge headboard and a tree stump side table from the master bedroom.
Bed, mirror: Bannack Brown Ghost Wood
Christopher Kellie Design Inc..
“I think farmhouse design goes hand in hand with contemporary in several ways — simple lines, simple shapes, a sort of common‐sense approach to construction that is based on design, not so much for look but necessity,” says Simmons. “Farm homes have never been extravagant, and the purest, simplest forms are their core.”
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