How did designers Steve Tiek of Tiek Design Group and Ali Henrie of Ali Henrie Design infuse a family’s new Mapleton home with age-old charm and modern livability? Beautifully.
As visitors approach the lantern-flanked entry of Taylor and Kacie Safford’s Mapleton house, an immediate sense of charm and comfort hints at the warm welcome they’ll receive from their hosts. “This house, like its owners, makes you feel special from the moment you enter the front door,” says architectural designer Steve Tiek, owner of Tiek Design Group. “It hugs you as you step into the entry, then it opens up and becomes more vulnerable as you move into the heart of the home.”
Photos by Lindsay Salazar.
Tiek Design Group teamed with interior designer Ali Henrie and contractor Jaeson Roundy to design and build the timeless, English country style residence the Saffords imagined. ”When I think of the English countryside, I picture rolling green hills dotted with charming cottages that embrace wear and tear and are cozy and comfortable,” says Kacie. “Nothing stuffy or over-polished.”
Tiek took his clients’ vision to heart when designing the home. “I immediately thought of the Cotswold area’s simple-form, stone-built houses that blend into the English countryside,” he says. To deliver an authentic look and age-old feel, the team sourced stone from a local quarry for the facade’s full bed stone masonry and added earthy green siding, natural timber lintels and copper rain gutters. The back of the house—with its broad windows, covered deck and sun-warmed patios—opens the interior to bucolic pastures and breathtaking mountain views. “They allow the indoor spaces to flex and expand outdoors during nicer weather,” Tiek explains.
Inside the front door, a cozy entry charms guests with its vertical tongue-and-groove paneling, herringbone-set white oak floors and a curved staircase boasting a simple newel post and painted, tapered balusters. “Entries set the tone for the whole house, and because this isn’t a grand entry, we wanted the space to feel more casual and have more of an English countryside feel,” Henrie says. The designers intentionally restricted views from the entry directly into the main area of the home. Tiek explains, “It piques your curiosity about what’s around the corner.”
Through an arched, tongue-and-groove paneled passage—featuring a cleverly hidden powder room door—visitors move from the intimate entry into the main living areas near the back of the house. There, walls of windows flood the open living, dining and kitchen areas with natural light and breathtaking views that the Saffords treasure. “Taylor works from home most of the week, and the first thing I hear in the mornings is the shades coming up,” Kacie says.
To promote warmth and evoke a bucolic landscape, Henrie painted the interior light taupe rather than white and added accents of darker, blue-gray paint in the living and kitchen areas. “These help create depth and add a moody element,” Henrie says. Kacie agrees, “We love how they make our home feel cozy and inviting.”
The wood beams, oak floors and shots of unlacquered brass help to unite the open living, dining and kitchen spaces and imbue them with a sense of age and timelessness. “We wanted to continue the language of the exterior here and throughout the home,” says Tiek, who teamed the active kitchen with a large pantry and a mudroom that can also be accessed from the entry and the back door. “Multiple pathways to the kitchen allow for more frequent social interaction as the family moves through each day,” he explains.
Photos by Lindsay Salazar.
For her part, Henrie focused on adding historic elements and fostering an English country feel in the kitchen. “We chose a black Lacanche range and added built-ins down to the countertop to accent the range and make it feel centered,” she says. Inset doors, decorative moldings and detailed craftsmanship foster the painted cabinetry’s English style, while brass hardware and lighting, a walnut island and Mont Blanc quartzite countertops deliver “warmth and consistency to the space,” she says. The dining room serves as an extension of the kitchen and features a wall of windows that fill both it and the kitchen with light and views of the pasture and towering Nebo Peak beyond.
Photos by Lindsay Salazar.
A sense of warmth and charm continues upstairs, where dormers deliver light and architectural interest to a hallway that connects the bedrooms and serves as a cozy common room for the Saffords and their three young children. Handsome built-ins stow kids’ toys and provide a bench seat for the active, narrow space. Nearby, rough-sawn beams and sloped ceilings unite the primary bedroom with its bathroom. There, a large soaking tub fronts a large window and two arched alcoves that frame facing vanities. “This layout allows for a nice flow,” Henrie explains.
Photos by Lindsay Salazar.
Thanks to thoughtful design, charming details and lots of authentic materials, the Safford’s new home is as lovely as it is livable. “From the beginning, we wanted to strike a good balance between making our home functional but fabulous; beautiful but inviting,” Kacie explains. “We wanted to create a place where we could make messes and memories.”
See more from the Utah Style & Design Fall 2023 issue here.
