Tall Pines Construction (Garrett Strong) recently built a home on a corner lot, essentially a notch carved out of the city park in Midway canopied by old trees with a ditch bubbling in front. For people like me who love old Utah, it is one of the best lots I’ve seen anywhere.
With care to the proportions of the neighborhood and retained outbuildings, and by using recycled wood, the home looks like it belongs, while at the same time it promises to have some surprises inside. The interior is no disappointment. Initially it reflects a feeling of a comfortable old farmhouse with a big farmhouse kitchen, but the polished stainless steel appliances and rangehood counter being too old fashioned.
The visible conduits, ducting, and industrial lights echo an industrial loft, and the bricks and flooring support the loft imagery. The floors were salvaged from a Midwest sewing factory and seriously rubbed down and scraped by the homeowner. However, a few embedded buttons remain to tell the story. Some bricks in the living room wall were recovered on site and others come from Park City’s dismantled buildings. The bicycles aren’t placed against the living room wall as an attempt at photo styling—that’s where they stay.
The photos capture some of the home’s fresh ideas. I really liked the configuration of the bookshelves by the stairway. This could easily be lost space. Similarly, I liked the privacy the ski fence affords, and each pair of skis belonged to a family member and tells a story. While I often see climbing walls in fitness rooms, this one appears in the boy’s bedroom, and I find it an inspiring idea for parents who like their home to be the one where their children and their friends gather.
It’s a nicely sized family home in a great spot, and it made for a fun photo shoot, helped even more by homemade cupcakes baking.
— Scot Zimmerman
