Elevated Style
Colorado-based HW Home reimagines two signature Beaver Creek residences.
Today’s mountain home can be many things: a gathering place for family and friends, a cozy retreat from the chaos of city life, a doorway to the world of nature, or a respite from a mountain storm. And in classic ski resorts like Beaver Creek, Colorado—one of the chicest alpine communities in the American West—the luxury vacation home must also reflect the specific alpine location, its people and, for Exclusive Resorts, its Members.
Two signature Beaver Creek residences in the Vacation Collection recently underwent an interior transformation. At the helm of this journey were Ron Werner and Jim Hering, owners and co-founders of Colorado-based HW Home. Twenty-two years ago, they opened the first of four HW Home retail locations in Boulder, CO, and later opened their design studio and custom furniture business, bridging the gap between high-end design and homogenized retail.
Jim and I have developed an interesting hybrid,” says Werner. “HW Home is a design firm and yet we have mastered procurement and remote installations along with retail core competencies. We understand the demographic of the users, and are sensitive to wear-ability, durability, and sustainability.”
Because they work with various global Exclusive Resort properties, the team understands the totality of the Club, yet acknowledges the importance of each property’s personality. “Each Club property is unique,” he says. “Exclusive Resorts wants to make sure every piece is fresh and every look holds up.”
To achieve this in the two spacious Beaver Creek residences, HW Home transformed the old luxury interiors from what Werner describes as “old school mountain”—an aesthetic synonymous with the 1980s and 90s and featuring multiple fabrics, dark woods, and heavy “Tuscan inspired” details—into a streamlined, mountain modern design.
The top-to-bottom remodel of these pristine homes included the replacement of furniture, lighting, linens, and carpets, while employing rich natural palettes and a mix of attractive materials.
“We respect the mountain look, so we brought in fresh and current designs without being too modern,” he says. “You won’t find a white leather sofa with metal legs in a mountain modern house we are doing.”
What will you find? Modern pieces juxtaposed with artwork evoking a sense of western wonder and nods to the natural world through furniture design and imagery. Werner and Hering also created custom pieces for Exclusive Resorts’ vacation homes via their own furniture label, True HW Home. The duo designed a custom sectional-sleeper covered in a durable fabric that cleans easily “even if SpaghettiOs were spilled on the sofa.”
The pieces are chic, but more importantly, comfortable. “If the furniture is not comfortable in a Colorado mountain home, what good is it? If you are skiing all day, when you finally get home, all you want to do is snuggle up and relax.”