Colorado Project
Colorado Project Colorado Project is a minimalist renovation located in Colorado, United States, designed by Clive Lonstein. Converting a relocated horse barn into a residence demands a particular kind of restraint – the kind that honors a structure’s rough origins while steering it toward something livable and considered. Lonstein’s approach in the Rocky Mountains treats rusticity not as an aesthetic to be applied but as a material condition to be refined, stripping away the nostalgic clutter that typically accompanies mountain cabin design while preserving the tactile warmth that makes such spaces compelling.
The building’s history as a horse barn, dismantled and moved to its current site, establishes an unusual foundation for the project. Rather than concealing that agricultural past, Lonstein leans into it through a careful program of reclaimed materials sourced from dismantled barns across America. This is not salvage for sentimentality’s sake. The reclaimed wood and Colorado Frontier stone carry a visual weight and imperfection that synthetic alternatives cannot replicate, and their presence anchors the home in a material lineage that extends well beyond its own walls.
Nowhere is this strategy more legible than in the mudroom, where reclaimed wood envelops the walls and ceiling to create an almost cocoon-like enclosure. The cool gray of the Frontier stone flooring works against the timber’s warmth, establishing a thermal and tonal dialogue that runs through the entire project. A vintage industrial light fixture and a painted Swedish table with a mouseman stool furnish the room sparingly – each object selected not to fill space but to punctuate it. The mouseman stool, with its signature hand-carved mouse detail rooted in the Yorkshire tradition of Robert Thompson’s workshop, signals Lonstein’s appetite for craft objects that carry their own narrative density.
The kitchen expands this material vocabulary with a crema espresso granite backsplash that introduces a polished contemporary surface against the rougher wood paneling. The stone’s earthy veining prevents the contrast from reading as a rupture, instead creating a kind of geological conversation between refined and raw. Leather Prouvé bar stools reinforce the modern current, while a Le Manach upholstered banquette along the dining area brings in pattern and textile warmth – a layering technique that recalls the restrained maximalism of Belgian interiors by the likes of Axel Vervoordt, where every surface contributes texture without competing for attention.
The primary bedroom suite demonstrates Lonstein’s skill at building complexity through accumulation rather than decoration. Perrine fabric curtains, a Pat McGann blanket, and a Swedish rug create overlapping fields of color and weave that feel gathered rather than coordinated. The adjoining study pairs a vintage Dupré Lafon lamp on an André Arbus desk with seating by Frits Henningsen and Ole Wanscher – a constellation of mid-century Scandinavian and French design that shares a commitment to sculptural restraint and honest materiality. A handwoven Sardinian rug beneath grounds these pieces in artisanal tradition, its irregular patterns softening the room’s geometry.
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