Exciting news to share with you all today.  We just officially closed on a Mountain house!! Our dreams of owning a vacation home have come true!  Ben and I have had many chats over the years of our hope to someday own a vacation home to fix up, enjoy with our family and also rent out.  We love to travel and we’ve spent many, many trips, at Air B and B’s over the years.  

Our Air B and B experiences have always been much more comfortable, especially with kids, family and groups of friends than at a hotel.  As a decorator, part of me also enjoys the Air B and B experience because staying in different style homes with beautiful interiors excites me.  We LOVE the idea of having our own place that we can create memories with our family, friends and of course anyone else that would like a trip to New England (maybe you!).  We hope to rent it out at some point as well!

We’ve been researching for a long time!  To begin the journey, we narrowed down where in New England felt like a good place for us to start this endeavor.  Originally we were thinking a New Hampshire lake house.  But Cape Cod has too strong a pull on us during the summer.  We pivoted and after lots of long talks going through our favorite things about each state and what we really wanted, we knew we wanted a home we could enjoy in the winter.  Also, in a state that would attract visitors from around the country, that felt like a true destination and escape.  A place that offered beauty and activity in all seasons.   Any guesses where our new home is?   If you are guessing VERMONT… you are right!  We felt pulled to the Green Mountain state.  It’s world class skiing in places like Killington to classic quintessential towns with covered bridges like Woodstock.   Our mountain home is nestled in central to many great areas!

The time felt right.  Yet it also felt a little crazy (yah know with the whole pandemic thing).  With travel restrictions and all the open houses being out of state, our realtor had to take us along virtually.  We made an offer with out actually seeing this house in person.  I know, I know all a little crazy.  But with the climate of real estate as competitive as it is these days, you have to take risks and get offers in early.  We made an offer with contingencies to cover ourselves.  So that made us feel more confident with moving forward sight unseen.  We’ve also worked on a lot of house projects over the years and seeing less than desirable photos of a home doesn’t scare us away.  In this case, I think the cluttered, bad listing photos actually helped us out.  This home wasn’t moving off market.  We saw it’s potential right away!  It really is so unique looking and a true diamond in the rough. 

It still feels so strange to say the words “our mountain home”.  It’s very surreal!  We already have so many ideas for fixing this place up because it needs some serious TLC.  I’m actually going to be using my Home Planner to help me stay organized.  Our goal is to get this house ready to rent by the fall.  We know that is going to be tight, winter would also be a great goal to shoot for.  Hopefully the rest of spring and summer will give us a good amount of time to start the updates.  We have lots of plans for freshening up the exterior as well!

So are you ready for more interior photos???  My favorite part is the back of the home as well as the great room.   Before I share photos I’ll share our top INTERIOR projects for giving this 1970’s arched ski chalet a MAJOR facelift.

TOP INTERIOR Projects:

• Electrical– Most important we plan to update all the electrical in the home so it is up to code and completely safe.  
• Flooring – Tear out all flooring and add new through out entire house (mix of tile, carpet stair runners and engineered hardwood)
• Kitchen– add window above the sink (HELLO MOUNTAIN VIEWS AND LIGHT), new cabinets, counters, remove upper cabinets, new appliances etc…basically a new budget friendly kitchen!!
• Fireplace- update the stone for a more modern look as well as the insert removal.
• Paint– A TON of primer and paint to brighten up the dark 70’s paneling which will give it more of a vertical shiplap appearance.  

I’ll go into more detail on these things in the upcoming weeks and on Instagram.  I’ll also be giving some tours on stories.  Once we get back up there.  These photos are from the listing and a few from our past weekend in Vermont (the snow all melted).

I didn’t include first level photos.  This chalet has three levels.  The the first level you walk into has a mudroom, living room and a bedroom.  It isn’t truly a basement but it feels like one at the moment because it’s dark and dingy, no bueno!  There have been zero updates inside this place since it was built in the 70’s.  Ok with out further ado… 

Meet The Arched Chalet:

Imagine new lower cabinets, fresh counters, open shelving and a beautiful window above a new sink.  The fridge situation also needs to be addressed because it is way too big in that spot.  I’m looking at some cool smaller retro ones.  I considered moving fridge to the opposite side of the kitchen but because of the sloped ceilings it would not sit flush against wall.  Also, we plan to add a new oven and dishwasher too!  I also want to find a cool island with some modern seating.  The beams will stay a darker wood for now, and of course all the lighting will eventually be updated too! 

Above the half wall is a loft which has its own balcony.  I’ll plan to make that a bedroom with either a day bed or trundle bed for additional sleeping.   Can you imagine how much brighter light wall colors and new consistent flooring on this level, PLUS bringing some stone to that fireplace will really enhance and modernize this main floor?

The home has two full bathrooms which also need some updating.   I’ll cover that another time.  Kitchen, electric and floors are our TOP  priorities first.

Master Bedroom:

Loft:

So there she is in all her 70’s paneling glory. We also want to freshen up the white paint on the arch ceilings. Once the floors are updated and we have fresh paint through out, then some nice furniture/decor/lighting it will look completely different! So what do you think of our mountain house- ski chalet – cabin in the woods?!

Interested in Booking The Arched Chalet once complete?

CLICK HERE

Can’t wait to take you on this adventure with us! Follow The Arched Chalet IG HERE

Jordan