Instead of Antlers, This Deer Valley House Nods to the Sun and the Moon

In approximately four hours and 40 minutes, Jan Kolteniuk and her family can go from the sun-drenched streets of Mexico City to the snowy mountains of Deer Valley, Utah (excluding traffic and waiting in line at security, of course). “It’s a direct flight to Salt Lake City,” notes Kolteniuk. She and her husband moved to Mexico City 16 years ago (he’s originally from there) but more recently fell in love with northern Utah, which shares its arid and dry weather. So when Mexico City fully shut down during the height of the pandemic, the couple and their three daughters (ages 13, 12, and 9) retreated to the States for a period of time and rented a house along the slopes. Not long after, they toured a 2,400-square-foot, circa-1980 place across the street that was for sale.

“I saw it and I was like, what a dump,” recalls Kolteniuk. The main bedroom was not only painted purple, but there was a bathtub in the middle of the space. A huge dumbwaiter soaked up precious space on all three floors…even though it couldn’t fit more than one package at a time. But the beautiful cedar ceilings were a selling point. “It made it feel like a modern chalet to me,” she adds. Kolteniuk tasked Jennelle Butera of Hudson + Bloum Design with helping her bring a touch of Mexico to the ski retreat. In addition to strong doses of marigold (which, to Kolteniuk, largely symbolize the Day of the Dead), Butera steered clear of rustic neutrals. “Gray is all over the place in a lot of these mountain homes,” she points out. Antlers were also out of the question.

Collection feature: Heartwood in Colorway Madera

A collection Designed in collaboration with Humberto Leon

Drawing inspiration from the distinctive patterns of wood grain, Leon collaborated with Calico Wallpaper to craft a custom mural that blends the organic lines of wood’s natural grain with an exaggerated graphic pattern