Many of my memories of summer are from time spent in the mountains of North Carolina. My grandparents had a vacation house on Beech Mountain throughout my childhood, and once or twice a year, our family would load up the station wagon for the long drive from southeastern Virginia to the northwestern corner of North Carolina. In the middle of summer, the temperatures were mild—almost no one had air conditioning, and we would spend the majority of the day outside, scrambling around big rocks, or lounging on big decks, running through icy streams, following leaves and twigs as they followed the current. Houses were tucked into the hillsides, under the forest canopy, around boulders, open to views of the Blue Ridge, with small bedrooms and open living spaces—they were social houses, but they were frequently part–time houses, vacation rentals, with tiny kitchens and bathrooms.

So when my aunt and uncle decided to try out a full–time lifestyle in the mountains and build a new house nearby, they were interested in making a house that would keep the site specificity and material character of the older (and smaller) mountain cabins but have more gracious and modern interiors—room for two cooks in the kitchen, a home office, a detached garage and studio.

As an interior designer, my aunt brought clear ideas about the organization of the rooms and their detail to the design process. The public rooms of the main floor convene around a large stone chimney, which houses the fireplace, the media cabinet, and an antique hutch. Cabinetry and window shelving is designed for the display of ceramics, cookware, African violets. With no need for air conditioning, radiant heating in the floors is the only mechanical system, and the boiler can do double duty for heating and hot water.

Designed as a one story house with a steeply pitched gable roof, the second story rooms are effectively tucked into the roof shape, which helps keep the exterior presence of the house small. Because it’s all about the big view—the blue and purple layers of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just outside.