Continue the exterior architecture into every interior room, layer in personal pieces from the client's own life instead of generic mountain decor, and scale every fixture precisely to the space. Designer Lindsay Matias used this three-part method to build a Telluride ski house that nods to the mountain — a repurposed chairlift, a ski room, mountain-modern finishes — without losing the client's Dallas roots.
Lindsay Matias is the founder of Lindsay Matias Design, based in Dallas, Texas. This house sits in Mountain Village in Telluride, Colorado, on the ski mountain just outside town, for clients she had already worked with on several projects in Dallas. The homeowner is also the home's builder, so the two had an existing working relationship going into the project — the architecture was informing the interiors from day one rather than after the fact.
"Clients hire our firm because our designs feel intentional when you walk in the space. It feels effortless. Yet there are sometimes years of planning — but for the client, it feels easy and comfortable and livable."
The brief had two halves in tension: a clearly mountain-chic, mountain-modern house, and one that still read as an extension of the clients' Dallas identity. Lindsay's answer was to start with three non-negotiables. First, the exterior architecture and its surroundings had to carry through into the interior — in this house, that shows up immediately in the entry parlor, a seating area positioned to look straight through the entryway to the mountains beyond, doubling as a spot for an evening cocktail by the fire. Second, the client's own personality had to be layered in through pieces carried over from their previous life or newly curated finds. Third, every piece specified had to be scaled correctly to its room.
The house's most overtly playful move is a chairlift, repurposed from the mountain and installed as a focal point at the end of the entry hallway. Lindsay places it deliberately next to a piece of fine-art photography, pairing the cheeky mountain reference with something more considered so the two reinforce the same idea rather than fighting each other.
The ski room downstairs follows the same logic from the opposite direction: function first, personality second. The centerpiece light fixture had to be low-profile and surface-mounted specifically so it wouldn't get knocked by skis or poles being carried in and out — a Kelly Wearstler fixture for Visual Comfort was the pick that solved both the practical problem and the design brief.
"While we wanted it to be such a cool vibe for everybody and have this really great light fixture in the space to center it, it was very important that that fixture be something that was functional — there's nothing that you're going to knock."
The main living space opens fully to the exterior through doors that telescope away to both sides, keeping the indoor-outdoor transition continuous rather than framed by a single opening. It's built to be the après-ski landing spot at the end of the day, but also to comfortably hold every guest in the house at once. The dining area is casual and flows straight into the living area, anchored by a large fireplace visible from the entry. The kitchen island has bar stools on both sides on purpose — it functions as a second, more casual dining spot as much as a kitchen, useful on chaotic ski mornings and for hosting big holiday meals.
"All of the spaces in this home are really meant to be enjoyed by everyone at the same time."
Several of the house's most personal touches trace back to Dallas rather than Colorado. A goggle-shaped mirror in the kids' room — one of Lindsay's favorite pieces in the whole house — was custom-made by Dallas furniture maker Jason Block. The photography paired with the entry chairlift is by a Dallas-based photographer. None of these pieces are mountain-themed on their own; they work because they're specific to the clients rather than to the location, which is closer to what Lindsay means by layering in personality.
Visual Comfort fixtures recur through nearly every room shown: sconces above the entry artwork, the ski room's low-profile fixture, an iron fixture with delicate shades over the primary bedroom, and layered sconces in the primary bathroom set against rough-cut natural stone. In the primary bedroom specifically, Lindsay credits the fixture with doing more than lighting the room.
"It really just feels like it brings the scale of the house down kind of to a more comfortable level."
The primary bathroom pairs that same instinct with material contrast: rough, natural stone brought in to echo the exterior, layered with a comparatively refined, jewelry-like Visual Comfort sconce on top of it. The result is a house that reads unmistakably as a mountain house — and equally unmistakably as theirs.
"Though it's a mountain house and though there are elements that are very tongue-in-cheek, it still feels like it could be any other of our projects in Dallas or New York."