We have been busy working on the Smith Home A Frame, a full renovation of our 1970s ski home in Hunter, NY. As construction eagerly wraps up, I am excited to share sneak peaks of all the gorgeous details, as well as highlight the incredible craftspersons that have made this project extra special.
Check our social media for Behind the Scenes reels on the construction from the beginning. Lets get into the backstory!
The Smith Family are big time skiers. This was a vision my husband, Bryan, had a few weeks after our first child, Beckett, was born. At the time we lived in Miami, Florida and, for me - a Miami native, born and raised, my skiing capabilities were few. This seemed like a far fetched dream but sure enough within two years we were moving north to the Greater New York area with baby number 2, Juniper. After landing in Montclair, NJ in 2014, Bryan selected Hunter to be our local ski mountain. As soon as Beckett turned 3, Bryan had him on skis. Soon there after, we had a seasonal rental in Hunter and both Beckett and Juniper were in the ski program. We fell in love with our time in the Catskills, and at 38 years old, I started taking ski lessons.
By 2019, we purchased our A Frame at the base of the mountain. It was in relatively good condition with some early 90s updates and lots of IKEA furniture. It was tight, as most A Frames are, but cute. The lot backs up to the mountain so our backyard is all woods (bear sightings are common). After spending a good part of 2020 in the cabin during COVID lockdown, it became apparent that we needed to make some changes if this was going to be where we spent a lot of time. We needed more space to entertain, a proper guest room, and separate places for kids and grown ups to hang. Working with Atelier NY Architects, run by a fellow ski dad Ken Hudes, we started to dream and plan.
One of our priorities was to keep the original A Frame living room intact and build out the space from there. The front door opened into the basement, underneath a front deck. We decided to enclose the deck area and repurpose the space for a new mudroom and guest room. To give us more usable square footage, we tore o! the back corner of the house while holding up the A Frame timbers (super scary), and added a triple height addition. Here would be the future home of a basement bunk/movie room, main floor kitchen, and full size primary bedroom and bath on the loft.
Demolition and construction was quite the endeavor. It may have been cheaper to tear the whole house down and start from scratch, but we are so thrilled to have saved the original bones of this special place. Standing in the living area, underneath the restored pine tongue and groove walls, its our sanctuary in the Catskills.
