Home Buying

Carving out a cozy home along Vermont’s ski slopes

In this condo overlooking Mount Mansfield, designer Michelle Holland eschews traditional ski country style, balancing comfort and color.

Designer Michelle Holland splashed the home with shades of blue, red, and mustard to combat the gray of a Vermont winter. Photos by Jane Beiles Photography

By Madeline Bilis

October 9, 2024

4 minutes to read

Though designer Michelle Holland moved to Nantucket 12 years ago to run Nantucket House Antiques & Interior Design Studios, she’s a Vermonter at heart. So when her good friends Kerry O’Brien and Ed Biggins asked her to reimagine their Stowe ski home, the former Shelburne, Vt., resident was delighted to oblige. “This is my comfort zone,” said Holland, who set out to create a space where O’Brien, Biggins, and their three children could be together and enjoy the best of winter in the Green Mountain State.

She decided to start fresh in the four-bedroom, four-bathroom condo overlooking Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, eschewing traditional ski home style for something more unique.

“Vermont can be really gray,” Holland said. “When I lived there and did design work there, we never used gray because it’s always gray in the winter.” O’Brien gravitates toward bright colors, so Holland splashed the home with shades of blue, red, and mustard, which she admitted is unusual for a ski house. She placed a textured rug in the living room to set the tone for the space, translating to equal parts playful and sophisticated.

Aside from using rugs as grounding elements, there was one shared design goal for the home: to mimic an industrial loft. O’Brien and Biggins spent much of their 20s living in a loft in New York City; they longed for that environment again and decided to recall loft living in their ski home. The massive stone dining table, for one, was originally in their New York loft, as was much of the art bedecking the walls.

The massive stone dining table was originally from the family’s New York City loft.

A print by photographer Jim Westphalen in the dining area depicts a crumbling barn. “It’s beautiful and almost industrial,” Holland said. Beside the fireplace, intricately decorated paper O’Brien and Biggins bought on their honeymoon in Africa is framed to display. Meanwhile, in the hallway beyond the kitchen, a realistic-looking moon light by designers Ben & Aja Blanc felt like an especially appropriate lamp to turn on during the eclipse this spring. Skis O’Brien’s mother once owned grace the guest bedroom. And a series of framed snake prints over one couch speaks to Biggins’s love of snakes, while shadow boxes with Lego figures imbue even more playfulness.

“There are specific touches that are unique to them,” Holland said. “You don’t often see that in a ski house. They’re usually a little more generic, and they didn’t want that.”

The home offers plenty of space for guests, or renters, to gather and warm by the fireplace.

“The open-concept kitchen and dining areas make it perfect for ducking in for a lunch break on the slopes or hosting a big dinner with family and friends après-ski,” said owner Kerry O’Brien.

A series of framed snake prints over one couch speak to owner Ed Biggins’s love of reptiles.

The cable railing system on the stairs is in keeping with the home’s industrial New York City loft vibe.

The condo’s bunk room is anything but generic. Holland worked with Gristmill Builders in Stowe to create the four wooden sleeping nooks with metal railings. Each one has storage underneath, plus a small lamp and charging port. For linens, Holland opted to put a flannel fitted sheet on each bed and top them with sleeping bags. “I’ve been able to design a lot of bunk rooms,” Holland said. “And they’re just so hard to make. So we did sleeping bags — the kids love them and they’re easier to wash.”

Madeline Bilis

Madeline Bilis is a freelance journalist based in Boston, where she covers real estate, travel, and design. She will always defend the city’s brutalist buildings.

Elsewhere in the bunk room, Holland decided to create lamps from old sap buckets. She sourced orange buckets from a farm and topped them with a shade, “which is kind of perfect for Vermont,” she said.

It’s a whimsical hangout for when O’Brien’s sisters and their families visit. Almost immediately, kids take over the bunk room. “It’s a house where I feel like everybody can pile in and have a comfortable place to be,” Holland said.

Designer Michelle Holland worked with Gristmill Builders in Stowe to create the four wooden sleeping nooks with metal railings.

In fact, in each room, O’Brien and Biggins set out to invest in comfort. Holland paid special attention to comfortable beds and seating, as well as plush curtains. “Those were the things we really focused on, just because when you’re there, what are you doing?” she reasoned. “You’re sitting around the fire, you’re doing a puzzle, you’re sleeping in.”

Overall, Holland said the home embodies three qualities: capacity, convenience, and entertainment. It’s an enjoyable space for Biggins, O’Brien, and their children — as well as their many family members and friends. Yet it’s also a ski-in, ski-out getaway that’s steps from the slopes. “We love how our friends from Vermont and beyond can ski right up to our back door anytime,” said O’Brien. “It creates a wonderful sense of community and spontaneity reminiscent of our early days in our NYC lofts.”

The expansive window perfectly frames the view of the slopes.

The dual-level unit offers direct access to Stowe’s Sunny Spruce lift. “What’s so great about this house is, even if it’s not a perfect day, you can go out and take a few runs and really get to enjoy Vermont for what it is,” Holland said.

Then, once the skiers are sufficiently tuckered out, the condo makes for a cozy spot to gather.

“The open-concept kitchen and dining areas make it perfect for ducking in for a lunch break on the slopes or hosting a big dinner with family and friends après-ski,” said O’Brien.

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