by Faerl Marie Torres
photographs by Wendy McEahern
a vacation home designed with nature in mind
MELISSA THOMAS KNEW EXACTLY what she wanted for a second home in Santa Fe. “We lived in town before,” Thomas explains, “but we spent all our time in the outdoors, going up to the mountain.” Along with her husband Stephan, Thomas knew when the time came, they’d build a house that fits them perfectly—a vacation home that provides an escape from their busy lives, the confinement of four walls and constant lure of technology. Their Atalaya Mountain home is about connection to the outside and the vast expanse of undisturbed forest surrounding them. They chose an exclusive lot and designed the house to fit organically into the terrain, creating yin and yang between outside and in at every turn.
“The most important aspect is the lot the house was built on,” says Rob Woods of Woods Design Builders. Surrounded by the Santa Fe National Forest and sitting on one of the highest positions on Atalaya Mountain, the Thomas’ home is built to complement the topography and make the most of the vistas on every side. “It’s looking over St. John’s College Arroyo, Sun and Moon mountains, the Jemez Mountains, and across the city of Santa Fe,” Woods says. When they started building, everyone’s first thought was blending the house into the land. The interior space was designed to minimize the delineation between inside and out, from the window size and placement to the furnishings, fixtures and lighting.
“The home epitomizes transitional design,” Woods says. While paying homage to the historic Santa Fe style, natural stone and wood elements are blended with modern glass to enhance the design and expand the views. The palette was also selected from outside. “We decorated with an eye toward eliminating distraction from the natural setting—the diamond plaster walls are the color of aspen trunks and winter snowfall, and the browns and earthen tones throughout are all found in the surroundings with a nod to traditional Santa Fe style,” Thomas says. Even the bathrooms were designed to feel close to nature.
The couple’s favorite room is the courtyard, which they can enjoy, whether inside or out, thanks to custom doors and fully windowed hallways. “We had a very small footprint because of the slope,” Thomas says, “and had to choose carefully how to spend the space. It was more important to me to have that courtyard than another room in the house.” The back patio is designed with floor-to-ceiling windows and glass doors, as an extension of the open-concept kitchen, dining and living rooms, with all the comfort and amenities of the interior spaces. “We have most of our meals out there,” Thomas says of the versatile exterior room where her family eats, plays games and reads.
“It’s more of a life style for us. We trusted our instincts and got it right.”
— Melissa Thomas
The kitchen countertop extends outside with accordion windows that open completely to the bar. “Whether you’re in the kitchen or on the patio, it’s the same space. When the windows are open, there’s no wall, which really encapsulates bringing the outside in,” Woods says.
The addition of skylights throughout, including the laundry room and bathrooms, allows the Thomas family to sync with a more natural daily rhythm. “We often forget to turn on the lights,” Thomas says. “There’s so much natural light, and our rhythm is set by the house, waking up with the daylight and being energized by the sunshine until the evening.” When the sun sets, the outside spaces are transformed by the night sky and sparkling view of the lights in the city below. The fire table on the back patio is the centerpiece of quiet evenings, regardless of the season. “It’s more of a lifestyle for us,” Thomas says of the home’s intentional indoor-outdoor design. “We trusted our instincts and got it right.”
