Elegance AT 7,000 FEET

A CABIN IN THE WASATCH RANGE RISES ABOVE ITS ROUGH-HEWN ROOTS TO BECOME A REFINED YEAR-ROUND HOME

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Living large isn't always a good thing. Rooms sprawling as wide as the Western range, ceilings soaring like craggy peaks, and peeled-log posts stretching up like Ponderosa pines once made this Park City, Utah, house feel less like a comfortable home and more like "a log cabin on steroids," homeowner Greg Conroy says.

He and wife Karen bought the place anyway. They saw something in it, something more than its promise of fresh powder skiing right outside the back door. Underneath the hulking river rock and monotone blond wood, they caught a glimpse of what could be: their own empty-nester Eden. "We had the courage to buy a house we didn't like and turn it into a home we love," Greg says.

To lead their renovation odyssey, the couple brought on Park City/Bozeman, Montana-based JLF Design Build.

"Everything about the house was large," JLF partner Jake Scott says. "While it would feel amazing for a big party, the space just wasn't right for two people. But it didn't make sense to tear down the house. Instead, we looked for ways to make it cozier, to make it feel comfortable for a couple." The right-sizing mission touched almost everything except the home's roofline and original footprint. JLF added walls to help cavernous main-floor rooms feel more intimate, swapped ponderous interior log columns for clean-lined steel, and installed steel-frame windows and doors to shower once cavelike spaces with rays of warm sunlight and views of nature.