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By Jennifer Walton
High in Sun Valley’s White Clouds neighborhood, the light shifts by the minute and each season leaves its own imprint, and for this reason, interiors hold particular power. They are what make a house on a mountainside feel like a home, what turn glass and stone into warmth and belonging. Here, every line of architecture answers to the land, and a home must balance openness with shelter because the geography is the backdrop and participant, and its drama requires a response that feels authentic. For interior designers Erika Blank and Rosemary Spiller, co-founders of Studio Boden, that transformation begins with listening to the land, to the architecture, and to their clients’ lives.
For this home, they began with what Spiller calls “the soft envelope,” the atmospheric palette drawn from the land’s neutrals—oak, limestone, and plaster- tinted walls.
The Interior Horizon
Blank describes their process as a kind of Venn diagram, where location, architecture, and personality overlap to form the home’s center of gravity. In this 6,300-square-foot residence, that overlap resulted in spaces that feel lived-in and rich with natural detail, while still leaning into the owner’s traditional sensibilities. She approached each room as a continuation of the landscape, letting materials like honey-toned oak, biscuit-colored tile, and hand-dyed linen represent the beauty beyond the windows.
The home’s architecture, by Buffalo Rixon and Dillon Knight of RLB Architectura, makes such intimacy possible. Built into the slope rather than placed upon it, the structure gives their interiors their natural cadence: light cascading from multiple directions, rooms that unfold in measured sequence, and a sense of connection that makes even its grandest spaces feel comfortably scaled. “We try to avoid homes that dominate their sites; this one needed to belong to the terrain,” Rixon explains.
“We try to avoid homes that dominate their sites; this one needed to belong to the terrain.”
–Buffalo Rixon, RLB Architectura
The plan unfolds across three levels—a main, upper, and modest lower terrace, each aligned to contour lines so that the form feels composed and not overtly-constructed.
At the entry, where stone meets steel, the front door opens into a vestibule that immediately introduces what this home does best—capture light. In the great room, a limestone fireplace rises through the space, balancing the architecture’s clean lines with weight and permanence. The kitchen and den sit at the heart of the plan, joined by tone and texture. The sunroom, once envisioned as an open-air patio, became one of the home’s defining centerpieces after being enclosed mid-design, recasting it into a four-season living space that dissolves the threshold between indoors and out. The fountains on that patio create a dialogue of motion and reflection, and draw the landscape even closer.
Studio Boden’s design language is guided by intuition and an understanding of how mountain living calls for spaces that are tactile, layered, and restrained. However, that restraint should not be confused for minimalism. For this home, they began with what Spiller calls “the soft envelope,” the atmospheric palette drawn from the land’s neutrals—oak, limestone, and plaster-tinted walls. It’s the skin, tone, and temperature of the home and what one feels before noticing a single piece of furniture. From that base, they built a vocabulary of surfaces, materials, and hardware that respond to the changing landscape.
Lighting played a vital role in that equation, as they united passive and active light sources. Boden curated pieces from Visual Comfort and Urban Electric through the entry, kitchen, bedrooms, and baths, fixtures that glow and soothe and were chosen for their sculptural and understated forms.
“Everything has a reason and relationship.”
–Buffalo Rixon, RLB Architectura
Throughout, their approach to all facets of the program was less about decoration and more about conversation. The homeowners, longtime Sun Valley residents with grown children and grandchildren, brought with them a handful of heirloom pieces and a bond with the area that feels inherited. Studio Boden used those as touchpoints. A hammered-metal leg on a coffee table; beads that trim the drapery, a fluted detail on a cabinet knob. The dining chairs from the couple’s former home were reupholstered and paired with a custom steel and wood table, the old and new conversing across generations. Their interiors aren’t centered so much on statement pieces as they are about resonance. Spiller emphasizes, “Everything has a reason and relationship.”
What makes Studio Boden’s work compelling is its refusal to repeat. Sun Valley clients often ask for similar ingredients like stone fireplaces, oak floors, and panoramic glass, having seen friends’ homes or a plethora of Pinterest ideas, but they find differences in proportion and finish. In the kitchen, for instance, they narrowed the Shaker profile to temper the modern cabinetry and used tile in a warmer tone for a traditional touch. The result is subtle and significant because the kitchen feels timeless, not trendy. “At Studio Boden, we want to be able to use interiors to tell the story of the client,” shares Blank.
Color, too, is handled with care. The couple favored warm honey hues, which Blank and Spiller paired with cooler grays and blues for balance. “We wanted the materials to have longevity,” Blank explains, “because if they ever changed direction with furniture or art, the house would evolve easily.”
There’s a refreshing practicality from the architect and designer. For Rixon, function guides form: the mudroom, gym, dog wash, and laundry are integrated, and not tacked on as afterthoughts to a luxury plan. For Boden, they gravitated to hand-touched finishes, the patina of natural wood, and the familiarity of materials that invite daily use.
“We wanted the materials to have longevity, because if they ever changed direction with furniture or art , the house would evolve easily.”
–Erika Blank, Studio Boden
When the couple’s family visits, the home absorbs the energy readily; when it’s just the two of them, the scale doesn’t feel excessive. That elasticity of space, mood, and purpose defines the home’s success. Rixon sums it up, saying, “We wanted them to live in the whole house, not just a section of it.”
In the White Clouds, where architecture often reaches for spectacle, this home chooses connection. Its beauty lies in nuance; the alignment of the windows to 120-degree views, the composition of stone, steel, and glass, and the way the appearance of textures change with the day. It’s a home that reflects the distinction of its setting, neither overly edited nor precious, but exacting in its sense of place.
Boden led with instinct, designing a home for living, proof that the real measure isn’t how much space is built or designed, but how completely it is inhabited, which may be the highest compliment to Studio Boden and RLB Architectura. The outcome reminds us that simplicity, when done with intention and compassion, is the highest form of sophistication.
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