A paved road through Glacier Mountain Park that's reserved for bikers and hikers? Yep. Here's why Spring in Whitefish, Montana, is the best.
Along the banks of the Bitterroot River, The Farm at McCauley Butte maximizes its mountainous views.
This dreamy mountain retreat called the "Great Northern Lodge" was designed by Centre Sky Architecture, located in Whitefish, Montana.
A slopeside home in Whitefish, Montana, branches out to the surrounding forest with the playful spirit of a treehouse, in serious—and stunning—contemporary style.
This dreamy mountain retreat called the "Great Northern Lodge" was designed by Centre Sky Architecture, located in Whitefish, Montana.
Take in the views from Montana's scenic highways, frontage roads and county trails in this photo collection from Peak Photography of Montana and Andy Austin.
This cozy mountain home reflects the beauty of the Rockies while also being modern, light, and airy.
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An artist turns her creative eye to a run-down adobe she just couldn’t resist.
Are you planning to travel to the United States for a vacation or a honeymoon? For a blissful stay, here are the best all-inclusive resorts in Montana, USA.
Castello di Casole is a signature development of Timbers Resorts in Tuscany, Italy. Vineyards and orchards of olive trees pattern the hillsides. Two grand cypress-lined lanes ascend to an historic castle poised to open as
A Pittsburgh couple invests in this little gem in hopes of attracting visiting family and friends
This dreamy mountain retreat called the "Great Northern Lodge" was designed by Centre Sky Architecture, located in Whitefish, Montana.
Coffee-table books from two of the country's top architectural firms show off an array of innovative projects that elevate the built environment of the West. Paahaa Ranch (Lake Flato) — Exterior: Originally a homestead built in 1875, the property in Canyon Lake, Texas, has a two-story limestone main house, smokehouse, and wood barn. The linear flat lawns that once provided the original owners room for their lambing now defines the site and provides plenty of wide-open space for family activities. The barn was salvaged and repurposed as an outdoor living room with sliding barn doors made of slatted wood on all sides. It's centered around an elevated trough-style swimming post — a nod to the water troughs frequented by horses and cattle back in the day. Architecture has always been a marriage of thoughtful design, sustainability, and enhancement of the land. But when it comes to designing what Montana-based architecture firm JLF calls a “legacy home,” the terrain becomes all-important. In a quest to strike the right balance of rugged and refined, design can become positively transcendent. When it’s successful, inspired silhouettes blend into surrounding mountain ranges and still somehow remain uniquely grounded. Steel-and-glass construction feels like it’s always been built into the West Texas landscape, and reclaimed wood-clad farmhouses feature hallmarks that will continue to weather time, traditions, trends, and generations with practical grace. After designing the best in the West for more than three decades, two top architectural firms — JLF and Texas-based Lake Flato — are opening their files and offering an inside look at some of their most stunning properties via a pair of coffee-table books from Rizzoli. Lake Flato Houses: Respecting the Land (November 2021) and Foundations: Houses by JLF Architects (May 2022) feature an abundance of beautiful photographs, the stories behind some of their most complex and compelling projects, and invaluable insights when it comes to combining artisanal craftsmanship and Old-World techniques with the most modern sustainable technology. While there’s no go-to formula, these are six pillars that must be considered when building a Western retreat that will last through the ages. Paahaa Ranch (Lake Flato) — Living Room: Inside, the walls of the living area are crafted from squared cedar timbers and rough-sawn timber that were salvaged from the original structure. Hand-cut limestone walls make for a cozy attic bunk room. While visually stunning, every inch of this home is meant to stand up to the rigors of lake life. With durability top-of-mind, concrete floors and steel railings were installed, and wood-bordered glass sliding doors provide rugged-yet-refined frames for the lake views. The Past The architects at Lake Flato say it pays to study the structures of yesterday, even when they’re designing the most modern of manses. “A home should celebrate the materials and craft of the area and be constructed in a manner that leverages its unique condition. To better appreciate the climate, materials, and solutions crafted to these elements, we look to the earlier architecture of the area, conceived by people who ‘could not afford to get it wrong.’ [There’s a lot to] learn from the efforts and those practical considerations.” Courtyard House (Lake Flato) — Exterior: The concrete walls of this El Paso property tie the old with the new and create privacy from the neighbors. The newly constructed structure of Corten steel and glass connects public rooms seamlessly with the internal court. The functionality of the sunken 7,000-square-foot courtyard and surrounding rooms acts as storm-water retention for those rare but significant rains while also offering activities via the pool, orchard, outdoor kitchen, pavilion-like garage for working on vintage cars, gym, office, spa, and plenty of room for alfresco entertaining. The Present According to JLF, it’s also important to get specific about what you love about the land today and the things you need from your home on a daily basis. “What speaks to you about this place? So often the answer is not just about the mountain view. Instead, it is about connection. To relate with a breathtaking vista, yes. But it is also about connection to what that vista represents — a life spent outdoors and time spent with people who love this place. It’s about finding a sense of place in nature, in history, and in a house that encapsulates all of this.” As writer John Heminway so beautifully puts it: “[The aim is to build a home where] inside and out, you will feel better, be better. If your office lies elsewhere, here you will do your finest work. If you are an artist, here you will float. If you need nature, here it surrounds. If you are a family, this will be the home of the heart.” Courtyard House (Lake Flato) — Primary Bath: The property features generous 8-foot overhangs that make for shady porches, along with a variety of large and small courtyards that provide a much-needed respite from the harsh El Paso climate. An outside shower and a private courtyard off the bathroom are enclosed by tall gabion walls that shut out the suburban landscape beyond their confines, leaving the expansive sky and clouds as the main view. Ishawooa Mesa Ranch (Lake Flato) — Exterior: A family in Cody, Wyoming, asked for a new residence that connected to the existing ranch infrastructure but that also maintained privacy. The resulting compound places a barn opposite the house, with a small central courtyard in between. Allocating one space for a softer landscape heightens the impact of domestication in this extreme landscape. The one-and-a-half-story stone residence sits heroically on the edge of the wild and connects to the barn via a sod-roofed porch. Part of the ethos of creating a family house was to evoke the atmosphere of camp, favoring shared experiences versus isolated ones, and heightening camaraderie especially as time together for this busy family becomes more infrequent and thus more precious. The stone farmhouse also reflects materials used in local construction that are durable enough to withstand extreme winter weather. The Land To optimize a structure’s setting, never underestimate the potential of a car ride. The team at Lake Flato advises that it’s often more beneficial piling into a car with clients than meeting for a formal presentation in the office. “It’s where we talk about how fast the spring rains roll in and how the sun sets through a particular saddle in the distant hills during the right time of year. [We’ll talk about a] cold northern wind that may need to be buffered and spot the scorched piece of earth that yearns for shade. Placed correctly, new structures can work in concert with the land. They can mend something that is broken; they might connect to some earlier structures, or edit them out. We’re not normally ones to value time in the car, but many of the architectural solutions that have made their way into our projects have been spotted through an open window on the way to the site — stone patterns are revealed in the geology exposed by a road cut or cliff face. Reading the land is as integral to our process as the more architectural efforts that follow.” Highland Homestead (JLF) — Exterior: More than a replica of a vintage building, this ultra-efficient structure of broad expanses of steel and glass is a departure from the utility of a traditional cabin. Breaking up the mass of the buildings, multiple rooflines alternate and convey a sense of history … buildings joined together over time. Framed iconic mountain views from both outside and in punctuate the high-elevation perch of this modern homestead. Hewn timber, stacked Montana stone, and distressed Corten steel combine to echo the regional vernacular buildings of Wyoming. Exchanging walls for windows, the design makes the landscape accessible from every angle of the house. The Materials While reclaimed materials are having a moment, JLF has been championing sustainability since 1979. “Our first project began with a cabin on a Montana ranch and a challenge to match existing log structures on the property, which had been homesteaded nearly a century earlier. … Standing amongst those ruins of 80-year-old log buildings with wood that was still usable sparked an idea to reuse the old materials. Out of resourcefulness and creativity, those renewed materials harmonized an antique cabin and contemporary life. Reclaiming the wood and rebuilding it into a new form kindled a movement in American architecture. Harnessing not only the beauty of the materials, but also the pioneering spirit that settled the West within the framework of a building was an uncommon practice at the time. The organic nature of the cabin resonated with more clients. By word of mouth, that first log cabin led to other projects — bunkhouses, writing studios, ranch restorations, and ultimately, new construction. “We don’t use salvaged materials as ornaments in our designs. [We] incorporate these elements with authenticity. A stone wall isn’t a veneer of rocks, but a wall made of hand-selected stones stacked to be structurally sound. Massive timbers that once supported an industrial warehouse a century ago now span a modern living room with integrity to hold up the roof. Ancient chestnut planks from a threshing barn are repurposed into a floor that absorbs the footsteps of today and tomorrow.” Forest Edge (JLF) — Living Room: The serenity of the forest emanates from the materials, settling like a breeze through the trees. The design quietly maximizes views of the Snake River valley with industrial steel-framed walls of glass that are anchored by stout stone relics and reclaimed timbers. Stone walls designed to resemble crumbling relics add a playful visual interest. Diverse natural materials transform into contemporary shapes and deliver a subtle impact in the approachable and comfortably elegant seating area. Forest Edge (JLF) — Primary Bedroom: Reverence for the Rocky Mountain location, reclaimed wood, and stacked stone come together in the design. The building honors the woodland haven by featuring a restored homestead cabin as the primary bedroom suite and running wide-plank chestnut floors reclaimed from a foundry throughout the house. The room is an homage to log cabins of the past but lightens the concept with a window wall and a whitewashed ceiling for contrast. The Engineering All architecture requires extensive planning, but building a legacy home in mountainous terrain requires real expertise, says JLF. “Naturally, the climate and characteristics of a mountain slope require expertise in design and construction. The extensive planning and skill to implement an architectural vision is often what goes unseen. The engineering feats required to construct a solid foundation that will resist shifting, sliding, or leaking are elaborate. Considerations for seismic activity, snow load, wind force, and sun exposure often determine the practical design decisions as much as aesthetic ones.” Fieldstone (JLF) — Exterior: Stepped into the hillside, the multilevel main house minimizes its footprint on the property but achieves maximum functionality with space for guest sleeping quarters and entertainment areas. Bound by the regional materials that reflect the Mountain West — native fieldstone, hewn timbers, reclaimed barn wood — the structure fuses the past and the present with hints of modernism and the refined lines of steel-framed windows and a metal roof. A later addition continues the rugged framework of stone and timber with modern touches. Matching the stone and reclaimed timbers, as well as creating the patina of the metal roof, allows the seamless blending of new elements with the earlier structure. The Big Picture When everything goes according to plan, the architecture and landscape should become one, says Lake Flato. “Outdoor rooms and courtyards become as important as the enclosed interior spaces. Often these interior spaces give way to the outdoors, establishing a hybrid space that blurs the distinction between indoors and out. … It is not always about choosing the most beautiful site or maximizing a particular view; it is also about aligning these two, sometimes conflicting, perspectives — the natural and the man-made — to create the most successful living experience both within and outside the house. “Light, overhanging roofs keep direct sunlight out of windows and can also be designed to collect rainwater or solar energy. Massive stone walls help absorb radiant energy, keeping interiors cool during the day and warm at night. We increasingly use building performance simulation software to optimize energy use, such as solar heat gain. While emerging technologies help provide additional layers of science, our initial concepts are often based on a passive climatic response inspired by the vernacular architecture of the region.” Fieldstone (JLF) — Staircase: This three-story home was inspired by 18th-century stone buildings the owners encountered during time spent in England. The rugged framework of stone, steel, and timber stands up to the weather and exposure of Wyoming’s four seasons. Inside, the design is a convergence of romance and rusticity, even while it diverges from the traditional with modern facets like the precision-engineered glass staircase, which takes center stage as a dramatic architectural component. Lake Flato Houses: Respecting the Land, by Oscar Riera Ojeda editor, Helen Thompson contributor. Foundations: Houses by JLF Architects, by JLF Design Build and Seabring Davis, photographs by Audrey Hall. 1/2 From our August/September 2022 Issue Explore:DestinationsHome & RanchReal EstateTravel
If affection does not go deep into psychological states such as peace, understanding, acceptance, sharing, support, forgiveness, responsibility, it will soon become a boring thing. When we love something and are determined to possess it without being able to wait or ignore the cost, we are being controlled by our emotions. Since the strengths of the other object reflect our needs or preferences, our minds are constantly reproducing these wonderful images on the surface of our consciousness. In addition, it magnifies many times to enhance the level of satisfaction. While we love and let our emotions interfere too much, our view of the object is no longer accurate. The same is true in cases where we are angry or hateful, as the adage goes:
Visit Kalispell, Montana, to spend time on the lake, breathe in the fresh mountain air, and enjoy all things huckleberry.
Tour this impressive rustic cabin surrounded by a forest of evergreens and landscaped with a vanishing edge waterfall.
It can be hard to narrow down the best places to visit in Montana for your trip. We're here to help! Learn our favorite places for a several different interests: nature, water, cities, skiing, history, and wildlife.
Spanning the appropriately named Paradise Valley, this self-contained working ranch is seriously dramatic.
Have you thought about moving to Montana this year? Check out this list of pros and cons of living in Montana before you make this big decision!
The scenery around the beautiful town of Darby almost looks surreal.
Pondering a move to Big Sky Country? Check out our list of the top cities in Montana to hang your (cowboy) hat.
Top places in Montana to visit and take photos of. Find out what the best trails at Glacier National Park are and where to stay and eat.
Happy Montana Day! Yes, even though it’s unofficial and Montana residents have to still show up at the office, today is Montana Day. The prideful day comes from the fact…
It’s mountain living at its most picturesque, and it could be yours
Montana is an outdoor lover’s paradise, offering wide-open spaces, untouched natural parks, and a unique past tied to Lewis and Clark. Incredible scenery can be found around every corner of this beautiful state! Glacier National Park stands out as the star attraction and features an array of epic hikes, picture-perfect lakes, and glacier-capped mountains. You’ll
Fun and Interesting Travel Ideas Around The World. Check out our travel guides on things to do and places to visit around the world
Explore Mountain Colors' 85 photos on Flickr!
Find Rocky Mountain ranches for sale, including farms and land with diverse landscapes and mountain backdrops in Montana, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming.
Many Montana moments will take your breath away, but these sights will stay in your mind forever (and that's a good thing).
The designer and homeowner closely collaborate to redesign a remote Montana Ski Chalet
Thinking of moving to Montana (or across the country) and working remotely? Here's how we did that along with the cost breakdown and work strategy.
HGTV.com knows Montana boasts wow-worthy luxury homes (it is known as The Treasure State, after all) that take full advantage of the blue skies and wide open spaces. Dream big and take a look at these 12 million-dollar homes.
A paved road through Glacier Mountain Park that's reserved for bikers and hikers? Yep. Here's why Spring in Whitefish, Montana, is the best.
