At Home IN SOUTHWEST MONTANA SPRING
A CASE FOR COLOR p.6
2020
SKY'S THE LIMIT P.10
A S p e c i a l P u b l i c at i o n
of the
B o z e m a n D a i ly C h r o n i c l e
MORTGAGE MISCONCEPTIONS
p.14
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Table of Contents
Southwest Montana’s Fencing Headquarter’s
A Case for Color........................6 A letter from our friends at SWMBIA..................9 Sky's the Limit ........................10 Vole Patrol ................................12 Mortgage Misconceptions ....14
Cabinets • Countertops • Closets Hardware • Flooring ing
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Welcome! Dear Reader,
to reflect on what home means to us.
We know that as you hold this copy of At Home magazine in your hand, the world is a drastically different place from when I sat down to write and edit these stories. You see, we started compiling the content for At Home magazine before the chaos of coronavirus dominated our lives.
In a period of history where we were told to stay home to save lives, the word “home” may mean something very new and different to you. How do you describe your domicile after spending so much time there? Working from home. Homeschooling. Connecting with others from home, but still alone. Maybe the silence is deafening. Or maybe you can’t get a moment of silence. We all have a new home story.
As you read these stories, please understand that we did not write them to be flippant or dismissive of the state of our world today. We decided to keep the content we already curated to give you a reprieve from the news that brings you panic and anxiety. These stories are meant to offer you moments of joy. They are meant to make you dream those HGTV dreams and sigh with familiarity at those ubiquitous lawn and home renovation struggles. They are intended to evoke empathy and longing, familiarity and inspiration. At Home has always existed as a medium to showcase the talent in our valley. From drywall to the décor, every house has a story. The goal of this publication is not simply to share pretty things on glossy pages. At Home exists to give the inanimate a human touch. It’s a way
As you spend time in these pages, we hope you will consider what home means to you. Both yesterday and today. And for tomorrow, we hope you bring those big ideas into the light. Wallpaper that bathroom. Take down that painting you’ve always hated. Figure out your own brand of feng shui. After all, the world is an uncertain place. If you must be stuck at home, you may as well like the place. Into the light, Hannah Stiff AT HOME EDITOR
At Home CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Hannah Stiff CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Chronicle Staff, Story Street Studio, Hannah Stiff DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Matthew Gasbarre ADVERTISING DIRECTOR: Cindy Sease
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A Case for Color By Hannah Stiff
photo credit: Story Street Studio
“
Story Street Studio duo launch Bozeman presence with panache & humility
P
eople keep saying wallpaper is coming back into vogue,” Laura Stanley tells me during our first conversation on the phone. “Did it ever go out of style?”
Not for Stanley or her design partner Lizzie Bailey. Together the pair make up Story Street Studio, a new interior design firm with offices in Bozeman and New York City. Stanley and Bailey recently joined forces to create the firm but bring more than 25 years of experience to the table. They’re also hoping to bring a little more color and a maybe even some wallpaper to Bozeman homes. Story Street Studio is a full-service, residential interior design firm. Stanley and Bailey specialize in creating
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livable, gorgeous spaces from the ground up. They prefer transforming entire houses rather than single rooms because a home needs cohesion throughout its spaces, the team explains. Both halves of the Story Street Studio brand honed their design chops on the East Coast. After earning an Art History degree from the University of Georgia, Stanley landed in New York working for acclaimed textile designer John Robshaw. From her work with Robshaw, Stanley fell in love with bold colors and patterns. Robshaw is well known in the interior design industry for hand block printed fabrics sourced from India. After her time in textiles, Stanley moved on to working in the decorating and collecting departments at Martha Stewart Living Magazine and later as Style Editor for Country Living Magazine. Styling photo
shoots for the magazine meant Stanley got to research and shop for emerging trends. This also meant she had to snag quality pieces at prices that appealed to the average consumers’ wallet.
current trends with pieces that will stand the test of time.”
To make that case without scaring clients, Stanley and Bailey help educate their clients. An accent wall, for example, can often stand “It was good training for what we do now,” out like a sore thumb. Covering all the walls Stanley says. “At Country Living, I had a in a room can make a bolder shade recede budget and a tight deadline. I’d go shopping into the background. Bright, patterned pilto pick things that fit the style and at the right lows can add interest without overwhelming price point.” a space. Wallpaper creates artful spaces, but also needs to be carefully considered. After attending Princeton University, Bailey began her career similarly, with what she “Wallpaper can be scary for clients who grew calls a “formative stint” at House & Garden up in the 80s or 90s and may have negative Magazine as a market editor. After receiv- associations with the idea,” Bailey says. “But ing an Interior Design degree from Parsons it’s an instant way to bring a lot of look to a School of Design, she worked for acclaimed space.” art dealer and antiquarian Gerald Bland. To determine a paint color, wallpaper print, “The magazine is where I fell in love with or any other bold design decision, Bailey and the world of design,” Bailey explains. “We Stanley tune in to their clients. They listen to were focusing on the best new products what their clients want their home to feel like. and featuring those things in beautiful ways. How do they want each room in the house to But working in the world of antiques was a make them feel? What is the intended purcomplete shift, and I learned about timeless pose of a given nook or oft-overlooked space? pieces, mixing periods in a way that can feel extremely modern.” “Some designers have a hard time listening,” Bailey took her experience in editorial and fine art with her to Katie Ridder, where she was senior designer for six years before founding Story Street Studio. Though Bailey will remain based in New York City, while Stanley works from her Bozeman home, the team say their combined knowledge and experience is a boon to their design process.
Stanley says. “We pride ourselves on not having any ego about the project. It’s our client’s home. We are down-to-earth people. We want to understand our clients’ wishes for how the house should function, look and feel. We don’t have any ego about what we do.”
photo credit: Story Street Studio
Lizzie Bailey (left), and Laura Stanley (right) If a client wants a trendy banana leaf wallpaper in their home, Stanley says she will suggest a few other options that may age better than the of-the-moment print. Bailey often suggests wallpapering a small powder room, if a client is commitment-phobic, rather than overwhelming a larger space. After listening to clients and determining how they want to use and feel in each space in their home, Bailey and Stanley get to work determining where to save and where to invest.
Having no ego while saving customers from questionable design choices is a balancing act. “As a designer, you start to learn where you
“We’re thrilled to partner for multiple reasons,” Stanley explains. “We are excited about collaborating because we end up producing better work. We are always bouncing ideas off each other. Utilizing both of our unique perspectives and abilities to source pieces for our clients results in a more sophisticated and unexpected design.” The Story Street pair aren’t playing it small, either. They want to bring color into your home. They want to transform the current “50 shades of gray” trend, as Stanley calls it, into a home that reflects each client’s personality and proclivities. “We’re all about joyfulness and finding things that resonate with you,” Stanley says. “There’s a case for color. I think we’re really good at designing with color and balancing
photo credit: Story Street Studio
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can’t scrimp,” Stanley says. “Furniture you will sit in a lot, like a central sofa, is worth investing in. A well-built piece will last a lifetime and you can reupholster it again and again over the years.” Bailey thinks it’s the team’s editorial background that helps them differentiate a deal from a dud. “There are extremely beautiful, artisanal lighting sources out there, for example,” Bailey says. “But then there are also greatlooking, less expensive fixtures on the market we will use for secondary spaces. Our obsessive “Things you have to replace ofshopping of the market allows ten aren’t actually a good deal,” us to source items, at all price Bailey explains. “Decorating points, that are perfect for whatis expensive. We want to help ever area we’re designing.” our clients furnish and decorate The Studio Street team stresses thoughtfully so their spaces age the importance of choosing qual- well. Neither of us gravitate toity pieces, even if it means a cus- ward things that are super trendy. tomer has to hold off and save up We always want a room we’ve designed to feel fresh, without for a purchase. ever being something you’d look
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photo credit: Story Street Studio
“Hiring a decorator helps you visualize and achieve the potential in your home,” Stanley says. The duo says they are ready to “We make sure no space is overgreet the Bozeman market and looked and pay attention to the begin transforming homes. With smallest details. And that makes their penchant for timeless, en- all the difference.” during design, and eye for bold looks, Bozeman may just be More information about Story ready to ditch the gray and take Street Studio, including contact details, is available at storyststua chance on color. dio.com back on, thinking ‘that was so 2020.’"
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A letter from our friends at SWMBIA While the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be changing the way we live on a daily basis, the Homebuilding Industry is doing its best to maintain some level of normalcy. Governor Bullock was very clear in a March address to the state that construction is an essential service and must continue to preserve the State’s economy. That being said, Contractors and Suppliers struggled to find a balance between following a stay-athome order and managing active job sites. While Governor Bullock’s directive expressly designated homebuilding as essential infrastructure and the construction trades as essential businesses, there was still some confusion among contractors. The Montana Building Industry Association (MBIA) is making efforts to educate and inform its members about how to comply with the directive while continuing to run job sites. General contractors are very carefully managing their projects to ensure the healthy social distancing guidelines suggested by the CDC. Fewer subs and suppliers can be on the job at the same time, meaning proper scheduling is imperative to finishing projects on time. Jobsite cleanliness is at the top of their priority list to ensure a safe work environment for everyone on site. Ultimately the Homebuilding Industry is doing everything they can to adhere Bullock’s executive order while continuing to meet the needs of Montanans. Many suppliers and supporting businesses are walking a thin line between being open and continuing to deliver products to job
sites and closing their front doors to the general public. They’re following the state recommended procedures to protect their employees and the general public. Businesses supplying the homebuilding industry are promoting special hours for at-risk clients and are instituting strict sanitization procedures. They are enhancing delivery options and offering curbside pick-up. Many businesses have locked their doors except by appointment. Clients that are allowed into businesses will notice obvious visual designations for appropriate social distancing. Banks and financial institutions that serve the building industry have largely closed their doors to the general public and are opting for electronic banking and communication methods in lieu of the residential closings. Fortunately for all of us, skilled tradespeople – like plumbers and electricians – continue to handle the inevitable emergency service calls that come with daily life. These skilled workers balance their emergency service calls while remaining a vital part of ongoing construction projects. Homebuilders are not unused to adversity. The industry consistently struggles with both housing shortages and labor shortages. The builders are doing their best to keep up with demand, but according to the 2020 National Housing Forecast from Realtor. com, the national housing shortage could reach “a historic low level.” Forbes states that demand for new homes is high, but homebuyers have few options to choose
from. Coupled with ongoing labor Crystal Fiedler shortages, the homebuilding industry has its hands full. In March, the Department of Homeland Security approved 35,000 H-2B Visas for foreign workers to help ease the consistent labor shortage the homebuilding industry faces. With the travel restrictions spurred by the pandemic, these workers are now in jeopardy, exacerbating the shortage. In the long run, Covid-19 is just another hurdle the homebuilding industry will overcome. The enormous economic impact of both homebuilding and homeownership is nationally seen as part of the foundation of the future economic recovery once Covid-19 has been controlled. The CARES Act is providing stability in the current housing market by supplying relief to individual homeowners and renters with direct financial support. It also has provisions for funding for the thousands of small businesses that are part of the homebuilding industry. It is these businesses, and the contractors they supply, that will be instrumental in returning our country to normalcy in the coming months. While the Covid-19 crisis has caused chaos and confusion across the entire planet, the homebuilding industry perseveres in its mission to provide housing for America. Onward, Crystal Fiedler, SWMIBA 1st Vice Chair
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Sky's the Limit
By Hannah Stiff
photo credit: Hannah Stiff
Area man creates artistic high-end bunk rooms & floating beds
J
ason Clary is one of those people whose career found him unsuspecting. One day, 17 years ago, Clary was driving his Fed Ex truck along his usual route when a customer mentioned a pile of barn wood he was going to turn into a bonfire. Clary offered to haul the wood away and his customer happily agreed. Clary couldn’t sleep that night. So, he trudged to the garage and began pulling nails out of the barnwood. After the nails were gone, Clary began adding new ones. By the following morning, the pile of barnwood was transformed into a hutch. After showing off photos of his inaugural woodworking project, one of Clary’s friends who worked at Chico Hot Springs sold his skills upriver. Clary soon got a phone call asking him to create rustic furniture for multiple Chico guest cabins. As Clary built coat racks, dressers and benches to fill the cabins, he realized how much he enjoyed this hobby work. Enough, he
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decided, to quit Fed Ex and pursue furniture making as his fulltime occupation. Word of his craftsmanship spread. Though he never engaged in formal marketing campaigns, fancy websites, or social media posts, business, much like his career, found him. As his new career kicked into high gear, Clary began teaching himself how to create inventive pieces. He took the hoods of rusty, faded-paint pickup trucks and turned them into the backs of fat bottom chairs. He turned intricate designs on a lathe to form massive bed posts and oversized candelabras. And then, he learned to make bunk beds. Not the hunting cabin, springy cheap mattress kind either. Clary was enlisted to make bunkbeds in the Yellowstone Club. More than utilitarian, Clary began creating whole bunk room scenes. For one client, Clary replicated an iconic red bus from London. Instead of well-used bus seats inside, he stacked custom bunkbeds. The red bus bunkbeds were positioned in a room wallpapered with black and white London landmarks. For others, Clary has created pickup truck bunk beds, mountain modern
bunk rooms, Victorian styled bedscapes and more. While his customers may not take to Google to leave a five-star review, they do whisper to others about his work. The word-of-mouth reviews that first propelled Clary from a late-night part-time carpenter to a full-time artisan also moved his name to the top of several designers’ shortlists. And while Clary won’t divulge an exact number, he’s created “many” bunk rooms in the Yellowstone Club. Each bunk bed or piece of furniture is one of a kind. “I’ve built my business doing original work,” Clary says. “Everything is still custom. Some things are similar, but we put a unique spin on everything.”
photo credit: Hannah Stiff
In addition to the work-of-art bunk rooms, Clary and his team create sumptuous dream beds. Aptly named, the classic fairytale bed, seduction bed, old world bed and dreamy regal bed, conjure otherworldly vibes. The massive wooden posts at the ends of the beds are large enough to double as candelabras for 10 candles. For perspective, an adult model posing on one of the dream beds looks like small child. The wooden headboards and posters are at once rustic and new. The reclaimed oak is polished up with a secret recipe Clary perfected over the years.
Jason Clary
gorgeous design. Clary thinks the
“What’s the next thing,” Clary asks. “How do we get out in front of it.”
idea could be used for his high-end
While he could begin, middle and end his career on his clever custom chairs and beds, Clary wants more.
The “we” Clary’s talking about is his staff of nine that work with him in his 10,000 square foot Four
Corners shop. The next big “thing” he’s asking about, he may have just created. Clary is on to a big new adventure that involves taking a dream bed and making it float. He’s so serious about the idea, he’s worked out a patent for the technology. He’s figured out a way to make a bed float on three sides, from any height to a 3,000 lb. capacity. That would take many jumping children to drop. And that’s the point. Durability, weight limit and
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clients, tiny home enthusiasts and the hospitality industry. Around the base of a bed, for example, Clary points out that there are
crumbs and detritus you’d rather not see, or touch. A floating bed allows housekeepers to vacuum under the bed. It also allows for storage. In tiny homes, the floating bed could incorporate pulleys, to store the bed flat against the wall, saving precious space. For Clary’s floating bed, the sky really is the limit. Clary will take his idea to market with same enthusiasm that has governed his company for nearly two decades. He is excited to see what’s ahead for the Rusty Nail team as he pairs new technology with well-honed craftsmanship. “I’m forever the optimist,” he says. “I think you have to be to be selfemployed.”
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five feet away from the drama in her little backyard tent.
Vole Patrol
By Hannah Stiff
L
The frustrating backyard saga of human vs. vermin
ast summer, my fiancé and I bought a house. Like many other 30-somethings in Bozeman, we had been saving for years, paying off pesky student loans, driving old cars and praying our credit scores could help us nab a low interest rate. After looking at some appallingly horrid homes for astronomical (to us) prices, we found a unicorn. A home that backed to a strip of wetland in a seemingly quiet neighborhood near several parks. Better yet, the previous owners were meticulous. In the short time they owned the house, they made several upgrades, including a beautifully landscaped backyard. We’re talking blueberry and raspberry bushes planted beside the house, corrugated tin planters with sweet peas and tomatoes, multiple seating areas with actual patio furniture (You mean adults don’t just haul out a cooler and camp chairs for outdoor seating?) and a drip irrigation system to make watering a breeze. We were elated. My goal for the first summer in our new
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house was to keep the garden alive. “Do no harm” became my gardening mantra. With some additional July watering and constant weeding, our yard fared well in June and most of July. Then one day, as I was moving my daughter’s inflatable pool, I noticed a little grass structure, almost like a bird’s nest, hiding in the shade of the pool. I moved the empty grass nest, deflated the pool and went on with my life. A few days later, while watering my sweet peas, I noticed little paths leading under the tin planters. Something was burrowing beneath the tins. With the help of my fiancé and a moving dolly, we moved the tin planters and found more dry grassy homes, right about the time we saw several little brown voles scurrying out from under our planters. As my fiancé started to shovel the grass nests into the nearby wetland, he saw that he was actually scooping grass filled with tiny baby voles, so new their eyes weren’t yet open. It was, in his words, horrifying. Unfortunately, at the precise moment we realized the extent of our vole infestation, my daughter Scarlet was happily playing
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So, while we tried hard not to wretch at the sight of this unwanted vole community, we had to stay silent. For if we cried out (read, swore loudly), we would have alerted my daughter to the vole habitat. She would surely have insisted we keep the tiny babies, preferably under a heat lamp in her room. And perhaps that’s my fault. From the time she was three years old, I’ve been telling Scarlet stories about a lovable pair of brown sister mice (Mini and Mighty, clever, I know. Cut a tired mom some slack). To a kid raised on mice stories, ridding our yard of voles would seem very, very disturbing. But for the adults who had just invested in a ridiculously priced single-family home, the voles had to either pay rent or go. So, we started researching. We first bought those noise emitting vole poles, as I call them. We put them near the biggest vole tunnels, in hopes that the sound would deter them from burrowing in our yard. According to many Amazon reviews, this was our solution. Alas, it turns out our set of four vole poles barely put a dent in the problem. The clever little schmucks simply found a new side of our yard to burrow from. Next, we tried mouse traps (and many Scarlet diversion tactics to ensure she didn’t find Mini’s cousin in a trap) with peanut butter bait. Alas, those precious little creatures found a way to snag the peanut butter while leaving the trap intact. With waning patience, we decided to head for Murdoch’s. The kind team there pointed us to an array of products to help. We were advised to use a meal bait product that looks like green oatmeal cereal. Thankfully we don’t have any pets to worry about and our yard is fenced. So, we were fairly certain we could distribute the meal bait without harming any other creatures. We were also instructed to rake our yard and clear away all the dead grass and vole houses. Without hiding spots, the voles would move along or get nabbed by a predatory bird. We raked what we could and shoveled patches of spring snow out of the way. We were making progress. With vole houses and snow nearly gone, I felt the first pangs of hope. Hope that our new yard might not be completely ruined. Hope that we could enjoy the lawn this summer without openly weeping at the state of our yard. We went to bed tired that night, our soft office hands calloused from the manual labor. When we awoke the next morning, we peeked outside, eager to declare our victory over the voles. And wouldn’t you know it! We didn’t see those wretched voles scurrying around. Instead, we saw a fresh four inches of snow, covering all our hard work, sheltering those dang rodents. Mother nature laughed. We cried. The voles started rebuilding. The next time you’re in Murdoch’s, scan the aisles. Notice the people who look both murderous and deflated. They’re the ones on vole patrol.
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Mortgage Misconceptions By Hannah Stiff
B
efore the COVID-19 crisis dominated the news cycle, there was plenty of chatter about mortgage interest rates. They were falling low, low, lower. Those rates, dipping below 3% for certain buyers, enticed homeowners to refinance and homebuyers to hand over the money and sign on the dotted line.
These turbulent times undoubtedly impact the housing and lending industries. But there are still good rules of thumb to remember when you’re ready to wade into the home-buying process. And there are myths you need to combat with cold hard facts. Luckily, local lenders are eager to help you make sense of buying a home, especially in these uncertain times. To address some of the common mortgage misconceptions, I reached out to Colleen
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Wood, Branch Manager of The Wood Team at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. I spelled out some of the misconceptions heard around town and Wood answered back with the truth about those myths and answers to our burning questions.
which loan?
At Home: Is getting pre-qualified and preapproved is the same thing?
AH: I have student loan and car debt; I
Colleen Wood: Nope, prequalification is based on just a conversation and a credit pull, nothing is verified. A preapproval has been through underwriting and everything has been verified. Preapproval is based on satisfaction of some conditions, but the difference is, income, assets, credit, liabilities are verified.
CW: Not true. We need to come up with a
AH: Does shopping around hurt my credit score?
programs. It is a huge misconception that
CW: There is a 45-day window to “shop” where your credit pulls don’t affect your score if it’s pulled multiple times. AH: What kind of credit score do I need for
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CW: We have limited options below 620, but all other conforming products will have options above 620. Rural Development loans require a 640 credit score.
can’t afford to buy a home.
strategy. There are many. AH: I don’t have 20% to put down on a house, so I can’t get a loan. CW: We can do loans with VA and USDA that require nothing down. Buyers must meet certain eligibility to qualify for these you need to put 20% down. We have options with 0%, 3%, 3.5%, 5% on up. AH: My down payment is the only money I need to bring to the closing table. CW: There are lots of ways to get your clos-
ing costs and prepaid items paid for, however they are not financeable. We can get them covered by the seller, lender credit or potentially a grant. AH: To get PMI (private mortgage insurance) off my mortgage, I have to refinance. CW: Not always. You would want to contact your mortgage servicer to inquire, sometimes they have other options that may include getting an appraisal and if the value of the home is 80% LTV (Loan to Value), they can remove the PMI. Some PMI automatically drops off when the loan reaches 78% LTV. This is all dependent on your loan type and we would be happy to investigate this for you. AH: All of the interest on my loan is paid out evenly, over the life of the loan. CW: Fully amortized fixed-rate loans are set up to pay interest heavy to begin with but with each payment, you pay less and less interest and more principal, just like a car loan. The bank makes sure they get paid first. However, your monthly principal and interest total will always stay the same. AH: Any other myths to dispel? CW: It’s important to note that not everyone’s mortgage is the same. We offer yearly mortgage checkups for our clients to go over these types of scenarios and to ensure they are where they want/need to be financially. One other myth is that you can only use your First Time Homebuyer Status one time. It can actually be reinstated when you haven’t owned a home for three years.
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