Ranch club wonder

Marcia Holland’s house in the Ranch Club west of town is peppered with Alaskan art. Her family lived in that northern state until 2006, when they decided to build in Missoula.
Holland, from Butte, moved here because her husband Chuck loved it, she had family here, and importantly, her son could breathe.
“One of the reasons we moved is Mick’s allergy to birch pollen,” Holland said. Birch is common in Alaska’s wet climate, but far less so here.
Still, the family didn’t move right away -- they needed a place to come to.
“We were building our house in Missoula, but we were doing it while living in Fairbanks,” Holland said. Finding a designer they could trust to bring their vision to life was paramount. Page Goode, of Makeroom Design/Interiors, was the one.
Though the family was only able to journey to Montana four times during the process, Goode made the most of their visits.
During one, she had them scrambling from paint store to fixture store to lighting store, looking at pendants and paint colors and faucets and drawer pulls and cabinet knobs.
“They were exhausted,” Goode said. The next day, they did it again.
“What was most amazing about Page was the breadth and depth of her knowledge,” Holland said of their concentrated encounters. That knowledge, earned through 31 years of designing interiors, allowed Goode to select colors, styles and furnishings that matched the Hollands’ tastes.
Rubber flooring in the kitchen is one example. “Chuck used to cook in a restaurant, so Page chose (this),” Holland said. The commercial flooring reduces fatigue, and it’s black. The countertop is black. The kitchen island is black. Appliances are black. Turns out, black is one of Holland’s favorite colors.
“A friend from Chicago came and is redoing her kitchen,” Holland smiled, “and was stealing the ideas.”
Off the kitchen, a small, quiet space hosts a gas fireplace, a soft couch and a small, designer table on a black rug.
“We discovered we spend all this time just sitting here in the winter,” Holland said.
Other rooms are treated differently.
In the dining room, the accent wall is bold slate blue. Amber pendant lights balance that. The dining table of African wenge wood boasts seating for eight. The chairs are sleek black leather.
The colors, Goode said, are intentional. They are designed to pull the outdoors in through the room’s large picture windows that overlook the Ranch Club’s golf course. From the panes, blue sky pours in, bouncing off a thick glass coffee table mimicking a slab of ice.
Goode, with a background in architecture, said, “I tend to pay attention to the structure” of the home, and select design elements accordingly.
Other touches in the house reflect the family’s personalities and preferences.
In Micah’s bathroom, drawer pulls are small black stones. The counter laminate is called beluga. Alaskan art hangs on the walls.
A special room off the garage was made for Chuck’s bicycle gear. Jerseys, bicycles and accessories all hang neatly in their own organized space.
Green River slate covers the foyer, while blue-toned slate covers the bathroom walls. The flooring shows flecks of mica and garnet, polished to enhance the colors.
Holland credits 11-year-old Micah with the stones’ selection.
Off the foyer, the washroom sink is a glossy black basin-on-table, filled with river rocks. Holland chose it because she liked it. “Why not,” she asked of her accent rocks.
The paint on the home’s walls was selected by Goode. Unbelievably, it is the same color throughout.
Called netsuke, it appears warm amber in one room, cool cream in another. “I love it because it picks up the color of the landscape,” Goode said. “There really is a method to the madness.”
The color flows from room to room, morphing to suit the personality of each space. In the master bedroom, the accents are all brown.
“We found this bed that’s copper and steel,” Holland said of her platform frame, “and had a greened copper planter made into a side table for the room.”
“This is a complete change from any color I had in my house in Alaska,” she admitted.
A unique feature of her bedroom is a deep L-shaped closet that provides plenty of space to organize personal items, but minimizes wall space usurped by doors. The result is copious storage, “so we didn’t need to add another dresser out there,” Holland said.
The basement, referred to as “Mick’s bachelor pad”, sports a Wii, large screen TV, pool table and prep kitchen. Admittedly, the kitchen with wine cellar is more for adults, but as a result of the design, Holland said her family spends more time together downstairs, playing pool, watching movies and making snacks.
They also have a closet especially for hockey gear, so the family can leave their duffels packed and ready to grab for road games.
“We have enough space now,” Holland said of her 4,000 square foot home. “It’s much bigger than our old house by a lot.”
“When we tell friends that we built our house "remotely" and that it turned out beyond our expectations, they cannot believe it all worked - and it did only because of Page,” Holland said.
“Page did everything from understanding our taste and recommending selections to finding craftsmen to take on projects. She helped select furniture and placement to maximize features of our new house, like our spectacular view,” Holland gushed.
“I cannot sing Page's praises enough - she made our beautiful house happen.”