WRJ Design Illustrate How Foyers Give Important First Impressions

June 27, 2023  by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry   

Visitors to the WRJ-designed home in the Snake River Sporting Club, just outside of Jackson, Wyoming, shown above, pause to take in the long, linear entryway offering a peek at more delights in store. Here, bespoke elements take center stage, prompting one of three Mountain Living Home of the Year accolades received by WRJ for its design work.

With a design practice proficient at blending alpine rusticity with sophisticated international touches, WRJ has access to a range of artisans who build one-of-a-kind furniture such as the locally crafted wood console with hand-stitched leather drawer fronts that graces this foyer.

WRJ employs a muted, nature-inspired color palette that encompasses a moody Bradford Stewart painting, a custom silk rug and icy Holly Hunt sconces. Across the way, an Italian woven-leather bench adds the sense of sophistication for which WRJ is known.

Jenkins stresses the importance of “understanding which areas in the home call for unique and bespoke pieces” – and there’s no better place to showcase custom furniture than in a statement-making entrance.

Full of reach-out-and-touch-me tactile surfaces and fabrics, this rustic mountain home was extensively renovated by WRJ Design in collaboration with JLF Architects and included in WRJ’s book, Natural Elegance: Luxurious Mountain Living (Vendome), in which Jenkins and Baer emphasize how the natural beauty of Wyoming informs WRJ designs.

Grizzly bear fine art photography by Taylor Glenn brings a strong local connection to the Teton mountain habitat while vintage Swiss chairs elevate with a European alpine vibe. Textural elements from native stone to rough-hewn accessories engage the senses and provide the suggestion of the comfortable-yet-refined, regionally rooted home beyond.

Walking inside, the homeowner immediately knows this is a place to switch from outside world to welcoming sanctuary.

A contemporary homestead – another Jackson Hole collaboration between JLF Architects and WRJ Design – is a marriage between vintage midcentury modern and the rugged impact of rustic architectural materials. “We wanted the home’s entry to prepare you for what’s to come: a simplicity of line in architecture and furnishings,” says Jenkins, who paired the homeowners’ midcentury George Nakashima credenza and chair with the elegant serenity of a pale suede-upholstered bench by Holly Hunt and Rocky Mountain Hardware’s frosty Cube chandelier.

Gray-stained alder doors, doorways and trim move away from the orangey-wood tones of traditional wood cabins, suggesting, “I am mountain but I have contemporary sensibilities.” WRJ pronounces this foyer as a place of “grandeur and no delusions where you feel as though you’ve entered into a natural environment.”

An incredible fusion of fun and function in this grand entryway in Big Sky, Montana’s elite Yellowstone Club community (pictured), marks the WRJ-designed home as a place of discovery and enjoyment – there’s always something new to see as the story unfolds.

Entering the house through the ski room, straight from the slopes, one is immediately greeted by the giant steel tube slide that swoops through the room, carrying riders down three stories from the upstairs office to the basement bar.

This fabulous cathedral-lofty foyer features a capacious bench for donning ski boots, with an oil-rubbed bronze base from Baker Furniture and Holly Hunt leather upholstery. Above, a sculptural chandelier by Lumens of aged brass and frosted white glass globes suggests the rowdy joy of a snowball fight while lighting the hardworking space where eight ski lockers fashioned from weathered corral wood house gear and apparel for family and guests.

A see-through foyer with views of the Grand Tetons dramatically connects nature with the interior in this Jackson Hole home. The stone of the walkway at the front entrance flows from outdoors to indoors, introducing the ease of mountain living into this inviting space.

It is a room of connections, not only between the built environment and natural surroundings but also connecting the primary bedroom wing with the public great room space. “It’s important to bring elements of nature into a design,” Jenkins says of the project. “You should have the same experience of serenity in your home that you feel in nature.”

Deftly blending styles, periods, materials and textures, WRJ creates depth even in an often-overlooked room like the foyer. Thoughtfully curated high-quality furniture and finishes and a keen balance of color, light and space contribute to creating beautiful entrances that offer a place to pause, gather one’s self and hear the greeting the house is whispering.

Photo credit: PC Tuck Fauntleroy