Sun Valley Vintage
Photography: Craig Wolfrom
(page 1 of 3)
When Kristin Owens set about decorating her new home at the base of Baldy, she knew exactly what kind of tone she wanted to impart: vintage Sun Valley.
She hung vintage art of the Sun Valley Lodge and other Sun Valley scenes throughout her house. And she augmented them with an antique sleigh and wooden toboggans, which she hung on the walls along with old skis and ski boots.
“I have an intense love for the whole Sun Valley thing—the history, the beauty of the area,” says Owens, who lives here part-time with her husband Michael. “It’s a magical place for me. And I want to evoke some of that feeling in my house. It’s not tremendously over-the-top-Sun Valley, but it does offer a flavor of the area.”
Owens’ association with the area started with her grandparents, who owned the first PepsiCo bottling company in the Northwest in Astoria, Oregon. They came to Sun Valley when it was in its heyday and built a board-and-batten house in Ketchum near Ernest Hemingway’s house.
Owens’ father, a Twin Falls doctor, brought his family here whenever possible. And she and her siblings relished the opportunity to snowmobile to the Hemingway house, race toy boats down streams, learn ice skating from Herman Maricich, sled on red lunch trays they borrowed from Dollar Mountain Cabin, and ski Baldy in old leather boots.
“We loved it here so much that we spent every minute we could,” Owens recalls. “We wouldn’t even go home Sunday nights—my dad would get us up at 4 Monday mornings to drive us back to Twin Falls to school because we wanted to spend as much time here as we could. Whenever anyone asks me to go to my happy place, it’s always Ketchum.”
Owens’ nostalgic decorating approach is not unusual, says Barbara Browning, saleswoman for Stulhberg & Co., a Ketchum home furnishings store.
“It’s all about memories. We all like to relive how it was when we were children. My husband, for instance, was born in the Sun Valley Lodge when it was a hospital. So I’m always looking for little things that commemorate the lodge.”
Second homeowners, in particular, love to decorate with Sun Valley memorabilia, vintage Sun Valley artwork and rustic outdoor furnishings. And with good reason, says Lori Berier, who owns Topnotch Furniture.
“Sun Valley has such a strong, rich history with our sheep industry, which brought the railroad and subsequently made it possible for Averell Harriman to choose Sun Valley as a destination ski resort. People appreciate our Sun Valley heritage and they want to incorporate it into their lifestyle. It is a beautiful place and they want to show off why it is they love Sun Valley.”
Topnotch tries to incorporate Union Pacific and Sun Valley memorabilia into homes, where practical, Berier says. And they have plenty to choose from—from a 5-foot-long Union Pacific sign to an advertisement of Sun Valley that boasts: “Splendid steam-heated rooms with radio, blinds, shared bath. Doubles $3-$7.50.” >>>
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