Custom-home builder creates personal sanctuary on hillside

BOULDER — When longtime home builder Michael Markel first spotted the property on which he would build his home, he knew it offered the perfect setting to combine the best of Colorado’s outdoor culture with the ease and convenience of urban access.

“I saw it with my contractor glasses and said, ‘That’s really awesome on a hillside with the ranch below,’ so I approached the owner for negotiation,” said Markel, owner and managing broker of Markel Homes.

He completed the 8,000-square-foot contemporary ranchstyle home in Boulder County, called Eagle Ridge Ranch, in 2007. He has lived there since but recently decided to sell. It’s listed at $7.3 million. The price includes the home, land, several out buildings, and water and irrigation rights for the property.

Nestled into a hillside 15 minutes from downtown Boulder and less than 10 minutes from Longmont and Niwot, Eagle Ridge Ranch sits on 35 acres and is buffered by 2,000 acres of open space and conservation land.

Capitalizing on vistas

Designed to capitalize on the location’s stunning vistas, the house overlooks a meadow once grazed by cattle and provides sweeping views of the Front Range from south of the Flatirons north to Longs Peak.

Markel began constructing homes along the Front Range nearly 40 years ago and has worked on everything from affordable housing to multimillion-dollar custom estates, said Asa Welch, marketing and sales manager for Markel Homes. Markel applied his years of building experience to make Eagle Ridge Ranch elegant and comfortable, she said.

So what kind of custom home does a custom-home builder build for himself?

“In many ways it doesn’t feel like some high-end luxury properties where you walk in and you can’t touch anything,” Welch said. “It’s design to feel warm and comfortable.”

Living large on main floor

The home’s main floor — an approximately 4,000-square-foot main living space — enhances the effect through quiet, tasteful design that continually draws the outdoor beauty inside. Numerous windows spill light throughout the house and provide full visual access of the property. Almost every room includes an exit to the carefully crafted backyard.

“I love all these access points to the outside,” Welch said. She names a stunning screened porch as her favorite feature, something that exemplifies the unification of outdoor natural beauty and interior elegance. Merging outdoor and indoor space is a hallmark of Markel Homes’ building, she said. The Eagle Ridge Ranch property includes a NanaWall easily folded away to further draw the outdoor splendor inside.

“That’s the point; that’s what we wanted,” said Gail Markel, Michael’s wife. She loves the home and surrounding property. Walking trails rim the property’s perimeter, allowing Gail daily jaunts with her dogs. The home’s exterior combines wood, metal and stone to create a feel that merges with the landscape.

Appeal of a sanctuary

“I built my house as a representation of what fits pretty nicely into that hillside,” Michael Markel said. “Basically for the property I wanted it to have a natural feeling and have a sanctuary sort of appeal to it, something very peaceful,” he said.

Careful landscaping near the home adds to the organic sensation and is designed with largely native vegetation for easy care, Welch said, and adds another Colorado twist. Additionally, the property includes a pond and manmade creek. The rock creek bed uses recirculated water and tumbles from the top of the property, past the house to the barn below, providing the sound of a babbling brook throughout the house.

The use of wood in the home’s interior adds to its cozy warmth, Gail Markel said, and sometimes stretches from floor to ceiling.    

“One of the most striking features is the extensive vaulted ceilings,” Welch said. Other favorite details include an office loft that overlooks the length of the first floor and a complete finished basement with a fireplace, game room, complete bar and hidden storage space including a safe room.

Stylish cook’s kitchen

A large cook’s kitchen strategically placed for excellent views and with ample room for guests graces the south end of the house.

“I love to cook familystyle, and I love to have people around,” Gail said. Kitchen details make it an inviting place to be, including swirling acid-    stained concrete counter tops in warm colors.

“I like the color and the movement it creates,” Gail said. It’s a detailed carried into the living room on a fireplace back drop.

The Markel’s hosted their daughter’s wedding at Eagle Ridge Ranch recently, using an outdoor canopy — built by their son — for the ceremony and the carriage housestyle barn for the reception. The barn’s post-and-beam architecture lends a stunning visual aspect to the structure. It’s equipped for storage, a workshop, car storage or a business and includes a finished apartment.

Time to move on

The couple love Eagle Ridge Ranch — so named for a pair of nesting Eagles that return to the property each year — but they are ready to move on.    

“My wife and I are empty nesters and realizing that we can get by on a smaller house, and we’re ready to do some more traveling,” Markel said. He already has vision for his next, scaled-down home, which is planned for a nearby location.

Welch describes Markel as a “housing junkie.”

“What he does is housing design, architecture and building, and I would say that he always has an itch to build and design a new home,” she said. Markel agrees.

“I’m sort of sad to leave, but I’ve got a vision for the next chapter, and I’m excited for it.”

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