Wow, it does look like a convention center or and inn. It definitely has a commercial space trying hard to look homey kind of vibe.

Maybe something large and Tudor? The 1970s are not my favorite style (and I don't do olioboards) but this one has some potential :)

This is quite tricky because the exterior and some of the trim, especially on the ceilings, is quite modern but so much of the interior architecture (the fireplace, the beams the crazy stairway) is pretty traditional. Love the high ceilings everywhere and I'm looking forward to seeing what people do. Who's up for the challenge of that huge "living room" with at least 4 distinct seating areas +bar +window seats?

Those are some huge rooms. It would be quite a challenge, IRL. I tried to choose big furnishings, but I suspect they probably aren't actually big enough. I have tried my hand at the dining room--I couldn't figure out how to post the real estate picture of the room.

Oh, and I ripped up the carpet and put down hardwood flooring. ;-)

Nice, Crl! That has a great organic 70's vibe, and some great Brutalist pieces. I love the green curtains.

I cannot even imagine what it would cost to redecorate and furnish this place. But it could be completely amazing, especially for parties. I keep imagining the huge living room/bar in kind of a Studio 54 giant ballroom scheme. It would be awesome!

I hope someone will take a shot at the kitchen. It really needs a hand :-)

Since you asked. . . .

White cork floors

walnut, slab, inset cabinets

wood wrapped vent hood

paneled appliances where possible

ceaserstone organic white counters

thermador silver induction cooktop

brass kohler karbon faucet

brass rejuvenation hardware pendant

fireclay thin brick tile in willow for backsplash.

What I don't get is, the house has 3 bedrooms, but has seating for 50 people. Or maybe more. I can't make sense of it.

The lack of books or personal items in the office/library makes me think it is staged, and if it is, this is the absolute worst job of staging I have ever seen. But then, the religious artwork would make me think it is not staged, but it's Utah, so maybe the rules are different, though I didn't think Mormons were so into Mary imagery (I thought that was a predominantly Catholic thing). I'm rambling. The whole house is super disturbing. Someone call Susan Susanka, these rooms are too big!

I assume it was built for entertaining? And it kind of feels like an estate--personal items removed but furnishings and art left? I'm guessing here. (Mormon would suggest more bedrooms and less Mary, I think.)

Ha! It is so weird. Definitely not a Mormon household with the bar & the Mary figures! That cannot possibly be staging, it's way too weird, even for Utah.

It is very close to the state Capitol building, and the U of U, so I wonder if it was designed for hosting big functions? It totally looks like government furniture.

P.S. that kitchen would look amazing, love it ! Very modern yet with a nod to the era of the house. I'm pretty much being sucked into the brass trend. It looks so great with wood. Cork floors would be perfect for the huge, echo-y spaces in this house. Much better than the ocean of carpet.

I was going to edit my post--I realized the bar was a clear sign that the owners weren't Mormon, and I spotted a statue of St. Christopher, so Catholic seems very likely.

The other thing I thought might account for all the seating is that it was just an attempt to fill those enormous rooms. "Well, Myrtle, we don't need this many chairs, but without them I just feel like I'm bouncing around a big empty space. And these were such a good price, from HotelFurniture.com!"

Crl, The DR rug is lovely, and pairs nicely with the modern chandelier, which I think is a good fit for the architecture. I fear you are right about the furniture not being big enough--I think the house is likely to make everything feel puny. It's a design challenge, all right.

I think the your kitchen choices would be lovely, but the room really needs a floorplan overhaul to really appreciate any improvements in finishes.

I would probably do something other than beige wall-to-wall carpet, but I didn't have the energy to try and tackle that.

cawaps, I like the orange with the 70s vibe. The size of the rooms is a challenge. I think you'd need access to custom stuff in some cases or to sources for hotels and such but then you might end up right back at the hotel feel.

So I thought I'd try one of the smaller looking rooms but it proved more challenging than I thought. I guess you'd call this a breezeway? I think it communicates to the pool, but you can also see through it from some of the interior rooms (bedrooms I think?). It's long and skinny, and I took the 70s seriously, though more in the organic naturalism way than the brutalist way. The walls and ceiling look like they are exterior stucco, so I'd try and change that for sure.

Ooooh, Patrick, I think I would really like that space. The table with the blue stripe is gorgeous. I'm curious what the blue stripe is--do you have a link?

I would probably call it a lanai, for want of a better term, though I think that properly a lanai is not fully enclosed. But breezeway works.

Here's another one, of the TV corner of the big living room (you can see the area in my other pic through the opening on the left). I kept with the orange/green/brown theme that I remember from the 70s and kept it as a TV corner but tried to make it more comfortable. The sectional is obviously not oriented correctly--use your imagination. You'll notice I did my best to get rid of the traditional architectural details, like the coffered ceiling.

patrickthedestroyer, That's a fun room! I was thinking of that as more of an enclosed porch so it's interesting to see it treated as more of an interior room. I particularly like the rug.

cawaps, very seventies color. I think the sectional makes a lot of sense in the big space. It's interesting that I think we are mostly focusing on the seventies feel of the exterior and ignoring some of the interior cues. It's an odd combination, I think.

I went with the 70s inspiration largely to just have something to latch onto. I disliked the interiors so much, and though it was mostly the institutional furniture, it carried over to my feelings about the architectural details as well. Also, for me, traditional detailing in an oversized space feels like a museum or a ballroom--not a comfortable space. I was trying to get away from that.

Cawaps,

In this particular table the blue stripe is glass, but I think I've seen people use acrylic for things like this. I think I've even seen people use ground up lapis lazuli in smaller pieces like bowls. The table is from here:

http://uniquewoodiron.com/products/live-edge-wood-coffee-table-with-glass-river

crl_ I couldn't quite make up my mind about the room. It's "staged" with white plastic patio chairs, so I figured that the stuff has to be able to stand up to some water, but it also looked like people use the room to sit at tables. The rug is an indoor-outdoor rug, and it would be easy to do the rattan sofa in an outdoor fabric. The other furniture should be fairly robust.

I think we are all doing the 70s thing because it's new and different and because the other architectural cues are pretty weird. But don't worry I'll try and do a Marian extravaganza next.

I like what everyone is doing so far, will have more comments later.

Patrick, I think the macrame-ish curtain is my favorite thing. It would look so good against all those hard surfaces. The terra cotta hex tile, and that beautiful table are also great. The turquoise and wood pieces are perfect for adding brightness and texture and warmth to that sterile space.

Cawaps, the orange/green/brown is taking me back to my childhood home, which was also built in 1978. A huge sectional is just the thing for these huge spaces.

One more. This is the foyer. I've replaced the stairs and the front door. There's lots of space so lots of big artwork. The central sculpture (by Peter Reginato) is 8 ft tall. The yellow wall scupture (Matt Devine) is 4 ft in diameter, the hippo ballerina (Bjorn Skaarup) is 4 ft, and the red/blue/green one (Danny Perkins) on the left is also 4 ft. The 3 paintings on the right appealed to me because of the colors and because I am on a 70s riff. They are by James Rieck and are 4 ft square. I actually grabbed an image of a sculpture that was 13 ft tall. I rejected it on the grounds that I didn't think they could get it in the house.

Cawaps, fun. Sort of art gallery-ish.

Palimpsest, that is so different from what's in the house now. It would be a stunning change.

I tried to design the huge room with the bar and the huge windows with tufted window seats. I imagine it as an entertaining-only space, almost like a ballroom. I had a tough time showing what I would do, so I'll add some verbal explanation.

I went a little more early eighties. I would put in dark hardwoods, and paint the walls a dark, almost black color. I'd put the Hicks Hexagon wallpaper on the ceiling, in between the beams. I would paint the beams the same color as the walls, or possibly mirror them. I would redo the channel-tufted window seats in a teal velvet, and put mirrored coffee tables in front of them. I'd redo the bar in black lacquer and brass, with these brass pendants and lucite barstools.

I wouldn't try to furnish the room for daily use, but for parties, so I put in some seating, but it would be mostly open space. You know, for when you want to roller skate or have yoga classes at home :-)

In the manner of Michael Taylor from the late 1970s with an organic wood and stone center table, a stone console, and plaster lamps by Michael Taylor; Antique Italian Doors, Currey & Co. chandelier, a chaise in the manner of Nakashima, and a collection of Mexican santos.

Disco Deco bathroom . Fiandre wall tile, PE Guerin Jaguar spout, 1st dibs mirrors

Crl_ the dining
room: Interesting mix of rustic and late
modern pieces. The colors go really well
together, and I love the rug. I wonder,
if when decorating these huge spaces, you can simply double regular sized
furniture. How would having two of the credenzas right next to each other
compare to having one very long (and very expensive) piece?

Crl_ the kitchen.
Great example of something inspired by the 1970s but that also feels very
contemporary. The natural wood combined
with the futuristic appliances and the brass in fairly organic shapes, create
the sense of a friendly robot future, if that makes any sense.

Cawaps, the orange
antechamber: Certainly warmer than the original. For some reason I'm not feeling that sofa,
however, at least not with the chairs in the room and the metal coffee table. I don't know if the zebra is throwing me off
or it's the shape of the arms or the legs.
I'm not one to shy away from animal print (I have a giraffe print
daybed), but do you think that is actually zebra hide with fur?

Cawaps: the TV
corner. I think it’s a really warm and
livable TV room and it makes total sense to get rid of the traditional
architectural details. The real question
is what would you do with the rest of that giant room.

Cawaps, the
Entry. Much better staircase and great
use of art. This all fits together really well.
I'm always hesitant to use art, in part because I know little about
contemporary art, but also because I worry that art is too personal, but the
stuff you chose fits so well the space. I like the whimsy too, with the hippo
and the Rieck paintings.

Pal, the Brown
room. That is a very classy room, with
pieces that are so obviously "important design pieces" that I would
honestly worry about damaging them if I was in the room. I tried to do a little
research about 1970s design for this, but the names you provided were much more
helpful than the few web articles I came across. Was lacquered walls a thing in high end
design?

Jlc712, I was
thinking that the only thing you could really do with the big room was to make
a ball room/disco, so I'm glad you went
in that direction. I thought for a minute the lamp in the lower right hand
corner of your pic was a stripper pole, which would have been really
something! I think the color scheme is
unusual but great, and all of the seating you have found is very cool and
almost deco-ish, but that may be the lucite.
As designed it's very much a night time space and I wonder what you
could do about the many windows, which might throw off the room.

Pal, For some reason
I'm finding the juxtaposition of naturalistic form and materials a little too
stark in this austere and geometric space, but it may be that the rusticity of
the sculptures or the ornateness of the chandelier is one contrast too many. Again, these all feel like important design
pieces in a museum-like space.

Pal, the
bathroom. Was wondering if anyone would
tackle the bathrooms. It's very dramatic
and glamorous and while the malachite doesn't soften the room, exactly, it
takes the starkness out of the black and white somehow. I've loved that tile for a while, but never
known quite how to use it.

Patrick I don't know that there is anything that is so precious that if you could afford it you wouldn't use it, if that makes sense.

In the brown room the most expensive piece is the Paul Evans armoire @ $68,000 retail, so I am guessing $40,000 at auction. But these pieces are extremely rustic already, I am not sure you could damage them with normal use really. And I don't know if these prices really have staying power, it's just hot right now.

In the entry hall the most valuable piece would be the Long Chaise if it were Nakashima and not a tribute piece. Actually it still is the most expensive piece at $15,000, but the real thing is probably hitting $75,000+. That you might have to be careful with but really the webbing has little to do with the value. I went to grad school with somebody who had one of these and the dog had chewed the webbing. You'd have to hit the tables with hammers to damage them.

I think there are very few bathrooms that can carry the Fiandre Malachite tile, it's too intense.

Same with the jaguar faucet. The entire house would have to live up to the faucet and very few do.

Kitchen, cleaned up with dark brown floors to match the lacquered room, 1970s style wire pulls and Quadrille-China Seas Lyford Trellis wallpaper.

Patrick, since you wanted to know what else I would do with the big room...

The more I look at the pictures the more I think the current décor in the house dates to about 1990s or so. In my area this particular rose color would've been more popular starting in the mid 1980s which is a bit early for a house to be redecorated after it was built. It's possible this house was redecorated, given the location and the presumptive age of the owners, sometime in the mid 1990s. Some areas are a good ten years behind whatever is trending on the coasts in urban areas.

Since they needed thousands of yards of fabric, they pretty clearly went for cheap and sturdy which ends up being hospitality/contract/care facility type stuff. You could probably aim a blowtorch at those drapes and they wouldn't burn.

Ha, the owner is the ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF SALT LAKE CITY.

It makes way more sense now.

I wasn't yelling, just cutting and pasting.

Cawaps, looks like a cohesive room. I like that you used light fixtures to kind of delineate the separate areas.

Good detective work nosoccermon and it does make total sense. I wonder how many buyers there could be for a place like this?

Well, that is very interesting :-) hmmmm. On a side note, the Cathedral of the Madeleine in SLC is absolutely gorgeous. It's about 5 minutes away from this house. I'm not religious but I love to pop in there when I'm in the downtown area. The frescoes (is that the right word?) of the stars and planets over the altar are so beautiful.

I wonder if the house was built for him? The pinky-mauve was big in the late 80's in this part of the world, so it had to have been redecorated at some point. Crazy.

I'm sure there are buyers in this price range, and particularly for this location!! But, I would suspect there are very few people willing to take on a remodel/redecorate of this magnitude. I wonder if someone will try to tear it down and/or subdivide the acreage.

Nosoccermom, thanks for the research. I really think that explains everything--the paucity of bedrooms relative to the total floorspace, the space for entertaining (I would imagine the Bishop hosts gatherings frequently), the religious icons, and the nature of the furnishings.

Pal, in all your rooms you've added an elegance worthy of a five million dollar home. In the LR, I love the gingko floor lamps and Qing vases. The image doesn't do the lacquer walls justice. I love the color, but I think the effect would be so much better in person.

In the foyer, the white & neutral palette contrasts with your other rooms. The central table makes an interesting focal piece. I like the floor lamps flanking the door (you reminded me that I completely ignored lighting in my foyer). The Mexican santos were a nice (and amusing) nod to the current decor. I like the chaise, but I'm not sure how well it would work with traffic flow (the space is a high traffic area).

The black and green in your bathroom is dramatic. I love the tub. As you say, the rest of the house would have to be at a certain level to make it work, but so far your other spaces do that. The changes you made to the kitchen would have a big visual impact. I like how the wallpaper ties in with the chinoiserie from the living room.

Patrick, you asked about the zebra sofa, "do you think that is actually zebra hide with fur?"
my reaction was "God, I hope not." But actually, yes. It's from a South African manufacturer and is upholstered with zebra hide and kudu leather. I picked it for the drama and because the oversize roll arms make it take up an outsize amount of space compared to it's seating capacity.

If anyone is looking for a 70s decor inspiration...watch an old Columbo rerun...those sets scream 70s!

I'm not sure if it was the actual bishop residence, just that that was listed verbatim as property owner. At least it's way more modest than the bishop of Limburg's residence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/03/28/how-the-bishop-of-bling-spent-43-million-renovating-this-house/

I would do late 60's early 70's suave decor. Some verner panton chairs, for instance.

Just curious about people's design process.

When you do rooms for the DATs do you design rooms that you personally like, or are you designing the room to fit the criteria of the project?

For these projects (and even more so for the old Kitchen DATs) I design for the project, but I don't necessarily design for something I would want. I don't design anything that I out-and-out don't like, I guess, but I don't feel like I am designing for myself, either. (Like I did an entirely black kitchen for the a DAT and I would never have black bathroom fixtures like I did in this DAT. However, that tile asks for something other than white fixtures. Unfortunately emerald green fixtures aren't available--and in general dark fixtures aren't all that practical)

Interesting question, Pal. When I do these, I'm pretty focused on the design parameters and I'm pleased with the outcome when I feel that I produced something that matched those parameters. I don't always step back and ask whether I would like to live with it personally.

This DAT was particularly open-ended. The exterior of the house is Brutalist but the interior architecture was traditional, and the furnishings were institutional. "Design any room in this house" didn't exactly narrow the choices. I latched onto the era of the house rather than the style of the house (I find it hard to do Brutalist interiors well because they are more about architecture, space and light than they are about your choice of furnishings). Hence the green, orange, and brown, which I would probably not choose for myself, at least the orange. (Although that color palette was probably more late 60s/early 70s. By 1978, designers had probably moved on to the color palettes I remember from the 80s.) I also wanted to make the house more of a family home, and that meant less formal, in reaction to the institutional furnishings. Overstuffed sectional for TV viewing, pool table, etc. When I was a kid, I envied my friends with the basement family room with the foosball table.

One thing I've found interesting about doing the DATs is that the more I work with things I didn't like, or maybe didn't know about, ex ante (like mid-century modern, animal prints, Brutalism, or what have you), the more I appreciate and even like them ex post.

A bit of both Pal. Recently the DATs have not included particularly restrictive design parameters (e.g., use this color palette, this sofa, or your local craigslist) rather than do a Tuscan kitchen or use golden oak, so I have tended to design boards that I wouldn't mind living in. In this DAT, I chose the least formal space in a pretty formal space, partly because I didn't know how to live up to the design parameters. It would have taken more knowledge and more research than I was able to do in order to do the formal spaces justice.

I do think there's often room for interpretation in the design parameters though. In this case I decided not to try and recreate the space as it might have been in the era that it was created, but in a way that might be suitable for people that had to live in it now, but that spoke to the era of the house. I think either interpretation is acceptable, even though the hippy-organic aesthetic I used probably would not have been embraced by people who bought the house for its brutalist bones.

I also think that sometimes the DAT raises fairly universal design problems that can be translated to other situations. This house raised questions about how to furnish large spaces and how to partition immense spaces that I think can be useful to people facing similar challenges in a completely different aesthetic context.

I do this as an amateur though, and really don't have the training or experience necessary to know what works beyond my own personal judgment of whether it does or not.

I primarily try to fit the design parameters of the project, though I am very much an amateur and probably fail often. I am sure my personal taste bleeds over a lot--my designs rarely have much pattern for example which is a personal preference but also a weakness in that I'm not good at choosing patterns so when I try I often end up editing them back out.

But most of the rooms I have designed for the dat threads are not rooms I would choose for myself. For the dining room I did above for example, I wouldn't choose any of those pieces for my home. I actually dislike the chandelier, but I felt it fit the house well (I could be wrong, but that was my reason for choosing it.) I would probably also avoid the art in particular because of the bold orange component--my least favorite color. For the kitchen above, I am actually mid-kitchen remodel and there is not a single thing on my moodboard that appears in my real life kitchen.

I was recently wondering though, if there were a way to post these anonymously, would people still be able to tell who did which one. I think people could probably guess mine, even if I could strip some of the clues like how I position area rugs on the board, etc. I think there is probably a sameness to what I put together despite my attempts at designing for the project.

Actually, since you brought it up, the delicate sputnik style chandeliers predate the house by almost 20 years. They are really "atomic modern" from the late 1950s.

This form continued into the 1970s but it would have been a fatter "molecule" type or a very full "snowflake" or floral type like a dandelion: The seventies really started to move beyond what most people consider MCM and were a heavier, deco-influenced form of modernism

Pal, is there a common vocabulary for talking about design trends in the 1970s? Would anyone call the style of those chandeliers deco-revival or neo-deco modern or something? "Brutalism" gets used a lot, including by me, and I'm not sure if it has a specific meaning, especially in the design world as opposed to in architecture.