Sugarloaf Stronghold
In the living room, the visible log cross-sections reveal the home’s structure. The red wall is an ode to White’s father, who died right before the couple purchased the house. “He had always wanted a red room,” says Brady. A large painting by Robert John Ichter called Everywhere We Went is one of the first pieces Brady and White purchased after the loss of much of their art collection in Hurricane Katrina. “It is an important piece to us emotionally and one that is so fitting for our home in Maine. The name alone says so much.” Brady and White purchased the vintage Chinese coffee table from Asia West in Portland and the hand-blown red glass vase by Rick Satava from Edgecomb Potters Gallery in Edgecomb. Seated on the chair is Brady and White’s dog Padma, who rode out Katrina with Brady’s mother 30 miles inland from the Gulf Coast. Mason David Morris built the fireplace, which takes center stage. “His choice of rock, placement, and style is unique and fits well with the kind of homes we build,” says builder Doug Field. The brass andirons in the fireplace are from the 1930s and were given to the couple by a good friend. “It’s all the wonderful items throughout our home that are rich with emotion, joy, and memories,” says Brady. “We enjoy these things on a daily basis. It’s what makes a home a home.”
In the living room, the visible log cross-sections reveal the home’s structure. The red wall is an ode to White’s father, who died right before the couple purchased the house. “He had always wanted a red room,” says Brady. A large painting by Robert John Ichter called Everywhere We Went is one of the first pieces Brady and White purchased after the loss of much of their art collection in Hurricane Katrina. “It is an important piece to us emotionally and one that is so fitting for our home in Maine. The name alone says so much.” Brady and White purchased the vintage Chinese coffee table from Asia West in Portland and the hand-blown red glass vase by Rick Satava from Edgecomb Potters Gallery in Edgecomb. Seated on the chair is Brady and White’s dog Padma, who rode out Katrina with Brady’s mother 30 miles inland from the Gulf Coast. Mason David Morris built the fireplace, which takes center stage. “His choice of rock, placement, and style is unique and fits well with the kind of homes we build,” says builder Doug Field. The brass andirons in the fireplace are from the 1930s and were given to the couple by a good friend. “It’s all the wonderful items throughout our home that are rich with emotion, joy, and memories,” says Brady. “We enjoy these things on a daily basis. It’s what makes a home a home.”
In the living room, the visible log cross-sections reveal the home’s structure. The red wall is an ode to White’s father, who died right before the couple purchased the house. “He had always wanted a red room,” says Brady. A large painting by Robert John Ichter called Everywhere We Went is one of the first pieces Brady and White purchased after the loss of much of their art collection in Hurricane Katrina. “It is an important piece to us emotionally and one that is so fitting for our home in Maine. The name alone says so much.” Brady and White purchased the vintage Chinese coffee table from Asia West in Portland and the hand-blown red glass vase by Rick Satava from Edgecomb Potters Gallery in Edgecomb. Seated on the chair is Brady and White’s dog Padma, who rode out Katrina with Brady’s mother 30 miles inland from the Gulf Coast. Mason David Morris built the fireplace, which takes center stage. “His choice of rock, placement, and style is unique and fits well with the kind of homes we build,” says builder Doug Field. The brass andirons in the fireplace are from the 1930s and were given to the couple by a good friend. “It’s all the wonderful items throughout our home that are rich with emotion, joy, and memories,” says Brady. “We enjoy these things on a daily basis. It’s what makes a home a home.”
In the living room, the visible log cross-sections reveal the home’s structure. The red wall is an ode to White’s father, who died right before the couple purchased the house. “He had always wanted a red room,” says Brady. A large painting by Robert John Ichter called Everywhere We Went is one of the first pieces Brady and White purchased after the loss of much of their art collection in Hurricane Katrina. “It is an important piece to us emotionally and one that is so fitting for our home in Maine. The name alone says so much.” Brady and White purchased the vintage Chinese coffee table from Asia West in Portland and the hand-blown red glass vase by Rick Satava from Edgecomb Potters Gallery in Edgecomb. Seated on the chair is Brady and White’s dog Padma, who rode out Katrina with Brady’s mother 30 miles inland from the Gulf Coast. Mason David Morris built the fireplace, which takes center stage. “His choice of rock, placement, and style is unique and fits well with the kind of homes we build,” says builder Doug Field. The brass andirons in the fireplace are from the 1930s and were given to the couple by a good friend. “It’s all the wonderful items throughout our home that are rich with emotion, joy, and memories,” says Brady. “We enjoy these things on a daily basis. It’s what makes a home a home.”
Another bedroom is outfitted with an antique Chinese chair and small cabinet, along with a red and white checked wool blanket purchased on a trip to Sweden. Roy Pfister’s oil on canvas Sunset captured the homeowners’ attention in a small gallery in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
The quilt on this guest bed is by Denyse Schmidt Quilts. Brady used antique Asian tea tables for bedside tables. The watercolor by the artist Aziz above the bed was purchased at Jazz Fest in New Orleans.
One of Brady’s favorite things about this guestroom is its linear composition. The lines of the logs are juxtaposed with those of the frames, the antique ski poles, and the shutter. The vintage frames over the red iron bed were collected at flea markets. “I wanted artwork over the bed but couldn’t find what I was looking for until I saw the really large old frame,” says Brady. “I thought the frames were so interesting in themselves. I am still adding frames as I find them.”
The dining room table is surrounded by Old Hickory Furniture chairs from Rollins Furniture in Hallowell. On the table sits a vintage French demijohn and crate; above it, a chandelier by Corbett Lighting through Horchow. Antique skis rest against the wall.
The bed in the master bedroom was built by Doug Field and designed by Brady. “We wanted a bed that was in some way connected to the house,” says Brady. Field worked on the bed for six months, beginning with a very large tree that he found lying in the woods. A small painting on cloth of Lama Bhutan dates back to the eighteenth century. The bed quilt was made by a dear friend of Brady and White’s, Susan Donnell, who spent a year gathering fabric and patterns that held special meaning for the couple.
The theme of Himalayan Buddhism of Tibet and Nepal ties in with the mountain home theme. In the hallway, stands a statue of Kuan Yin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy and compassion. She is surrounded by antique blue and white pottery, circa 1850.
The master bath features art by Mario Villa, another prominent New Orleans artist.
The foyer presented a design challenge for Brady. “We really had no mudroom. This was the primary entrance into the home, so I needed it to be inviting but also very useful,” he says. A cabinet and bench system helps perform the functions of a mudroom, while the wall lamps, textured pillows, and worn rug soften the space and play well with the lines of the logs. The work of art by Robert Glisson, Thinking of Inness, No. 2, was purchased in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The midseventeenth- century delft tiles below it were purchased from a small shop in Amsterdam. “We tend to buy art when we travel. We also have several pieces by Maine artists in our home,” says Brady.
Near the stairwell, two chairs from Thomasville Furniture and Cabot House are outfitted in Ralph Lauren fabric and pillows. Behind them hangs a painting by George Dureau called A Satyr Distracted. Dureau is a prominent and popular New Orleans artist. “It’s fun to watch people notice the painting and watch their reaction. No, it’s not the devil; it’s a satyr—a mythical creature that has a fondness for unrestrained revelry. This for us represents the fun in New Orleans. A bit of whimsy,” says Brady.
At the base of Sugarloaf Mountain, Snow Lion Lodge stands solid, a sturdy structural arrangement of gargantuan red cedar logs and sharp roof angles.
FEATURE-Jan/Feb 2012
by Rebecca Falzano | Photography Irvin Serrano
Post-Katrina, a New Orleans couple rebuilds in Maine
If a house could have fortitude, Snow Lion Lodge would be brimming with it. The ski home at the base of Sugarloaf stands out through the trees, a sturdy structural arrangement of gargantuan logs and sharply angled rooflines. Even its name is a symbol of strength and protection, referring to the mythical Himalayan snow lion. The house is firmly anchored to its mountain, a taunt to Mother Nature whenever she comes knocking.
Christopher Brady and Kevin White know nature’s knock all too well. When Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in August 2005, the couple sat helpless while their home was devastated—they were vacationing in Maine, 1,600 miles away. It took them weeks to make their way back. Brady’s mother had lost everything but her life, and the couple’s home was all but completely destroyed. Like so many others, they were grateful to be alive but devastated by the loss of most of their belongings. The things they would come to miss the most would be the irreplaceable family heirlooms that had been passed down for generations, including quilts handmade by Brady’s great-grandmother.
As the couple surveyed their debris-strewn backyard one day, two surviving items captured their attention: lobster buoys they had found on a trip to Maine and a copy of the movie On Golden Pond, which was filmed
in New England and reminded them of the place where they vacationed. “‘This is a sign,’ we thought,” says Brady. A few weeks later, as they were putting their lives back together, White, a physician, came across a job opening in Waterville. “We were in a state of shock, and here was Maine,” says Brady. It was where the two had vacationed together annually for many years. It was where they were when the storm hit. And it was where they would rebuild.
The year following Katrina, the couple moved to Winslow and set up permanent residence. After getting back on their feet, the avid skiers looked to Sugarloaf for a vacation home. “We wanted to find a ski condo, but nothing really floated our boat,” says Brady. Eventually, the two came across a log house unlike any they had ever seen. The post-and-beam structure, which was still under construction but close to being finished, was made of mammoth cedar logs (1,500 to 3,000 pounds each—“steroid-sized,” says Brady). Doug Field and Don Roach of Magalloway Builders in Stratton were building it in collaboration with West Coast Log Homes out of British Columbia. It took just one meeting with the builders and Brady and White were sold, just in time to request some last-minute customizations—the interior paint colors and a basement finish detail—to make the home their own.
“Being from New Orleans, where there is so much historic architecture, we were blown away with the house architecturally. And we were impressed with how cozy it felt despite its size,” says Brady. Field and Roach chose this specific post-and-beam construction, which is reminiscent of a timber frame but with exposed logs on the interior and exterior, to showcase the striking character of the wood. As a result, the house wears its structure on its sleeve: logs jut outward to reveal how the pieces come together, and the notching, blemishes, and grain are all visible as well, both inside and out. “Our goal was to go with all earth-tone colors and materials to blend in with the surroundings, yet display the grandeur and character of the logs,” says Field.
While Field and Roach like to use local wood whenever possible, they selected western red cedar for the frame because of its resistance to insects and decay and its ability to hold up under harsh mountain conditions. “One of the features that impressed me the most is that, with the large diameter of red cedar, there is no center rot—a major problem with eastern cedar,” says Field, who is no stranger to log-home construction. For several winters in the 1990s, he worked as a ski patrolman and backcountry guide in Colorado, where he first gained an appreciation for log structures. “Working with logs is very rewarding,” he says. “It’s humbling.”
As rewarding as the home was to build, Brady and White find it just as rewarding to live in. Not only are the logs a built-in design element, but they connect the couple to their home. “We’re very tactile people,” says Brady. “We like walking through the house and reaching out and touching the logs.”
While the exterior was something the couple entrusted entirely to the builders, Brady faced the interior hands-on, drawing on his brief studies of landscape architecture and interior design. The couple knew they wanted the interior to be reminiscent of a ski lodge, but they also wanted to steer clear of typical lodge conventions. “While we like that rustic Ralph Lauren style, we wanted something more tailored to our personal tastes,” Brady says. The two shied away from Shaker and Mission-style furniture in favor of Asian-inspired pieces. White is Buddhist, and Eastern influences are predominant throughout the home—Buddha sculptures and Oriental porcelain and antiques. In particular, the theme of Himalayan Buddhism of Tibet and Nepal ties in to the surrounding mountain-home theme as well. When it came to color, Brady opted for an earth-toned palette with a pop of red. The fabrics are warm and comforting: wools, cashmere, mohair.
Above all, partly because of what they lost in Katrina, Brady and White longed to be surrounded by things that felt worn and loved. “The goal was to have the house look like it had been there for a long time,” says Brady. The eclectic mix of furnishings and decor, collected from a variety of sources, has a sense of whimsy—another goal of Brady’s. “I like people to walk in and do a double-take. It’s all about making the space fun and comfortable and not too serious.”
The couple now spends nearly every winter weekend at Snow Lion Lodge. The sturdy house has withstood blizzards and even a fallen tree. Inside, reminders of where they came from are never far, including a quilt made for the couple by a neighbor. She spent a year gathering fabric and patterns that held special meaning to Brady and White. The patchwork tells the story of their lives: the fleur-de-lis represents the culture of New Orleans, and the snowflakes and blueberries, their new home in Maine. Having lost his great-grandmother’s precious quilts, Brady was beyond moved by the gift. “This is probably one of the most valuable items in our home because of the heartfelt love and thoughtfulness that went into making it,” he says.
“You hear so many horrible stories from Hurricane Katrina, but there are some wonderful ones as well.”