# How a Designer Made a Park City Spec House Feel Old > Cari Giannoulias took a brand-new Utah build and gave it the warmth of a house that has been loved for decades. - Title: How a Designer Made a Park City Spec House Feel Old · domino - Summary: Cari Giannoulias took a brand-new Utah build and gave it the warmth of a house that has been loved for decades. Warmth in a new-build comes from committed… - Keywords: interior design, park city, new build, color, millwork, Designer, Made, Park, City, Spec, House, Feel - Source: domino — https://domino.com/design-inspiration/park-city-home-cari-giannoulias - Author: Lydia Geisel, Malissa Mabey, Jen Paul - Published: 2026-09-02T05:50:00+00:00 - Read time: 3 min - Topics: interior design, park city, new build, color, millwork ## The call that changed her mind Cari Giannoulias was thinking about pausing her design practice when repeat clients from Chicago, a couple with three teens, asked her to redo their new Park City place. > It was a no-brainer, they're that easy to work with ## A one-line brief The clients wanted their vacation house to feel as warm as their full-time home in the city. That was the whole ask. Everything else was hers to decide. ## Total creative control Giannoulias chose everything down to the fixtures, working with builder Hibbs Homes on the bones while the real change happened in the decorative layer. > I picked the outside stone, the hardware on the doors, the toilets, you name it ## The windows came first Her first read on the spec house was that the windows were too small. Several were not pulling enough of the Utah landscape inside. > In some areas, they weren't doing enough to bring the landscape in ## Mist in the morning, peaks by noon Low mist rolls across the Jordanelle Reservoir below the house at dawn, then burns off so the mountain peaks sharpen into view by afternoon. > giving everything an ethereal look ## Lifting a window for a bench The dining window was already big but sat too low for banquette seating. She moved it up toward the ceiling and widened it, and the nook became possible. ## The TV that disappears This family barely watches TV but wanted one for gatherings. Millwork was built around it so it vanishes, with deep space behind to pull it out and swivel it. ## Paneling for a tall room The kitchen ceiling soars, so she paneled the walls. Without that visual break, the kitchen would have been swallowed by the rest of the open room. > your eye needs a visual break from seeing a bunch of plain wall ## Art that hints, never shouts Every piece nods to snow, mountains, or nature without being literal. The work above the primary bedroom fireplace reads as mountains only if you look for it. > it's not so obvious ## What if Peter Doig did an Alpine hotel The British painter became her north star. She kept picturing Doig redoing Le Coucou, the hotel in Meribel, and the whole palette followed from there. > His palettes are very unapologetic. ## The blueberry room A cobalt rug named the guest bedroom. She calls the color unexpected for a mountain home and yet not out of place, reading almost like snow. > I call it the blueberry room ## Quirky, but rich Black linen drapes, an antique chair she redid in stripes, a House of Hackney frog pillow. Odd choices that land as elevated rather than cute. > it all felt quirky but in a rich, elevated way ## Years of saved finds The house absorbed pieces she had been holding onto: a Nickey Kehoe Windsor chair, vintage Daumiller dining chairs, and the powder room sconces shaped like birds. ## Pattern as a nod backward Every pattern references the past. The custom sofa wears an elevated plaid, and the familiar circle motif around the fireplace is cut from differently colored marble. ## Making a pool table look good She is not a pool table person and groans when clients ask. Her fix was custom millwork, designed by her for every room, from the bar to the record shelves. > All of it speaks to each other; they follow a palette and a rhythm. ## A red pantry and a Spanish floor Farrow & Ball Picture Gallery Red transformed the pantry and answers the terracotta floor. In the primary bath, she recreated a tile floor she once saw in Spain. > it feels like a warm hug ## Key takeaway Warmth in a new-build comes from committed choices: bigger windows, custom millwork everywhere, and colors you would not expect to see in a mountain house.