Remodeled old house is perfect fit

Posted 4/30/21

Audrey and Eric Tew are as open and welcoming as their home, and that is saying a lot.

The house is barely visible from the road, at least until the summer flower gardens are in full bloom and …

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Remodeled old house is perfect fit

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Audrey and Eric Tew are as open and welcoming as their home, and that is saying a lot.

The house is barely visible from the road, at least until the summer flower gardens are in full bloom and nearby traffic slows in admiration. 

“People say ‘I’ve driven by here every day for five years. Has this house always been here?’” Audrey laughed.

The house is breathtaking and becomes even more so when it becomes clear this is not a new build. The original portion of the home was built in 1915, the Tews said, constructed as one of those cute little farm homes with the pyramid-style roof over a small space. 

It was purchased by Chris Ivanoff well into the century and under his artistic hands — he is the owner of Rising Sun Studio — a barrel roof was added, the lower portion of the exterior was wrapped in corrugated tin and the interior was treated to interesting surface coverings and textures.

For example, there are exposed metal I-beams that connect the addition to the original structure. The bar for the eat-in kitchen is clad in metal, and some of the walls echo the tin-wrapped exterior. 

The entire home, two bedrooms and a bath, is flooded with light brought in to the dwelling through huge windows that are made to mimic the original look of the building.

“The cut glass in the windows,” Audrey said, “it’s so bright and beautiful. Every morning the sun comes up and the walls reflect that light.”

Those walls are painted a warm sangria color, reminiscent of a mango skin, not all red, but not yellow either, hovering somewhere in between in a happy shade of wonderful.

Perhaps, though, the best part of the house is outside. The big doors open on three sides to exterior spaces built for living and enjoying the Wyoming outdoors.

On the east-southeast side there is a four-level deck with a table and seating, a fire structure and a stock-watering tank prepared for planting bedding plants.

Out the front door is a standard porch that holds a painted bench for seating. It carries a sun-face motif with colors that mimic the living room and a splash of ocean blue.

To the western side of the home is yet another porch, which connects to the front in a semi-wrap style. This one, too, is fitted out with comfy-looking Adirondack chairs, perfect for watching sunsets on long Wyoming evenings.

All around the house the landscape features aspen trees, transplanted by the previous owners.

“They are so beautiful, and the sound they make in the spring, with the leaves ...,” Audrey trailed off.  “They are perfect to shade the yard.”

The Tews are Oklahoma natives, but fell in love with the Big Horn Basin. They determined they wanted to buy a home in Powell and looked for quite a while back in 2015. 

“We saw this on the website, but it was [photographed] at an odd angle,” Eric said. “But we finally got someone to bring us out to see it.

“She [Audrey] walked in and that was it,” he chuckled.

It had been on the market more than six months when the Tews decided to purchase the house and the 4 acres on which it sits.

The couple has done very little to the home since then. They returned to Oklahoma for a time, but could not stay away from the tin-wrapped house with the mountain views.  

A pergola has been added, but most of the rest of the work has been landscaping with flowers that blaze in July. 

The entire home is hidden from full view by tall conifers, secluding the house and yard from the occasional traffic.

“It’s our little slice of heaven,” Audrey said, as she headed out to the greenhouse to start some more flowers for the home that is perfect for them.

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