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WHEN REA AND JIM LUDKE DECIDED TO BUILD A SECOND HOME IN COLORADO, THERE WAS NO QUESTION THAT IT WOULD BE A TIMBERPEG®.

Some folks know a good thing when they see one. Take Jim and Rea Ludke, for example. The high-energy couple had already built a TIMBERPEG® brand home in Arizona and loved the openness and interior space of the timber frame design. So when they decided to build a second home in Colorado as a break from the Arizona summers and a place for winter skiing and snowmobiling, Timberpeg was the obvious choice.


"We had a great relationships," says Rea. "It was like talking to your brother."


"We didn't hesitate for a moment on choosing Timberpeg," says Rea. "When it came to building our second home, there was no question that we'd do it with Timberpeg. Based on the quality of TIMBERPEG® materials, there was no motivation for us to choose another timber framer. We were already sold on the product."

The process was also made easier by the Ludkes' decision to use the same Timberpeg designer. "We had a great relationship," says Rea. "It was like talking to your brother."

Despite the differences in location, the Colorado site has much in common with the one the Ludkes chose in Arizona. Both homes are built on a bluff with commanding views of the surrounding landscape. The Colorado home is nestled into a ridge covered in sagebrush and overlooks the nearby Never Summer Range.

Rea points out that most people think of Colorado as covered by pines and spruce, but that's clearly not the case. "We have a view of pines and spruce, but we're basically living on a ‘sage hill.'"

That could be why one of her major priorities is landscaping. Plantings include lots of aspens to soften the lines of the property and act as a windbreak. As Rea explains, it can get very windy on the ridge.

As with all TIMBERPEG® homes, climate and location played an important role in design. The Ludke home was built "into" the ridge for protection from the elements. From the front, the home appears to be a single story. It isn't until you move around to the back of the property that its true size becomes apparent. The first floor contains kitchen, living and dining areas as well as the master bedroom, and the lower level contains two spacious bedrooms, a mini kitchen and a central "fun" area with a player piano, games and entertainment. A large bank of south-facing windows not only offers a spectacular view but also provide solar heat – a real plus given the Colorado winter.

The Ludkes also used the natural surroundings to help design the home's exterior. The color was chosen to blend in with the sage, and they used native rocks, boulders and other natural materials to add interest. The front steps, for example, are free-form stone, which Rea finds casual and congenial. "It's important to have the entrance be welcoming," she says.

Another design feature in the Colorado home is a breezeway/porch that connects the garage and the main house. The breezeway can be screened or left glassed in, and Jim and Rea have discovered it offers the perfect location for barbecuing or simply enjoying the scenery.

"We have a large deck, but the weather in Colorado can be a lot colder than the weather in Arizona, so we find ourselves using the porch more often," says Rea.

The porch is actually something of a "bonus" room that resulted when Jim and Rea compromised on the location of the garage. As Rea explains, Jim wanted a larger-than-usual garage for the Colorado home, but she dislikes designs in which the garage overwhelms the home and is "the first thing you see." The solution was a three-bay garage, built away from the main house and connected to it by the breezeway. The garage is partially winterized and also includes a workroom for Jim.

One of the features that makes the Ludkes such Timberpeg fans is the richness of the TIMBERPEG® beams, timbers and curved braces. The interior of their Colorado home reflects this richness and also shows what pros Rea and Jim have become in using Timberpeg's flexible design system. They took advantage of the system's flexibility to add character to their home with dormers, small windows in unexpected places and what Rea calls "bump-outs" without increasing the home's square footage.

Rea points to the bathtub alcove as an example of a bump-out, as well as a series of small windows set high over the living area. "These bring shafts of sunlight and moonlight into the house and the effect is just beautiful," she says.


"These [windows] bring shafts of sunlight and moonlight into the house, and the effect is just beautiful."


The Ludkes love bold colors, and that love is evident in their first TIMBERPEG® home in Arizona. For the home in Colorado, though, they opted for a more muted color scheme.

"The intense Arizona sunlight lends itself to bold, intense colors. This house has more windows, and we used a muted theme to hold it together visually," says Rea. The house features a palette of taupe, whitewashed wood and the deep amber glow of the pine floor, with coral and rust accents throughout. The neutral theme also provides the perfect backdrop for the Ludkes' ever-growing art collection.
"The paintings just pop in a neutral environment," explains Rea.

Building the Colorado house was not without its challenges. But Jay Warner, a Timberpeg Independent Representative involved in the project, explains that the Ludkes enjoy having a very hands-on role when it comes to design and construction.

Rea, for example, took on the task of siting a well for the property and went so far as to hire a dowser to locate the perfect spot. While Warner didn't play a part in helping Rea "witch" the home's new well, he did have a chance to see Jim in action. Because the Ludke home is built into a bluff, the site required a fair amount of preparation. Warner notes that Jim rented a bulldozer and did a lot of the excavating himself.

The Ludkes "are wonderful people ... They had already built a TIMBERPEG®, were familiar with the products and knew what they wanted," says Warner, who got to know the couple well and helped them find local builders and contractors.

Almost as interesting as their new TIMBERPEG® home is the tale of how the Ludkes found the Colorado property. Jay Warner played a major role in this story as well.

It started in Arizona, where Lisa Wren, a close friend of the Ludkes, invited them to visit her property on the Ouray Ranch in Colorado. The whole ranch offered magnificent vistas, wide-open spaces, excellent fly fishing on a mile and a half of the Colorado River and two well-stocked lakes – and it just happened to be owned by Warner.

It wasn't long before Jim and Rea purchased a 35-acre parcel and went to work designing the TIMBERPEG® home that sits on it now.

Scenarios like this are actually quite common among Timberpeg owners and Independent Representatives. Like Wren, Warner and the Ludkes, they seem to develop an immediate bond.
This personal relationship, according to Rea Ludke, is what makes it work.