Tucked in historic Old Town sits a remodeled home with a new outlook. Walk through the front door and, below the distinctive whitewashed wood chandelier, the first thing you see is glass. A clear column climbs four stories up the center of the home, wrapping an elevator shaft surrounded by heavy timber built to look like a mine—a nod to Park City’s history.
It’s a feature that could have been a gimmick. Instead, it’s the showstopper that gave the project its name: Glass House.
We took it from having a very mineshaft look—like steel gray—to encasing it with vertical glass around it,” says general contractor Kyle Hedman of Sagewood Builders. The glass theme continues as you climb the stairs. Clear panels set into the landings allow you to peer down to the floors below, a distinctive transition of lightness between the heavy wood stairs inset with plush Turkish rugs.
The Team Behind the Glass
The attention to detail in Glass House comes courtesy of a builder and interior designer who found each other through the client. Founder and Principal Designer of Area Design Lia Aguirre had worked with the homeowners on an earlier, surface-level refresh in the same house, and they called her back and brought Hedman in to handle the remodel. It was the first time the two had worked together and became the beginning of a lasting partnership.
Their philosophies lined up fast. Area Design doesn’t bring the same aesthetic to every home. “We don’t have a signature style,” Aguirre explains. “We take a lot from what the client wants, what they like, what they don’t like, and turn it into a space that’s livable for them.”
Her instinct runs toward the layered and collected, “bringing in pieces that the client currently has, new pieces, and some found pieces, whether it’s from a thrift store or antique shop. The goal is always something that really feels livable, not one-sourced,” she continues. It’s a philosophy that works. Area Design is a three-time “Best of Houzz” award-winner, and their portfolio displays adept handling of a wide variety of tastes and styles.
Sagewood’s philosophy is about people as much as a quality build. “I should have a better relationship with everyone involved at the end of the project than I do at the beginning,” Hedman says. It’s a standard he admits is “outside of industry norm.” On a build, that means no finger-pointing. “All decisions, good and bad, everyone has accountability. It’s a team. At the end of the day, the final product is a team effort.”
Dedication Brings the Vision to Life
Glass House had a number of issues to manage, big and small. Logistics were the starting point. The home sits on Gold Coast—the stretch of Woodside Avenue behind Park City Mountain Resort. Ski-in, ski-out, and tight on every side.
With limited parking and a large-scale project, plus remodeling a house in phases while the owners lived in it, the job got complicated quickly. The fix was a dedication to being deliberate from the start and figuring out, in Hedman’s words, “how do we hit the ground running from day one?”
Sagewood excels at deliberate details. This became evident when they took a beloved hand carved bookshelf and customized it to look like a built-in that had always been there. Getting the heavy piece to the fourth floor was daunting, but the team knew it was the right choice for the home.
It’s this commitment to honoring a home’s character that shines in Sagewood’s craftsmanship. And it’s a key reason they earned the 2025 Cindy Matsumoto Historic Preservation Award—the city’s annual recognition of projects that honor Old Town’s character. They’re experts at making something new feel like it always belonged.
Livable Luxury
The brief for Glass House came down to a single phrase: livable luxury. “The clients wanted it to feel luxurious and high-end,” Aguirre says, “but they also wanted everything to be durable and to be able to fully use every aspect of their house.”
In its original state, the house worked against that—dark, heavy, and chopped into small rooms. Aguirre and Hedman opened it up, brightened it up, and created a neutral backdrop that turned the heavy timber into a design asset in every space. They paired it with creamy whites, lighter woods, and a little gray to create visual contrast and breathing room.
You see the intention everywhere, including the kitchen, where a subtly veined quartzite countertop and full-height backsplash along with crisp, white walls provide a quiet backdrop to a dark steel hood and espresso cabinets. White lower cabinets keep the space visually light. And the island is set below classically simple polished-nickel globe pendants with leather and walnut stools for modern seating. It’s an inviting, open space designed for entertaining with ease and a sense of welcome.
The living room continues to offer a casual, warm space for gathering. A stacked-stone fireplace flanked by window seats adds natural texture that complements the timber as it climbs floor to ceiling. A tufted leather ottoman stands in for a coffee table in front of a simple sofa, while an antique console tucked against the wall between living and dining helps the space feel curated over time. It’s a room, as Aguirre puts it, where “you can put your feet up with a cocktail in your hand and not have to worry about anything.”
Rooms with a Mood
Not every space plays it light. The powder bath drops into shadow with rich wood paneling, mossy green walls, a single, thick slab of stone floating as the sink and brass fittings catching the muted glow of a fluted glass sconce. It’s a small room that’s big on drama.
The bar and family room carry the same moody confidence. Mirrored subway tile behind suspended shelving, dark cabinets, brass details, and a cluster of barrel chairs around a low, round table promise game nights to remember, while an unfussy sofa layered with textured pillows invites you to sit and stay awhile.
A Size Challenge Turns Into a Showstopper
Some of the home’s best moments started as challenges. The primary bath is one. “That all came about from the closet size,” Aguirre explains. The original closet was cramped and the bathroom layout impractical. So, they reworked the whole thing.
What they built in its place is arguably the most striking room in the home. Mirrors hang in front of the windows and line the walls, so daylight reflects throughout the space. The quartzite countertop gets a unique treatment, breaking up banks of drawers with apron fronts—an eye-catching and practical detail to manage water spillover. Off to one side, above the fireplace, a large black-and-white photograph of a horse looks out over the room. The closet shortfall became the showpiece.
The Quiet Rooms and the Wild Card
The primary bedroom stays calm—a black four-poster bed, neutral linens, a cowhide bench at its foot, all anchored by another beautiful Turkish rug, which shows up throughout the house. The office gets personal: a walnut desk and a painting of skis propped against snow.
The garage is where the house cuts loose. A mural runs throughout that shifts scenery from Old Town Park City into the blues of Hawaii’s Hanalei Bay—a nod to the two places the owners call home. It’s a spark of the unexpected in a luxury home. “You have these houses, they’re obviously very serious and very high-end,” Hedman says. “I think it’s an opportunity and a space to say, OK, let’s just abandon a color palette maybe in this one location and just add something that’s super fun.”
Clear Through
What Aguirre and Hedman pulled off isn’t really about glass. But it is about a clear vision—taking a phased, four-story, lived-in remodel and making it read as one settled home.
“When you walk in, it feels like it was all done at once,” Hedman says. “It’s not a series of remodels and eras.” From the moment you enter to the time you take a seat on the newly finished outdoor patio, it’s a seamless experience infused with luxury that feels accessible and approachable.
“I’m really proud of us for how we remodeled a house of that size and complexity and made it feel like one home,” he concludes. That’s the trick of Glass House. You can see clear through it—to the history infused through it, the talent of the team behind it, and the values of the life lived inside it.