Remember what it was like to have a tree house? That secret little space that was yours and you could decorate it any way you wanted? It was the place you’d go to pout over scraped knees, but also the place you’d go to have a unique brand of fun only afforded by having this private, special little abode. It was close enough to everything and everyone that you could readily venture from it to join an activity, but far enough away that it held a sort of unexplainable delight. It was a place to invent and a place to find solitude. Oh yes, those were the days! And though we look back on fond childhood memories with a nostalgic sense of simplistic joy, those memories often carry with them a bit of sadness at the inability to recapture a time that was so magical. We remember, we smile, we sigh and we move on with our lives. Unless your names happen to be Mark and Kathy Clark, that is.
Mark and Kathy met in Lubbock, Texas. Mark was a local and a cotton farmer by trade. Kathy was from Indiana, but had moved to Lubbock and was working as a very successful mortgage banker. After meeting, the couple married in 1984 and moved to Ruidoso in 1990 where they purchased a property management business and 14 acres of prime riverfront property on the Rio Ruidoso. Eventually, they sold the property allowing Kathy to retire. “I’ve tried retiring twice,” Mark says with a smile. Instead, he has spent much of his time developing The Outlaw Club at Lincoln Hills, which is a private golf course community just east of Alto Lakes Golf & Country Club and a stone’s throw away from Ruidoso. It is in Alto that the couple found a home that they have made over into a fabulous dwelling. It has all the benefits of a tree house: close, but not too close to things and people, a place to invent and find solitude, a place to pout - if need be - and a place to have fun. Oh yes, and a place they could decorate any way they wanted!
The 5,000 sq.-foot home sits on just over an acre and a half of land. Though the style woven through the house is eclectic, its primary suggestions are Tuscan and Southwest. Their custom designed and crafted front door makes a bold statement with its knotty pine and dramatic wrought iron. Stepping into the entryway onto hand-scraped wood floors stained with notes of warm honey and deep caramel, your eyes are drawn upward to the elegant foyer penshell pendant from Kalco’s Somerset collection, which is lovely during the day, yet grows lovelier still in the evening when it glows of toffee and candied ginger. The walls throughout the home are heavily textured and finished with hand-rubbed glazes of ecru and gold, loaning a feeling of comfort to the rooms – like gently toasted marshmallows. Just down a few steps you find the living room with its plush, flecked carpeting of golden nutmeg. Whether you choose to sink into the decadent butterscotch leather couch or loveseat or opt for one of the Bergere
chairs covered in a woven fabric of honeycomb, you won’t want for comfort or luxury in this room.
Beyond the living room is the four seasons’ room, complete with pool table, chess table and built-in seating around the base of six giant windows. The house is situated so the view from the windows is largely of the enormous pines just a few feet away, with little peeks of sky sneaking through – just the view you might expect from a tree house.
The kitchen is a gourmet cook’s dream with its Sub-Zero refrigerator, Wolf stove and large granite countertops. The intricate carving on the range hood, the dramatic tile backsplash in shades of cream and spices and the copper hardware on the cabinets are just a few elements that put this space over the top. And what’s most important? “I love cooking in it,” Kathy smiles.
At day’s end, Mark and Kathy can retire to their bedroom with its gorgeous pecan four-poster bed or simply relax in one of the oversized oxblood leather chairs with burnished gold nailhead trim and watch a game of golf on their 42-inch plasma flat screen TV. The master bath is a retreat in itself with Terrazo stone flooring and cabinetry stained to compliment the wall’s soft colors. And, the piece de résistance, you ask? Kathy will tell you it’s the Aquatic Jacuzzi tub for two where the stresses of the day are simply swished down the drain.
The deck is beautiful, spacious and perfect for entertaining or conversely, a place of quiet solitude when one wants to be alone with their thoughts. The courtyard, though, has merits of its own and is arguably an area where one might be drawn for a number of reasons. Stepping down from the house to the first landing, you’ll find a very large brick patio complete with several seating areas, a fireplace for those chilly evenings and an herb garden from which Kathy’s dishes in the kitchen are inspired. There are many other extraordinary landscaping features that blend perfectly with the environment creating a fabulous feng shui as though by accident (though truly as a result of a lot of effort and planning). We would be amiss not to mention the putting green on the lower level that allows this pair of avid golfers the luxury of enjoying their favorite pastime from the comfort of their own home.
Tree house builders beware! Who says a copy is never as good as the original? Simply put…it just doesn’t get any better than this.
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