Stay at Wyoming’s Brush Creek Ranch and bring some seriously stylish inspiration home with you. Designer Gina Deary talks creating an authentically Western home.
Western wedding plans? Big corporate shindig coming up? Much-anticipated family reunion? The Farm at Brush Creek Ranch in Saratoga, Wyoming, has you covered from seed to table with a really-wow culinary experience. But the vast family of properties that is Brush Creek Ranch encompasses a whole lot more, from intimate cabins to an on-site distillery.
Behind this cohesive and creative vision of what you might call chic authentic Western is the Simeone Deary Design Group, who are pros at creating cool hospitality spaces.
“Bringing luxury to Wyoming is not easy to do,” says Gina Deary, one of the group’s principals. “It doesn’t scream luxury. It’s not Vail. There’s a certain kind of person who wants to be in Wyoming. They’re not there to be showy. They’re there because they want to be in part of the American West.”
And Brush Creek Ranch is certainly a reflection of that.
C&I talked with Gina Deary of Simeone Deary Design Group about the inspiration behind the inviting look and feel of Brush Creek Ranch.
C&I: How did you come to the Brush Creek project?
Deary: I’ve been working on this project for 19 years. Bruce White recently passed. He and his family are huge hotel developers. He gave us the opportunity to work on the ranch. Originally, it was just going to be for his family. What was there was kind of dilapidated. He wanted it to be as authentic as we could make it. If there was a cabin in disarray, we rebuilt the cabin. It was all about authenticity. He and his family are very inspiring people. They really believe in nature and being great stewards of the land, and they take that responsibility seriously. We got to go along for the ride.
As the ranch was building and building, we worked in collaboration with the architect, the landscape designer, and Bruce and Beth. The concept became more layered. We moved all around the property, and each part has its own story.
First we had to deal with the fact that there wasn’t a sewer system. There was some old farmhand housing that we turned into the two-story bunkhouse, which could then hold all of the families and they could go snowmobiling. Then we built the main Brush Creek Ranch building and several cabins. What you see today is the Lodge & Spa. We built up the chicken coop, and now it’s a nice little honeymoon suite. There was a blacksmith cabin that became the Blacksmith Cabin that you can rent out. In the beginning, some of those cottages were just crumbling into the earth.
We designed everything together. It was a true collaboration.
C&I: There are so many aspects to this family of properties. Break them down for us.
Deary: Brush Creek is the main ranch, now referred to as the Lodge & Spa, it’s one of three properties on the ranch and the only one that’s open year-round and is family-friendly. There are dining rooms, a workout area, and a recently renovated spa. Everyone gathers there. It’s the main base. In terms of style, it’s a little bit more connected to the original property in that we were essentially reconstructing those buildings. Each area would have its own muse. Sagebrush, sage that grows naturally there. We used things from the land and things you see from your window to influence individual designs. It’s all warm and comfortable and has history. It’s not modern. It very much belongs where it belongs. You get the experience of being in Wyoming when you’re in the rooms. It’s gorgeous all year round, sort of dangerous and wild. It would have been easy to do something trite. But our mission was to look to the land and location and history.
The Magee Homestead consists of nine cabins geared as a romantic getaway for couples. If you have a bigger party — say, if you’re having a huge company thing or family thing — you can rent the whole thing as a buyout. It has its own amenities and staff. You have your own chef and lodge. It’s like you’re on your own ranch. You and your family are all in one place.
French Creek is an all-inclusive, very exclusive sporting destination; it’s creekside, hence the name. It’s now four well-appointed cabins and one luxury glamping yurt. The Millie, one of the cabins, was for a woman rancher. It was all broken down, and we rebuilt it and all the structures around it. This is for groups of people who want to fish and fire guns and do very manly adventures. Food is brought out to you. All the CEOS like to go and shoot there. It’s great for a men’s retreat. It’s far away from everything — you’re definitely secluded out there. It’s a fancy way to rough it.
C&I: The whole project seems to exemplify luxurious comfort. How do you describe it?
Deary: It’s a lot of things. It’s about not overdoing it. It’s about providing whatever you need, whatever you use — being purposeful. Things aren’t overly designed. It’s about designing for comfort and relaxation and life. It’s cold out there, and that’s why you see lots of heavy-weight blankets. I like to create a sustainable way to live in design and to use what’s natural to the land and location.
It’s not overly decorative. Everything is purposefully very functional, but there’s so much beauty in the function. The woodworking is clean and simple, but there’s still a lot going on. You just don’t want to fuss it up too much. Overdesigning overcomplicates the human experience.
C&I: Tell us more about setting the stage for human experience through design at Brush Creek Ranch.
Deary: The place always dictates the design. Overall, it doesn’t matter how beautiful it is. Ultimately, we fail if it’s not functional. Beds and chairs need to be comfortable. Clients completely recognize discomfort. Lighting can really help make everything look beautiful or completely ruin a room.
Really great lighting controls how a space looks. Natural light changes from winter to summer. When you’re choosing a palette and window locations, you have to think about the four seasons. Morning is bright, and really intense light exposes every little detail in the wood graining. At night, that disappears, but you need contrast. You can do it with finishes, but you need to focus on lighting floor, ceiling, mid-tone lighting, lamps, and accent lighting. Light certain things at night, like a stone wall. Otherwise, at night it goes in shadows.
Everything—even the lighting—has to feel good to the touch. If you start looking at all the layers, you see they have a way of making a place feel really special. We built something that no one else had. We built it with care and with the story of the property in mind.
C&I: If you had to choose a spot (or two) where you could really unplug and read or nap or just get recharged by looking at the beautiful surroundings, where would that be within these properties? And why do you choose that?
Deary: It’s the Farm at Brush Creek. There’s amazing artwork everywhere. It’s vast. There’s food; they’re making breads and distilling liquor. Goats are making milk. Everything is about comfort and consuming things. The Farm doesn’t have lodging, but all guests of the ranch have access to visit the Farm. It’s my favorite place on the ranch.
Sometimes it’s just walking the property. It’s breathtaking. It doesn’t matter how much you build, how creative you are — the land wins. It’s weird, but you feel small and suddenly your problems are insignificant. It’s a vast world that makes you feel like a small piece of it, or a big part of it.
When I stayed in a cabin, I really thought I was going to be inside a lot. I was never in it once. What’s really cool is that there are so many activities and it’s so easy to do them. I’m a homebody, but they have created the Brush Creek Ranch experience in such away and in such a place that you just want to be out there doing everything. There are so many professionals out there who love what they do and that translates to the guest experience. I was so sore by the end of my stay. I ended up doing everything I could fit in. I caught fish!
As much as you love the interiors, you just want to be outside when you’re there. And that’s by design. You want to go out there and do it all. And you’ll get the good kind of exhausted. You eat really well and you sleep really well. That’s the point.
Learn more about Gina Deary and Simeone Deary Design Group at simeonedeary.com.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy Brush Creek Ranch