WHERE THE HEART IS

Castle Pines home
overflows with family
heirlooms, antiques
and memorabilia

By ELLEN GRAY
Photography LINDA HANSELMAN

From the outside, the Castle Pines home of Linda and Chris Hansen exudes a feeling of serenity and calm. Step through the red doors, however, and you’ll quickly realize this is no run-of-the-mill, sleekly decorated place.

Indeed, this is a house that offers up a rich sampling of history, lineage and precious family ties. Each room of the 7,800-square-foot home overflows with family heirlooms and antiques, a tribute to Linda’s commitment to preserving her family’s heritage. The home is furnished with a blending of wonderful pieces handed down from Linda’s great-grandmother, grandmother and mother.

Built in 1992, the home opens up to a spectacular view of the 15th hole of the Castle Pines Golf Course, home of The International golf tournament. This impressive setting is enhanced by a beautiful stone deck and patio area brightened by a multitude of wildflowers reminiscent of the mountains in summertime. A nearby lake adds to the idyllic atmosphere, and hummingbirds flutter around the plants and trees.

A rustic stone path circles the home and leads to an oversized hot tub at one side. Follow the path in the opposite direction, past trailing ivy and groundcover, and you end up at a charming stone-encircled table and bench where the home’s owners like to sit and sip wine while taking in the spectacular sunsets or watching golfers wend their way around the world-famous course.

A tiny wooden chair nailed to a tree near the bench provides a haven for squirrels to sit and eat corncobs set there by Linda. It’s not uncommon to see a variety of wildlife in these surroundings, including bears, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, elk, deer and a host of monarch butterflies.

In the home’s foyer, visitors are greeted by a replica of an elderly matron sitting in a chair, holding court over her domain. The woman in the chair bears an uncanny resemblance to Linda’s great-grandmother, who single-handedly built one of the countrylargest and most successful chains of privately owned newspapers.

The home’s ancestral history is told not just through its furniture, but also through the numerous framed pictures that depict Linda’s upbringing in Dixon, Ill., the birthplace of Ronald Reagan. In a nostalgic touch, pictures of the original family home flank the long hallway leading to the master bedroom suite.

The master bedroom is an appealing room, with large windows that bring in plenty of sunshine. A rug that once adorned the floor in Linda’s grandparents’ home adds a soft touch. The master bath boasts a steam and double Jacuzzi and is punctuated by souvenir Rolling Stones renderings painted by band member Ron Wood. Linda, a self-professed Rolling Stones fan, also has a vast collection of concert ticket stubs, some assembled and framed in collages.

While most of the home is decorated in neutrals that provide an eye-catching backdrop for the myriad collectibles, the dining room takes a different approach. A deep, rich charcoal covers the walls, with tones that range from dark gray to midnight blue, depending on the lighting. An antique table and rug, again from Linda’s grandparents’ home, provide the focal point. A huge buffalo skull sits high up above the room, a tribute to the couple’s love and support for the CU Buffs football team.

Around the corner from the dining room is the kitchen, arguably Linda’s favorite room, since she is a self-professed avid cook. The kitchen offers up an array of state-of-the-art appliances, including a double Viking stove and oven, built-in pasta cooker and two dishwashers and freezer drawers built into the granite-covered island.

Perched in the center of the island, a rooster statue stares impassively into the room. A remote control causes the rooster to rise out of the granite, revealing a large television set that swivels to face the cooking or eating area. Hard-core sports fans Linda and Chris love to entertain, and this hidden television enables guests to congregate in the kitchen area and not miss a minute of the game.

The eating area is a casual room in which a beautiful mahogany Baker kitchen table is surrounded by an eclectic assortment of chairs and flanked by two antique storage cabinets.

The home contains seven bathrooms, and one of the quaintest is the powder room on the main floor. To decorate this room, tree branches were dipped in putty and applied to the walls, then pulled off to provide leaf impressions for a unique effect.

A wide staircase leads to the finished basement filled with light and high ceilings. The walls of a long hallway are covered with hundreds of photographs, tracing generations of the family’s roots. Off the hallway is another bedroom, this one decorated with furniture from Linda’s great-grandmother. The room’s twin beds, more than a century old, were purchased in Europe. They are one of only two such sets, the other set having been sold to a European royal family.

A media room in the basement houses a big-screen projector and four huge chairs ideal for watching games and movies. Framed movie posters cover the walls, including one poster signed by each of the Rolling Stones.

In the basement’s main room, a monument to Ronald Reagan takes up an entire wall. Linda’s family was very friendly with the Reagan family, and she has amassed an impressive collection of photographs, sculptures and mementos. Especially poignant is a framed photograph with a quote by the former president, “All of us have a place to come home to C9 Dixon is that place for me.” This sentiment sums up Linda’s devotion and love for her birthplace.

In the family room upstairs, a comfortable room that is obviously a place to relax and unwind, a bronze sculpture of Ronald Reagan riding his horse stands before the fireplace. A life-size version of this same sculpture, depicting the former president in his early years, is now being created by artist Don Reed. The sculpture, called “Begins the Trail,” will soon have a permanent home on the riverfront in Dixon.

One last room in the home bears mention. Around the corner from the main room in the basement, the sports memorabilia room contains surprise after surprise. The walls are covered with pennants and posters, but that’s just the beginning. An Army blanket on the couch is covered with patches sewn on by Linda’s mother, who collected them from soldiers stationed around the world. The troops presented them to her while she was a volunteer at an Army hospital during World War II. The old wooden skis of Linda’s father, who was in the 10th Mountain Division in Mount Rainier, are propped against one wall.

This is a dwelling that is filled with all the love its occupants have for the objects that really do make a house a home.