A large dreamcatcher, Blue Doors took a solid three years to recreated by Laura Bowen, store. The moment it was hers, Honiker dove welcomes guests to the full-throttle into her project, despite the fact common area. that she hadn’t been working for a few years due in part to a serious health issue. The place seems to have healed her. “It’s been a crazy ride. Powerful and amazing. I have been led to this place, I often feel like I am holding a space for people to connect. “We knew we would style it like a motor court, and we knew it would be stucco. We were inspired by Madrid, New Mexico, which we had just visited,” she says. The finished product is a work of art. It looks almost thrown together, but closer inspection reveals careful planning and a painterly approach to composition. It is a 20-acre canvas, a study in beauty. She lived on-site in a trailer during the restoration, doing much of the demolition and rebuilding herself, with the help of Pat and their right-hand man Facundo Ramirez, who can be seen around the property hauling wood, building furniture or doing whatever else needs to be done. They call themselves the three amigos. The first step was to gut the place. “We stripped everything and started loving the land again,” Honiker explains. Anything she thought might be refurbished and used was saved, everything else went on a pyre, and whoosh, the past was incinerated. And her convictions about her mission grew stronger. “I had always tried to do what I could, but being out in nature made me want to try more. I’ve always felt the need to be in nature.” Honiker and her small team began refurbishing the rooms, one by one. Equal attention was paid to sustainability, quality of workmanship and charm. True to its name, every door at Blue Doors in blue. “When I
was in New Mexico, a friend said it meant welcome.” There is Wi-Fi throughout the grounds, but there are no televisions or phones in the rooms. Books are abundant, though, and one might find the Harry Potter series on a shelf next to the Bible and a selection by conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly – something for everyone. Low-flow commodes and showerheads and tankless water heaters add to its Earth-friendly vibe. Art on the walls may start on a canvas, and extend onto the wall surrounding it. There is a teepee behind the guest accommodations, which is used for meditation, Reiki, massage or yoga. Even the gravel paths are
november 2015 • 405 magazine
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