A French country home in Black Forest, designed and built by Elk Ridge Custom Homes.

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Maison de la Paix

Black Forest, Colorado. 5,269 finished sq. ft. 5 Beds. 5 Baths. 3 Car Garage.

People's Choice, Best Floor Plan and Best Primary Suite at the 2026 Colorado Springs Parade of Homes.

This home is finished and available now. Staged and listed by Caprice King. Schedule a private tour.

Why we built it

A few years ago we were building a home in Black Forest, and we kept noticing the lot next door. The pines, the quiet. You'd step out of the truck and the whole day slowed down.

So before we drew a single line, we gave the house its name: Maison de la Paix, French for "house of peace." Then every decision had to live up to it: the colors, the selections, and the layout.

Most of our homes are designed around a client's wish list. Every so often, we build one on our own to try ideas we're excited about. This was that home.

How we designed it

The decisions that made the house work:

A split floor plan. The primary suite and the office sit on one side of the main level, and the two secondary bedrooms sit on the other. Everyone gets their own quiet corner, with the kitchen and living room in between. This is the plan that won Best Floor Plan.

The way you come home. From the 3-car garage you walk through the laundry, the mud room and the pantry, then straight into the kitchen. Groceries, coats and backpacks all have a place before you reach the living space. Parade visitors stopped in this run of rooms more than almost anywhere else.

A kitchen built around a La Cornue range. The French range sits in an arched alcove and sets the tone for the whole room.

Color drenching. Walls, trim and ceilings share one color in each space, so the rooms feel soft and enveloping instead of busy. Sherwin-Williams Mushroom carries most of the house, Eventide wraps the mud, laundry and pantry, and Quarry Stone fills the office.

Wood paneling up the stairwell. Floor-to-ceiling paneling turns a pass-through space into one of the warmest parts of the house.

The primary suite. It won Best Primary Suite. A tray ceiling finished in limewash, a built-in dresser with a coffee bar, a soaking tub surrounded by windows and trees, and a large closet fitted out with custom organizers and built-in drawers.

A lower level for everything else. A speakeasy with Moroccan clay walls in Mocha, a rec room, a gym, two more bedrooms, and a walkout patio with a firepit.

What you don't see in the photos

Triple-pane European tilt-turn windows throughout, lift-and-slide doors, and a triple-pane arched glass front door. Closed-cell spray foam seals the exterior, and open-cell foam fills the floor trusses so sound doesn't carry between levels. Like every Elk Ridge home, it also has 4000 PSI rebar-reinforced concrete, solid wood trim and doors, and hand-troweled drywall.

What Parade visitors told us

During the Parade, more than a hundred people pulled us aside to tell us how peaceful the house felt. Some said it felt like a hug. Many said that out of every home on the tour, this was the one they could actually picture living in.

Love this home but want it on your own land?

Every home we build starts with a 30-minute conversation. Request a consultation, or call us at (719) 428-5140 to set up a private tour of Maison de la Paix.