Colorful Powder Remodels with Pizzaz

An ode to all things bright and beautiful.

6 hours ago

Christine Emming,

Eggplant-hued paint on the cabinet, gold and purple sparkles in the Cambria Annicca quartz countertop, and the rounded glow of Hubbardton Forge sconces effuse charisma and old-world charm. | Photo: David Patterson

Purple Punch

This homeowner, a mid-60s, single Denverite, had already hired an architect when he met interior designer Joyce Clegg on the tennis courts at the Pinehurst Country Club and asked her to review the plans for his kitchen renovation. Clegg agreed.

“I asked him the kinds of questions that designers ask,” Clegg says: “How do you want to live in this space? What does the remodel mean to you?” After building this rapport, she found herself directing a whole house remodel for the successful businessman with three adult children. Because he travels extensively for work and loves to entertain when he’s home, the main level deserved extra attention. Her client “loves color and fashion, and has great style,” says Clegg, and the 18-months-long remodel flew by with much of their communication via emailed color boards and renderings.

With the home’s Amalfi Coast theme in mind, Clegg tackled the powder room, seeing it as an opportunity to showcase her client’s refined color palette. She introduced a masculine edge with textured wallpaper and balanced that with a warm stone vessel and oversize sconces, adding a luxurious amount of light into the space. Added storage in the Dura Supreme custom purple vanity grounds the room and provides visual cohesion.

Hidden Colorways

When the client fell in love with an orange gloss cabinet by Primary Kitchen, Clegg chose a gorgeous midcentury Kichler Brettin wall light and Baker brass hardware to complete the look. | Photo: David Patterson

When Joyce Clegg’s new clients, a long-married couple, found her on Google, they wanted to redesign their kitchen. The homeowners had moved to Australia for work several years prior, renting out this Highlands Ranch home where they’d raised their three daughters.

Upon moving back to the States, they briefly searched for their forever home, then quickly realized that with a little work, this home already checked all their boxes. As the kitchen expanded into the dining room space, Clegg’s scope grew into a full, main-floor renovation. She enlarged the laundry room and replaced all the main-level tile flooring with oak hardwood, which extended into this powder room.

The original kitchen had white cabinets, white countertops and white floor tile. But in designing the powder room, Clegg discovered that “the homeowner had all this color in them!” Reviewing the room’s plan ideas together, the client told Clegg, “I don’t care what else we do in there. I want that orange cabinet!”

Now the powder room looks completely restrained yet whimsical—a perfect peek into the personalities of its owners. The vanity, by Primary Kitchen, centers attention on its vibrant orange shade and firm lines, while the floral-print wallpaper offers movement, all backlit by an oversize mod light fixture.