A Denver-Based Interior Designer Beats the Odds and Designs for Joy

Fireplace For a basement family room project, Poonam Moore surrounded a cozy fireplace with Samui Verbier Dark tiles. Floating custom white oak shelves are backed by Off White cork wallcovering from The Wallpaper Company. | Photo: Josh Droval

Never underestimate the power of grit and determination. That’s exactly the tenacious spirit that fuels Poonam Moore, founder and owner of Poonam’s by Design.  Moore arrived in Los Angeles from Fiji with her family and four suitcases when she was 8 years old. Raised by their mother, who worked two full-time jobs despite speaking little English, Moore and her younger brother shared a pull-out sofa in a one-bedroom apartment, where she showed sparks of creativity from an early age. “My mom said I would constantly want to redecorate and rearrange our little apart­ment,” Moore recalls. As a teenager she came to Denver, where she won an internship with celebrated Denver designer Mickey Ackerman while still in high school.

Next, she embarked on a bachelor’s program in interior design at the Art Institute of Colorado. “I was already married and a young mom, so I had to take school very, very slowly because I did things upside down and back­wards,” she says. For eight years, Moore worked two full-time jobs, seven days a week, while also earning her degree and raising her kids. After graduation, she interviewed for three jobs and got offers for all of them.  Faced with that dilemma, Moore created a clever strategy to take on all three jobs at once as an independent contractor, and that became the start of her own business. “Hard work was not going to be a problem,” she says. Indeed, since she launched Poonam’s by Design in 2006, her business growth has doubled each year.

HGTV Behind the Scenes Moore is the featured designer for the Denver-based HGTV show, “Rico to the Rescue.’’ In each episode, she and the renovation team help homeowners overcome construction disasters. Here, she consults with clients during a design selections meeting at her Southlands mall showroom. | Photo: Courtesy Poonam’s by Design

Along the way, Moore also decided to become a licensed general contractor. “I saw a huge gap between design and build, because designs never got built out properly,” she says. “I was always the middleman, trying to explain it to both.” Characteristically, she solved the problem by taking over both roles herself.  In 2020, Moore opened her first showroom—a 4,000-square-foot space in Aurora’s Southlands—with a 5,500-square-foot Park Meadows location following in 2024. Each is a one-stop shop for designers and homeowners looking for materials, products and resources, including design and installation services. 

As Moore’s dreams took off, her husband retired from his job with the Denver Police Department to join the company, and today her brother and cousin also work in the business, where her tight-knit team includes 12 employees and 40 subcontractors and tradespeople. Thanks to a cohesive group of contractors, designers, assistants and project managers, Moore is able to maximize efficiency with a minimum of surprises, keeping jobsites running smoothly.  She believes in designing for a range of budgets and styles, allowing everyone to elevate their spaces. Her Fijian heritage shines through her love for texture, though she avoids the notion of a signature style. “It should look like what the clients want for themselves, and what they find comfortable and beautiful,” she says. “What I really want to do is leave joy behind.”

On the Job For this episode of HGTV’s “Rico to the Rescue,’’ Moore joined a con­struction walk at a home project in Larkspur, Colorado. | Photo: Courtesy Poonam’s by Design

In 2022, HGTV came knocking with a request for Moore to join a new Denver-based renovation show, “Rico to the Rescue.” Her success on that program led to Moore’s participation in HGTV’s “100 Day Hotel Challenge,” and she’s excited to see what the future brings. “All women—of all walks of life, whether they’re poor or rich,
or Black or white, or from Fiji like me—anything is possible, as long as you find what you really want, and set your mind to it,” she says. And what does Moore’s hardworking mother think of her hardworking daughter (who now has four daughters of her own)? “She’s a very proud mama,” Moore says. “I’m living her dreams.”

Interior Designer: Poonam Moore

As seen in CH&L’s March/April 2025 Issue

Wine Cellar Moore created a custom glass enclosure with LED-lit wine racks for this sophisticated space, with a Calacatta Lumanyx quartz bar, Klemens counter stools and Hudson Valley Banks pendants. | Photo: Josh Droval

Moore on the set of HGTV’s “Rico to the Rescue,’’ filming a whole-house rescue in Grand Lake, Colorado. | Photo: courtesy Poonam’s by Design

Moore chose Kirsten dining chairs around a walnut table with brass legs in an airy space with custom drapery panels, a Mavis sideboard, and a collection of Alexo square gold mirrors for this dining room project. | Photo: Josh Droval

Kitchen Moore combined natural walnut cabinets with a custom, black-glazed brass box range hood. A quartet of Lahni bouclé fabric counter stools accompany an island topped with Calacatta Laza Oro quartz and lit by a Eurofase Cocolina 48-inch chandelier. | Photo: Josh Droval