European Design Inspires a Couple’s Parisian-Style Flat

Years of travel and collecting culminate in a Denver townhouse remade with Old World ease.

4 hours ago

Rachel Seekamp,

Living Room Found and collected accessories personalize the listening station’s built-ins. Piped in deep green, the Kravet chaise pulls chartreuse from the vintage rug, while labyrinthine Dedar velvet patterns the ottoman. | Photo: Corey Anthony

The homeowners did not come to their latest renovation searching for a style; years of discernment, travel and collecting had already given them one. They just needed someone to take it further—and found that partnership in interior designer Joei McIntire, of Joei McIntire Design, working alongside builder Diamond Homes.

When they acquired a 50-year-old Denver townhouse with a compartmentalized layout, they saw an opportunity to rethink each room. “We were simplifying how we wanted to live,” says the homeowner. “By opening up these individual rooms, everything flows together. There’s an ease of life in that.”

Entry/Library Noir Sully and Carrara from Haussmann Natural Stone pave the entry, while white oak from Rock Solid Hardwoods is the light foundation beneath the dark Julian Chichester table. | Photo: Corey Anthony

Purposeful spaces are connected by new arched openings that embed the homeowners’ affinity for European design into the architecture itself. An example is the entry, where an antique-finished, tumbled-edge black-and-white marble floor recalls the homeowner’s childhood visits to her grandmother’s home. “I’ve always wanted [a floor like] that,” says the homeowner. “It was perfect here.”

On the other side of a glass partition, the dining area doubles as the library. The mandate was simple: only books on fixed shelves sized for their collection. “We went to their previous home and counted, measured, and cataloged all of their books,” says McIntire. The books provide color amid the black, white and oak palette. White oak flooring runs down the hall and through the arches to the living room, where, at the homeowners’ request, it shifts to a herringbone pattern they love from their European travels. A dividing wall came down, expanding the living room into what they call their “listening and reading area,” where swivel chairs turn toward conversation, the record player or the television.

Living Room Beside the Calacatta Grey marble fireplace, Jack, a 2014 oil-on-wood commission by Denver artist Jared Hankins, offers a contemporary counterpoint to the 17th-century Dagobert armchair holding a leopard-print pillow. | Photo: Corey Anthony

By removing a peninsula, McIntire drew the kitchen into the home’s more open circulation. The homeowners requested a two-tone concept for the kitchen cabinetry, which the designer rendered in knotty alder against black. To reinforce the kitchen’s Old World quality, McIntire selected plaster for the hood and unlacquered brass hardware that will patinate.

Drenched in jewel-tone green, the powder room draws its character from the homeowners’ love of mixing styles and decades. Delighted by their willingness to convert their 17th-century French commode into a vanity, McIntire worked with Diamond Homes to make the antique functional. A vintage chinoiserie mirror found by the homeowner layers in another era, while the pocket door keeps the gallery wall and saturated green visible from the hall.

Kitchen In alder and Sherwin-Williams Tricorn Black, beveled skinny shaker doors by Aspen Leaf Kitchens add a European vibe, accented with Colonial Bronze hardware and faucet from House of Rohl. | Photo: Corey Anthony

The homeowners took inspiration from the Musée Picasso-Paris: Its checkerboard stone floor carries into the main suite, while McIntire tempered the French blue doors into a softer gray. “Every day, walking into the bathroom feels so elegant,” says the homeowner. “I feel like I’m in Europe.”

Throughout the home, McIntire took the design in directions the homeowners hadn’t considered. “I loved that,” says the homeowner. McIntire values that exchange: “It’s our job as designers to show people what they haven’t thought of and spread our wings creatively.” The homeowners weren’t searching for a style, but together created the Parisian flat that was always waiting for them.

Powder Room Sconces from Visual Comfort cast romantic light against Benjamin Moore Essex Green; below the mirror from Sarkisian’s, a hammered Linkasink basin pairs with Newport Brass handles and faucet. | Photo: Corey Anthony

Bedroom Closet The entry marble returns under pendants from Ralph Lauren; wardrobes feature Sherwin-Williams Monorail Silver. | Photo: Corey Anthony