Littleton Home With Great Bones
A “dated and dull” Littleton home becomes a light-filled, colorful abode
“All the kids in the neighborhood come over, and this space is connected to the breakfast nook and the kitchen, so when the clients are entertaining, the whole space is being utilized,” says designer Laura Winter. “We wanted to provide ample seating for when they have people over, but we also wanted the space to feel comfortable when it is just the four of them.” The shelves surrounding the stone fireplace had already been built by the clients, but Winter added Anthropologie knobs and textural metal mesh fronts to the lower section and painted the entire wall a deep blue (Benjamin Moore Dark Pewter 2122-10) | Photography by Susie Brenner
The Remodel of this 1995 Littleton house was a bad news, good news undertaking. The bad news: When the clients moved in, the house was dated and dull. “It was all original finishes,” the homeowner remembers. “Nothing had been touched, and there was carpet throughout.” The good news: The home had great bones, and the new owners loved their new “little hidden gem” of a neighborhood.
The clients already had a dining table and chairs, a buffet and a chandelier that they liked, but the dining room was in dire need of finishing touches—“a bit of saturation and contrast,” in Winter’s words—to make it come alive. Winter kept the existing Benjamin Moore Rockport HC-105 wall paint and added blue-toned grass-cloth Schumacher wallpaper in the arched niche—alongside a round, sun-like mirror by Uttermost that is flanked by the owners’ existing blue lamps—and a cool-toned Jaipur rug. | Photography by Susie Brenner
So, they began by doing some basic cosmetic work, and turned to a friend with a great sense of style to help pick out hardwood flooring and paint colors. Pretty quickly, they hit a wall. The house needed more polish and pop—and they needed help achieving those.
This room is the homeowner’s favorite: She admires how the Inside Stories team integrated new elements with existing pieces to create a cohesive whole. Keeping the plantation shutters and two favorite orange chairs from a previous house, Winter added Loloi pillows to the chairs and a Crate & Barrel side table, anchored by a West Elm rug and large leather ottoman from Article, to warm up the room. The grand piano was modernized with a fresh coat of black paint (Benjamin Moore Black Beauty), as well as a new piano bench and lamp both from Restoration Hardware. | Photography by Susie Brenner
That’s where Lauren Winter, senior interior designer at Inside Stories, came in. “When the clients moved in, they had a few pieces of furniture they liked,” Winter says. “They had a beautiful home, and the things they had already done provided a great framework.” The homeowners actually liked color so they wanted to update with furniture and paint and wall coverings and beams—things to make it feel more like their personality.
The first step: Winter gave the clients a rigorous questionnaire to figure out what design elements they were—and were not— drawn to. Through that, Winter was able to pinpoint their style, which she calls “transitional eclectic modern.”
A half-story up from the main floor, the office had recently been painted a darker gray with a green undertone (Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray HC-168), and had an existing desk, chair and chandelier that the clients liked. Winter added a woven Roman shade from The Shade Store, for softness and to block daytime light, as well as a textural rug from CB2. | Photography by Susie Brenner
One revealing thing the homeowners mentioned was that they felt particularly inspired by two favorite hotels— the One & Only Palmilla Resort in Los Cabos, at the tip of the Baja California Sur Peninsula, and the Hotel Jerome in Aspen. The One & Only Palmilla, says the homeowner, is special because it’s where the couple went after their wedding. “It’s this classic old Hispanic hotel, with these rich colors and a lot of warmth and texture,” she says. “And the Jerome—it’s kinda crazy. It’s really moody, and it has some really funky, dark, edgy pieces, but we find it really comfortable and welcoming.”
“Because the powder room is a space that your guests see, you can do something a little funky in there,” says Winter. “You want to create a fun little oasis that makes people smile.” The fun began with the dark Half Full wallpaper, sourced through Walltawk Denver. “We loved the color tones, those oranges and golds. It freaked the homeowners out a bit at first, because it is so dark, but I told them that when we got lighting in there and the right vanity, it wouldn’t feel so dark.” For polish, Winter chose black for the crown molding and ceiling, adding shimmering, bulbous, organic pendants from Arteriors, and a Regina Andrew mirror over a Signature Hardware vanity. | Photography by Susie Brenner
Knowing the couple loved those two places was great news for Winter. It meant they were not afraid to be bold and take chances. “We loved that,” Winter says. “It made this a really fun project to play with.”
“The homeowners wanted a casual hangout space for when they entertain,” Winter says, so she updated an existing breakfast nook to match the modern, bright mood of the adjacent kitchen. Winter added built-in seating to the existing nook, topped with cushions in fabric by Kravet by Window Wears. She added a “modern and streamlined” Restoration Hardware dining table, surrounded it with Crate & Barrel chairs, and added pop with a funky Arteriors chandelier. | Photography by Susie Brenner
The main-floor refresh was done in two phases: first, the living room, dining room, office and piano room; second, the kitchen, breakfast nook and powder. The Inside Stories team worked by presenting the homeowners with three tiers of budget for each space, which allows the client the opportunity to weigh in on their tolerance for spend.
Once that groundwork was done, Winter got to designing. Throughout the process, the clients felt that Winter understood the vibe they were after. “We trusted her a lot,” says the homeowner, “so when Lauren came in with her presentations, we’d eliminate one or two things but overall, she had a vision, and we trusted it.”
“The clients are huge entertainers, so they wanted a big, open space where they could have people over for both casual and formal events,” says Winter. The dated kitchen was totally reimagined, with the Inside Stories team getting rid of an old pantry and adding a larger island. | Photography by Susie Brenner
The results speak for themselves. “When Lauren put up all the pictures, filled the nooks, and did all the extra touches, it made the house look beautiful,” the homeowner says. “She was able to add a lot of layers, as well as depth and color, by bringing in different patterns. The plan is not to have to ever redo this house again. Maybe we’d put some lipstick on the house down the road, but we’re basically done.” And that is very good news, indeed.
DESIGN DETAILS
INTERIOR DESIGNER Inside Stories, Lauren Winter CONSTRUCTION Brownstone Renovation, Tim McCrillis
