Teal is the New Black for Interior Designer Gina D’Amore Bauerle
There's never a dull moment for the Denver-based designer
For this Denver loft, Bauerle combined earthy colors and organic materials. The branch-like pendant is from Arteriors, and the longhorn triptych is from Leftbank Art. | Photo by Tim Gormley
Denver-based interior designer Gina D’Amore Bauerle defies categorization. Her philosophy is simple: Design spaces clients will love. This makes her style impossible to pin down—and she would not have it any other way. “I want every project I work on to be specifically for that person,” she says. “As a result, all my projects are wildly different.”
Photo by Ashton Ray Hansen
Bauerle’s approach pleases clients and critics alike. In 2022 she won multiple ASID Crystal Awards and First Place/Best Overall Bath in the NKBA Kitchen & Bath Design + Industry Awards. Bauerle’s award-winning bathroom is a small guest bath combining organic and glam elements. “Blended looks are most of my favorites,” she notes. “That’s how I infuse personality into a space.”
Wood, steel and stone make this kitchen remodel warm and inviting. The Cambria quartz island features a six-inch false edge, which gives it an impressive look. A few touches of teal add some whimsy: the colorful door panels are reverse-painted glass. | Photo by Tim Gormley
Color is one of Bauerle’s trademarks. “It’s very well-known in the industry that my favorite color is teal,” she says. “The reason I love that color is because it’s the color of water, of the ocean and of my favorite lakes,” she explains. “I feel calm and at peace when I’m by a large body of water. I like feeling insignificant, like my problems or whatever I’m stressing about are insignificant.”
Bauerle also loves to use black: “It’s like a little black dress—it makes everything look better.” In a recent remodel, she converted a study into a wine room with an intimate dining area. While she kept the original cherry millwork, she painted everything black: “It’s a traditional home, so I modernized the space but didn’t take it too far. Now the whole room has a Gatsby vibe.”
Bauerle converted an unused study into a custom wine room with built-in refrigeration. Black paint transformed the original cherry paneling, giving the room moody sophistication. She called attention to the ceiling by adding metallic wallpaper between the wood coffers. | Photo by Tim Gormley
While Bauerle loves bold designs, she is also practical. The secret to a successful remodel is intent, Bauerle explains: “The biggest thing is really having a good understanding of why you’re doing it and executing it for those reasons.” Whether clients outgrew their house or simply want to flip it, they need to focus on the underlying reason for the remodel. “And have someone with you who understands your end goal.”
Bauerle designed a lively kitchen with saturated color and metallic accents for a new construction project in Crested Butte. The laminate cabinets have two different finishes: upper cabinets resemble concrete and base cabinets mimic shou sugi ban. | Photo by Tim Gormley
Bauerle, a partner at D’Amore Interiors, understands change. Her parents started the company in 1980 by selling hand-painted pillows and bedspreads at a flea market. They eventually opened a showroom in Boca Raton, Florida—and then everything changed when they visited Colorado. “My parents just decided this is where we should live and they randomly bought a house while we were on vacation,” Bauerle says. “We moved our business across the country because of my spontaneous parents!”
If there is one thing that embodies Bauerle’s aesthetic, it is the small stuff. “Part of what has distinguished my design is my attention to detail,” she says. “I’m thinking of the space as a whole and how it relates to the rest of the home—and every element is an important opportunity to incorporate a detail.”
