5280 Home

To renovate or not to renovate? That is the question my fiancé and I are currently contemplating. We love our little 1924 bungalow in North Denver, but its limited square footage and disjointed layout aren’t ideal—especially because we have hopes of adding a tiny human or two to our family in the coming years. We’ve talked circles around three options: Stay put and make do with what we have, undergo an extensive (and costly) home renovation, or pack up and move on. These conversations typically end with a befuddled “Let’s table this for now” and a glass of wine. If you’re in a similar state of limbo, you’ve picked up the right magazine. This Renovation Issue aims to paint a realistic picture of a home remodel in the Mile High City.…

Carole Hénaff ILLUSTRATOR Dream home: An old house with wood beams and ceramic tile, and I’d love a little garden. Bold colors or calm neutrals: Bold for details and art; neutrals for walls, curtains, and bed linens. Recent design find: La Soufflerie in Paris. They have beautiful vases and pots made from recycled glass. Carole illustrated the cover and “Renovation Reality Check” (page 33). Susie Brenner PHOTOGRAPHER Maximalist or minimalist: My home leans more maximalist due to years of inheriting family treasures and collecting memories while traveling. Dream home: I live in a 1906 Denver Square in City Park that could be my dream home with the addition of a third-floor private suite. Susie photographed “Begin Again” (page 15), and her photography appears in “Mediterranean Makeover” (page 38). Daliah Singer WRITER Favorite space in your home: The kitchen. I love its blue tile…

HOME IMPROVEMENT Colorado Garden & Home Show Whether you’re reimagining your backyard or updating your interiors, the Colorado Garden & Home Show will provide heaps of inspiration. As the Rocky Mountain region’s largest showcase of its kind, the nine-day event invites homeowners to stroll through an acre of professionally landscaped gardens and chat with home experts from more than 500 companies. $10; February 4–12; Colorado Convention Center; coloradogardenfoundation.org EPIC ART Awful Bigness Clyfford Still grew up among the West’s boundless plains and vast skies, characteristics he once referred to as the “awful bigness of the land.” Inspired by that quote, the Awful Bigness exhibition fills the Clyfford Still Museum’s spacious, skylit galleries with the celebrated painter’s largest, most ambitious works on canvas. The vibrant array features a range of larger-than-life pieces—from early figure paintings to…

Like many small-business owners in Colorado, Holly Kuhn shuttered her shop after the pandemic hit in 2020. She’d helmed Old Glory Style, the celebrated South Broadway home furnishings store (with an outpost in antiques mecca Round Top, Texas), for 13 years before deciding to close its doors to help care for her grandkids. But as the lockdowns ended, Kuhn slowly started dreaming up a new store. “I missed owning a shop,” she says. “I missed the creativity and putting together beautiful spaces. But most of all, I missed my wonderful clients.” By early 2022, she’d amassed an impressive cache of pieces—both contemporary finds and one-of-a-kind antiques—and decided to open a new boutique. Bearing the same name as Kuhn’s 2019 coffee table book, New Americana Home—which opened in Denver’s Washington Park neighborhood…

WALLPAPER TILE…

Eugenia Di Girolamo is no stranger to big cities with vibrant development scenes. The Italian-born New Yorker recently stepped into the brand new role of Denver’s chief urban designer, making the transition from her post as deputy director of urban design for New York City’s Department of City Planning. Now, as she takes the design helm of a city whose population has grown by about 15 percent in the past decade, Di Girolamo talks with us about her vision for rapidly changing neighborhoods, pedestrian love, and the rebirth of downtown. 5280 Home: What makes smart urban design so important? Eugenia Di Girolamo: Urban design can help change how you feel when you’re walking down the street. Everything we can see at eye level is what keeps us engaged and interested. [This] includes…