Indholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2022 i 5280 Home

Behind The Issue When you think of cities with iconic architecture, Denver probably isn’t the first—or even the fifteenth—to come to mind. Fair enough: Our beloved city isn’t home to such marvels as the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Opera House or the Chrysler Building. But the Mile High City is hardly devoid of impressive design. Its mix of historic architectural styles—from Queen Anne Victorian to Beaux-Arts—and sleek contemporary developments provides design-lovers with plenty of eye candy. (Case in point: the Denver Art Museum’s sharp-edged Hamilton Building, pictured above, which is always worth a stop-and-stare.) In this issue’s feature “Maker’s Marks” (page 35), we explore the lives and legacies of eight prominent architects who lived and worked in Colorado and contributed to its built landscape. Covering 175 years of architectural…

In 1985, interior designer Kathy Speas and her contractor husband, Andy Sikora, built their ranch house in the foothills of Colorado Springs, and later added a custom backyard treehouse for their children. Years later, after the kids moved into homes of their own and the treehouse was removed, the duo designed and built a new deck that provides the same immersive feel the treehouse once had. “We wanted to create a level where you felt like you were floating in the trees,” Speas says of the 16-by-16-foot deck that’s surrounded by ponderosa pines and offers views of Cheyenne Mountain, Pikes Peak, and, at night, twinkling city lights 1,000 feet below. Speas chose rounded furnishings, including Grandin Road chairs, glowing LED planters, and a Frontgate fire pit, for a soft contrast…

ALL NATURAL In nature, flowers don’t grow in precise rows, so your arrangement doesn’t need to be meticulous, either. Bosch likes some asymmetry, though she repeats certain shapes, like the curve of the ninebark on the left and bidens on the right. MIX AND MATCH Choose a variety of flowers but be sure not to cram too many types into one arrangement, which can lead to an overwhelming bouquet. Start with flowers in similar hues, then add a few surprising elements, such as this arrangement’s pop of contrasting color and woodsy stems. SURPRISE INSIDE The secret to balancing all those buds? Chicken wire. Cut a square twice the size of the vase’s opening, mold it into a loose tangle, place it in the vessel, and secure with tape. Stems woven…

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW • MEET THE PANEL • SARAH BROUGHTON Principal, Rowland & Broughton CHRIS DAVIS Principal, Boss Architecture PATRICK EIDMAN Chief Preservation Officer and Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, History Colorado POPPIE GULLETT National and State Register Historian, History Colorado ANNIE LEVINSKY Chief of Staff, History Colorado; former Executive Director, Historic Denver DON RUGGLES Principal, Ruggles Mabe Studio WILLIAM LANG (1846–1897) LEGACY He designed many of Denver’s most elaborate single-family residences, including the Molly Brown House, now a museum but originally the home of legendary Colorado socialite and philanthropist Margaret Brown, aka the “Unsinkable Molly Brown.” LIFE The Ohio native moved to Denver in 1885, and though he was not formally trained (he taught himself using architectural pattern books, which were popular at the time), Lang quickly…

When Dana Rodriguez moved to Denver from Mexico in the late 1990s, she applied to work at the iconic Lakewood restaurant Casa Bonita. The management said she wasn’t qualified. Fast-forward to today, and the award-winning restaurateur and chef behind Work & Class, Super Mega Bien, and the new Mexican street food–inspired Cantina Loca is getting ready to relaunch the kitschy Colorado eatery and entertainment venue as its new executive chef and culinary partner. Her aim: to keep the quirkiness (and cliff-diving) intact, but update the menu with authentic, flavorful dishes from Mexico. It’s no surprise, then, that Rodriguez cherishes her molcajete (her mother’s original mortar and pestle) and chocolate whisk. Having grown up on a farm in Chihuahua, Mexico, with no running water or electricity, she learned early on what…

Rebecca Bratburd WRITER Favorite space in your home: In front of my sewing machine, which has taken over the dining room table. Bold colors or calm neutrals: Calm neutrals á la Aspen designer Matthew Tenzin, a former Buddhist monk turned holistic interior designer. Favorite paint color: Benjamin Moore’s Pink Damask: a soft white with a wink of blush tone. Rebecca wrote “Point Of View” (page 17) Laura Beausire WRITER Dream-kitchen requirement: Two sinks! Why does everything always revolve around the sink? I don’t have the answer, but it does. Maximalist or minimalist: I aspire to minimalism, but life gets in the way. Next home renovation project: Painting the exterior of our house. If only we could decide on a color… Laura wrote “A Cut Above” (page 26) Emily Minton…

Lighting Hardware…

FRESH FABRICS The Gem Collection The roots of local interior designer Nadia Watts’ debut fabric collection can be traced back more than a century: Her great-great-grandfather Louis Comfort Tiffany (yes, of that Tiffany family) created stained-glass windows, vases, and lamps for his iconic design house. Watts’ new collaboration with Kravet pays homage to the vibrant hues—think chartreuse, teal, and fuchsia—found in Tiffany’s collectible pieces. Marrying vibrant colors with graphic patterns and tactile fabrics, Watts’ textiles prove that talent runs in the family. Launches Summer 2022, nadiawatts.com, kravet.com MOVIE NIGHT Built Beautiful Colorado architect Don Ruggles of Ruggles Mabe Studio has been exploring the connection between building design and human health for more than a decade. This feature-length documentary is produced by Ruggles and brings ideas from his 2018 book release,…

PEOPLE, SPACES, & IDEAS WORTH A CLOSER LOOK 1 / THE BACKSTORY Sure, this Wash Park home’s crisp, preppy look is a bit of a departure from Denver’s ever-popular modern farmhouse style, but that’s because its roots are on the East Coast. Homeowners Andy and Erin Miller—a Denver native who attended Dartmouth in New Hampshire and a Chicagoan who earned her degree at Bowdoin College on Maine’s coast, respectively—met in Boston. They spent weekends exploring the historic harbor towns and lighthouses along the Northeast’s picturesque coastline, and those idyllic years would eventually inform the couple’s elegant, borrowed-from-tradition design sense. Jobs, relatives, and lifestyle pulled the pair to Denver in 2014, and when this redbrick, five-bedroom, five-bath house hit the market in 2019, they jumped at the chance to create a…

One might assume that when professional designers have the chance to personalize their own homes, the process is as simple as cherry-picking favorite details from projects they’ve completed in the past. But not for kitchen designer Mikal Otten. When the owner of Exquisite Kitchen Design decided to overhaul the Greenwood Village home that he and his wife, Lisa, had recently purchased for their new life chapter as empty nesters, he wanted something entirely original. “I tell my clients, ‘If you just do what’s current right now, it’s going to be outdated soon, so you’ve got to push it a little bit,’” Otten says. But to follow his own advice, he felt he’d need a push of his own, so he called on longtime design collaborator Beth Armijo, “whose soft touch…