Foyer: After finding a historical photo showing a grandfather clock in the foyer, homeowner and designer Allie McMunn searched for a year and a half to find the 19th-century French version that’s there now. Modern contrasts come from a hand-painted custom console by Fabulous Things, Ltd., a Currey & Company table lamp, and an abstract artwork by Kristin Blakeney, from the Shain Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina. The indoor/outdoor jute rug is a custom piece by Mark Nelson Designs; the wool animal-print stair runner is by Prestige from Coventry Carpets & Flooring. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield
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Interior designer Allie McMunn and her husband, Ryan, had their pick of any city in the United States when they decided to leave the Big Apple in 2019 to raise their young son in a more laid-back locale. Denver was an easy choice—“because it was the only city we both could agree on,” Allie laughs—and purchasing this 1921 Georgian near Cheesman Park was a no-brainer too. “It felt right from the first time we set foot inside,” Allie says. “I’m from Boston, and this felt a bit like a traditional, New England home, which you don’t see often in Denver.”
The designer knew that the grand dwelling—which had all the strict symmetries and decorative embellishments of classic Georgian architecture—could feel “very fussy, very easily, and that was definitely not my goal,” she says. Here, she shares how she infused its interiors with lightness, life, and a seamless contemporary design that nods to 1921 and 2022.
Study: “My husband really wanted to keep the dark wood paneling in his office, which I’m glad he sold me on,” McMunn says, “but I felt it was important to bring in some fun color to ensure it didn’t feel too stuffy.” The velvet club chair—purchased from the home’s previous owners—is freshly upholstered in a green velvet by Schumacher. The hand-painted
yak skull is a souvenir from a trip to Africa. The inlaid-wood desk
and leather chair are from Arhaus. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
Backyard: The L-shaped house wraps around a backyard that the previous owners outfitted with every amenity the McMunns could wish for, including an outdoor kitchen, a fire pit along the back wall, and a spacious dining area, which McMunn furnished with a table from RH and chairs by Article. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
Patio: Double doors connect the living room to this covered patio, “which is so nice in the summer,” McMunn says. “It’s shaded 70 percent of the day.” The Arhaus swivel chairs were reupholstered in a Perennials fabric to match the cushions of the Greystone cast-aluminum sofa by RH. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
Nursery: The nursery design began with a wall covering that’s one of McMunn’s longtime favorites: Coromandel Coast by Les Indiennes. “The pattern of little islands with boats and ships is perfect for a nursery,” she says. An original abstract artwork by Michelle Armas (from Gregg Irby Gallery) adds more soft tones to the palette, while a trefoil-shaped ottoman from One King’s Lane makes a bold statement with its rich blue upholstery. The plaid wool rug is from Stark, and the white rocking chair upholstered in Perennials white linen is from RH. A white drapery (the Shade Store) with navy trim (Holland & Sherry) accents the windows and a linen-upholstered crib by RH. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
Living Room: Sky-blue fabrics on Kravet armchairs and Comina accent pillows and the natural fibers in Patterson Flynn’s custom abaca rug create a breezy, coastal vibe in the living room, where McMunn mixed a modern white lacquered coffee table by Ballard Designs with elegant antiques, including a glass-front chest she bought from the home’s previous owners. The Lillian August sofa is upholstered in a family-friendly Per-ennials fabric. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
Main Bedroom: The primary bedroom
is a study in soft neutrals. “I went so colorful everywhere else, so I wanted this to be a really serene, calm space,” McMunn says. “I fell in love with the fabric on our bed—a wool by Holland & Sherry—and that created the palette,” which includes Benjamin Moore’s Gray Owl paint on the walls; pale custom bed linens by DEA from the Brass Bed; a striped Stanton area rug from Coventry Carpets & Flooring; a custom settee by Rooster Socks Furniture, upholstered in a John Robshaw print; and a white plaster chandelier by Julie Neill, from Circa Lighting. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
Kitchen: “I wanted to make this space symmetrical again, so it felt like a Georgian kitchen,” McMunn says of the room that received the most dramatic makeover. An angled island was replaced with a long, rectangular version topped with Taj Mahal quartzite. Wood flooring took the place of Tuscan-style tiles. And new pendants—Goodman medium hanging lights by Thomas O’Brien for Circa
Lighting—introduced
a fresh, brushed-gold tone that McMunn repeated with Lew’s Hardware knobs and pulls on cabinets made by JM Woodworks and painted Farrow & Ball’s Cornforth White. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
5280 Home: Denver may be new to you, but you’re no stranger to renovating old homes. Allie McMunn: By the time I left New York, I was mostly designing prewar apartments on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, so I knew what I was getting into—but the scale was dramatically different here.
Did you update all 8,775 square feet of your new home?
We painted the entire interior and replaced the creaky wood floors with thin oak planks that are true to the original style. The kitchen layout didn’t make sense and you could just see the 1990s in the finishes, so we decided to gut it and open it to the adjacent sunroom, which snowballed into us refreshing most of the house. The only spaces we didn’t have to touch were the second-floor bathrooms, which had been renovated by the previous owners.
Your palette of soft blues and greens, plus sisals and rattans, imparts a breezy vibe.
My friends joke that my homes should be on the coast of South Carolina—and I do gravitate toward that Southern, girly style. In the living room, there’s a giant piece of artwork that Susan Vecsey created by slowly dripping sky-blue paint down a linen canvas; I pulled that blue throughout the room, from the armchairs right down to the chessboard.
Entry: McMunn had a custom burlwood console
table made by the CEH to wrap around the
entryway’s radiator. To contrast with the table’s antique aesthetic, she covered the walls with the graphic Graffito wallpaper
by Kelly Wearstler for Kravet and hung a white plaster mirror by Amy Berry Home. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
Art: The living room’s blue hues were inspired by this original artwork
by Susan Vecsey, which hangs over a console table from Wisteria, made from an old door mounted atop an iron base. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
Game Table: Blue accents reappear around the living room’s carved-wood game table by Amy Berry Home: on the chess board from Anthropologie, on the fringe of chairs upholstered in fabric by Heather Chadduck Textiles, in the Schumacher trim that accents custom draperies in another Heather Chadduck Textiles fabric, and even in the trio of tiny paintings by Alexis Walter. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
Dining Nook: The home’s original sunroom is now a bright and cheerful breakfast room where family and friends can gather when the McMunns are cooking in the adjacent kitchen. The custom banquette was designed to match the kitchen’s gray cabinets and topped with a leather-like Kravet vinyl fabric. Design Within Reach’s Saarinen white pedestal table provides a modern counterpoint to Brunschwig & Fils’ Les Touches wallcovering and Ballard chairs slipcovered in a Ferrick Mason print. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
Powder Room: Scalamandré’s Crested Crane wall mural in Silver Gold turns the first-floor powder room into a work of art. After the original sink broke when it was removed for the renovation, McMunn searched high and low to find a replacement, which she accented with
a Waterworks faucet. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.
What were you looking for when selecting new furniture pieces?
I wanted some super-durable pieces that lean modern—like the living room’s bright-white lacquered coffee table and the breakfast room’s Saarinen tulip table—and upholstered pieces with a decent structure, which helps them feel more traditional. And, of course, indoor/outdoor fabrics that can hold up to my son.
Speaking of your son, tell us about his adorable nursery.
I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite room in the house. I fell in love with the wallpaper and the design spiraled from that—from the piece of modern art in such pretty, soft tones to the fringed ottoman-on-wheels. I love a fringe; no one really uses it anymore, but it’s a traditional design element that’s also so much fun. Which is the juxtaposition I was after—here and in every room.
