It’s a common house-hunting conundrum: The location is perfect, but the house? Not so much.

The new owners of this Boulder home loved its setting just west of the Mapleton Hill Historic District, from which scenic hiking trails and the Pearl Street Mall are just a short walk. But its good bones—high ceilings, wide windows, and open living areas—were hidden away beyond a long tunnel-like entry and masked by dark colors and heavy finishes. “It didn’t draw you in,” says Lesley DeFrees, the couple’s friend and co-owner of Boulder-based DeFrees Design & Development. “In fact, it made you want to turn right around and leave.”

5280 Home June/July 2017
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The young couple might have done just that had DeFrees not convinced them to take a closer look. “We just needed to open up some spaces to access the natural light and give other areas more definition,” she says. Though the renovation became more extensive, the architectural designer reveals that some of the most dramatic transformations came from the easiest fixes: a fresh coat of paint here, a pop of pattern there. Take a look.

Kirby Kitchen Home
Freshly painted cabinets in a custom color, new Carrara marble countertops, and updated polished-nickel fixtures transformed the original kitchen into a bright, elegant space. The workspace’s U-shaped configuration includes ample storage and a broad countertop that doubles as a dining bar. The simple design of the polished-chrome Devon Chandelier from Williams-Sonoma Home features a ring of six silk-shaded lamps. Photograph by Kimberly Gavin
Paint swatch Home kirby june/july
Get the look: Lapland AF-410 by Benjamin Moore
Kirby bright entryway
The once dark entry is now a bright, welcoming space. DeFrees removed the wall that separated the entry from the adjacent living room, then covered the remaining walls with a woven-hemp paper from Kneedler Fauchère; its metallic background catches the light, “transforming the walls with shimmering texture,” she says. Stark’s Berrow 2 rug has a tight Greek-key pattern that camouflages dirt and pet hair. The bench is from Ballard Designs, and the ball-shaped pendant is from Worlds Away. “Kids and dogs can live in beautiful spaces. This house has rooms and finishes that are designed for everyday use…but still feel special.” Photograph by Kimberly Gavin
Outside kirby home
To update the home’s tired exterior, DeFrees had every surface repainted and added a contrasting window-trim color that hints at the interior color palette. “We didn’t want a dramatic contrast between the outside and inside,” she says. New hardscaping and plantings by Native Edge Landscapes complement the property’s mature trees. Photograph by Kimberly Gavin
Kirby kitchen home
“Because the floor plan is so open, we wanted to maintain a calm, monochromatic palette throughout the home,” DeFrees says. “We didn’t want dark furnishings breaking up that light expanse.” In the dining room, she paired an unfinished salvaged-wood table from Restoration Hardware with elegant Louis XVI-style dining chairs in distressed white oak. The crystal-and-polished-nickel chandelier is from Plantation. Photograph by Kimberly Gavin
Kirby bathroom home
Nina Campbell’s shimmering, trellis-patterned Amati wallpaper transforms the small powder room into an elegant jewel box, where a polished-nickel-and-crystal vanity and sconces—all from Waterworks—sparkle and shine. Photograph by Kimberly Gavin
Multi-purpose room Kirby home
DeFrees transformed one long room at the back of the house into three distinct yet connected spaces: an office, family room, and this playroom for the couple’s two young daughters. Simple, subtle, kid-size furniture—a white play table from Pottery Barn Kids and soft pink Windsor-style chairs—blends seamlessly with the grown-up furnishings in adjacent rooms. A navy-and-white rug from Dash & Albert complements the drapery’s embroidered stripes. Photograph by Kimberly Gavin
Kirby bedroom home
In the master bedroom, Restoration Hardware’s linen-upholstered Maison Panel Bed and Lyon Chair create a neutral canvas for pops of turquoise blue. “As the Water Flows,” an abstract painting by artist Dyann Gunter, is from Bliss Home & Design. The decorative pillows are from the Brass Bed in Denver. Photograph by Kimberly Gavin
Kirby home office
This home office is a hardworking space—it’s headquarters for the homeowner’s custom stationery business—but because the room is visible from the adjacent family room, it has to look great too. DeFrees designed the built-in, Shaker-style cabinetry, which she accented with crystal-and-polished-nickel pulls from Restoration Hardware. A fretwork-patterned wallpaper from Schumacher adds a subtle hint of color. The white leather desk chair from Z Gallerie is a copy of the much pricier Herman Miller original. “In the office, a blue fretwork-patterned paper helps draw the eye down, away from the ceilings," Defrees says, "Which are rather tall for the small space.” Photograph by Kimberly Gavin
Kirby backyard home
Boulder-based Native Edge Landscapes transformed the backyard with extensive hardscaping, stonework, lighting, and a new water feature. The family room and playroom open directly onto the new patio, which DeFrees furnished (in part) with all-weather wicker lounge furniture from Restoration Hardware’s Provence collection. Photograph by Kimberly Gavin
Photograph by Kimberly Gavin

5280 Home: It looks like you changed more than this home’s dark entry.

Lesley DeFrees: The house was mostly gutted. The entry was completely transformed into a bright, inviting space that opens onto the adjacent living room. We added a powder room, mudroom, and laundry room, and we remodeled each of the bathrooms. At the back of the house, we transformed one large room into three distinct living spaces: an office, a playroom for the kids, and a casual family room that opens onto the patio.

These rooms share such a light and airy vibe.

Many of the original paint colors felt quite heavy, and we wanted to make the transitions between rooms almost unnoticeable. The new paint colors are light, and the materials and fabrics are, too. It all blends.

Did you use one paint color for all the main living spaces?

Yes, and finding the right one was tricky because the existing mauve concrete floors cast their color up on the walls. We were able to tone the floors down, but we still needed to find a paint color that didn’t have any pink in it. We settled on Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee, a versatile off-white that allowed us to add more impactful color in small doses.

The homeowners’ collection of artwork seems to provide those moments of impact.

That was our intent. In the living room, for example, the large landscape painting dictated the color palette. We commissioned local artist Alice Messinger, who worked with us to incorporate the colors we wanted, including that little hint of coral pink that we repeated on the upholstered bench.

And wallpaper makes a big statement in other rooms.

I love wallpaper because it can transform a small room. In the powder room, the silver-leaf paper sets the elegant tone. In the office, a blue fretwork-patterned paper helps draw the eye down, away from the ceilings, which are rather tall for the small space and not perfectly level. And in the entry, the beige woven-hemp paper has a silver-leaf background that shimmers in the light, completely transforming the walls. You can’t achieve that texture and elegance with paint.

But you can (and did!) with glittering chandeliers.

We wanted the light fixtures to feel very ethereal. The ceilings are so high that the chandeliers needed to float in the space. They’re beautiful, but you might not even notice them at first.

Can a home this elegant be family-friendly too?

I believe that kids and dogs can live in beautiful spaces. This house has rooms and finishes that are designed for everyday use—a playroom for the children, durable upholstery, slipcovers for the dogs’ favorite perches—but still feel special. These rooms aren’t designed for roughhousing, but I don’t think every space has tobe indestructible. Unless they’re throwing balls at the walls, kids can live in a house with crystal chandeliers.

Design Pros
Styling: Natalie Warady
Interior Design: Lesley DeFrees, DeFrees Design & Development
Landscape Architecture: Native Edge Landscapes