From Great to Gorgeous

A house can be beautiful and still not feel quite right. That was the case with this Lone Tree residence, whose redesign turned a majestic house into a home.

A metal dining table from Dovetail is used as a desk in the home office; it sits atop a hide rug by Surya, surrounded by two leather chairs and a console, both by Noir. The existing bookshelves were painted a warm gray, topped with thick crown moldings, and barn doors from Rustica Hardware were added to streamline the look and hide storage items. Photo by Eric Lucero.

Kristy and James Genuario liked their Heritage Hills home in Lone Tree just fine—but they didn’t love it. And you really should love your home, shouldn’t you?

“It was a beautiful house, but it was not particularly our taste. It was very formal, with bronze fixtures and a lot of cherry wood,” says Kristy, an optometrist who has set aside her practice to focus on her three kids ( James is a sports medicine orthopedist at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic). She has long loved interior design and even worked for a while at Pottery Barn Kids, so she looked forward to doing a total main-floor remodel of their 6,000-square-foot home. “I really had a vision of how I wanted to renovate the house.”

One of her goals, in working with Kimberly Timmons Interiors, was to combine rustic and elegant touches throughout. “I like the melding of those two elements—a little bit of rustic, along with things like the crystal chandeliers,” Kristy says. “I also wanted the house to look transitional, not trendy, so it would stand the test of time.”

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Wide white oak planks were distressed by Artistic Floors by Design and, after installation, applied with stains, dyes and chemical treatments before being finished with water-based polyurethane. Because this is the main family gathering area, Genuario chose a Pottery Barn Comfort sectional and the rough-hewned Griffin coffee table. An existing fireplace was re-faced with stacked limestone. from Materials Marketing, the mantel was restained a darker color and Restoration Hardware sconces were added. Photo by Eric Lucero.

To that end, she chose subtle, classic colors in a similar palette, including Benjamin Moore’s Silhouette (used in the armoire-like refrigerator in the EKD kitchen), Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter and Restoration Hardware’s Slate (used on accent walls in the family room, living room and office). “I wanted the entire concept of the main floor to be uniform and all work together,” says Kristy, who worked with KTI on mixing elements like linen panels, rope tiebacks and crystal finials from Restoration Hardware.

She also wanted to raise the level of detail throughout. To achieve that, Timmons-Beutner designed custom molding details that run throughout the main floor, from the front hall to the office. “I feel that takes the house from basic to awesome architecturally,” says Kristy. “It gives things a grand look.”

Photo by Eric Lucero.

And even though the Genuarios’ son sometimes complains, “Mom, this looks like a model home from a magazine,” the remodel also manages to work for a family of three with a 65-pound golden retriever. “It was quite the transformation,” Timmons-Beutner says. “And it was really a team effort.”

Adds Kristy: “I had this vision, and Kimberly had the tools to bring that vision to life. We’ve lived all over—the East Coast, the Midwest, even Hawaii—and this home was a combination of our life experiences, every little thing coming together. It was a beautiful house before, but being able to design it to our own taste makes it feel more like our home.”

“My goal was to make the kitchen more functional and add in a lot of the high-end appliances that we like,” homeowner Kristy Genuario says. The classic, comfortable but elegant kitchen, created by Exquisite Kitchen Design, takes advantage of natural light with Antolini quartz countertops, a Danby marble herringbone backsplash from Materials Marketing, cream cabinets from Quality Custom Cabinetry and a marble-topped island with a Waterstone bridge faucet and Arhaus stools. Before, the cooktop was in the island; Genuario wanted the range hood to be the focal point, so now the Wolf range sits under a large custom natural-stone hood. The large pantry holds slide-out drawers that hold appliances. The Sub-Zero refrigerator is hidden behind paneled cabinetry. Photo by Eric Lucero.
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