First homes are not always forever homes. But the young couple who commissioned this custom home in the University of Denver area envisioned it as a place to build their life together. And when they got pregnant during the home’s construction, that feeling was reinforced.
“They wanted unique, curated pieces that would be passed down to their son as family heirlooms,” says Austin Horne, senior designer with Denver-based Kaleidoscope Design, which designed the entire home, from the hard finish through the furnishing stages.
The home’s dining room is just off the entry foyer and sets the design tone for the rest of the space. With artisan furniture and accessories sourced from around the world, the dining room illustrates the home’s organic, modern style and reflects the couple’s multinational heritage.
1Custom Curvature
Kaleidoscope and the homeowners worked with Revampt Goods in Cherry Creek to select the live-edge walnut slab and design the blackened steel custom base for the custom dining table. “We wanted the style to be very loose and organic and bring in curvature, as opposed to geometric and sharp edges,” Horne says.
2A Touch of Bling
The individual, handblown glass pendants in this chandelier created by Shakuff Custom Lighting in New York are designed to look like cascading raindrops. “It’s what you’re drawn to when you look at this space. It’s floating and adds a lot of sparkle,” Horne says.
3Playing Koi
Custom sculptures designed by Alexander Lamont of Thailand remind the homeowners of their travels in Asia. “They like that koi carp symbolize luck, prosperity, strength, and perseverance,” Horne says. Designers often hang a single piece of art on the wall above a dining room sideboard, but Kaleidoscope wanted something whimsical and unexpected. “It’s like the koi are swimming upstream in their natural habitat on that wall, because it’s such a blank backdrop.”
4Swooping Seats
Hand-carved oak chairs from Artefacto in Brazil are a nod to the male homeowner’s South American heritage. “We really focused on the swooping lines of the chairs,” Horne says. The light oak chairs contrast with the dark walnut of the table. “Matching is so expected, and we wanted to do something unexpected,” she says.
5Color Pop
While the home features one-of-a-kind rugs the owners have collected during their travels, the Egyptian dining room rug from Artisan Rug Gallery in RiNo is specially curated for the space. “Its highly saturated hues bring in jewel tones and add lots of impact. We kept things neutral throughout the home and added in pops of color like this rug,” Horne says.
