Inside Veteran Kitchen Designer Mikal Otten’s Tastefully Tailored Greenwood Village Home
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A single may well assume that when skilled designers have the opportunity to personalize their very own households, the procedure is as easy as cherry-selecting beloved specifics from assignments they’ve completed in the past.
But not for kitchen designer Mikal Otten. When the owner of Beautiful Kitchen area Design and style determined to overhaul the Greenwood Village dwelling that he and his spouse, Lisa, experienced a short while ago bought for their new lifestyle chapter as empty nesters, he required anything fully first.
5280 Residence August/September 2022
“I explain to my purchasers, ‘If you just do what is present-day right now, it is likely to be out-of-date shortly, so you have received to force it a tiny little bit,’ ” Otten says. But to follow his very own suggestions, he felt he’d will need a force of his own, so he called on longtime design and style collaborator Beth Armijo, “whose tender contact was what I was wanting to bring into this home,” Otten suggests. “Our lives are chaotic, and I actually required this room to be a calm retreat.”
But prior to introducing a point, the duo regarded how to strip away some of the dwelling’s drained Tuscan design, which clashed with Otten’s up to date taste. “There have been some bones we could perform with and some we couldn’t,” Armijo explains. “We taken off some of the ceiling arches and stair railings but stored some of the fireplaces and solid wooden doors—because I come across that if you go all a single way, it turns into fairly typecast to a specified time period or fashion. Our technique was pretty European: Hold the outdated bones, but set contemporary items in it.”
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The kitchen’s personalized distressed-walnut desk by Beautiful Kitchen Design and style is connected to the island its perpendicular orientation presents diners sights of the stone hearth or the motion in the kitchen area. Rather than hanging light fixtures above the island, property owner Mikal Otten opted to position Arteriors’ Egg Drop pendant around the desk,“ which provides this heat, welcoming feeling— and leaves the perspective from the spouse and children area to the major island wonderful and open,” he states. The metallic-and-leather Darcy counter stools are by Interlude Dwelling. Photograph by Emily Minton Redfield -
An additional-tall stainless-metal toe-kick and polished Cristallo quartzite countertop lighten the search of the island, by Beautiful Kitchen Design, which is completed with a custom charcoal metallic paint and accented with brushed-brass components. For the room’s perimeter, Otten selected tailor made walnut cabinetry and Greystone marble counter tops with a honed finish. The marble-framed hood incorporates the exact same tile—Salvatori’s Silk Georgette Chevron—that covers the family members room’s hearth wall. Picture by Emily Minton Redfield -
The house owners gave up a portion of their major bedroom’s closet to make way for this wine alcove, which incorporates two Sub-Zero beverage refrigerators, moreover plenty of glassware storage and a Crystal Blue marble serving counter that are partly obscured by panels of brass wire mesh. Image by Emily Minton Redfield -
A powder home makeover wasn’t part of the initial renovation plans, but as soon as the custom made brass vanity by Beautiful Kitchen area Style and Deco Hemp wallcovering by Phillip Jeffries were being in put, “I assumed, ‘This could possibly be the most stunning space in the residence!’ ” Otten suggests. The vainness is topped with a slab of Crystal Blue marble from Galleria of Stone and lit by West Slope sconces from Rejuvenation. Image by Emily Minton Redfield -
In the formal dining room, designer Beth Armijo married items the Ottens have loved for years—including a sleek desk and photographs taken about Lake Como—with Hammerton Studio’s blown-glass Aalto Modern-day Department chandelier and Arhaus’ Jagger armchairs. Picture by Emily Minton Redfield -
Wool tweed upholstery by Denver Upholstery, velvet pillows produced by Genesis Customized Drapery, and inviting layers of linens costume the key bedroom’s clear-lined personalized bed. The nightstands are also personalized pieces, by community household furniture-maker Ryan Schlaefer. The Duprey settee is from Arteriors and the Phoebe Stacked desk lamp is by Visible Comfort and ease. Picture by Emily Minton Redfield -
The key rest room originally experienced a 12-foot ceiling “and it was just cavernous,” Otten recalls. “Even immediately after we decreased the ceiling to 10 feet, the place still breathes.” The custom made, white-oak dual vanities and tub wall show off a present-day chevron pattern—a motif that repeats throughout the household. The floors are honed limestone, “which is so beautiful with white oak,” Armijo suggests. Photograph by Emily Minton Redfield -
The most important bathroom’s spacious shower—which can be accessed from Mikal’s or Lisa’s aspect of the room—is clad with honed limestone tile on the walls and a limestone mosaic on the ground. “We constantly do that for grip and exciting texture,” Armijo says of the latter. “Clients from time to time check with, ‘Are mosaic flooring trendy?’ Um, no. You can go to Pompeii and this pattern is most likely there—which I just like.” Picture by Emily Minton Redfield
In the spouse and children home, the unique fireplace’s carved stone encompass was replaced with a chevron-patterned limestone-tile accent wall that abuts new, designed-in eucalyptus cabinetry. In the kitchen, an initial stone fireplace stayed, “but we introduced the eucalyptus millwork close to it to modernize it,” Otten states. “I’m not a conventional dude, but I like [the old fireplace] in there now. It strikes just the proper stability.”
When reimagining the relaxation of the kitchen area, Otten embraced his up to date proclivities, topping a steely gray island with Cristallo quartzite and the walnut perimeter cabinets with a remarkable darkish marble. He mingled streamlined bronze and brushed-brass hardware with stainless-steel appliances, and above the Wolf variety, he intended a personalized hood that incorporates the very same tile utilized all around the spouse and children space hearth. “I think the much more layers we can insert, the additional lifetime the space is going to have,” Otten states of his technique. “Twenty several years ago, all we essential was cherry cabinets, granite countertops, and stainless-metal appliances. Now, we have to have a great deal more to hold it alive.”
“Mikal strategies texture in his kitchens the identical way I use products in other rooms,” says Armijo, who was tasked with supplying each house an understated still stylish style. “I like to mix them, making a tactile fascination. All of Mikal and Lisa’s fabrics are wools and linens and leathers—super tough but also smooth.”
Armijo’s alternatives merge timeless supplies with clear strains. There’s the spouse and children room’s neatly personalized sectional that wraps close to a teak espresso desk with crisp corners a grasscloth wallcovering bordering the powder room’s sleek brass self-importance and a branchlike blown-glass chandelier that hangs previously mentioned an ultramodern eating desk. To this mix, she included accents of ruby crimson, ochre, and teal, and a couple of very carefully chosen patterns, which includes the household home rug’s contemporary consider on a Ralph Lauren plaid.
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Lifescape Colorado developed the contemporary outside fire, which is completely positioned to be liked from the family members home when the new, 10-foot-tall accordion-model doorway is opened large. Picture by Emily Minton Redfield -
The family members room’s custom eucalyptus partition displays relatives collectibles, like a Murano glass sculpture (on middle shelf) by Silvano Signoretto. Armijo accented the Ottens’ existing Callan leather-based chairs, from Place & Board, with ochre velvet pillows built by Genesis Personalized Material. The gnarled teak Vert espresso table and Cone lamp are by Noir. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield -
Photo by Emily Minton Redfield
“My instant thought was, ‘No, I don’t do plaids,’ ” Otten states of the latter. “But then Beth confirmed it to me in a room and I stated, ‘Wow, that is so great.’ ”
“I really like that variety of innovation that Mikal and I obtain when we operate together,” Armijo claims. “It’s enjoyable for the reason that he’s ready to just take hazards and not copy what is out there on Instagram. We have been accomplishing this for a longer period than a whole lot of influencers, so it’s pleasant to do things in another way.”
Progressive as it is, the style and design feels correctly customized to Otten’s type and new way of daily life. “This was about Lisa and me,” Otten says. “It was the time when we obtained to do a little something just for us.”
Structure Execs
Interior layout: Beth Armijo, Armijo Design Group
Kitchen & Bath Style and design: Mikal Otten, Beautiful Kitchen area Style and design
General contractor (renovation): Helton Enterprises
Landscape style: Lifescape Colorado