Inside a British expat’s comfortable Colorado house revitalised by Salvesen Graham

Proper tea, temperate weather, universal healthcare—all things an English transplant might be homesick for while living in the US. But for a client of London-based Top 100 designers Salvesen Graham, the thing they pined after most was window treatments. “That was the first thing she said when we spoke to her. ‘I just want curtains at my window,’” remembers Mary Graham, who cofounded the interior design firm with Nicole Salvesen.

The clients, a British wife and American husband, contacted the decorating duo—known for their thoughtfully layered and quintessentially English interiors—a year into the pandemic, after deciding to move from California to Boulder, Colorado. “They wanted to live somewhere a little bit more relaxed,” says Nicole. “And Boulder definitely is! There would be days when a contractor would say, ‘Oh, I’m going snowboarding today. I can’t help. The snow’s just too good,’” she laughs.

Boulder also offered plenty of nature to explore (key for the clients’ active kids) and a charming historic neighbourhood, where the family decided to settle. “When you’re up [there] looking down on the town, all you see are trees, and then this little enclave of historic houses,” Graham explains. The family’s Arts and Crafts–style home is preserved as a historic building and features intricate millwork and original flooring. “It’s always funny coming from different perspectives of what’s old and what’s not old,” Graham says, nodding to the home’s relatively short history compared to some of their Georgian and Victorian projects in the UK. “But because it is a listed home, there wasn’t a huge amount that we could do structurally.”

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The original floor plan presented a number of quirks for the designers to make sense of, including a walkthrough formal dining room. “It could never be anything other than a walkthrough, so we turned it into a library, somewhere you can sit and open a book,” says Nicole. “In the UK, we will often have a hallway with a round table that can double up for intimate dinners or a spot for stacks of books and a big flower arrangement.” The solution works well for the clients, who are “incredibly academic,” Salvesen says. “They are the sort of people that sit down and open a tome—something interesting and probably slightly terrifying to most of us.”

One of the first floor’s two sitting rooms offered a similar challenge. “Prior to us configuring the flow of the rooms, they didn’t really use that sitting room, because it felt quite dark,” Graham says. “So we really embraced it and made it this cozy, cocooning snug where you can just curl up with a book.” While most of the rooms downstairs are semi–open plan, this is the one room where the homeowners can shut the doors and retreat, enveloped by a rich mix of textiles. In contrast, the more formal sitting room is light and airy, with a wall of windows. Art, sourced by Salvesen Graham and Anna Kirrage, lines the walls. And an antique writing bureau serves as a drinks cupboard, making it an ideal spot to entertain.

The kitchen and hearth room are the heart of the home. The designers separated the open spaces with glass-panelled half walls. “This is a trick we use quite a lot so that you can still see through, but you also have little corners that you can put furniture up against or hang art on,” says Graham. The hearth room, which opens out to the veranda, is where the family gathers, with seating for eight around the dining table, plus a banquette and armchair in either corner. The pair also turned a former pantry into an office off of the kitchen. “The admin of the house always seems to be done next to the chopping board,” Graham observes. “We wanted to create a slightly more peaceful environment for [that].”

And, did the client get her initial wish? Traditional valances, pleated floor-to-ceiling drapes, neatly folding Roman shades—each window was carefully considered. “She wanted to have floral fabrics everywhere,” says Nicole. In the primary suite, a ruffled valance and curtain even surrounds the headboard. The bedroom features an eclectic collection of rosy English florals, stripes, suzani, and geometric prints.

But, Nicole and Mary hope that the items that weren’t on their clients’ initial wishlist make them just as happy as the ones that were. “That’s one of the really satisfying parts of our job—you’re actually just making a house work better for the people that live there. It’s a less obvious and less tangible kind of impact. But long term, that’s the thing that makes a house a pleasurable place to live.”

Salvesen Graham is a member of The List by House & Garden, our essential directory of design professionals. Visit The List by House & Garden here.

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