5280 Home magazine feature: Turn Back Time

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Back Time Surrounded by downtown Denver’s bright lights and busy streets, a 19th-century Victorian townhouse is a colorful reminder of the city’s past—and of its owner’s rich personal history. story by CHRISTINE DEORIO • photography by KIMBERLY GAVIN • styling by ERICA MCNEISH FEBRUARY/MARCH APRIL/MAY2017 2017| |5280 5280HOME HOME| |73 73

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“I’m a Victorian girl in a modern world,” confesses floral designer Frances Harjeet as she curls up on a vintage blue-velvet chair, arms clasping a lavishly embroidered pillow. “I’m a maximalist all the way. I can’t do minimal even when I try.”

The same is true of Harjeet’s restored Denver home, which she shares with her husband, Thaddeus. Located just a few blocks northeast of the state Capitol, the brightly painted Queen Anne Victorian is one of the six Kingston Row townhouses in the Clements Historic District, an island of late-19th-century

homes surrounded by parking lots, office buildings, and modern residential towers.

Harjeet has filled her bright, airy living spaces with an eclectic mix of family heirlooms, antique and vintage finds, and fine art and textiles acquired during her travels throughout Asia and around the world. “I feel like the house is my calling card,” says Harjeet, who owns the Denver-based floral design and event-styling company Prema. “My floral design style is very Victorian and very old-fashioned, with this wild lushness to it, and our home’s decor is a little more formal than most of our peers’ in the same way.”

MASTER BEDROOM

Previous spread: When homeowner Frances Harjeet and her husband moved in, they were pleased to find that the home’s previous owners had left a carved-wood fourposter bed behind. “It’s so big and heavy, I think they just didn’t want to move it,” she says. She softened the massive frame with gold-flecked curtains purchased in India.

KITCHEN NICHE

Far left: Custom shelves hold a collection of Harjeet’s favorite floral vessels: cloisonné and chinois vases, blue and green glass vessels, ceramic and glass pitchers, and a Portuguese five-finger vase from the early 1800s that she found at Maison Faurie Antiquités in Taos, New Mexico.

EXTERIOR

Bottom left: Built in 1890, the Kingston Row townhouses display the Queen Anne Victorian style’s hallmark eclecticism, asymmetry, and contrast. The three-story red-brick homes have slate mansard roofs punctuated by dormer windows and richly ornamented exteriors painted a bold palette of dark teal, vibrant purple, and cream.

DINING ROOM

Facing page: Harjeet spent six months searching for an antique dining table and chairs before finding this new one, from Anthropologie, with classic cabriole legs, subtly scalloped edges, and a distressed, gray-washed finish. Beatrix dining chairs, also from Anthropologie, are upholstered in moody shades of brown and purple velvet.

An overdyed floral rug from ABC Carpet & Home complements the room’s deep French blue walls.

Flower Power

FLORAL DESIGNER FRANCES HARJEET JUST MADE FLOWER ARRANGING SIMPLER—AND MORE BEAUTIFUL. Forage. “Drive around with a pair of clippers in your car and look for flowers or greenery that are growing naturally. My floral designs almost always include one foraged element.” (Check local ordinances before trimming anything from parks or other public spaces.)

Cut. “I think it’s a shame to have a flower garden and not cut from it. So cut that perfect daffodil and bring it into the kitchen.”

Simplify. “A floral arrangement doesn’t need to be elaborate. I love the simplicity of one perfect bloom in a bud vase, and you can never go wrong with an arrangement made from one kind of flower, like a little vessel filled with sprigs of waxflower.”

Enjoy. “Don’t think of flowers as an extravagance; think of them as part of having a beautiful home and bringing joy into your life.”

“To create a sophisticated color palette for a floral arrangement or a room, zero in on one shade that you really like, then choose a shade to the left and a shade to the right. I might start with a mauve, then add a dusty rose and a deep burgundypink. The goal is a subtle gradation of color rather than strong contrasts.”

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EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH BY ASHLEY SAWTELLE

Color Tip!

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Love This Look?

TRY HARJEET’S MOST RELIABLE LOCAL SOURCES FOR DELIGHTFUL ANTIQUE AND VINTAGE FINDS.

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“Antique Exchange is amazing because they represent so many different sellers. The front of the 10,000-square-foot store showcases fine antiques, while the back is a little more mixed.” 1500 S. Broadway, 303-777-7871 “The Annex Antiques is right next-door, and they have great

pieces for outdoor living spaces, including arbors and benches.”

1534 S. Broadway, 303-733-9008 “Everything But the House hosts online estate sales in nearly 30 cities, including Denver.

There are some fantastic finds, the prices are unbelievable, and it’s so much nicer to use than eBay.” ebth.com

“Sarkisian’s Oriental Rugs & Fine Art is a Denver institution, with gallerylike displays of Far Eastern rugs, antiques, and artifacts.” 693 E. Speer Boulevard, 303-733-2623, sarkisian.com “Art District Antiques has an insane amount of inventory and some awesome finds—if you’re willing to dig around.” 800 Santa Fe Drive, 720-2755212, artdistrictantiques.weebly.com

Turn Back Time “I love that some of my antiques have chips and character. I think that’s one of the reasons I love this house, too.”

HALLWAY

The first-floor hall and other transitional spaces are painted Decorator’s White by Benjamin Moore. Robin’s-egg blue accents on the staircase wall hint at the color palette in adjacent rooms.

The demilune table, which Harjeet inherited from her mother, is just large enough to accommodate a fresh floral arrangement. The gilt mirror is from Art District Antiques.

STAIRCASE

The stairway’s gallery wall “is the bane of my husband’s existence,” Harjeet says. “He’s had to hang it four times.”

The latest arrangement showcases Hindu mythological prints from New York City gallery Om from India, reproductions purchased at the National Museum in New Delhi, an Indian marbleinlay mirror from local favorite Bloom

by Anuschka.

MASTER BEDROOM

An antique bureau and matching mirror are treasured family heirlooms, originally purchased by Harjeet’s great-grandmother. “My mother would hide our Christmas presents in the side drawers, and I have fond memories of sneaking into her room to peek,” Harjeet says. The bureau is topped with old family photos, a portrait of Harjeet by Denver-based fine-art photographer Kristen Hatgi Sink, and a silver tray. To the right of the bureau is a small jewelry box disguised as a side table.

LIVING ROOM

Built-ins display books as well as the couple’s personal treasures, including an embroidered Rajasthani umbrella, a ukulele, and a picture of the Kingston Row townhouses taken in the 1930s. Harjeet purchased the pair of blue-velvet vintage chairs for just $160 at Six Fifty Antiques.

The home’s original wood-burning fireplace is metal with faux-stone insets.

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