It was supposed to just be a zhush. Or, at least, that’s the word the clients of interior designer Emily Tucker used when they invited her over to see their newly purchased Tudor-style home in Denver’s Hilltop neighborhood. She had previously worked on their Vail dwelling and they told her, “We’d like to do a few small things to our Denver property now that the Vail house feels so put together—you know, let’s zhush it up.” But as they all walked and talked through the residence together, it was immediately clear that this was going to be a bigger project. Her clients asked for a gut renovation of the kitchen and all the bathrooms, an overhaul of the basement, family room and all the bedrooms, with a furnishing update to boot. “This wasn’t a zhush at all; we were redoing the entire house,” Tucker remembers with a laugh. 

In fact, the work that they discussed was so extensive, it required the clients to place their belongings in storage and relocate for the 10 months that it took Tucker and general contractor Tim Coughran to complete the renovation. “We took everything down to the studs, though we stayed within the footprint of the original home and didn’t do major structural changes,” Coughran explains, adding that his team touched or updated nearly every system, surface and finish. 

“They wanted the house to feel fresh and modern, full of the richness the wife remembered from growing up on the East Coast,” Tucker shares. “Because this was our second project together, I had a good understanding of how they wanted the spaces to feel and function.” The homeowners envisioned traditional furnishings with a modern edge and a palette that pulled in saturated jewel tones paired with interesting materials. “This is their primary residence, so they wanted it to be a little more elevated,” the designer adds. 

Tucker’s floor-to-ceiling revamp of the kitchen is a perfect example of the process she undertook throughout the house. While the room’s layout remained the same, its components received a significant stylish upgrade. Witness the white oak cabinets: Beveled-edge Shaker panels and a cerused finish that highlights the wood’s grain take them from expected to quietly extraordinary. “That’s very much my design ethos: traditional, but made modern for the way we live today,” Tucker says. It’s a spirit confirmed by the animated pattern of the mosaic backsplash and what the designer dubs “that old-school, rich forest green” of the range and its coordinating hood. “The backsplash has some really beautiful green marble in it and the veining on the quartzite countertop is green too,” she points out. “Putting it all together felt traditional, but also fun and inspiring.”

Verdant hues skate throughout the house. They color the sofa, millwork and fireplace surround in the family room; they wrap the cushions in the dining room and envelop the walls and carpet in the formal living room; they tint the moldings upstairs. This was a conscious choice, drawn from an emerald-colored room the wife had shown Tucker early on as inspiration. Placed widely and strategically, the shade becomes a neutral backdrop for the home’s more playful moments, including a red runner with a white leopard that appears to climb the stairs, a glass chandelier inspired by clouds hovering over the dining room table, and vibrant art and patterned tile scattered throughout. “We wanted to make the interiors feel young and fresh, just like the people that live here,” the designer comments. “They’re interesting and cool, so the pieces in their home should reflect that.” And, Tucker adds, in spaces that already had so much historical integrity—she nods to the dining room’s original built-ins—she mixed classic and contemporary choices, first selecting a very traditional vintage Persian rug to “ground the room in history, while a modern table, chairs and light fixture bring it right back to the present day.”

Most of the home’s furniture is bespoke, which “really makes the house feel tailored,” the designer continues. “We honed in on what was perfect for the home and gave the clients something unique and special.” In other words, she achieved just the sort of zhush this couple was hoping for—and much more.