Old houses have a logic to them. The proportions, the trim profiles, the way rooms connect — it wasn’t arbitrary. Most of it was deliberate, and a lot of it still works.

The problem is that decades of updates — dropped ceilings, laminate over hardwood, walls removed without understanding why they were there — can obscure what made the house good in the first place. Studio Olio’s job is to figure out what to touch and what to leave alone.

That’s a different skill set than general interior design. It requires knowing the period, understanding the construction, and having enough respect for the original to not overwrite it.

The homes we work on

Studio Olio works on homes with architectural bones worth preserving — Victorians, Foursquares, Colonials, Mission Style, and Craftsman bungalows across Denver’s historic neighborhoods.

If your home has original millwork, plaster walls, or a floor plan with actual character, Studio Olio is the right fit. Not a historic home? Studio Olio takes on other residential projects too. Interior Design →

What historic renovation design looks like

Every project starts with understanding what the house was and what it needs to become. That means reading the existing conditions carefully — the original floor plan logic, the surviving details, what’s been altered and how well — before making any design moves.

From there the scope varies. It might be a kitchen relocated to work with the house instead of against it, a bathroom that references the period without becoming a period piece, a full interior renovation that restores coherence to a house that’s been chopped up over time, or finishes and furnishings that layer in without overwhelming what’s already there.

Where a project is in a designated historic district and requires Architectural Review Board approval, Studio Olio can work within those requirements — though most projects don’t involve ARB review.

Why this work is different

Most interior designers are trained to work with new construction — clean slates, standard dimensions, predictable conditions. Historic homes don’t work that way. The rooms are irregular, the materials are unfamiliar, and the decisions carry more weight because there’s often no going back.

Getting it wrong means losing something that can’t be replaced. Getting it right means a house that feels like it was always meant to be this way.

Every project begins with an in-home consultation.It’s a focused hour to walk through the space, talk through what’s working and what isn’t, and define what the project actually is.