70 | 5280 HOME | AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019
E
lizabeth Bear has an intuitive vision for the way spaces come
together—as evidenced by her Instagram following of nearly
24,000 devotees, who are hooked on the fresh, modern decor
she dreams up for her suburban Denver home and shares on
her Instagram feed, @elizabethbeardesigns.
Bear’s design cred grew organically from modest retail
beginnings: After leaving a corporate gig, she sold her own
handcrafted home accessories online and at pop-up markets.
When she and her husband purchased their home in Centen-
nial nearly 10 years ago and began fixing it up, friends noticed
her skill in creating gorgeous interiors. They began asking her
for design advice, and a business was born. The Instagram
feed—on which Bear showcases her home-turned-design-lab—and all those followers are just happy byproducts.
When Bear first set eyes on her 4,600-square-foot house, it
was far from a dream home—but she immediately recognized
its potential. “I knew it was the home, but it was dated,” she
says. “It had a closed floor plan, and many people would have
said it looked overwhelming [to remodel]. But it had the bones:
tall ceilings, big windows, and tons of light.”
The couple began the renovation process by modernizing
the home’s shell: peeling off wallpaper in almost every room and
painting the walls Benjamin Moore’s warm-gray Balboa Mist;
ripping out first-floor carpeting and replacing it with hardwoods;
vaulting the ceiling on the porch to add vertical dimension; and
knocking down the wall between the family and dining rooms todesign workshop
70 | 5280 HOME | AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019
E
lizabeth Bear has an intuitive vision for the way spaces come
together—as evidenced by her Instagram following of nearly
24,000 devotees, who are hooked on the fresh, modern decor
she dreams up for her suburban Denver home and shares on
her Instagram feed, @elizabethbeardesigns.
Bear’s design cred grew organically from modest retail
beginnings: After leaving a corporate gig, she sold her own
handcrafted home accessories online and at pop-up markets.
When she and her husband purchased their home in Centen-
nial nearly 10 years ago and began fixing it up, friends noticed
her skill in creating gorgeous interiors. They began asking her
for design advice, and a business was born. The Instagram
feed—on which Bear showcases her home-turned-design-lab—and all those followers are just happy byproducts.
When Bear first set eyes on her 4,600-square-foot house, it
was far from a dream home—but she immediately recognized
its potential. “I knew it was the home, but it was dated,” she
says. “It had a closed floor plan, and many people would have
said it looked overwhelming [to remodel]. But it had the bones:
tall ceilings, big windows, and tons of light.”
The couple began the renovation process by modernizing
the home’s shell: peeling off wallpaper in almost every room and
painting the walls Benjamin Moore’s warm-gray Balboa Mist;
ripping out first-floor carpeting and replacing it with hardwoods;
vaulting the ceiling on the porch to add vertical dimension; and
knocking down the wall between the family and dining rooms todesign workshop