Cherry Hills Village, a suburb of Denver, boasts the best of Colorado living. The older community of homes has larger lots—this house in particular sits on over half of an acre with horse property adjacent to it—so there’s a private, countryside feeling while still being close and connected to the city.
“The homeowner is every designer’s dream client,” says Kristin Drake. “She is trusting, has great taste, and knows how to spend money where it counts. She gave us complete free rein and always came to presentations with excitement and a ‘yes’ attitude.”
Kristin is the cofounder of Smith and Drake, a design studio she runs alongside Kieu Nguyen Smith. “We love a client who trusts us enough to take the wheel and design something beautiful for them,” Kieu says. “She let us pull the complete vision together for her, and the best work truly happens when the client trusts us to do what we were born to do: Design.”
The house needed to be family-friendly for three kids, two dogs, a cat, and a bunny—but still feel chic and collected with a focus on special vintage pieces the client already owned. “That gave us a springboard to layer and build on,” Kristin shares.
The house was totally gutted, with Smith and Drake providing a full set of interior construction drawings and helped to lead the team in the field. “We specialize in construction management,” Kieu shares. “Once through construction, we sourced every piece of furniture and art, aside from the few pieces she owned, to the smallest of accessories. We styled every room, down to the wastepaper baskets in the bathrooms. This was completely turn-key, they just had to move in with their clothing.”
It was a short timeline for such a big project. “What should have taken 16-18 months, we did in 12,” Kristin says. “When she came in, she was all smiles and had to sit down because she was so overwhelmed. She teared up a few times too. We always joke that we hope our clients cry, but truly that means the world to us. If they cry, that means we nailed it.”






























