Where innovation, craftsmanship, and design inspire Denver’s most distinctive homes
By Heather Shoning
THE INTERNATIONAL DESIGN COLLECTION
(IDC Building) continues to flourish as Denver’s premier destination for luxury interiors, bringing the region’s top design showrooms and expert guidance together under one roof at 590 Quivas Street. This season, IDC businesses are showcasing an exciting range of new products, refreshed displays, and upcoming additions that speak directly to the discerning tastes of homeowners and design professionals alike.
ULTRA DESIGN CENTER
Award-winning inspiration + new product lines
Ultra Design Center remains a cornerstone of high-end design at the IDC, blending expert guidance with an extensive range of luxury kitchen, bath, lighting, hardware, and wellness products. A family-owned business serving Colorado since 2002, Ultra’s showroom invites homeowners and trade professionals to explore thoughtfully curated fixtures and finishes in an experiential setting. Recently recognized with multiple industry honors—including the 5th Annual ARTS Awards for Lighting Showroom (West Region) and Lightovation’s 16th Annual Lighting Showroom of the Year—these accolades reaffirm Ultra’s position as a leader in sophisticated lighting and design.
Inside the showroom, newly introduced lines from Bathworks and Aramac Martin offer fresh perspectives on luxury fixtures, while updated presentations from THG Paris and Franz Viegener elevate the experience with refreshed finishes and styling inspiration.
ARIA CUSTOM DESIGN
Artistry in stone, plaster & more
Aria Custom Design, a distinguished presence on the 3rd floor of the IDC, is expanding its showroom with newly remodeled vignettes and an expanded range of architectural finishes. Known locally for its mastery of authentic Venetian plaster, architectural limestone treatments, and custom fireplace designs, Aria brings timeless craft and tactile richness to residential interiors.
Visitors will discover artisanal wall treatments including fluted, reeded, and raked surfaces, alongside gorgeous, simulated marble and metal finishes that awaken interiors with depth and elegance. The team continues to develop new display experiences and application techniques that reflect emerging trends in texture and surface design—ideal for homeowners seeking standout features in living spaces, baths, and feature walls.
PINNACLE STONEWORKS
New showroom coming soon!
March 2026 marks the anticipated opening of Pinnacle Stoneworks’ new IDC showroom, adding another layer of stone-craft excellence to the building’s roster. Pinnacle has earned its reputation in the Denver market for premium natural stone and engineered stone surfaces, including granite, marble, quartz, and quartzite, expertly fabricated for countertops, vanities, and custom installations tailored to every room.
Homeowners and designers can look forward to exploring a gallery of slabs and finished surfaces, learning about advanced edge profiles and unique fabrication techniques only possible with Pinnacle’s skilled artisans.
AZTEC CARPET & RUG
Celebrating 42 years
A beloved mainstay within the IDC, Aztec Carpet & Rug celebrates 42 years in the flooring and design business. As Colorado’s source for luxury carpets, custom-sized area rugs, and designer statement pieces, Aztec elevates interiors from the ground up. Their Denver showroom boasts the state’s widest selection of bespoke rugs and carpets, supported by an in-house workroom that creates custom sizes, shapes, and color solutions for any space—making it a destination for homeowners seeking that perfect foundational element in a room’s design.
ABOUT THE IDC BUILDING
The International Design Collection is Denver’s premier design destination, open to the public, featuring a curated mix of showrooms that span kitchen and bath, flooring, fixtures, stone, rugs, lighting, outdoor living, and custom surface solutions—all conveniently housed under one roof. It’s a collaborative hub where homeowners, designers, builders, and architects converge to explore the latest in luxury design.
IDC BUILDING
590 Quivas St.
Denver
303.557.0999
idcbuilding.com
CREATIVE LIVING OUTDOORS
Modern design, custom kitchens, and art-driven details shaping how Coloradans live outdoors
By Heather Shoning
CREATIVE LIVING didn’t start as an outdoor lifestyle brand. It evolved there. Founded in 2011, the Denver-based company grew out of founder Jeff Stone’s background in construction and cabinetry, where conversations with clients kept circling back to the same question: Why did thoughtfully designed interiors stop at the back door? At the time, outdoor kitchens were largely masonry-heavy, utilitarian installations—functional, but rarely beautiful.
“We kept getting asked about outdoor spaces,” Stone says. “But wood cabinetry doesn’t last outside. We were replacing them all the time. So, the question became: ‘What actually works outdoors, and how do you design it well?’”
That question led Creative Living toward stainless steel and powder-coated outdoor kitchen systems and, eventually, toward a much broader view of outdoor living as a true extension of the home. Long before it became commonplace, the company began treating patios, courtyards, and backyards as designed rooms—complete with furniture, lighting, kitchens, and art.
Creative Living relocated to the IDC Building at the beginning of 2025, a move that reflects how the business now operates. The second-floor showroom places the company among architects, interior designers, landscape architects, and builders—its primary collaborators.
“We don’t build decks or pour patios,” Stone says. “We work with the people who do that. What we do is come in at the end and finish the space.”
That finishing role often includes fully integrated outdoor kitchens—one of Creative Living’s core specialties. These kitchens move beyond a standalone grill, incorporating refrigeration, prep space, storage, and specialty cooking elements designed around how clients actually cook and entertain.
For Stone, the appeal of outdoor work is the mindset clients bring to it. “When people finish a house, they’re exhausted,” he says. “Outdoor spaces are different. People come in excited. They’re curious. They want to explore what’s possible.”
That sense of discovery has only grown as outdoor living has become a year-round proposition in Colorado and across the West. Advances in heating technology and well-considered design approaches have shifted patios away from just seasonal amenities.
“These aren’t summer kitchens anymore,” Stone says. “You can sit outside in the winter in a short-sleeve shirt if the space is designed properly.”
At the higher end of the market, Creative Living is seeing clients push for increasingly refined, architectural solutions. New outdoor kitchen designs draw from European influences, with cleaner profiles, integrated hardware, and a visual restraint that mirrors contemporary interiors.
“What’s exciting right now is how much design has entered the conversation,” Stone says. “It’s not just a fire pit and some chairs anymore. There’s real intention behind these spaces.”
As the company expands into markets including Wyoming, Montana, and Arizona, that core philosophy remains unchanged. Creative Living isn’t chasing trends or selling a single aesthetic. It’s responding to how people want to live—outside, together, and without treating the outdoors as an afterthought.
“It’s a fun place to work,” Stone says. “People come in imagining how they want to spend time—with their families, their friends, their kids when they come home. That’s what we’re designing for.”
CREATIVE LIVING
IDC Building
590 Quivas St., 2nd Floor
Denver
720.222.9509
clden.com
Not a trend. A way of living.
FROM THE FLOOR UP – TONGUE&GROOVE
Education and performance matter as much as grain and finish
IN WOOD FLOORING, tongue-and-groove isn’t a marketing flourish—it’s the centuries-old joinery that makes a floor hold together. That’s part of why owner Chris Keale rebranded his company Tongue&Groove from its previous name T&G Flooring. He wanted a name that carried meaning beyond the sticker on the door.
“The change to Tongue&Groove makes the craft connection explicit—and it better reflects what we’ve built here,” Keale says.
The business started in 2007 with little fanfare in a tough market and has since become something of a local authority on hardwood in Denver and beyond. Unlike most flooring retailers, Keale’s team frames itself as educator first. Long before the product selection happens, there’s Wood Floors 101, a free online video course that walks homeowners, designers, and builders through the basics of species, construction, finish types, and maintenance, including the sort of information that matters most in Colorado’s dry winters and high altitude.
“We see people surprised by how much variability there is, even between different oak or walnut floors,” Keale says. One of the more unusual aspects of Tongue&Groove’s work comes from its range of offerings: solid, engineered, reclaimed, and site-finished options are all on the table, each chosen not just for aesthetics but for performance in a place where wood reacts aggressively to humidity swings.
Clients and builders alike tend to notice something else: Projects get talked through with precision as early as the showroom stage. That’s a departure from the typical “pick a color and schedule installation” script so common in the industry. Instead, the process encourages questions—even skepticism—before decisions are made. Reviews show this approach isn’t just appreciated; it actually shapes outcomes.
For Keale, floors aren’t just surfaces. They’re technical systems that change with climate and time, and, more importantly, there’s a narrative embedded in grain and finish.
“Every plank has a story,” he says. “It’s our job to tell it.”
THERMASOL SAUNA & STEAM
The art of wellness, elevated
INSIDE THE showroom that’s turning sauna and steam rituals into design-driven lifestyle must-haves, Thermasol has long been a trusted name among designers and wellness-minded homeowners for bringing steam, sauna heat, and restorative rituals into residential spaces. Best known as the original innovator of the residential steam shower, the brand has spent decades refining the intersection of engineering and design, expanding its offerings from advanced steam systems to fully realized sauna environments for both residential and commercial use.
What distinguishes Thermasol is its experience-driven approach. Rather than treating steam and sauna as standalone features, the brand frames them as part of a broader wellness ecosystem—one that can include chromatherapy, aromatherapy, and smart controls that allow users to customize each session. The focus is less on spectacle and more on consistency: systems designed to deliver reliable steam and heat without the surges or delays common to lesser products.
That same philosophy extends to Thermasol’s sauna offerings, which balance craftsmanship with modern performance. Indoor and outdoor saunas are built using premium materials such as Western red cedar and Nordic spruce, paired with heaters and controls that prioritize clean design and dependable function. Customization plays a central role, allowing sauna spaces to feel integrated rather than appended.
The Thermasol Sauna & Steam showroom at Ultra Design Center in Denver brings this thinking into physical form. Led by designer Gina D’Amore Bauerle, the space functions as an immersive environment rather than a traditional display. Materials and finishes from Cosentino, Moderno Works, and Denver Glass Interiors create a layered, restrained aesthetic that supports the experience rather than competing with it. Six sauna models—two fully operational—are joined by a steam shower, hot soak, and cold plunge, illustrating how thermal therapies can be thoughtfully incorporated into residential or hospitality settings.
Now operating as part of the Harvia portfolio, Thermasol sits at the intersection of American innovation and European sauna heritage. The result is a brand that treats wellness not as an indulgence, but as a daily ritual—designed with intention, built for longevity, and meant to be lived with.
