Sleek and stylish, Orley and Sheila Paxton’s luxurious loft invites conversation around the pendant-lit dining table and the circular, suspended stainless-steel fire pit, which Orley designed.

Sheila hosts cooking classes from the “command center”—her Bulthaup kitchen imported from Germany.

Vibrant and exotic, images and art from the Paxtons’ travels to East Africa accent the loft’s plum-colored walls.

“When we had all that snow last winter, we’d sit in here and it felt just like being inside a snow globe,” Sheila says of the living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows.

This distinctive glass vase from Murano Island, Italy, is beautifully displayed in an art niche.

Turn down the lights, turn up the volume and settle in with popcorn at the Paxtons’ two-tiered cinema with a 110-inch screen and soundproof walls.

Fit for a modern-day queen, this master bath also invites the king to scrub up with a two-person oval shower, infrared sauna and jetted tub.

A Lofty Goal

How a Boulder couple single-handedly transformed a “blank slate” into a luxurious downtown loft.

by Lisa Marshall
photos by Ron Forth

After living in 10 homes in three states over the course of their relationship, Orley Paxton knows one thing for sure about his wife, Sheila.

“She hates to pack,” says Orley, 61, a former tourist industry entrepreneur who now owns Paxton Properties Inc., which fixes and flips high-end real estate. “It’s just way too much brain damage for her.”

So when the couple made the move into their latest “project”—a plush, new downtown loft they custom-designed—he made it easy on her. He sent her to a luxury hotel for a three-day retreat, had the movers pack and unpack all their belongings, and welcomed her to her new digs with open arms and candles on the table.

“I looked around and went, ‘Oh my gosh. Orley really pulled it off,’” says Sheila, 53. “Everything just came together. It was exactly what we wanted.”

Just four months earlier, the Paxtons had begun the monumental task of transforming two adjoining units on the top floor of The Lofts at One Boulder Plaza into a comfortable empty nest for themselves and Sweeney, their 6-pound Maltese—even though they knew their time there would be fleeting. As part of an “investment strategy” that appears to work well for them, the couple typically lives in homes no longer than three years before buying another new property that they fix and flip.

“We just started renovating/constructing since we moved to Colorado in 1997,” Orley explains. So far, the couple has fixed and flipped five homes here and a few in California with their daughter, Julie.

But that doesn’t mean they’re less than passionate about any acquisition. Typical to their creative natures, they approached their newest project with zeal, purchasing only the loft’s “core and shell,” with just the floor and exterior walls in place.

“It was a complete blank slate,” Sheila says.
With Orley serving as general contractor, the couple transformed the 3,800-square-foot top-floor loft into a sophisticated, comfortable living space where every piece of art tells a story and every paint color was selected to create a certain vibe. “I wanted an upscale SoHo loft that had a combination of warmth to go with the hardness of the exposed pipes,” says Sheila, a professional speaker and executive coach.

After starting with zip, their “blank slate” is now a livable loft that reflects the Paxtons’ design skills, love of travel and sense of adventure.
“We didn’t want anyone to be intimidated by it,” Sheila says, “but we did want people to go, ‘Wow!’” Mission accomplished.

Step into the living room and floor-to-ceiling windows immediately surround you, where you can either eavesdrop on the lively urban scene below or gaze out at the towering rock formations at Mount Sanitas. “When we had all that snow last winter, we’d sit in here and it felt just like being inside a snow globe,” Sheila says.

The couple painted the loft’s curved walls in a warm “Jack Horner” plum, to match the hue of the distant sandstone. And while the metal pipes and ceiling are exposed, they too are painted in earthy tones, like copper and “parched pearl.”

In one view-filled corner hangs a circular, stainless steel fire pit that Orley custom-designed. (One flip of a wall switch and flames rise up from red glass chips at its center). In another is a gallery wall adorned with photographs Sheila took on a recent trip to Masai Mara preserve in East Africa, along with a large carved giraffe from Tanzania and a painting of Masai from Kenya.

“There was something that just drew me to this piece,” says Sheila, who spotted the painting in a Nairobi ­gallery on the first day of their three-week trip to Africa. She later learned that the artist, Tobo, was inspired to start painting at age 53 after reading the spir­itual book A Course in Miracles—one of Sheila’s favorites. “I went back three weeks later and it was still there. I just had to have it.”

Everything Comes and Goes
Around the corner hangs another remnant of the couple’s extensive globe-trotting—a “self lit” black and white image of a dancer, which appears to have a spotlight on it, even when all lights are dimmed. (They picked it up from a street artist during a morning stroll in Rome).

Then there are the shelves of colorful glass from Murano Island in Italy, the Venetian Carnival masks, and the ­­hand-carved wooden cupid from Bellagio.

Even the kitchen is imported. Dubbed Sheila’s “command center,” the sleek stainless steel Bulthaup kitchen was transported in gigantic boxes from a German factory and assembled on-site. It’s now the epicenter for the occasional community cooking classes Sheila offers, and the frequent parties the duo hosts on their 700-square-foot deck facing the mountains.

When it comes to sleeping quarters, there are two—and a half: a master bedroom with aquamarine walls and Asian artwork; a self-contained guest suite designed to look like a rustic spa; and, for Sweeney, a miniature canine suite carved into the master bedroom wall, complete with blue-green shades and a “Please Do Not Disturb” sign. “He’s a little spoiled,” Sheila concedes.

Orley’s attention to details is also evident in the master bath, which boasts a two-person oval shower, an infrared sauna and a jetted tub with a tub-side candle slot carved into the wall.

“When it’s your project and you’re running it yourself, you can make decisions on the fly,” Orley says. “That was the fun part.”

Perhaps the home’s most impressive feature is the plush, bi-level home thea­ter, with a 110-inch viewing screen, eight leather gliders with footstools, and reinforced walls and ceilings to assure the soundtrack won’t bother nearby neighbors. “If you’re going to do a theater, you want to be able to crank it up,” Orley says. Thus far, the theater has played host to numerous 24 parties, and a lively Academy Awards bash in which the Paxtons rolled out a red carpet and dressed to the hilt.

Yet, despite the satisfaction they derive from their self-designed home, the two seem to realize that, as the saying goes, “a rolling stone gathers no moss.”

After two years of living in their loft, they’re antsy for a new adventure.

“I’m always looking for a new project,” says Orley, who recently turned the former Inn on Mapleton Hill into a private residence that’s on the market.

And although she hates to pack, Sheila recalls with fondness the couple’s “Lost in America” RV trip in 1991, in which they spent a year in a 36-foot-long motor home and covered 17,000 miles in 37 states.

“When we left, I sold all our clothes, our furniture, our artwork—everything,” Sheila says. “When you get rid of everything like that, there is such a feeling of freedom. Ever since, we haven’t gotten that attached to where we are.”

Lisa Marshall is a freelance writer who’s never thought much of urban living, but after visiting the Paxtons’ loft, she’s reconsidering it.

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