Designed to Be Yours

Ask Rob Osgard how Howard Lorton Furniture & Design has earned the trust of Denver homeowners for generations, and he does not start with brand names or buzzwords. Instead, he talks about a promise he makes to every client: “good, better, best” at every price point. It is a philosophy built on the belief that real luxury comes from pairing value with deeply personalized design.

“For the amount of money you’re spending, we’re trying to find and procure the best product in that price range possible,” says Osgard.

Walking into the Howard Lorton’s showroom at 12th and Broadway, you are stepping into a four-generation legacy of Denver design. For Osgard, a senior designer and buyer who joined the firm in 1991, the industry is a calling. He recalls a mentor once jokingly telling him that once you fall in love with the craft, you get “lacquer in your veins.”

Today, as the incoming president of the Interior Design Society (IDS) Denver chapter—already the second-largest chapter in the country—Osgard uses that passion to guide clients through a market that is often more focused on price tags than permanence.

“True luxury is having the finest quality for the best value that you can put together,” Osgard explains.

In an era of 20-inch-thick catalogs and excessive markups, Osgard and the Howard Lorton’s team prioritize the consumer’s investment over the trend of the moment.

The Marathon of Curation

To provide that value, Osgard’s work begins long before a client walks through the door. As one of the firm’s primary buyers, he participates in a grueling industry ritual: going to market. While the term might sound like a simple shopping trip, Osgard describes it as a true marathon—five days of navigating roughly 300 million square feet of display space, with a schedule that runs from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m.

It is a high-stakes hunt for what he calls “new toys”—the latest in fashion, merchandise, and manufacturing technology. This curation is the backbone of the Howard Lorton’s experience. Because Osgard thinks in pictures and possesses a keen memory for progression, he is able to soak in the sheer volume of global design and distill it into a showroom collection that resonates with Denver’s specific sensibility.

The Designer as Psychologist

This expert knowledge is delivered through a process Osgard summarizes as “look, listen, and learn.” He views Howard Lorton’s as the “quintessential fancy-looking mom-and-pop shop,” a place where the designers move from standing opposite the customer to standing next to them through the design journey.

“A good designer also is a psychologist, a sociologist...taking all those different things to integrate the client’s needs and emotions and tastes together,” says Osgard. “I think sometimes we’re marriage counselors, too.”

This approach is best illustrated by a local family Osgard “saved” mid-construction after they realized their initial design plan lacked cohesion. By focusing on tactile experiences—having them sit on the furniture and truly look at the construction—he transformed their skepticism into a partnership that has spanned seven houses. It was not about imposing a signature style; it was about developing their specific taste over time.

Buy Your Own Look

The creative brief for today’s high-end homeowner has shifted. Post-pandemic, Denver residents are no longer willing to settle for the off-the-floor grays and whites that were often the only options during years of supply chain delays.

“About 85 to 95% of our business is special order now,” Osgard notes.

This shift has birthed the Buy Your Own Look concept, where customization goes far beyond picking a fabric. At Howard Lorton’s, clients can specify the exact length of a sofa to the inch, select from 2,000 fabrics and 250 leathers from a single line, and even choose the internal core of their cushions.

To help clients find their perfect fit, the showroom features a circle of four chairs, each with a different seat core, allowing for a real-time sit test. It is this level of detail that separates luxury from mere retail. Brands like Hancock Moore, known for superior leather work, and Taylor King represent the pinnacle of this “no corners cut” craftsmanship. Osgard remains a staunch advocate for traditional eight-way hand-tied springs, noting that as company president Will Cook says, the method represents that someone’s not cutting corners.

Honoring the Bones of the Home

Whether Osgard is tweaking a grand mountain home in Beaver Creek or finding funky vibes for a vacation rental, his first rule is to let the architecture speak.

In a recent Beaver Creek project, Osgard avoided a total gut renovation of a beautifully built chateau. Instead, he layered new textures—shearling, textured leathers, and rustic linen florals—to bridge the gap between the home’s classic bones and a modern sensibility.

“You’ve got to look at the bones of the home before you change it,” he advises.

The payoff for this level of detail is often deeply personal. Osgard recalls a project for a client who wanted her home to capture a specific local vibe. After the home was finished and used as a rental, Osgard had the rare opportunity to stay in the house and read the guest book.

“It was like the coolest thing ever because everybody appreciated what we did and got what we were doing,” Osgard recalls.

For Osgard, reading those entries—seeing that strangers found the home “homey and funky all at the same time”—was one of the most gratifying moments of his 34-year career.

The Luxury Outdoor Oasis

This philosophy of respecting a home’s architecture and local character does not stop at the back door. As the April sun begins to warm the Front Range, the design focus naturally shifts to the “outdoor room,” where the goal is to create a seamless transition from the interior.

Just as with indoor spaces, Osgard sees a move toward mixed materials—teak and Ipe wood paired with woven goods and iron. This shift aligns with the mountain modern aesthetic or the updated traditional look, which Osgard describes as colorful and shapely rather than the “18 years of gray boxes” that recently dominated the industry.

To withstand Denver’s intense sun and snow, construction quality is paramount. Osgard points to Woodard, made in Michigan, as a foundational outdoor line with exceedingly well-made iron and aluminum frames. For those seeking higher style or sustainability, Jensen Leisure offers Ipe wood, which possesses the rich appearance of a mahogany and teak hybrid while being more environmentally responsible than traditional teak. Whether it is Lloyd Flanders, Castelle, or Brown Jordan, the result is a durable extension of the home designed to survive the active Colorado lifestyle.

Building a Lifelong Partnership

Transitioning into a luxury design project can be intimidating, a feeling Osgard understands personally. He admits he was massively shy when he first started in the 1990s, often faking his confidence until he truly mastered the massive amount of technical knowledge the industry requires.

This empathy defines the Howard Lorton’s experience. Whether a client is working with a designer who has 10 years of experience or 45, the goal is to guide them away from gimmicky trends and toward lasting comfort.

“If we do it right, you’re lifetime friends and you’ve got a professional to lean on,” says Osgard.

This commitment to relationship over transaction—bolstered by complimentary in-home design services, free on-site parking, and white glove delivery—has kept Howard Lorton’s at the heart of Denver design for more than a century.

Photographs courtesy of Howard Lorton