Home Care In Bow Mar, CO

In 2018, Amy Millisor sold the 10,500-square-foot modern mansion her family had lived in for five years and bought an older home just a few doors down. After her husband’s sudden death, she was ready to downsize and create a new space for herself, her teenage kids, and their two shih tzu pups—and the lot overlooking Marston Lake felt like just the place to do it. “I knew I wanted to build a warm, inviting home to host parties and family for the weekend without feeling overwhelmed by a large space,” she says.

After scraping the dated house that sat on her new property, Millisor knew exactly whom to call to create a family home in its place: Andrea Schumacher—Millisor’s friend and the designer of her previous home—and architect Matt Stais, who worked on a group of Breckenridge vacation properties that Millisor and her late husband developed before settling in Bow Mar.

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A Cape Cod native, Millisor has a deep love of East Coast architecture and shoreside living. But, as is the case for so many Colorado transplants, mountain-inspired architecture has found its way into her aesthetic, as have pieces collected during her travels to far-flung destinations, from Southeast Asia to the American South. “I love to purchase meaningful items to remember my special trips,” she says. Millisor tasked her design team with creating a home that touched on each of these style influences while honoring her family’s past, present, and future.

With East Coast and Rocky Mountain vernaculars in mind, Stais selected an exterior materials palette of cedar-shake shingle siding, buff stone accents, and jet black trim. Inside, French and sliding glass doors offer panoramic views of Marston Lake and Mt. Evans to the west, while chunky wooden ceiling beams and a custom floating fireplace in the great room evoke a cozy mountain lodge.

The fireplace’s wood veneer wallcovering was one of the first finishes Schumacher chose for the interiors. “Its color mimics the water, and its texture also draws in the mountains,” she says, noting that similar blue hues were used on the nearby kitchen armoire and bar cabinet. “In a way, we used that watery blue color as a neutral.”

These cool tones reappear in the glamorous powder room, where Schumacher paired a vibrant, teal-painted ceiling with a custom vanity constructed from a blue-stained, vintage Dongbei sideboard that she found on 1stDibs and selected as a nod to Millisor’s Asian travels. The elegant, hand-painted chinoiserie wallpaper doubles as fine art, while delicate, gilded-iron sconces add a touch of Southern charm.

Mindful of Millisor’s vision of a house that entertains well, Stais and Schumacher placed the bar in the great room in order to draw guests out of the kitchen. The modern bar cabinets have a historic counterpart in a pair of repurposed 19th-century teak columns from India, while the wall sconces and hammered-metal coffee table mimic the brass accents in the kitchen.

Schumacher’s effortless mixing and matching of design details is on full display throughout the house: art deco–influenced tile in the main bathroom, midcentury-style chandeliers in the dining room, a leather-fringed chandelier in the entry. Uniting them all is the narrative of the family that lives here. “This house is a more condensed and efficient form of living than the previous home,” Schumacher says. “Before, [Millisor] was just filling up space, but this home is full of pieces that are intentional and that she loves.”

Design Pros

Interior Design: Andrea Schumacher Interiors Architecture: Stais Architecture & Interiors Construction: Haley Custom Homes Landscape Architecture: Viewpoint Design Group

We have been on a tour d’horizon lately, analyzing various American states and identifying the wealthiest cities there. Recently, we have been focused on the Census-designated South region of the United States, conducting studies of the richest cities in Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama. Now, we’re turning to the Rocky Mountain states and we’re starting with the epitome of the Rockies — Colorado.

We analyzed over 480 cities in the state in order to identify the richest cities in Colorado. The way in which we evaluated and scored each city’s ranking is detailed below.

Read on to find out what the richest city in Colorado is, plus the top 50 wealthiest cities in the state overall.

What Are the Richest Cities in Colorado?

In order to put together this list of the richest cities in Colorado, we sourced key financial data from the Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey. From here, we constructed a four-factor scoring system to help identify the wealthiest cities in Colorado:

When it comes to Census data, keep these things in mind: For certain factors, the Census numbers have upper limits. For example, for median household income, the Census Bureau has an upper limit of “$250,000+”. For median home value, the upper limit is “$2,000,000+”. For median property taxes paid, the upper limit is “$10,000+”. For these reasons, the mean household income (which is the same as average household income) dataset is crucial because the Census Bureau has exact figures for it. All four of these metrics were scored, added up, and then ranked by the cities’ combined scores.

Below you’ll find a table detailing the top 50 richest cities in Colorado and their respective dollar figures for each metric:

The No. 1 richest city in Colorado in our ranking is Cherry Hills Village, which, despite having “village” in its name, is fairly sizable, with 2,20 total households. Cherry Hills Village is a southern suburb of Denver, in Arapahoe County. In Cherry Hills Village, the median household income exceeds $250,000, while its average household income of $464,068 is the highest in Colorado. The reported median home value in Cherry Hill Villages is in excess of $2 million, the only city in Colorado where that’s true. The same goes for median property taxes paid per year, which exceed $10,000 in Cherry Hills Village. According to Data USA, the employment breakdown makes sense for such a high-income city. The top category of occupations in Cherry Hill Villages is Management Occupations, accounting for 36.2% of the workforce. In terms of the city’s top industries, they are Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services (18.7% of the workforce), Finance & Insurance (15.2% of the workforce), and Health Care & Social Assistance (12.4% of the workforce).

The No. 2 richest city in Colorado is Bow Mar, which is southwest of Denver and part of the Front Range Urban Corridor. Its name comes from the two lakes that lie next to it: Bowles Lake and Marston Lake. Bow Mar is a small town, with only 304 total households. The median household income in Bow Mar is $199,000, which is the fifth highest in Colorado. The city’s average household income of $324,109 is the fourth highest in the state. Bow Mar also stands out for its median home value, which is a reported $1,465,900, the second highest in Colorado. Lastly, the median property taxes paid per year is $9,939, the second highest amount besides Cherry Hill Villages.

Coming in at No. 3 on our list of the richest cities in Colorado is Columbine Valley, another suburb south of Denver. According to Data USA, a third of the workforce in Columbine Valley is employed in Management Occupations (33.3%). What’s more, the top industries by employment reflect what one might expect of a high-income town: Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services (28.4% of the workforce), Finance & Insurance (17.5% of the workforce), and Real Estate & Rental & Leasing (10.5% of the workforce). With a median household income of $245,208, Columbine Valley has the second highest income in Colorado, behind only Cherry Hill Villages. Its average household income of $331,353 is the third highest in the state. Meanwhile, its reported median home value is $1,058,600, the fourth highest in Colorado but noticeably less than No. 2 Bow Mar’s median home value.

This Colorado town may be tiny – it’s just one square mile and has about 900 residents – but it's got a friendly, rural feel that is one of many reasons why the residents who move there tend to stay put.

Bow Mar is about 12 miles southwest of Denver and consists of single-family homes on acre-lots, a private lake — and lots of open space (and the views that come with it) in between.

Many of Bow Mar's residents are second- or third-generation families (95 percent of whom own their homes) who are known for respecting each other (even if they don't always agree), according to Bow Mar's "Community Plan," drafted in November 2015.

And Bow Mar residents are well-educated, with 80 percent of those over age 25 having a bachelor's degree or higher. The median household income in Bow Mar is about $170,000, the plan says.

Bow Mar has a history that involves pioneer farmers, Baby Boomer-era development and even the guy who founded King Soopers.

Click on the gallery for a photo tour of Bow Mar.

Let’s start with the name: It came by combining the monikers of two nearby lakes, Bowles Lake and Marston Lake (get it?). Those were named after Joseph Bowles and John Marston, two farmers who put this area straddling the Arapahoe and Jefferson County borders on the map.

But you can trace its origins as a neighborhood to Lloyd King – who owned King Soopers. He and a Denver realtor bought the 575-acre subdivision that would become Bow Mar with the dream that it would be a luxury neighborhood that would also govern itself.

And, this is what happened – that is, after the parcel land was sold to another land developer a couple of years later.

Bow Mar was incorporated as a town in 1958, and as new homes were built, many were modeled after Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie-style architecture.

None of them were more than a story tall.

The close-knit residents who live in Bow Mar now get the opportunity to enjoy their own private beach, as well as participate in a yacht club, ice skate, and use the neighborhood’s tennis courts.

Bow Mar is among several Colorado communities and towns trying to take a cleaner approach to energy usage. Boulder-based Clean Energy Collective in fall 2014 began supplying the South Suburban Park and Recreation District with solar panels to offset the high-demand needs of the area's irrigations systems — needs particularly fueled by golf courses, playgrounds and ball fields in Bow Mar and surrounding communities.

The town itself does not have much in the way of eating, but there are a few spots in nearby Littleton that residents can enjoy.

One such place is Walter's 303 Pizzeria & Publik House (5194 S. Lowell Blvd.), which serves up handmade pizza, craft beer, calzones and wings. Just up the road is JP Nori Sushi & Asian Cuisine (5302 S. Federal Cir.), a share-the-menu type place with Thai food, sushi and bento.

Resident can also catch a live show at The Toad Tavern (5302 S. Federal Cir.), a popular mini-concert hall where local and national bands play everything from indie rock to country.

Convinced yet? Bow Mar homes are private and classy, and for those reasons tend to be on the expensive side: The median sales price is $932,500, according to real estate website Trulia.com.

Someone in the town of Bow Mar has some explaining to do about this "no access to Sheridan" sign, because this road totally has access to Sheridan.

BOW MAR, Colo. — Street signs are supposed to be informative. They take some of the guess work out of driving.

When you see a speed limit sign, you do not have to guess the number, it is printed right there.

Continuous lane signs provide the peace of mind that you are not merging into someone else's lane.

Then there is the sign on West Berry Avenue, just west of Lowell Boulevard, that says something that you do not expect from a street sign.

"I see this sign that says it's 'Not a Through Street,' it doesn't go to Sheridan. And I'm like, 'wait a second? Sheridan comes to here,'" said Littleton resident Jared Ewy. "Is there some sort of Bow Mar space-time thing?"

The sign is in Littleton, just as West Berry Avenue enters Bow Mar, a town with a population of around 900.

"I'm sure these are all amazing people on the other side of that sign, but it's a lie. It's a total lie. You can get to Sheridan," said Ewy.

Ewy is right.

Keep driving straight past the sign, and without making any turns you end up intersecting Sheridan.

"They could probably get away with 'Not a Through Street' because maybe it wiggles enough that technically it's not a through street. But then they say there's 'No Access to Sheridan.' It goes right to Sheridan," said Ewy.

If we are going to dissect this, West Berry Avenue does not access Sheridan. That is because West Berry Avenue becomes Bow Mar Drive, which accesses Sheridan.

"Can a street sign lie?" asked Ewy. "I don't see any other reason other than to keep people from going through."

The sign has been up for years. There is a similar sign near Belleview Avenue and Perry Street that reads "No Access To Wadsworth."

That sign is accurate. Belleview Avenue intersects with Bow Mar Drive, which connects to Sheridan, but not Wadsworth.

"I'm thinking, wait? Can a city just lie? If so, maybe every city gets at least one lie, you know, Denver can put 'full' at its city limits," said Ewy.

The sign is located in the city of Littleton, but a spokeswoman for the city said the sign was not put up Littleton and that you can tell because of the post.

The "no access" sign is on a green-colored post, while city of Littleton signs are on silver-colored posts.

Next with Kyle Clark spoke with Bow Mar's Mayor Pro Tem, who was going to contact the Public Works Director to get us information about the sign. On Tuesday afternoon, a representative from the Bow Mar Clerk's Office said the Town Clerk would return our call. That has not yet happened.

The Littleton Public Works Director was out of the office on Tuesday and could not answer if the sign will come down since it is on Littleton city property.

A question still unanswered from Bow Mar or Littleton: was the sign ever accurate?

"You know, I could run over that. It would probably be illegal to run over any old street sign that's state or city property. But I thought since it's a lie, can you run over a lie and be legally immune?" said Ewy. "I think I kind of want it to stay there. I just want people to know it's a lie. I think it's kind of cool now. It is a navigational landmark that, now, is probably going to attract more traffic than spurn."

This contemporary Bow Mar farmhouse, designed by Boulder's Surround Architecture, opens to the outdoors at every turn. Take a tour.

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It’s easy to think of “design” as the trimmings: a gussied-up wallpaper, a gilded chandelier, the perfect modern tile. But this handsome home in the town of Bow Mar, dreamed up by architects Dale Hubbard and Kim Cattau of Boulder’s Surround Architecture, proves that one cornerstone of great design is a smart, easy-to-love layout.

The architects worked with the high-energy family of five who lives here to create a foolproof floor plan that accommodates modern family life in its many forms, from social gatherings to outdoor play and the all-important down time. Indoors, a gathering wing with an open kitchen and great room connects (by way of a sliding barn door) to a kids’ common area and the home’s sleeping quarters—which means adults and kids can easily enjoy togetherness or breathing room as needed. At the center of the home’s U-shaped layout, a central outdoor courtyard offers open-air living and dining spaces where the family can relish sunny Colorado days, year-round.

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“There are three distinct zones [in the courtyard]; three rooms without walls,” Cattau says. On one side, an outdoor kitchen with a built-in grill is just paces from a covered dining area. Next to that, a lounge area, lit by festive lights, “allows you to feel like you’re halfway inside and halfway outside,” she says. And just beyond, in the center of the courtyard, is a fire pit surrounded by Adirondack chairs—positioned so tired feet can be propped up by the low stone ledge.

The architects point to two design moves that make the home tick: First, the exterior spaces are immediately adjacent to (and visible from) the indoor gathering spaces. “People will still go out and enjoy the outdoor spaces even if it’s not perfect weather,” Hubbard says. Second, a series of large glass doors creates what Cattau calls a “psychological connection” between indoors and out. “Bi-fold openings and sliding doors allow you to physically remove a wall,” she says—unlike conventional doors that swing open and then close behind you.

Though the layout is designed to multitask, the home’s interior finishes are beautifully focused. “The couple used a great word that we love to hear as architects and designers, and that’s contrast,” Hubbard says. “This theme brings a devout simplicity to the home.” Dark doors, windows, and floors pop against crisp white walls (painted Benjamin Moore’s Chantilly Lace). Black steel tension rods help define airy vaulted ceilings. These finishes, neither too traditional nor too stark, set the stage for the homeowners’ collection of neutral, casual furnishings (from Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, and similar sources) chosen for their ability to stand up to everyday life.

The beauty of these design decisions is that the family and their friends don’t have to think about them: Kids and adults can simply float between indoors and out, enjoying plenty of room to gather, rest, or roam. Which perfectly sums up Colorado design—and family life at a mile high.