Put Down the Paint Samples. Pick Up a Hammer.
The best home upgrade you can make this summer is a skill
Every summer, the home improvement conversation goes the same direction. New throw pillows. A fresh coat of paint. Maybe a gallery wall. And there’s nothing wrong with any of that. A well-loved home deserves attention.
But there’s a different kind of home upgrade that nobody talks about enough, and it has nothing to do with what you buy or how you decorate. It’s about what you learn. The skill that changes how you move through your own space. The craft that makes you look at a worn piece of furniture and think: I could fix that. The thing you make with your hands that ends up on a shelf in your living room, carrying a story no store-bought object ever could.
Colorado has always attracted people who want to make things. These are the people who value craft, self-reliance, and the satisfaction of building something real. That instinct runs deep here, and this summer, there’s no shortage of places on the Front Range to feed it. Our friends at the Denver Post found some of the best.
Learn to Work With Metal
There is something deeply satisfying about turning raw metal into something useful and beautiful, and Hardy & Fuller is one of the best places in Denver to learn how. Their Basic Blacksmithing 101 class ($200) is a crash course in the fundamentals, and students get to choose what they make from a menu that includes fire pokers, barbecue tools, candle holders, and bottle openers. For those ready to go deeper, multi-day sessions cover chef’s knives, bush knives, pendants, and jewelry. Welding and other metal arts are also on offer.
Hardy & Fuller makes a point of being a welcoming, LGBTQ+ and BIPOC-friendly space. This matters, because a great workshop is as much about the room as the craft.
Make Something in an Afternoon
Upstairs Circus is for the person who wants to make something beautiful without committing to a multi-week course. DIY projects run the range from wine glass tumblers, stone serving trays, butcher boards, jewelry, to concrete coasters. The whole thing is designed to be social. Drinks are part of the experience, and group sessions are available for birthdays, bachelorette parties, or any occasion that deserves a little making alongside the celebrating. Two locations, LoDo and the Denver Tech Center, mean there’s likely one close to you.
Build a Pair of Shoes
Yes, this is a real thing, and yes, it is as extraordinary as it sounds. The Colorado Shoe School, just outside Fort Collins, offers beginner workshops where participants build a complete pair of shoes in a single day ($250), or over two days for those who want more creative latitude with sneakers ($380). More intensive multi-day programs cover boots and fashion shoes. Sandal and fanny pack workshops are also available for a shorter commitment. Classes are open to ages 12 and up. Students under 15 need a parent along, who must also be making shoes. Which sounds like an excellent way to spend a day with a kid who loves making things.
Head to the Mountains and Learn Something Ancient
Up in Grand Lake, the Rocky Mountain Folk School offers one of the most distinctive class catalogs in the state. Flint knapping ($76) teaches the North American history of stone tool-making, then puts an arrowhead or tool in your hands to take home, with all materials included. Gourd art ($109) is more elaborate than it sounds: students carve detailed scenes, paint, add stone inlay, or make a hand drum from a dried gourd. The school also offers pottery, jewelry, woodworking, and more. It’s the kind of place that reminds you how long humans have been making beautiful things, and how good it feels to join that tradition.
Try Glass Blowing
The Glass Class in Englewood guides beginners through the process of creating paperweights, vases, ornaments, and other decorative pieces with all the safety gear handled. Glass blowing sits in that rare category of crafts that feels like watching magic happen and then realizing you just did it yourself. Whatever you make goes home with you. It will almost certainly become something you point out to guests.
A Few More Worth Knowing
The Front Range maker community runs deeper than any single list can capture. A few more spots worth knowing about this summer:
Clear Creek Makerspace in Wheat Ridge offers free or low-cost beginner classes in stained glass, crochet, sewing, and woodshop. It is an accessible entry point for anyone not ready to commit to a full workshop.
The Denver Tool Library lends out equipment and power tools while also running classes in woodworking, sewing, and welding.
Rosy Studio in Cherry Creek is part maker studio, part boutique, offering workshops in candles, perfume, glass lanterns, and other flower-infused home décor.
Wabi-Sabi Metals Studio in Denver runs multi-week metalworking classes focused on jewelry, such as rings, cuff bracelets, and more.
And the School of Botanical Art & Illustration at the Denver Botanic Gardens takes the whole thing outdoors, with cyanotypes, nature painting, and beaded earring classes that draw directly from the gardens themselves.
Rowdy Poppy in RiNo rounds things out with floral arrangement workshops, from flower crowns to seasonal vase arranging, rooted in locally grown, sustainable blooms.
The things you make with your hands have a way of becoming the things you love most about where you live. Not because they’re perfect, but because they carry the memory of making them. That’s a different kind of home upgrade entirely, and it’s one that lasts a lot longer than a fresh coat of paint.
Inspired by original reporting from The Denver Post. All content has been re-voiced and adapted for Nookhaven Homes.
