Anything goes in Buckley’s unconventional arrangements, from vibrant yellow lemons to scavenged native flowers and grasses. Photo courtesy of Buckley House of Flowers Home

The Denver-based floral designer’s new Larimer Square pop-up shop, Buckley House of Flowers, is in full bloom this summer.

Paulina Buckley has an eye for beauty. From her start in New York where she trained as an interior designer, to a stint in Los Angeles where she discovered her love of flowers, Buckley has taken every opportunity to hone her creative instincts. When she and her Colorado-born boyfriend relocated to Denver a couple of years ago, she brought her bold floral vision to play in a whole new Rocky Mountain setting.

Now, with a fresh pop-up shop in Larimer Square, she’s sharing her unconventional arrangements and funky flair for home decor at the sweet-scented Buckley House of Flowers . Customers can drop in for a drink and a chat while they wait for their bouquet, or sign up for weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly floral creations that change with the season. Buckley House of Flowers may be small in size (measuring a mere 550 square feet), but it’s big on charm. Photo courtesy of Buckley House of Flowers 5280 Home: How did you discover your love for blooms?
Paulina Buckley: I was living in Los Angeles, working at this Moroccan-inspired furniture store, and I thought, “I want to try something new.” I stumbled upon a flower shop in Venice, and I walked in there with no experience at all; I just wanted to help them out with their reception area and customer service. When I went in for an interview, they immediately had me helping clean the flowers, cleaning the buckets, and helping walk-in customers if they needed a bouquet or an arrangement. It kind of started from there.

How did you make the transition to Colorado’s floral scene?
When I first moved to Denver, I was freelancing with a bunch of different florists in the Denver area, and then I worked at Fiori Flowers in Boulder. I loved that shop, but I knew that I wanted to make my own name, and I ended up getting a really great opportunity with Leevers Locavore, which is a grocery store in the Highland [neighborhood] that just opened up in November. I started doing flowers for them and I still sell flowers out of their space. Buckley in a whirl, carrying an armload of farm-fresh flowers. Photo courtesy of Buckley House of Flowers With COVID-19, I initially wanted to do more online deliveries, and they picked up pretty quickly. Then the property managers of Larimer Square reached out to me. They wanted to do something different and have some smaller businesses do pop-ups for a short amount of time. The opportunity came mid-June, and they said they wanted me to start my lease July 1. We were able to pull it all together, with big help from our friends and family. It was an actual village of people […]