DESIGN by MARIA BOWERS, BDESIGN’D
PHOTOGRAPHY by MEGHAN BALCOM
TEXT by RICHARD LALIBERTE
It’s not an unusual requirement, but it was especially important for John and Marcy Harrobin of Warren. He travels for his job and she works long hours; if they were going to undertake a home renovation, they needed to find a designer who could be relied upon to execute their vision with little onsite input. They checked that box when they found Maria Bowers of BDesign’d.
“Now that our kids are older, we wanted to create a more functional space for adults and adult children to hang out and enjoy time together,” John says.
As the couple worked with Bowers, additional priorities emerged. A fondness for wine and entertaining dictated a more sophisticated bar than the one they had. And John envisioned easily adapting the space for work. “We wanted to create an atmosphere that was the best of both worlds,” Bowers says.
Certain defining features already were in place. A vaulted brick ceiling that reached about 9 feet at its apex gave the space character and dimension. Existing wood flooring wasn’t touched. “It didn’t feel like a quintessential basement,” Bowers says. Still, she adds, “they were looking for a full refresh with sleek finishes and a lot of texture.”
A key consideration, John says, was “how to create a bar area without making it too bar-y, if you know what I mean.”
With contractor Chris Tyukody, Bowers tore out the old bar and added expanses of dark custom cabinetry by Imperial Cabinetry of Edgewater, including a tall, SubZero refrigerator and an under-counter wine fridge along with dedicated storage for items like wine glasses. Cabinets are topped by light, elegantly veined quartzite counters from Best Tile & Wood of Flemington—all bracketing a window that provides the area’s only natural light. Leather-seated bar stools from Wayfair swivel and height-adjust. “They’re super-comfortable,” Bowers says.
Open shelving and exposed walls help keep the bar setting airy and allow displays of artwork along with family mementoes.
For an adjacent seating area, Bowers ordered a modern, customized, German-made coffee table with a motor that can raise the surface to desk height for work. Seating consists of four chairs that can be moved around easily for social conversation or business meetings.
Bowers enclosed the space under the staircase, adorning the new wall in blue tile. Cabinetry built into the understairs space includes a pullout liquor storage rack. For even more texture, Bowers added a column of stone tile near the stairs along with geometric cutouts in the wall featuring insets of matching stone.
An electric fireplace built into the staircase wall adds visual and visceral warmth. “John does a lot of Zoom calls, and we wanted a cool background,” Bowers says.
In a nearby bathroom, Bowers replaced traditional cabinets with new ones similar to the bar’s but featuring a granite countertop on a floating sink unit. Sleek new tubular lights from Shades of Light echo fixtures in the bar area. She also created a dog bath for the couple’s goldendoodle. A guest room got new cabinets along with a pullout sofa.
“We love the results,” John says. Pointing to details such as drawers perfectly organized for bar supplies, he calls the design “super-functional, with everything in its place.”