Our goal with every issue of NJ HOME (and every newsletter like this one!) is to show you some seriously gorgeous rooms and homes designed by professionals in New Jersey—essentially, the “after” of the before and after that will serve as inspiration for your own space. But what we don’t always talk about is […]
Art With A Heart
The purpose of art, artist Pablo Picasso once said, “Is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” And his words still ring true—though he never foresaw the dark days of the recent pandemic and just how dusty we’d all get. So it was that designer Anna Maria Mannarino of Mannarino Designs Inc. in […]
A House That Speaks Softly
It was a blank slate—a designer’s dream, and the perfect new start for Sean and Jin Xu, their 15-year-old daughter and their 11-year-old son. The Xus bought the new build in Upper Saddle River in 2021 and enlisted Wyckoff-based designer Jennifer Pacca to make it the family home they’d long envisioned. “They wanted a contemporary […]
Grand Kitchen For GrandKids
Berkeley Heights empty-nesters Judi and Matt Sills faced a challenge: how to make their home more welcoming for their expanding family. With both grown sons living several hours away, they wanted to make weekend and holiday visits more enticing, especially for their twin toddler granddaughters. Their gathering place had traditionally been the kitchen, but that […]
Triumph Of Illusion
Looks can be deceiving, and that’s exactly what an Asbury Park designer counted on as he worked to conquer aesthetic flaws in a 125-year Rumson colonial with a bit of illusion. True, this reno was largely comfort-driven—a decision born during COVID. Today the couple are soon to be empty nesters, with the youngest son off […]