A couple wanted to make their new South Orange townhome lively and attractive for entertaining—without stealing the spotlight from the paintings they sought to display.
Text by Donna Rolando
Design by James Yarosh
Photography by Patricia Burke
Great interior design surely needs an artist’s touch, but what if it doubles as a showcase for actual art? That was the challenge art collectors Marsha and Bruce Baldinger faced.
Marsha recalls how a “big lifestyle change” had just swept them from a 6,500-square-foot custom house in bucolic New Vernon to a townhome in vibrant South Orange. What prompted them to follow their four adult children and leave their “nest” in 2016? “We lived in 25 percent of the house,” says Marsha. “It was ridiculous.” Their new townhome, she explains, would be “created around what we like”—including a vast array of artwork, some of it the prized abstract paintings of a great uncle—all quite close to the New York City theaters and museums they love. The problem: “Everything was essentially beige; there was no color to the house, no design,” she says. “And because there was a lot of open space, we wanted to have a master plan.”
Marsha had never forgotten artist James Yarosh and a painting she and Bruce had purchased from him at the Blairsden Mansion Designer Showcase some years ago. She’d pore over his newsletters and loved his approach to designing homes as the perfect backdrop for art. But since she and Bruce didn’t plan to buy new furniture—just to reupholster—the Baldingers had to wonder: Would Yarosh share their enthusiasm? Lucky for them, he likes a challenge, and here it was: 5,000 square feet of oversized rooms that would dwarf typical furniture arrangements. His dramatic design said “Bye-bye, beige!” by tapping into the rainbow for bold shades such as deep orange for the sitting room, a rich gray for the two-story entrance foyer (carrying your eye to the living room’s creams and reds) and vibrant greens in the master bedroom. While a monochromatic approach would have confined such colors to an accent wall, Yarosh was courageous enough to spread the magic. Yet he cautions: “It may seem like a free-for-all—you get to have all that color—but you have to make it harmonious or it will take away from the artwork. It will be the star.”
When it came to the décor, again, he wanted no aesthetic “drama queens” to steal the limelight from the art. “You wrap the house in beauty,” says Yarosh. “However, there is a singular mission: to let art be the final focus.”
In the living room, the designer used fine materials from around the world for the back-to-back sitting areas—for example, the silk pillows from France for the oxblood-red silk-and-velvet couch resting upon a red-and-orange geometric rug from Milan. For designers, it was like a who’s who of the best and brightest. “We designed the home knowing we love to entertain and didn’t want a formal dining room,” says Marsha, who much prefers the expanded living room, which, along with the two-story grand foyer, can accommodate 70 guests for at-home jazz concerts.
Yarosh adds: “The deep gray foyer, filled with chairs and ascending stairwells, becomes its own private amphitheater.”
The couple also followed their tastes by abandoning the traditional breakfast nook off the kitchen in favor of a more intimate sitting area that draws its cozy feel from a custom bookcase. (For Marsha, books are as precious as art.) Dark-orange mohair chairs create a starburst pattern around the crewel-patterned ottoman on a sheared American hooked rug, while a blown-glass chandelier introduces its own spectrum of colors. This area has become their go-to place to start the day with a cup of java and the morning news.
The master bedroom suggests romance with an abstract tulip design on the upholstered bed but “it’s still a very strong room,” says Yarosh. Though purples and burgundy flow through the décor, “green is the base, nature’s neutral,” he explains. Other highlights include a large ceiling quatrefoil medallion, wallpaper by Hermès and a gallery cluster of paintings.
This townhome’s décor makes a stunning impression in its supporting role, but the art takes center stage.