Michele Crocco and her husband weren’t “living in the past,” but they felt stuck in it anyway. A decade ago, as thirtysomethings, they moved into a Clifton townhouse that still had the fixtures and design elements from when it was built in the mid-1990s. The home was outdated, but for various reasons the couple was unable to update the interior—until last year, when Crocco met North Caldwell-based designer Eric Schmidt.
“From the layout to the furniture, everything was outdated and didn’t match their style at all,” Schmidt says. “They really wanted to put their own imprint on this.”
One problem was that the two-bedroom, three-level townhouse lacked clarity and a sense of direction. The entry foyer caused “a bit of confusion because you didn’t know where to go,” the designer recalls, noting that three sets of stairs lead to different parts of the house—the living area, bedrooms and garage. Large windows in the small kitchen and dining room opened to a magnificent valley view, but the furniture arrangement put everyone’s backs to the panorama. A lackluster fireplace and a builder-grade powder room also begged for a redo.
Schmidt was hired to renovate. In the foyer, which he admits was the biggest challenge, he enclosed the staircase leading to the garage “so you didn’t feel the need to go that way.” The other stairs were outfitted with glass railings, a feature that invites visitors to ascend to the bedrooms or walk down toward the living space and kitchen. And after flipping through a handful of neutral-colored carpet samples for the stairs, the Croccos went with a pattern more indicative of their lively personalities: leopard print.
“The carpet really shows who the clients are,” Schmidt says. “That’s the kind of thing that makes renovation fun.”
Most of the five months’ work was concentrated on the lower level. In the kitchen, Schmidt installed an extra-wide 11-foot marble peninsula to give ample space to prepare food, enjoy an intimate meal or set up a grand buffet for entertaining. He also gave flexibility in the dining room, surrounding the large dining table with two end chairs and a custom-cushioned bench—all with an unobstructed view of the valley below.
“I didn’t want them having six or eight empty chairs in the dining room,” Schmidt says. “That would clutter the space and detract from the view.”
The designer revived the old “elephant” in the living room, an aging and underwhelming gas fireplace, giving it new vent stacks and a facelift. He decorated it with marble tile and used a veneer wood covering with a chevron pattern for the upper portion. Schmidt also furnished the cozy living space with custom cabinets and a bar, club chairs and a plush Chesterfield-style sofa, and coffee and end tables. And he opened the living room with a wall window looking into the kitchen. The basic white walls of an adjacent powder room were revamped with a refreshing wall covering of hand-painted plaster.
“I wanted to give them a home with clean and open sight lines,” says the designer. “It has much more of an open feel now, rather than being compartmentalized. There is more flow and direction.”