Design by Pam Cooper, Cooper Interiors
Photography by Vic Wahby Photography
Text by Richard Laliberte
The house was a blank slate. When homeowner Rashmi and her husband, Hemant, bought a fivebedroom, 4,500-square-foot colonial home on 1.5 acres in Warren, its walls were expressionless white. Few architectural flourishes or fixtures distinguished its spaces. And, moving from a much smaller home, the couple and their adult son brought little furniture to fill the rooms.
“We wanted an interior designer to help make our dreams come true,” says Rashmi, who had worked in fashion design and interior decoration in her native India and the U.S. The couple found the perfect partner in Pamela Cooper, owner of Cooper Designs in Watchung. “Pam was warm, inviting and easygoing,” Rashmi says.
“We loved her from the beginning.”
Their relationship deepened over a two-year collaboration that transformed the entire house into the couple’s “forever home,” Cooper says. “I don’t think there’s a room I didn’t touch.” Her challenge was creating a consistent, elegant and timeless design that threaded throughout the home while making rooms distinct.
“We wanted sophisticated spaces that felt luxurious but also comfortable for both us and guests,” says Rashmi, whose father was deputy prime minister and chief minister of her home state in India when she was growing up in the 1970s.
But where to start? “In most rooms—certainly in the living and dining rooms—the jumping-off point was the rugs,” Cooper says. She purchased hand-knotted wool or wool/silk floor coverings from The Rug Company in Fairfield. “Their patterns grounded each space, and I worked from their color palettes.”
For key living and dining spaces situated on either side of the front entrance, Cooper chose a blue palette that visually links the rooms. In between, Cooper enhanced a bridge of neutrals in the foyer and stairs with millwork, a Pakistani rug, a chest, an antelope-patterned stair runner, second-floor wallpaper and an eye-catching custom chandelier of colored crystals from American Brass & Crystal. “The chandelier is one of the best parts of the design,” Rashmi says. “Visitors love it.”
In the living room, Cooper added visual interest and sophistication through smaller patterns in two chairs from Sherrill Furniture and trim for custom drapery panels from Fabric Collection in North Plainfield. For balance, she included a solid blue chair and a neutral sofa that harmonizes with wallcoverings of textured grass cloth. A curio cabinet by Hickory White pops with congruent colors from objects the couple has collected in their international travels.
Both the living and dining rooms feature touches of gold in furnishings such as hammered metal legs that form branchlike, organic lines in the living room’s solid blue chair and tables.
Bedrooms were adapted to purposes, including a guest room and a lounge for the couple’s son. The master-bedroom design builds on a luxurious bed by Lexington Home Brands and bedding by Eastern Accents, with additional furniture from Bernhardt. Cooper commissioned New Jersey artist Grace Sharpe to create a custom, hand-painted mural behind the bed. “The master bedroom is absolutely one of my favorite spaces,” Rashmi says.
“They were wonderful clients,” Cooper says. “It gives me great pleasure to give this lovely family beautiful spaces that make them smile.”