DESIGN by DANA HUNKELE, PLUME INTERIORS
PHOTOGRAPHY by KYLE CALDWELL
TEXT by NAYDA RONDON
Sorority Sisters always come through for one another. So when a fellow Sigma Kappa from their Rutgers years together reconnected, asking Dana Hunkele of Caldwell-based Plume Interiors for decorating advice, the designer pledged to give her best.
When they moved into their 1970s Madison colonial in 2008, the couple—expecting the first of the three children they have now—found design considerations taking a back seat to demanding careers and a growing family. “To their credit, they spent almost nothing on their home for over a decade so they could do it ‘right’ just once,” Hunkele says.
family/living area.
By 2019, that time had finally come. Confronted with increasingly faulty, outdated spaces cluttered with “stuff,” the homeowners decided to commission construction updates with a little design consultation here and there. Cue Hunkele, who was initially invited to help select hardware for a kitchen remodel already underway. But sensing that the homeowners—in the beginning stages of several projects—were a bit overwhelmed, she couldn’t resist contributing additional suggestions.
“From day one, Dana proactively offered many creative ideas and new perspectives,” the wife says.
Soon the homeowners were green-lighting Hunkele’s vision of “today’s traditional with a twist: fresh, fun, bold, fanciful in some cases—classic and sophisticated in others. Mixing patterns, colors and shapes along with pieces with meaning gave us the look we were going for,” she says.
Hunkele was entrusted with designing every room of the 3,400-square-foot home. Most were refreshes with all new furnishings, layouts, fixtures, etc. The primary bedroom and bathroom were complete renovations. There was also a 450-square-foot addition: a full bath, a multifunctional space and the wife’s office.
“Working on something of this magnitude was a joy!” says Hunkele. “We were on a roll, and it was super rewarding seeing things taking shape.”
Then COVID hit in 2020, complicating progress. Adding to the challenges, the wife, a Pfizer executive, was laser-focused on rolling out a lifesaving vaccine, not on decorating concerns. Luckily, she had Hunkele on her side. “Dana somehow brought it all to life,” she says.
Undaunted, Hunkele and her team kept to the prime directive: creating timeless spaces where design and function could live happily together. “We discussed how each room would work for the family’s living/entertaining needs,” says the designer. “This was most important for them. With three kids and two dogs, performance fabrics were a must.”
The homeowners, who live on a kid-filled cul-de-sac where families frequently socialize, requested an open-concept living/family space for hosting multigenerational groups of 15+ neighbors in practical style. They wanted two distinct zones—one with an adult, lounge-like vibe, the other for more family- and kid-friendly interactions—that could function independently or together. So Hunkele chose an Austin two-piece sectional in JF Fabrics Silken high-performance fabric, a Vanguard Donya bench and two velvet-upholstered Century accent chairs. The weathered leather coffee table and Camille side table are great for holding cocktails or TV-night snacks, while the custom, built-in window bench provides seating and out-of-sight storage. The Four Hands Sirius table in antique brass, one of several throughout the home, easily moves as needed for entertaining. For cohesiveness, Hunkele embraced both areas with wall moldings. She used Benjamin Moore’s Coastal Fog but switched things up by using matte on walls, shiny on trims; Camille wall sconces were repeated throughout.
As for the living/family space, Hunkele designed the dining room’s cabinetry. Commanding one wall, the built-in encompasses glass-fronted storage towers on both ends, while the buffet section’s paneling conceals an icemaker, a wine fridge, a fridge/freezer and serveware drawers. The white quartz backsplash functions as a built-in serving table. The Corbett Lighting Featherette chandelier “adds fun and unexpected drama to the formal space.” And Benjamin Moore’s Notting Hill Blue packs the pièce de résistance wow.
In the primary bedroom, ivory Lee Jofa wallpaper pampers the walls as a neutral Phillip Jeffries grass cloth on the 13-foot ceiling imparts coziness. The solid maple king poster bed is upholstered in a sumptuous Villa Nova Koji reversible weave. The Window Works treatments feature custom jute-woven Roman shades topped with decorative relaxed Romans in Gaston Y Daniela’s Tarsila Verde fabric. On either side of the bed, matching custom dressers feature antique bronze metal legs, Amate drawer faces and tops/sides painted with Benjamin Moore Cushing Green. The antique brass wall sconces sport customized shades using the same Gaston Y Daniela fabric. The headboard’s geometric quilting provides rich texturing on a buttery chenille surface while the bolster’s bold graffiti print creates tension in an otherwise traditional design. At the foot of the bed, the CR Laine bench beckons in Agave Boxwood fabric.
Whether in intimate areas such as the home’s four bedrooms or in social hotspots like the family/living section and dining room, the spaces—completed in December 2022—now perfectly reflect the fun-loving, hard-working young family.
“The whole process was a lot, but it was so worth it!” the wife says. “We love our house even more post Dana’s work.”
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