Design by Olma Fuentes, Deni + Dove Interiors
Photography by Raquel Langworthy
Text by Leslie Garisto Pfaff
Can a pair of modern minimalists and a traditional 1940s colonial happily coexist? Yes, apparently, if one of those minimalists is an ingenious professional designer with a knack for seamlessly blending old and new. Olma Fuentes, founder and principal designer of Deni + Dove Interiors, and her husband, Dan McElligott, loved their West Caldwell house when they bought it in 2014 but knew it would need work to bring it in line with their aesthetic sensibilities.
“It had a beautiful presence and aura and came with great bones,” Fuentes says, “but it was very dark and dated.” She could simply have demo’d it to the bare studs and given it a slickly modern makeover, but that would have wasted an opportunity to honor the house’s historic roots. She opted, instead, to keep what she calls “the best of the home’s historical charm and details” in some of the spaces and, in others, to add the kind of traditional millwork that imbues an older house with character. And she used light, color and an inspired selection of furnishings to create a genuinely modern home that’s nonetheless, in Fuentes’s words, “timeless, elegant and calming.”
Touches like the Aerin pendant lamp, the scalloped mirror from Pottery Barn and a travertine-topped occasional table give the living room a Parisian feel, as does the incorporation of the decorative chest from Safavieh.
The house was darkened not just by dated décor but also by its architecture and orientation. “It’s north-facing, with the low ceilings typical of 1940s houses, and both factors impeded the amount of natural light that filtered into it,” Fuentes says. To fill the house with light, both natural and electric, she added three new double-hung windows to the back of the living room, eschewed treatments altogether on many of the downstairs windows and installed an abundance of light fixtures, including picture lights in the family room and alabaster sconces and a white plaster chandelier in the living room.
She also chose a light, neutral color palette to create a bright, airy feel throughout. In the living room, for instance, one or another variety of white adorns walls, coffee table, fireplace surround and mantel and upholstered chairs. White also makes a strong statement in the family room, in the form of Benjamin Moore’s Simply White on the walls and built-ins and an all-white coffee table.
All-white interiors can feel chilly and sterile, but not here, thanks to small but dramatic touches of black throughout. In the living room, they include a black chain on the white pendant light, black curtain rods and a pair of black candlesticks on the fireplace hearth. “A bit of black,” Fuentes says, “always gives your room a little edge and sexiness.”
She also chose pieces that incorporate dark wood—occasional tables, a living-room chest, a console in the family room—to add warmth and make the whites around them pop. The wood floors are stained dark, as is the wood trim on the windows without treatments. “Wood tones,” says Fuentes, “are reminiscent of nature, and that makes you feel at home and puts you at ease.”
“Ease” is the perfect descriptor for the feeling that prevails in both the family and living rooms, both of which were designed with family living in mind. While the living room is slightly more formal, it’s never off limits to the couple’s daughters, Denise, 6, and 3-year-old Paloma. In fact, says Fuentes, “this is the room where we go when we need to relax and unwind.” Its modern vibe is warmed by new-old details such as dentil crown molding and, on the walls, panel molding, as well as a new wooden fireplace mantel and limestone surround. And it’s softened by a series of curves—in the sofa, the console table, several occasional tables, the sconces and a striking scalloped mirror. There’s a prettiness to the space that evokes a Paris apartment, and in fact, Fuentes notes that “I’m very inspired by European, particularly Parisian, design.”
That prettiness and those curves repeat themselves in the family room, where the family gathers to watch TV. And yes, there’s a large rectangular flat screen on the wall, but there are also round tables, an oval coffee table, a mirror whose curves evoke gentle drapery and a dramatically curved sofa. That last is a modern touch that’s utilitarian too. Says Fuentes: “I find curved seating molds into your body a little bit better.”
The room also showcases what Fuentes calls “things that are meaningful or inspiring to us,” including artwork, vases that the designer has collected over time and books that hold meaning for her and her family. And like the living room, the family room is testament to the fact that, in the hands of the right designer, a space can be very cool and very warm at the same time.
Click here to see more home design projects featured in our April/May issue.