DESIGN by JEAN HERRON DESIGN
PHOTOGRAPHY by VICTORIA ALFONZO
TEXT by MICHELLE SYLVESTER
COVID derailed a couple’s wedding but not their love story, which their new-construction Florham Park home reflects with a fresh look indicative of new beginnings.
Instead of a “mishmash” of their former styles, the man of the house says, “we wanted to get all new furnishings for the home and make it our place.” His wife—they have since tied the knot—recalls: “I was more French country, older French country, and he was more modern.”
Their new home is transitional and focused on the couple’s vision of bringing the outside in with greens and blues reminiscent of nature. There’s also a command performance by periwinkle blue, a precise hue their designer went to great lengths to obtain.
“It was important for both of us to have a place that we could call home and that resonated with both of us,” the husband says, drawing his wife’s affirmation: “It was nice to build it together.” That’s why their designer, Jean Herron of the eponymous Morristown firm, views their collaboration as “a labor of love.”
But dualing décors weren’t the only pitfall this couple hoped to avoid. They wanted their love story to reflect their tastes, and not a builder’s. Toward that end, Herron calls it “brilliant” that they brought her onboard well in advance of construction in 2021. This allowed her to visit the showroom and model homes, playing an integral part in design selections the builder would feature in this three-bedroom house, part of the Del Webb Florham Park 55+ active adult community.
The striking introduction of periwinkle blue subway tiles for the kitchen backsplash showed the extent of their willingness to depart from developer’s showroom choices, which Herron described as neutral. At first it seemed that sourcing this tile would be easy. Herron spotted it in Architectural Digest with Martyn Lawrence Bullard’s design for TV host Melissa Rivers, and within 24 hours of contacting his staff, she had “all the details.” Yet when they found the tile, it looked nothing like they imagined. This led Herron on a months-long search that ended at Nemo Tile with a periwinkle they were proud to bring home.
To further contrast the kitchen’s white modified-Shaker cabinets, Herron chose that classic black-and-white combo in the industrial-themed pendants by Hinkley, Roman shades and island stools.
Yet periwinkle was the real punch for both the kitchen and the rest of the open-format living area. “Everything revolved around the periwinkle blue,” Herron recalls. Other common threads are performance fabric and oak flooring. In the dining area, blue-and-green striped chairs covered in Thibaut fabric stay true to the color palette, while a handmade chandelier by Fredrick Ramond adds a touch of the ornate over a taupe round table.
Almost surrounded by windows, the garden room, aka the sunroom, with its pale green Bermuda Hemp wallpaper by Phillip Jeffries, is a cozy breakfast haunt with textured chairs and faux leather ottomans. Herron exploits the connection with the outdoors with natural elements from Kravet: watercolor-effect shades and sky-blue pillows resembling a field of flowers. “I spend a lot of time in the sunroom,” says the husband. “I can sit inside in nature with the greenery, and the room also affords a great view of outside.”
In the great room, periwinkle blue emerges in Stanton’s Belladonna rug as well as a woven chair beside the star of the scene: the marble fireplace, topped with a serene waterscape on a wall covered in soft-blue vintage weave.
Fuchsia is the feminine touch that distinguishes the guest bedroom, from the bright flowerpots on gray nightstands to the artwork, including framed floral wallpaper from Phillip Jeffries. Yet it’s not a departure from this home’s blue hallmark, which remains in the glass lamps, Roman shades and textured bedding.
The silver-framed flowers on the master bathroom walls again show wallpaper-inspired art. The Schumacher pattern was too large to fit the space without costly waste, so it became art complementing Phillip Jeffries’s Solstice Silk in Violet Aura on the walls. The marble-topped vanity features polished chrome handles, because Herron believes “it’s the details that elevate the space.”
Today the couple has an enduring design for which their love hasn’t cooled. “We still comment to one another that we love our house,” the husband says. “It’s just a very cozy and comfy place to come to, and everybody who’s visited us has given us lots of compliments.”
Accomplishing all their goals, from entertainment ease to comfortable guest spaces, Herron gets their seal of approval. Says the wife: “She had some nice ideas for making it unique to us.”
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