Photography by Anne Matheis
When interviewing interior designers to help them rethink and refine the look of their Town & Country home, Maureen and Howard Weiser had no problem winnowing the crowd. When one candidate toyed with tearing out yards of stacked crown moldings—like the house itself, all of 12 years young—Mrs. Weiser remembers thinking, “Are you out of your mind?!” When another prospect mused over the possibilities of purple and black lacquers, “I couldn’t get her out of here fast enough.”
After a while, the couple began to get a bit frantic about what to do with the home they bought seven years ago, when they moved here from Southern California. Most of the main level had been painted a pale pink—and Mrs. Weiser was “over it.”
Then a friend referred them to Pamela Calvert, who at the time was working for Edwin Pepper Interiors (and is now with The Lawrence Group). The two women bonded over a mutual fondness for beautiful furnishings; Mrs. Weiser knew she’d found the pro to revive her house, already awash in natural light and rife with possibilities.
At the outset, Ms. Calvert knew her choices needed to be informed by both of the Weisers’ styles. “Howard’s tastes are more contemporary, and mine are more traditional,” Mrs. Weiser says. And of course, there was the matter of the children—Max, 9, and Annie, 7. “Keeping them happy was obviously a huge consideration,” Mrs. Weiser says. A final factor was the couple’s love of entertaining—from casual pig roasts to fancy holiday fêtes. In the end, all three considerations would define the décor: contemporary but accessible, stylish but unfussy.
To realize that approachable-yet-elegant motif, Ms. Calvert assembled color palettes and design elements that celebrate the open layout of the 6,000-square-foot home.
The kitchen is divided into an island and cooking basics on one side, a cozy TV nook on the other. The area has ample seating; bay windows afford vistas of the couple’s back yard. “We spend so much time in here, it has to be as bright as can be,” Mrs. Weiser says. “So it has to be yellow.”
Window treatments in the kitchen were kept to a minimum. “We wanted to bring the outdoors in; we didn’t want to cover these great windows,” Ms. Calvert says. Consequently, she chose mock-Roman valances that hang just below the windows’ top edge.
Throughout the house, Ms. Calvert managed to use windows to convey the unrestricted vibe the Weisers wanted. In the great room, with its 20-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows, “I wanted something translucent that allows beautiful indirect lighting,” Ms. Calvert says. To achieve that effect, she chose sheers that cover the entire length of the windows. “You can see the sky and the stars at night through the sheers—especially when the moon is full—but they still offer privacy.”
The lower level is light-years from a basement and a vast improvement on the rathskeller of years past. The space was raw—about 2,000 square feet of two-by-fours—when Ms. Calvert first saw it. But like the level above, the partially sub-grade space had its share of windows. Now the area houses Mr. Weiser’s den, a bar/lounge and television area, and a playroom.
To get what they needed, Ms. Calvert didn’t hesitate to rip out a closet and knock down or simply punch holes in a couple of walls.
Take the den. “Howard works from home, so he had to have a work space that feels open and airy,” Ms. Calvert says. “We basically just knocked out spaces for extra windows in his office. Having two walls of windows, especially on a corner, made a huge difference.”
In the bar and lounge area, Ms. Calvert gutted a space meant for a closet and put in upholstered booth seating and a table.
She also used the two walls separating the kids’ playroom from the television area and bar. Ms. Calvert designed and oversaw the construction of two 6-foot partial walls and cut out wide openings in them. “They’re great,” Mrs. Weiser says. “They give the room an airy feel, and they don’t shut the kids off when they’re in the playroom. I’m a mom. I like to know what they’re up to.”
By knowing precisely what they wanted, the Weisers made Ms. Calvert’s job so much easier. Bottom line: They wanted “something inviting with a classy elegance. You could also call it transitional, but it has to be approachable.” With Ms. Calvert, it was not only doable … it’s done.
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A simple shelving system in the living room lets the Weisers jazz things up every season. Ms. Calvert designed a simple grid of 8- by 8-inch wood shelves—three down and four across—hanging the bottom row just inches from the floor.
The Weisers color-coordinate the display depending on the time of year. “During the holidays, we put out all red glassware, and during the winter, we use silver-toned,” Mrs. Weiser says. Right now, the shelves hold brightly colored glass.
Ms. Calvert notes that swapping out the displays doesn’t have to cost a fortune. She shopped for these glass pieces at HomeGoods. The shelves, also affordable, came from the mail-order catalogue Exposures (exposuresonline.com).
