Sunset Hues Shape A Bespoke New Jersey Family Home

For Indian families, entertaining often takes a different shape than sitting around a formal dining table. So, to suit the Sinhas’ convivial gathering style at their Short Hills, New Jersey, new build, designers Barette Widell and Christina Boschetti collaborated closely with their clients to create an effortlessly elegant home with spaces to congregate that are more akin to a “chic hotel lounge,” according to Widell.

Neema and Neil Sinha and their two children relocated from Hoboken to the suburbs, where a flagpole lot that backs onto a wooded reservation became the site of their dream home. With very specific ideas about how the family would use the spaces, the couple worked with architect Timothy P. Klesse and general contractor Etai Har-El to formulate the layout for this ground-up construction, and Widell and Boschetti stepped in to transform the interiors into a bespoke sanctuary.

While the home appears to be a typical Colonial Revival when viewed from the driveway, the sunset hues and soft textures that adorn the spaces inside are unexpected. In the reimagined dining room, where banquette seating and drinks tables replace a traditional setup, the wallpaper depicts a landscape in shades of purple—a color that Neema gravitates toward. “We did a lot of experiments with different tones on the walls and really tailored them to her vision,” Widell recollects. Meanwhile, chains of illuminated crystalline beads are draped from the ceiling, arranged to appear “undone and organic, similar to what you find in nature,” Neema describes.

The kitchen offers another example of showstopping design. “The island is humongous,” exclaims Widell, who chose a statement marble that subtly pulls in more earthy purple shades to top the counters. In the adjacent pantry, a plum hue is applied to lower cabinet fronts, while upper storage is hidden behind fluted glass panels framed with patinated brass. All of these spaces, plus a bar area accessed from the dining room through an arched doorway, are interconnected so that the family and their guests can easily flow among them.

While the dining room, kitchen and family room are public facing, a separate breakfast lounge toward the back of the house, encompassing a seating area with plush rugs and sculptural seating as well as a cozy built-in banquette, provides an oasis of peace. “Drinking my morning coffee and enjoying the views of the changing seasons in the backyard is one of my absolute favorite things to do,” Neema muses.

Meanwhile, at the front of the residence, Neema was adamant that she did not want to see the staircase from the front door, because it “disrupts the energy” upon entry, as she describes it. Instead, visitors are welcomed into the double-height foyer by a Maximilian Rödel painting that the designers sourced at Art Basel and a contorted light sculpture overhead. The white oak steps swoop backward and over the doorway in a fluid gesture, achieved with a white oak handrail that blends with the Venetian plaster finish on the stairwell and walls. “The design intent is for this unstructured form to transpose within a relatively structured, rectangular plan,” Klesse offers.

Upstairs, in the primary suite, the home’s signature sherbet hues continue. Against a backdrop of cream velvet walls, purple returns once again in the drapes and shades, while a paler purple velvet wraps an Alaskan king bed that “you can fit an entire football team on,” Widell jokes. In the adjoining bathroom, dramatic lilac marble lines the floors and counters. “With those tones, this is definitely a happy place, but also very serene,” the designer adds.

While color and scale create impact throughout the residence, the interiors feel soft and sensual to provide balance and an overall feeling of calm. As Neema reiterates, the combination of subtle textures and soothing earth tones inspired by nature, with plenty of pink and purple to evoke the setting of the sun, provides a true sanctuary for the family—and extended family, too.

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