To Hollywood power couple Ruben Fleischer and Holly Shakoor Fleischer’s 10,000 square feet Tudor Revival home in Montclair, New Jersey—which was built in 1908 and had previously served as a designer showhouse—we added a sense of cohesion, stripping out some newer elements that had been added over the years, to focus on the building’s original details. We lightened up the formal living room with sculptural furniture, like an asymmetrical velvet-covered boomerang sofa atop a shaggy patchwork Moroccan rug. In the dining room, we resurfaced the fireplace surround with custom watery-blue glazed tile, painted the original woodwork deep midnight blue, and added floral wallpaper that played off the Kehinde Wiley painting that we hung in the room. Then, because the family loves playing together, we created a video arcade for their vintage machines, an art-making room, and a Lego-building room, in addition to his-and-hers offices.
Studio DB did so right by this house. I cannot praise them enough for maintaining some of the original architectural details which look soooo incredible juxtaposed against the modern design scheme. Taking the history of the home seriously but not THAT seriously. Photos: Matthew Williams; Styling Lili Diallo.
