25 Sep 2008
THREE-AND-A-HALF AGO, Susan and John Van Poznak built their dream home, “The kids were old enough that they weren’t going to destory it!” Susan says with a hearty laugh, regarding the couple’s children, Amanda, now 16, John 13, and Megan, 10. Van Poznak vowed the ground floor would not turn into Toyland, like it had in the family’s previous homes. “The first floor is mine!” she said. “I don’t want to see a toy down there.”
The Van Poznaks’ five-bedroom abode in Tenafly looks picture-perfect now. Arriving at the finished product, though, was a labor of love. Initially, Susan says, she didn’t think a decorator was in her budget, but her sister warned her that without one, she might make so many mistakes that she would have to redo – which ultimately would mean more money. Shortyl after the house’s foundation was in place, she began working with Malcolm McKinstrie of the MacLeod Design Group in Fort Lee.
Right away, McKinstrie took inventory of Susan’s style. He drew inspiration from pictures she pulled from magazines. “Just ont lamp can tell me a lod about a person,” he says. The designer also considers a client’s attire. “I say, ‘Let’s look in your closet. I want to see what you’re comfortable in, what colors you like. This helps me pick a color palette.” Susan’s tailored suits and organized closets drove home the theme of clean lines, a contrast between dark browns and creams and beiges, and an overall neutral color palette. “There’s nothing froufrou or flowery about her or her home.” he notes.
Clean lines and a lack of bright colors don’t rule out grandeur. “It’s a large home, and there’s plenty of glamour space, “McKinstrie says. The drematic foyer spans two stories, and McKinstrie tore out the paneling for the staircase walls and readjusted it to appear symmetrical and seamless. The continuous chair rail riese and lowers, adjusting to the steps and landing. Getting the paneling on the underside of the staricase to appear equally spaced was also a challenge because the staricase is a floating double helix with noo level lines. McKinstrie was up to the challenge.
He worked some magic on the ceiling of the garnet-and-brown billiards room, to. “The rrom is not a perfect rectangle,” he explains, “so the ceiling’s beams don’t line up on a grid.” Susan wanted a coffered and beamed ceiling, which he accomplished by setting a symmetrical rectangle on the ceiling to mirror the billiards table. He then set a soffit around the perimeter. “There;s the illusion that it’s centred. even though it’s not,” he says.
At points, Susan tried to relinquish control to McKinstrie- for instance, when it came time for picking the art – but he urgerd her to trust her instincts and just let him act as a guide. He helped her stop and think about the items she was selecting, including tiles, light fixtures, and furniture. For instance, she had picked out kitchen tiles before she met with him. “These are beautiful,” he told her, “but you don’t like fancy and ornate.”