Millburn-Short Hills Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 62

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A SUMMIT
STUNNER
Young designers reimagine a home
with a sophisticated sensibility
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF ANDREW FRASZ
C
entral Jersey natives Stephanie Tamayo and
Nicole Guthreau were graduates of Kean
University, with degrees in interior design,
when they worked together at Schwartz Design
Showroom in Metuchen. Both were spotted
and hired by high-end residential designers in
Summit (ML Interior Design and Valerie Grant Interiors,
respectively), and they learned by doing — a lot.
“One day we were so tired that Nicole said, ‘We should
just do this as our own business,’” Tamayo recalls. “We slept
on it, and the next day we said, ‘Let’s try it.’ We started
blogging about everything we love, and that’s how we got
our first clients in the city.”
The residence pictured in these pages was the first project
in Summit for their business, Dalliance Design. “The home-
owner admitted that she interviewed 10 designers, including
our former bosses,” Tamayo says. “Just to know that we
were working at that level was very exciting for us.”
GOOD FIT FOR THE FAMILY
The family room captures the feel the homeowner wanted: updated, yet
not fussy. “She and her husband met and fell in love in the Hamptons, and
she wanted it to feel like that — effortless,” Tamayo says. “She said she
wanted it to feel like her cozy sweater,” which is how Tamayo describes
the carpet. Tamayo and Guthreau designed the built-ins along the wall,
and provided as much seating as possible; the tufted leather ottoman
allows the family to throw their feet up and sit back. The designers found
the swivel chairs on a website for vintage furniture and recovered them.
Because the family’s two sons are young, the sofa fabric is “nuclear-proof,”
says Tamayo. And lest the room look too staid, the designers added the
initial pillows and glass vase.
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