Montclair Magazine Back to School 2020 | Page 18

home Midcentury Makeover Realtors reboot Fairway section home with features they say clients love most WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER PHOTO OF ILLUMINATEDHOME BY JASON MANCILLA OF FRONT DOOR PHOTOGRAPHY; ALL OTHERSBYRYAN DAMIANO OF FRONT DOOR PHOTOGRAPHY When it comes to renovating a property, who better understands the features home buyers want than the real estate agents who hear about them from their clients? This is the premise that business and life partners Irina Grobman and Susan Horowitz, agents at West of Hudson Real Estate, use to market new homes. Working with frequent collaborators Jerry Wechter and Jeremy MacDonald of Clear Mountain Builders, who on their urging purchased the ranch house at 27 Heller Dr. in Montclair, the realtors’ input guided every aspect of the six-bedroom home’s renovation, from the layout to the finishes applied and the way ithas been staged for sale. The property “has amidcentury wonderfulness that we wanted to enhance,” says Horowitz. Built in1955 on nearly two-thirds of an acre, “It’s in abeautiful neighborhood that was formerly agolf course, and there’s adifferent feel from the rest of the town,” she says. The partners preserved the original architecture while stripping the interior down to its studs to create accommodations for agracious contemporary lifestyle. PORTALFROM THE PAST (Above) Aside from a cedar closet in the second floor master bedroom, the front door is the only original element in the home, says Horowitz.“It’s a cool element, and we loved thehardware in the middle,” she says. She and Grobmanmoved the staircase, which had led upstairs from adark hallway in the back of the house, to the frontofthe first floor as away of opening up and brightening the space. The large room behind glass French doors can be used as abedroom, playroom or spacious home office. (Opposite) The living room is part of the open communal half of the first floor, across from two bedrooms and the office. > 16 BACK TOSCHOOL 2020 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE