home
Christmas is
for Kids (at Heart)
Family fun begins with decking the halls
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNE-MARIE CARUSO
T
he 1897 Mediterranean Estate
Section residence owned by Bridget
and David Placek looks stately
from the exterior, but the 6-foot
metal nutcracker standing guard
outside hints at the merriment of
the seasonal décor awaiting visitors inside.
Staging the interior is a family effort, inspired
and assisted by the couple’s three children
(clockwise at right, Kenzo, 3; Kai, 5; and Mika,
1). “We love the holiday season, and making the house feel
super festive,” says Bridget. A Bergen County native, she
persuaded David, from Southern California, to check out
in Montclair.
“We fell in love with this city within a suburb,” she says.
“If you’re going to find an old home with character that you
can renovate in a modern way, it’s going to be in Montclair.”
46
HOLIDAY 2017 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
STREAMLINED LIVING
After purchasing their home, the Placeks began a
gut renovation with RHG Architecture + Design and
Jack Finn & Co. Building Contractors, both located in
Montclair. The family room above constitutes one end
of a long space that continues into the kitchen and
eat-in area. The kids love naming friends and family in
the strings of holiday cards above the fireplace, says
Bridget; battery-operated “candles” (seen in the inset
photo at right) can be easily placed in, and removed
from, the fireplace. The family room table, which was made by RHG
A + D using four solid pieces of reclaimed heart pine from an old
casket factory, weighs 800 pounds. The centerpiece displayed on it
was created by Back to Nature in Basking Ridge from a hollowed-out
tree trunk that was then filled with greenery and laid over with the
Placeks’ modern, organically-shaped menorah. (The family celebrates
Hanukkah as well as Christmas.) Blooms in Hand in Montclair fash-
ioned the mercury glass and poinsettias seen on the end table, as
well as many other arrangements throughout the house.
>