Shadowlawn West
Westfield, NJ · Whole-Home Renovation + Addition
Before
The Home
A 1930s Colonial of about 4,000 square feet with a grand, elegant stone front — and almost everything behind it in need of renovation. The bones were unusually good: ceilings of nine feet four inches downstairs and eight feet four upstairs, which is rare in a house of that date and sets up almost every decision that follows.
Client Goal
To marry timeless and modern: keep what made the house grand and bring the rest up to how the family actually lives, with light and outdoor connection throughout. “The existing house had incredible bones and an elegant exterior,” Mike Mroz told Design NJ. “We did our best to pay homage to the roots of this home while giving it a fresh take.”
Solution
The approach taken on the front exterior is echoed through the whole house. The natural stone facade and the symmetry were kept, every window was enlarged to maximize light, and white and black were used as accents. Simple cream plaster on the additions merges streamlined modern with classic century-old design rather than imitating it. About 1,000 square feet was added, and not in one lump: a second floor over the left wing for a guest bedroom and bath, the family room and primary suite extended at the back, and the garage lengthened — so the front elevation still reads as the house that was always there.
Construction
The original staircase sat toward the back. It was relocated to the center to echo the symmetry of the exterior, and the new center staircase is both functional and sculptural, opening views of a two-story breakfast-nook window tower from across the house. Rooms that were large but disconnected were re-cut to work: a wall went in behind the refrigerator to make a butler’s pantry with a family workstation, and the long, narrow living room was divided into a sitting area and a bar by a steel-and-glass screen — separate rooms that can still talk to each other. The plan now carries family spaces, a lounge and bar, two offices, six bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a finished basement, with multiple indoor/outdoor spaces.
Design
A sleek, urban aesthetic — black metal used throughout, curated lighting — set against a classic foundation of symmetry, brick, natural woods and archways. The arches are the hinge between the two: they belong to the period and they carry the clients’ modern lines. Honed white quartzite runs across the kitchen counters and up the backsplash; the painted brick in the mudroom is new, built to read as though it had always been there. The tension between the two registers is the point, and the enlarged windows are what let the modern half breathe.
Result
A strikingly unique house filled with views of the outdoors. The center staircase and the window tower mean the daylight reaches the middle of a 5,000-square-foot plan, which is the hardest thing to achieve in a house this size. Design NJ published the project as “History Revisited” in its April/May 2023 issue.