This coveted Hudson Street residence sits right across the street from Steven’s Park in Hoboken, New Jersey, and offers up cinematic views of the neighborhood and city beyond. With shops and restaurants around the corner, and the NY Waterway ferry just a few streets over, it really is a perfect locale. However, it needed an interior update. “The residence was built in 1901, so we intended to design into a harmonious and welcoming home with a distinct Old-Meets-New curiosity,” explains interior designer Hollie Velten-Lattrell of SPACES by Hollie Velten.
She describes her clients as a delightful, close-knit, busy family with a fondness for Upstate. “They work and travel a lot and needed more storage and a pulled-together look reflecting their own styles,” she says. “Our design brief was to honor the original character while increasing the communal utility of the space. We planned to integrate the homeowners’ joyful, down-to-earth personalities with expressive color, cozy texture, and custom functionality.” Even their 9-year-old daughter was involved with the early inspiration, providing a giant mood board that included her wish list of a cozy reading spot, a fuzzy chair, and sunset-inspired colors.
Hollie’s scope of work included everything but the kitchen. The daughter’s bedroom was moved upstairs into a larger space that she could grow into, complete with a custom white-oak desk and window seat, with a bookshelf for her growing library. Her old bedroom was transformed into a home office, with an elegant custom book nook here as well. “We wanted something that felt elegant and comfortable, timeless and very much built for her,” Hollie recalls. “The office was a place we could dress up, to make her feel both productive and inspired. The Antoinette Wallpaper is a favorite. “
The dining room built-in was another incredible addition, replacing the proportions of a too-small table and too-large chairs with a better suited dining table and antique Swedish chairs, a pendant from PINCH, Nickey Kehoe sconces, and an oversized Alfred Newall bobbin mirror. “The build displayed all the family’s heirloom serveware, and barware for entertaining,” the designer shares. “The client went to the stone yard and selected a gorgeous remnant marble stone we had fabricated for the countertop.”
The biggest challenge here was the age of the house. “There were no straight lines,” Hollie laughs, citing the need to counter the slope of floors with uneven base trim to force a straight installation. “The classic Hoboken brownstone also had extremely narrow pathways, so we had to take additional measures when considering selections and delivery. Fabrication had to be done in parts, and we scheduled multiple paint touch ups.”
Customization is key to Hollie’s work, and she hopes her style is hard to define. “We always aim to create an expressive space: interiors that emote! We try to interpret the client through our language of SPACES (conversation of contrasts: masculine and feminine, decorative and sparse, etc.), always working with bespoke millwork and soft finishes.”
