Serving 5 communities in Essex County
Interior Design Firm in Essex County, New Jersey
Full-service interior design for Essex County, from the Tudors and center-hall colonials of Short Hills and Millburn to corporate and institutional interiors in Newark.
Call (732) 933-4344 Request Consultation
Est. 1996 · ASID & IIDA Members · WBENC Woman-Owned · 500+ Clients · 3M+ Sq Ft Designed
Essex County runs from a leaded-glass Tudor to a downtown office floor. We design for both.
Interior Design in Essex County
Few counties in New Jersey hold this much contrast. Short Hills and Millburn sit among the most expensive addresses in the state, with 1920s and 1930s Tudors, brick and stucco Georgians, center-hall colonials and slate roofs on curving streets laid out well before the cars got this big. Livingston is the postwar half of the picture, colonials, ranches and splits on generous lots, many of them now torn down or doubled in size. And Newark is a real city: brick and brownstone rows in Forest Hill, the university and hospital campuses, the courts, and the office floors downtown. One county, four very different briefs.
INSABELLADESIGN has been doing this since 1996. The studio is at 160 White Road in Little Silver, and the practice covers New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Florida. Nearly thirty years in, that means more than 3 million square feet designed and over 500 clients, residential and commercial. We are ASID and IIDA members and a WBENC-certified woman-owned firm, and founder and principal Beth Insabella Walsh leads every project herself.
What an Essex County house usually needs is judgment about what to keep. The good Tudors and colonials came with quartersawn oak floors, leaded casements, plaster crown, paneled stair halls and fireplaces worth saving, and with kitchens sized for a 1928 household, one bath per floor, and closets that fit three coats. The job is to open the plan where it genuinely helps, rebuild the kitchen and baths at a modern standard, and match new millwork to old with enough care that a visitor can't tell where one stops. On the commercial side, in Newark, the brief is different and blunter: durable, professional interiors that hold up to institutional traffic.
What We Design Across Essex County
Residentially, we take on whole-home renovations, gut interiors, additions and new construction in Short Hills, Millburn, Livingston and the surrounding towns. Space planning comes first, then interior architecture: custom kitchens and butler's pantries, primary baths in honed marble or limestone, paneled libraries and studies, mudrooms, wine rooms, and custom cabinetry and millwork profiled to the period of the house. Lighting is designed room by room, which matters enormously in Tudors, where original window openings are small and the interiors run dark. Furnishings, rugs, textiles and art are specified as part of the same plan and installed together rather than trickling in over a year.
Our commercial practice covers the working side of the county. Corporate and executive office floors, law and financial suites near the Newark courts, medical, dental and specialty practices, institutional and university interiors, hospitality and retail. Each project runs the same way: space planning, custom millwork and casework, lighting design, finishes selected for heavy use and code compliance, furniture specification, and project management through occupancy. We do not offer home staging, in Millburn's resale market or anywhere else.
Communities We Serve in Essex County
- Livingston, NJ — affluent Essex County township
- Millburn, NJ — affluent Essex County township
- Montclair, NJ — Essex County arts township on the First Mountain
- Newark, NJ — New Jersey's largest city
- Short Hills, NJ — prestigious Essex County community
Why Essex County Chooses INSABELLADESIGN
- Nearly 30 years of award-winning residential & commercial design (est. 1996)
- ASID & IIDA professional members · WBENC-certified, woman-owned firm
- Full service: detailed space planning and design documentation, custom kitchens & baths, millwork, furnishing, install
- Every project led personally by founder Beth Insabella Walsh
- Trusted by the architects, builders, and trades our clients rely on
- Sourced materials, custom fabrication, and finishes held to an exacting standard
Essex County Interior Design — FAQs
Do you work on period homes in Short Hills and Millburn?
Yes. Tudors, Georgians and center-hall colonials of that era reward a designer who knows what to protect: the stair hall, the plaster and wood detail, the proportion of the original rooms. We rebuild kitchens, baths and closet systems to a modern standard and match new millwork profiles to the existing ones, so the addition or renovation reads as original rather than grafted on.
Do you take commercial and institutional projects in Newark?
We do. Newark's corporate offices, law and financial suites, medical practices and institutional interiors all sit inside our full-service commercial work. That means space planning, custom casework, lighting design, durable code-compliant finishes and furniture specification, plus project management through occupancy. Nearly thirty years of practice covers more than 3 million square feet across residential and commercial.
Can you help us stage a house before we list it in Millburn?
No, staging isn't something we do. INSABELLADESIGN is a full-service interior design firm, so the work is permanent construction and specification: space planning, custom kitchens and baths, millwork, lighting, furnishings, art and project management. If you're renovating to stay, or buying and reworking a house before you move in, that's the work.
What does full service actually include on an Essex County renovation?
Everything from the first floor plan to the last lamp. Space planning and interior architecture, custom kitchen and bath design, millwork and cabinetry drawings, lighting layouts and specification, finishes and materials, furniture, rugs, textiles and art, and management of the trades and the schedule through installation. Beth leads it, and one senior team carries the project the whole way.