Serving Montclair, New Jersey
Interior Design Firm in Montclair, NJ
Full-service, founder-led interior design for the Victorians, Tudors and Craftsman houses of Upper Montclair, the Estate Section and the streets below the First Mountain.
Call (732) 933-4344 Request Consultation
Est. 1996 · ASID & IIDA Members · WBENC Woman-Owned · 500+ Projects · 3M+ Sq Ft Designed
Interior Design in Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair has better architecture than towns three times its size. Climb from Bloomfield Avenue toward the First Mountain and the housing stock changes every few blocks: Queen Anne Victorians with wraparound porches and leaded glass, stone-and-stucco Tudors with slate roofs, Craftsman houses with box-beam ceilings and quartersawn oak, Shingle-style piles in the Estate Section, and blocks of Colonial Revivals around Watchung Plaza and Upper Montclair that were built when builders still knew how to run a cornice. Very little here is generic, and almost nothing forgives a lazy interior.
The people are a match for the houses. Montclair draws media, film, publishing, design and creative professionals along with the executives who take the Midtown Direct twelve miles into Manhattan. The Montclair Art Museum has been showing American art here since 1914; the Montclair Film Festival fills the Wellmont every autumn. This is a design-literate audience. They can tell the difference between a millwork profile that belongs to the house and one that was ordered from a catalog, and they notice.
Neighborhoods we serve: Upper Montclair · Estate Section · Frog Hollow · South End · Watchung Plaza · Upper Mountain Avenue
Holmdel, NJ
Holmdel Residence
View project
Princeton, NJ
Princeton Residence
View project
Colts Neck, NJ
Colts Neck Residence
View project
Luxury Residential Interior Design in Montclair
The classic Montclair brief is a serious old house that no longer works the way the family lives. A warren of small rooms behind a beautiful facade. A kitchen tucked at the back where the servants' stair used to be. A primary bedroom with no bath worth the name. We start with space planning, because that is where the real gains are: relocating the kitchen to the light, opening the right two walls and leaving the other four alone, reworking a butler's pantry into genuine storage, finding the square footage for a proper primary suite without bolting a stranger onto the back of a Victorian.
Then the detail work, which is what makes or breaks a house of this vintage. We draw custom millwork to match the existing profiles rather than approximate them: paneled wainscot, picture rails, coffered and box-beam ceilings, casework built into the awkward bays and inglenooks that old plans are full of. Custom cabinetry in painted poplar or rift-cut and quartersawn oak. Honed marble and soapstone where a polished slab would look wrong. Tile fireplace surrounds, plaster finishes, unlacquered brass, and a lighting plan drawn room by room, because nine-foot ceilings and dark woodwork need layered light, not more cans.
- Whole-home renovation
- Historic Victorian & Tudor interiors
- Custom kitchens
- Spa primary baths
- Custom millwork & cabinetry
- Lighting design
- Furnishings & art
- Additions with your architect
Call (732) 933-4344 Request a Consultation
Commercial Interior Design in Montclair
Montclair's commercial fabric is unusually good for a suburb: independent restaurants and retail along Bloomfield Avenue and Church Street, galleries and studios, boutique professional offices, private medical and dental practices, and creative businesses run by people who moved out of the city and brought their standards with them. We design those interiors the way we design the houses, with space planning first, then custom millwork, lighting and finishes chosen to survive daily use without looking commercial.
Corporate
Tricon Corporate
View project
Corporate
Designer Greetings
View project
The INSABELLADESIGN Difference
Beth Insabella Walsh leads every project. Not the first meeting and then a handoff, but the drawings, the millwork profiles, the finish schedule and the installation. She founded the firm in 1996 and has designed more than three million square feet for over five hundred clients since. That direct involvement is rare at this level, and it is the main reason so much of our work comes from referrals and repeat clients rather than advertising.
Behind Beth is a bench we have kept for decades: millworkers, cabinetmakers, plaster and paint artisans, upholsterers, lighting suppliers and installers who know what we will accept. On a Montclair Tudor or a Craftsman with original oak, that continuity is the whole game, because the finish work is what you actually live with. We are ASID and IIDA professional members and a WBENC-certified woman-owned business, and we carry a project from the first walkthrough to the last piece of art hung.
Selected Work
Projects from our portfolio closest to Montclair in both location and character.
Holmdel Residence
Holmdel, NJ. An ASID Silver Award winning primary suite renovation in a substantial family residence.
View project
Princeton Residence
Princeton, NJ. A transitional renovation blending older architectural character with cleaner lines and updated function.
View project
Tricon Corporate
Corporate. Executive conference and office environments designed to support professional collaboration.
View project
View Residential Portfolio View Commercial Portfolio
I've had the privilege of working with Beth Insabella on several homes throughout the past 25+ years. Beth has impeccable taste and with her talented team, each project was a testament to her firm's creativity, expertise, attention to detail and professionalism. Whether starting with a blank slate or repurposing existing furnishings with new fabrics and colors, INSABELLADESIGN delivers stunningly beautiful, yet highly functional spaces, specifically tailored to the client's needs. I look forward to our next collaboration!
30+ Years of Experience
500+ Projects Completed
3M+ Sq Ft Designed
98% Client Satisfaction
How a Project Works
1. Start with a conversation
A consultation at our Little Silver studio or your property. We talk through the space, the scope, how you live or work in it, and what you want the finished project to accomplish. No obligation, and you will always be speaking with Beth.
2. Design and decisions
Space planning, materials, millwork and cabinetry design, lighting, and furnishings developed into one coherent plan, with drawings and documentation your contractor and trades can actually build from.
3. We carry it to the finish
We coordinate the trades, manage orders and timelines, and stay on the project through installation and styling, so you get a completed space rather than a plan left for you to assemble.
About 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
Nearby Areas We Serve
Part of our Essex County interior design service area.
Montclair Interior Design FAQs
Do you work on Montclair's older Victorian, Tudor and Craftsman homes?
Yes, and they are among the most rewarding projects we take. We match existing millwork profiles rather than approximate them, keep the details worth keeping, and rebuild the parts of the plan that no longer work, including kitchens, baths and primary suites. Where a house needs more than a refresh, we open walls, move plumbing and mechanicals and reset the interior architecture from the framing out.
Can you modernize a Montclair kitchen without making it look wrong in an old house?
That is most of the work. We use custom cabinetry drawn to the room rather than stock boxes, keep the proportions and hardware in the right register, and choose materials like honed marble, soapstone and unlacquered brass that age with the house instead of fighting it. The appliances, storage and lighting are entirely current; the room simply does not announce it.
Does INSABELLADESIGN do home staging in Montclair?
No. We are a full-service interior design firm, not a staging company. Our work is designing interiors for people who intend to live in or operate the space, covering space planning, custom kitchens and baths, millwork, lighting, furnishings, art and project management.
Will Beth Insabella Walsh be personally involved in my Montclair project?
Yes. Beth leads every project the firm takes, reviewing the drawings, millwork details, finishes and furnishings herself and staying through installation. Clients who have worked with larger firms usually tell us the biggest difference is having one steady principal instead of a rotating bench of associates.
How far is Montclair from your studio, and how does that work in practice?
Our studio is in Little Silver, New Jersey, and Montclair is a straightforward drive up the Parkway. We work throughout New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Florida and travel to every site we design, so meetings, walkthroughs, trade coordination and installation days are all handled in person. Distance has never been the constraint; scope and schedule are.
Start a Project in Montclair
If you own a house in Montclair that deserves better than it is getting, we would welcome the conversation. Bring us the Victorian with the unworkable kitchen, the Tudor with the dark center hall, the Estate Section house that needs a full interior rebuild, or the new commercial space on Bloomfield Avenue. We will walk it with you, tell you honestly what it wants, and give you a clear scope and proposal before anyone commits. Call 732-933-4344 or email info@insabelladesign.com to schedule a consultation with Beth and our senior team.
(732) 933-4344 info@insabelladesign.com
Serving Montclair, Essex County, and communities throughout New Jersey