Interior Designer in Montclair, NJ

Interior designer services for Montclair's early 1900s houses

Our interior designer services in Montclair suit owners of the town's older single-family houses who want the rooms to fit how they live now. The same township survey describes these houses as two or three stories, with large front porches and Queen Anne, Craftsman, or Colonial Revival styling.

Floor plans from that era were laid out for another kind of family life. Parlors, separate dining rooms, and small kitchens rarely match a household that cooks, works, and studies in the same few rooms.

Household size adds pressure. Census QuickFacts puts Montclair at 2.54 people per household for 2020 to 2024. A first floor has to hold homework, meals, guests, and a home office, sometimes in a single afternoon.

A common assumption holds that an older house needs period furniture to feel right. Our residential interior design projects point the other way. At Freedman House, the family's mid-century pieces sit beside new walnut built-ins, and the existing maple floors were refinished light gray.

Can an interior designer update an early 1900s Montclair house?

Yes. An interior designer can rework the plan, storage, and finishes of an early 1900s house and still keep what gives it character, such as its original wood floors. At Freedman House we refinished the existing maple floors. Structural changes need an architect or engineer, and owners in a historic district should check township rules.

Residential interior design services at Cityzen Designs

Our residential interior design work covers full interior renovations, open-plan layouts, custom built-in cabinetry, furniture that doubles as architecture, and the material and color palette for each room. Every item on that list appears in a finished project in our portfolio.

At the Colp-Haber Residence on the Upper East Side, one continuous band of birch cabinetry changes height as it moves through the apartment. Along the way it becomes a desk, storage, seating, bookshelves, and a powder-room vanity.

At the Munter Residence in Nolita, smart glass switches from clear to opaque at the bath, kitchen, and entry. Light passes through, and privacy is there when the owners want it.

We also design around what clients already own. The Lazzaro Residence on the Lower East Side was planned around a collection of Eames furniture, and the McFarland Residence around a single painting.

Some services we have not published, such as single-room decorating or furniture purchasing. Bring those questions to the consultation and we will talk through scope.

Does an interior designer handle built-in cabinetry?

At Cityzen, yes. Built-in cabinetry is central to most of our projects. We design the cabinetry as part of the room, sizing it to the books, records, or objects it holds and giving it more than one job. A cabinet shop or contractor then builds and installs it from our drawings.

Custom cabinetry around a painting at the McFarland Residence

The McFarland Residence in Chelsea shows how we design a home around a piece of art. The 950 sq ft full interior renovation is credited to I-Beam Design, the architecture practice Azin Valy co-founded.

Everything started with a red and pink painting. The client and his late wife had received it from an artist, and he wanted it at the center of daily life.

I-Beam built a custom wall of cabinetry around the artwork, so the painting reads as both artwork and architecture. The wall works like a three-dimensional puzzle. Its compartments hold music, films, ceramics, and objects, plus the entertainment system.

The cabinet doors are painted in colors taken from the artwork. The painting itself works as a concealed door. Custom cabinetry continues through the rest of the apartment. Photos are by Peter Miller.

Here is how the same idea could apply in Montclair (an illustrative example). A family in a 1910s Colonial Revival keeps its records and ceramics in boxes because the old parlor has no wall long enough for shelves. One built-in wall between the parlor and dining room could hold the collection, frame a favorite painting, and open the two rooms to each other.

Freedman House, our secondary example, shows the suburban version. The family's roughly 4,000 sq ft Greenwich home lost the wall between a sunken living room, dining room, and office. A continuous walnut platform became a step, a built-in corner sofa, and a low bookcase that doubles as a serving surface. Blue, the client's favorite color, runs through the house as an accent.

Freedman House received a Silver in Interior Design at the 2024 New York Architecture Design Awards, one of the honors listed on our awards page. M. Freedman put the reaction simply: "Everyone who walks in, all love what we have done. You get all the credit."

Own a painting or collection that deserves its own wall?

Plan a room around your art

How a Montclair interior design project runs with Cityzen

A Cityzen project starts with a confidential consultation and then follows the three ideas in our design approach. Here is how those ideas shape the work.

1. Consultation. You tell us about the house, whether it is newly purchased or one you have lived in for years, and what you want to change.

2. Context first. We study how your household lives, what you value, and the character of the house itself. Our principle is that the best design grows from context, with trends playing no part.

3. Flexibility. We look for rooms and built-in pieces that serve more than one purpose, like a bookcase that is also a serving counter.

4. Discovery. We encourage clients to consider ideas beyond the usual floor plan.

5. Coordination. We work with your architect, engineer, and contractor so the design is built the way it was drawn.

Clients describe that coordination in their own words on our client testimonials page. G.L. wrote that a renovation finished on time and on budget and that "I-Beam over-delivered on every aspect of the project." S.R. said, "They are great collaborators and pay careful attention to detail."

What happens at a first consultation with Cityzen?

A first consultation is a confidential conversation about your home and your goals. We ask how you live, which rooms frustrate you, and what you own and want to keep. We talk through the likely scope and who else will be involved.

Recommended: Bring photos of each room, any floor plans you have, and pictures of the art or furniture you want to keep.

Interior design led by Azin Valy

Every Cityzen project draws on the experience of founder Azin Valy, a graduate of The Cooper Union School of Architecture who has worked in design, interiors, and architecture for more than two decades. She also co-founded I-Beam Design, an award-winning architecture firm in New York, and later started Cityzen.

Her projects have ranged from 250,000 sf of international headquarters to 250 sf of refugee housing. Schools ask her to judge student work too, and she has served as a guest critic at Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, Columbia University, Maryland Institute College of Art, Ball State University, and City College of NY.

Work from the studio and from the I-Beam years has appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, and Dwell, collected on our press and publications page.

Is Azin Valy a certified interior designer in New Jersey?

Azin Valy does not hold that title, and Cityzen does not use it. New Jersey issues the certified interior designer title through a state examination and evaluation committee. Azin Valy is a Cooper Union-trained designer who leads the design work. When a project needs sealed drawings, a registered architect or licensed engineer prepares them, and we coordinate with that professional.

Commercial and hospitality interior design in Montclair

Montclair restaurants, galleries, shops, and offices can work with Cityzen Designs, which designs commercial and hospitality interiors as well as homes.

Our hospitality interior design includes the Macao Trading Co. restaurant in Tribeca, a 4,000 sq ft I-Beam Design project with an 82-seat dining room under a mezzanine. Salvaged teak lattice screens divide the room into smaller zones, and custom light fixtures reuse antique bicycles, boats, and rickshaws.

Our commercial interior design includes a 9,000 sq ft bridal showroom and offices on Fifth Avenue for designer Reem Acra, completed with I-Beam Design. The plan leads clients through the collections, then into smaller rooms for consultations and fittings.

Art and found objects run through these projects the way they run through the McFarland Residence, built into the room from the start.

Key Takeaways

• Most homes in Montclair's surveyed Commuter Area are single-family houses built between 1900 and 1929.

• Cityzen Designs plans full interior renovations, open layouts, built-in cabinetry, and palettes, all shown in finished portfolio projects.

• The McFarland Residence turned one painting into a cabinetry wall that is also a concealed door.

• A registered architect or licensed engineer seals any permit drawings, and Cityzen coordinates with them.

Ready to plan the rooms you use every day?

Request a design consultation