White Kitchen with beaded chandelier in Chatham, NJ home.

Interiors · Chatham, New Jersey

Chatham Charm: Full Home Interior Design in Chatham, NJ

A brand-new Chatham home with no furnishings, planned and furnished room by room by Ellie Mroz Design.

The home was newly built, but every room still needed to be furnished. Starting without existing furnishings gave EMD the opportunity to consider furniture layouts, scale, lighting, rugs, window treatments and accessories together across the home. Chatham Charm shows how a new house becomes a furnished home through a coordinated interior design process.

The Ellie Mroz Design team furnished the house as a single project rather than a series of individual rooms — entry, kitchen, dining room, living room and lounge, family room, primary bedroom, children's rooms, nursery, home office and a basement craft room, all developed together so the house reads as one continuous idea from the front door down to the lower level.

Project Snapshot

Location
Chatham, New Jersey
Project Type
Whole-home interior design and furnishings
Starting Point
Brand-new construction home with no furnishings.
Interior Design / Furnishings
Ellie Mroz Design
Rooms
Entry, kitchen, dining room, living room and lounge, family room, primary bedroom, children's bedroom, nursery, office, basement craft room
Press
Design NJ, April/May 2025

The finished home

Furnishing a Whole Chatham Home in One Palette

Cohesion in a whole-home project does not come from repeating the same palette everywhere. It comes from repeating a point of view. Here that point of view is light, layered and unfussy: pale walls, natural textures, softened silhouettes and lighting chosen to give each room its own moment without breaking the rhythm of the house.

Planning and furnishing the family room

The family room plan places the sectional and ottoman alongside console seating, an accent chair and side tables. Options boards explore the furniture, lighting and art, and the close-ups show the console behind the sofa and the pillows and ottoman styling.

  1. Scaled family room furniture plan for Chatham Charm, showing an L-shaped sectional, square ottoman, console, chair and rug.
    Family room furniture planThe family room layout places a sectional, ottoman, console, chair and tables.
  2. Chatham Charm family room options board with a sofa, accent chairs, upholstered ottomans and small side tables.
    Family room seating and ottoman optionsSofa, chair, ottoman and side-table options presented together.
  3. EMD family room options board showing console tables, lamps, abstract art and stools for Chatham Charm in Chatham, NJ.
    Family room console and lighting optionsConsole tables, lighting, artwork and stools considered for the family room.
  4. Wood console behind a gray sofa, with a wood accent chair and two handled ceramic pots in a Chatham, NJ family room.
    Console and accent chair stylingA wood console and accent chair sit behind the sofa, with handled ceramic pots above.
  5. Glass vase with a leather strap, books and a tray on an ottoman beside a gray sofa with layered pillows in Chatham, NJ.
    Ottoman styling and layered pillowsA tray, books and a glass vase finish the ottoman beside the sofa.
  6. Gray family room sofa with patterned and pale pillows beside full-length drapery, a window and a leafy plant in Chatham, NJ.
    Family room pillows and draperyPatterned and neutral pillows layer the sofa beside full-length drapery.
  7. Family room in a Chatham, NJ home with a grey sectional facing a striped ottoman, a wood console behind the sofa and full-length drapery under a coffered ceiling.
    Completed roomThe finished family room.

Dining furniture and finishing layers

The dining room materials bring together a scaled furniture layout, sideboard options and lighting options. The installed details show cane-back seating and a styled sideboard against the landscape mural.

  1. Dining room furniture plan for Chatham Charm, showing a table, eight chairs, buffet, rug and drapery.
    Dining room furniture planA scaled layout for the dining table, chairs, buffet and drapery.
  2. EMD dining room options board comparing four wood and painted sideboards for Chatham Charm in Chatham, NJ.
    Dining room sideboard optionsFour sideboard options presented for the Chatham Charm dining room.
  3. Dining room lighting options for Chatham Charm, including chandeliers and shaded wall sconces in varied finishes.
    Dining room lighting optionsChandeliers and wall sconces considered for the dining room.
  4. White ceramic vases, branches, candlesticks and books on a sideboard beneath a landscape mural in a Chatham, NJ dining room.
    Sideboard styling against the muralVases, branches, candlesticks and books layered against the dining room mural.
  5. Two wood cane-back dining chairs with upholstered seats beside a dining table and landscape mural in Chatham, NJ.
    Cane chairs and dining room muralTwo cane-back dining chairs frame the table and mural wallpaper.
  6. Cane-back dining chair with an upholstered seat beside a gray upholstered armchair and landscape mural in Chatham, NJ.
    Dining room seating texturesA cane-back chair and an upholstered armchair bring different textures to the table.
  7. Dining room in a Chatham, NJ home with a grey landscape mural wrapping the walls above panelled wainscot, cane-back and slipcovered chairs and a beaded chandelier under a coffered ceiling.
    Completed roomThe finished dining room.

Studying the living room layout

The living room plan studies two sofas facing across a central ottoman, with the rug sized to hold them together. Seating options and installed details show the range of decisions involved in furnishing the room.

  1. Chatham Charm living room furniture plan showing two facing sofas, a central ottoman and a rug.
    Living room furniture planA layout for two sofas facing across a central ottoman.
  2. Chatham Charm living room seating options board with wingback, tufted, slipcovered and upholstered chairs and a settee.
    Living room seating optionsA selection of upholstered chairs and a settee considered for the living room.
  3. Close-up of tufted taupe chairs and dark pedestal side tables on a textured rug in a Chatham, NJ living room.
    Tufted chairs and pedestal tablesTufted chairs, small pedestal tables and a textured rug form a seating detail.
  4. White ceramic vase and dark decorative bowl on a white mantel beneath a textured mirror in a Chatham, NJ living room.
    Mantel styling with ceramicsA white vase and dark bowl sit beneath a textured mirror.
  5. Tufted taupe chairs with two stone-top pedestal side tables beside a window and drapery in a Chatham, NJ living room.
    Living room seating by the windowTufted seating and two stone-top pedestal tables sit beside the drapery.
  6. Gray upholstered settee with a plaid pillow beneath large abstract artwork in a Chatham, NJ living room.
    Settee with plaid pillow and abstract artA plaid pillow and large abstract artwork layer the settee corner.
  7. Living room and lounge in a Chatham, NJ home with tufted armchairs and a blue settee gathered around a white fireplace, an oval mirror above it and a bronze drum chandelier.
    Completed roomThe finished living room and lounge.

Furnishings for the primary bedroom and sitting area

The bedroom plan considers the bed, bedside furniture and a separate seating area. Lamps, nightstands and chandelier options are presented alongside the plan; the installed details show the sofa, pillows, ottoman styling and bedside lamp.

  1. Chatham Charm primary bedroom furniture plan showing a king bed, nightstands, sofa, chair, coffee table and rug.
    Primary bedroom furniture planA layout for the bed, bedside furniture, sofa, chair, coffee table and rug.
  2. Chatham Charm primary bedroom options board with bedside lamps and four nightstand designs in pale finishes.
    Primary bedroom bedside optionsTable lamps and nightstands presented as a coordinated furnishing decision.
  3. Chatham Charm primary bedroom lighting board comparing six chandeliers with beaded, shaded and tiered forms.
    Primary bedroom chandelier optionsSix chandelier options considered for the primary bedroom.
  4. Pale bedroom sofa with layered pillows behind an ottoman holding a tray, flowers and books in a Chatham, NJ home.
    Primary bedroom sitting area stylingA pale sofa, layered pillows and a styled ottoman create a bedroom retreat.
  5. Rounded ceramic bedside lamp with a white shade on a pale nightstand with brass knobs, beside drapery in Chatham, NJ.
    Bedside lamp and draperyA rounded ceramic lamp sits on a pale nightstand in front of full-length drapery.
  6. Primary bedroom in a Chatham, NJ home with an upholstered headboard, a white sofa and round tufted ottoman at the foot of the bed and a beaded chandelier overhead.
    Completed roomThe finished primary bedroom.

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A Primary Bedroom That Stays Quiet

The primary bedroom was treated as the one space in the house that does not have to work hard. A bench at the foot of the bed, a beaded chandelier picking up the same language used at the entry, and a restrained palette keep the room restful rather than decorated — the counterweight to a busy family floor below.

Rooms the Children Grow Into

Children's rooms are easy to over-theme and quick to outgrow. The bedroom here works from blue and grey rather than a character or a trend, so the room can change with its occupant instead of needing to be redone. The nursery stays neutral for the same reason, with a single oversized lamp doing the work that a wall of decoration would otherwise be asked to do.

The Home Office and Craft Room

Two rooms carry the practical weight of the house. The office is the warmest, most enclosed space in the project — desk, drum chandelier and a deliberately heavier palette that separates it from the lighter rooms around it and makes it feel like somewhere to concentrate.

Downstairs, the basement craft room is the opposite: a magnetic wall, hard-wearing surfaces and room to make a mess. Giving a lower level a real function, rather than treating it as leftover square footage, is often what stops a new house from feeling half-used.

Why Furnishing a New House Is Its Own Project

Buyers of new construction often assume the hard part is over once the keys arrive. In practice a newly finished house is where furnishing decisions are hardest: there is no existing furniture to react to, no established palette, and every room is competing for the same budget at the same time.

Working through the house as one project — deciding early which rooms carry the statements and which stay quiet, and sequencing the orders around long lead times — is what keeps the result feeling collected rather than bought all at once.

Furnishing a newly built home in Chatham or a neighboring town? The Ellie Mroz Design team can develop the whole house as one project — room by room, in the right order — so the finished result feels collected rather than assembled all at once.

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Questions

Questions we get a lot

Can EMD furnish a newly built home from scratch?

Yes. Chatham Charm began as a brand-new construction home with no furnishings. EMD planned and furnished the rooms as part of a whole-home interior design project, coordinating furniture layouts, selections and finishing layers. We can also begin with one complete room.

What does full-service furnishings include?

Depending on the engagement it can cover the design direction for each room, sourcing and specifying furniture, lighting, rugs, wallpaper and window treatments, purchasing approved pieces, tracking orders, coordinating delivery and installing and styling the finished rooms.

Can you furnish a whole house at once, or should it be done in phases?

Both work. Designing the whole house together and then installing in phases is common, particularly where custom upholstery and lighting carry different lead times. What matters is that the decisions are made against one plan rather than room by room over years.

Do you design children's rooms and nurseries?

Yes. This project included a children's bedroom, a nursery and a basement craft room alongside the main living spaces. Designing them as part of the same project is what keeps them from feeling disconnected from the rest of the house.

Do you work with clients in Chatham, New Jersey?

Yes. Chatham sits at the heart of the studio's New Jersey service area, alongside Westfield, Summit, Short Hills, Madison and the surrounding towns.