b'Major Makeover in Maplewood Downsizing upgrades familys homelifeBY ROSE BENNETT GILBERTPHOTOS BY JULIA MALOOF VERDEROSAI magine the big smile on Beethovensthat blends seamlessly, through all four faceifheddrivendownRidge- seasons, with the outdoor space.woodRoadinMaplewoodearlyDownsizing was a conscious deci-this autumn and heard joyful mu- sion and a joint decision, Mishell says. sicflowingfromtheonce-stolidI didnt want a formal living room or mid-century-modernhousethatformal dining room anymore, Mishell has been sitting grimly at the endsays. Out with the fancy dishes! Out of its driveway since l952. with formal dinners. My vision was to Beethovencomposedhisfamedora- downsize and live only with things that toriooverture,Consecrationoftheserve a purpose. Her first step had been House,in1822.Now,morethantwoto organize a big estate sale in which centurieslater,theMaplewoodhomesshe sold or gave away nearly everything new owners, Mishell and Matthew Vuolo,from the familys former lifestyle.gathered contractors and other friends toHer family agreed to the downsiz-consecrate their own dramatically reimag- ing, not just in terms of square footage, ined house Beethoven-style, with an after- but also in terms of material things, noon of festive music.Mishell says. Still, we needed space for Never mind that the Vuolos playlistthe essentials, like sneakers, field hock-was definitely contemporary. Their objec- ey sticks, paper towels, and volleyballs. tive was much the same as Beethovens, toThere had to be a place for everything.use music to dedicate their house to doingA tough, two-pronged assignment, good. In their case, the objective was toyes. But Mishell knew what she wanted create a good environment for the familyin a home and how to achieve it. Not by simplifying their homelife and livingonly has she been designing houses for smaller and more sustainably. They hadmore than 25 years, she heads her own already lived large in Short Hills, whichfirm, MV by Design, with residential Mishell describes as a lovely hamlet, butI love design and architecture, says Mishell Vuolo, owner of MV by De- and commercial clients across the coun-we wanted to raise a family in a town thatsign. My happy places are among the dust and noise of a constructiontry. Her specialty is designing and man-site and tile store. Shes also created a happy place for her entire family, was more intimate and distinctive. I wasrehabbing an outdated old house into an elegant, 100 percent func- aging the construction of projects.familiar with South Orange and loved thetional new home. I previously owned a construction sense of community. companyinLas Vegas,givingmean In 2011 Mishell went looking for aBut it was also a decade of change. Mishellsedgewhenworkingwithcontractors South Orange house that wasnt all done. In theidea of home, sweet home, was evolving. Ourand understanding where you can push and pull process, she found a friend who would change herhouse in South Orange was more than we needed.design, she says.life:MaggieAxelrod-Calister,along-establishedWe lived in about 60 percent of the house. It didntMoving to the East, Mishell says she soon real-realtorwithHearthRealtyGroupandresidentmake sense to have rooms in our house that weized she needed to reinvent myself. That took of South Orange. House hunting together, theyrarely used. Every space needed to have a purpose.her back to school at Parsons School of Design, in eventually found a circa-century-old, three-storyThe house needed to be 100 percent functional. New York, and into an intense design job, staging house in South Orange that was to keep MishellAlso,thathomewasallhousewithlittlevisuals at Ralph Laurens trend-setting flagship busy for the next 10 creative years. property. The Vuolos new vision included a housestore on Madison Avenue at night, when the store 12/ matters magazine / fall 2024'