Stylishly renewing hard-to-decorate rooms has become one of the defining principles behind my work. Examples include the transformation of the mud room ate the 1995 Mansion in May into an eye-popping wine-tasting room or the refitting of a century-old ramshackle barn into a spectacular brewery restaurant in Long Valley.
So when a couple recently presented an 8,000-square-foot contemporary Tewksbury home "sorely in need of organizing." I took up the challenge.

The first order of business was uniting the small ground-floor entry hall with the large living and dining room above. Marble flooring installed over a radiant heat system brought visual and physical warmth to what had been a cold spot. Wainscoting and glazing the walls added to the warm effect.

By mounting one of the client's favorite oil paintings on a panel of mirrors, I created a view that is romantic and exhilarating. they really love coming into the house by way of the front door now.

A key question the clients had was how to make the tremendous modern architecture of the second and third floors more "user-friendly" and comfortable. My response is evident throughout the house.

In the living room above, a wall faced in red brick with a featureless fireplace was sheet-rocked and faux-painted to match the foyer below. Dressed up in this way, the once rustic-modern wall is now the central gathering place. Because of the family's fondness for travel, I took a cue from the famous Orient Express and designed the mantelpiece and built-in bookcase in the style of the period. Having honeymooned aboard the train, the client already had collected replicas of the rail cars, which are now on display on the adjoining bar.

On a raised platform opposite the bar, the client's antique player piano was gutted, refinished and reassembled. A made-to-order chandelier featuring pedagogue and pear crystals is suspended from the 18-foot ceiling. I like to use unique lighting. A little opulence mediates the grandness of the rooms and gives them a lightheartedness. The sconces above the fireplace are bronze cupids found in need of restoration in a New York City shop. Opening a large archway between the living and dining rooms accentuates the relaxed air the house takes on, especially for entertaining.

"The thing I am the most excited about is that my home has a lively quality. It's normal without being stiff," said the wife. Large homes present their own challenges. In the dining room of this home, for instance, the windows frame a view of the courtyard on one side and the swimming pool on the other. Not altogether bad views, but bare in the winter. So I dressed the windows with fabrics that had a lot of presence but which still allowed in lots of light. As a reference to the home's rural setting in the heart of Tewksbury, the curtain fabric is a colorful screen print of flowering trees and pheasants printed on burlap from Old World weavers. given that the clients' guests usually include close friends from all corners of the globe, the decoration in the 36-foot-long dining room was kept clean and simple. dinners in this household are about good friends an good food, so that's where I kept the focus.

Interior Designer: Jeffery Brooks and member of the Interior Design Society, is a designer for Oakleigh Interiors in Morristown, New Jersey.