We are always humbled when a publication or popular blog asks my interior design firm to share our expertise on a design topic, whether certain design styles we are seeing throughout the year, our current go-to interior or exterior paint colors, or to chime in on a new design trend. When asked for a 2nd year in a row to contribute design-related insights for Redfin website, we were thrilled. We see first hand the countless innovations each year as it's important for us to stay up to date on new products, working with hundreds of not thousands of design-related companies and vendors, where we ..read more

Carly Jara Photography for Sarah Elizabeth Design Rugs: As a busy New Jersey interior designer, we have a roster of high-end, dependable vendors to source from and prefer a one-stop shop over running to multiple vendors in the NJ area. For area rugs and wall-to-wall carpeting alike, we use J and S by Stark in Morristown, NJ who offers everything from hand-made area rugs in every style and color from around the world ready to purchase off the floor, to many custom lines, both modern and traditional. For a more intimate shopping experience Ampersand Interiors in Upper Montclair, NJ has a high-e ..read more

Carly Jara Photography for Sarah Elizabeth Design As a top New Jersey interior designer, I’d like to help you get real clear on where to spend in your home design, and where you can save. Over the course of a decade plus designing home in New Jersey and beyond, we’ve developed methods in the way we choose furniture and decor for homes and want to share the reasons why, and how you can implement the same methods. Many of our clients are busy professionals with young children and pets, which means durable fabrics and floor covering are needed, and items designed to last - which is how we design ..read more

Photo by Carly Jara for Sarah Elizabeth Design To our delight, our Montclair interior design firm was asked to share some of the biggest kitchen trends of 2023, recently published in Apartment Therapy. See a few highlights and what we shared below: On a related note, designer Sarah Elizabeth, the founder of Sarah Elizabeth Design, has witnessed an influx of more colorful tile choices in 2023. “The tile should reflect the homeowner’s style, and we are seeing that come through more,” she says. When designing a young professional’s kitchen recently (pictured here), she used a triangular-shaped m ..read more

Photo Carly Jara for Sarah Elizabeth Design As an interior design firm that specializes in custom furniture and decor, we do countless custom pillows where we shop our design studio’s fabric library as well as shop the design centers for the perfect patterns to compliment our clients’ spaces. Throw pillows are the anecdote to a living room design for a designer, using pillows as the final touch for sofas or armchairs adding a pop of color or texture, or added to a window seat to make it feel more inviting, or even using a long (lumbar) pillow for a bedroom to compliment bedding. We also under ..read more

Vanessa Casella Photo for Sarah Elizabeth Design We have countless interior design clients who have moved to the suburbs for the many perks of owning a home in our area from the diverse community to the countless restaurants and parks, let alone the proximity to NYC?. The scenario we see go’s often times like this: Family buys a home 2 - 3 times (or much more) larger than the apartment they had in the city - I’ve also been there myself. Its the most exhilarating experience to buy what could be your very first home, but also daunting and stress-inducing thinking of the chore of furnishing it ..read more

This topic feels so relevant as like many trades, there is a lot of mystery around what an interior designer actually does. Especially now when there is a seemingly endless list of designers that pop up in a google search, we want to shed light on what you can expect when working with a full service design company like ours. We interview a lot, as we want to make sure the project is a great fit for our team, just as much as it’s the right fit for the client, and what their design needs are. For that reason we offer a complimentary design consult over the phone, think speed dating, but for des ..read more

Sarah Elizabeth started her interior design company in New York City over 10 years ago, practicing in the field for over 15 years and having trained with some of the interior design greats including Muriel Brandolini - a regular in Architectural Digest and other publications. Today we thought it would be fun to sit down for a lightning round of fun facts about the designer herself, pulling back the curtain, and delving into her world in and outside of running her Montclair interior design company. Lets start with your background: I was born and raised in a tiny coastal town in the redwood for ..read more

Summer seems to bring the best of everything, with longer sun-filled days, the smell of neighborhood flowers, and a seeming buzzing in the air (cicada?). Its like an instant mood boost with so much sunshine, not to mention summer Fridays rounding out the week making way for long weekend getaways. Some say they feel renewed in the Fall as the leaves turn, whereas Ive always felt this way during the summer months, where things feel lighter, both in dress and feel, and hopeful with the freedom of going to the beach, spending more time in nature, and connecting with friends and family. Below you’l ..read more

I recently traveled from New York to Palm Springs with my 7 year old, who’s in every way a better traveler than me, for a brief family getaway. I chose it so I could experience some of the old world Hollywood glam (the place where the stars of the 20’s thru 60’s would run off to, and the legacy in the form of brilliant architecture they left behind). That and so my kid could enjoy warm weather and swimming in a pool all day, while hanging in the desert amongst palm trees, something he’s always been interested in. If I had to choose 2 words to sum up our experience, including the retro-inspire ..read more