Textured Elements Add Warmth to This Year-Round Residence in Spring Lake

Four-season style offers lived-in comfort

“There seems to be a huge movement — at least in New Jersey — toward all-year coastal living,” designer Karen B. Wolf says. Wolf used mid-tone woodfor the flooring in this Spring Lake home as a way of distinguishing the aesthetic from that of typical beach home décor with lighter wood.

‘My clients were rightsizing,” Karen B. Wolf says of homeowners Vicki and Tom Malone. Wolf, creative principal at Short Hills-based K+Co Living, explains that the empty nester Malones “wanted their newly built Spring Lake residence to be full of luxe details with lived-in comfort, not only for their day-to-day life, but also for their children to come and visit often.”

Because this is the Malones’ primary residence, they wanted to create a look that would telegraph more than “beach house” style. “I would consider the aesthetic four-season coastal,” Wolf says. “The owners wanted a nod to a coastal vibe but also wanted their home to be suitable for year-round living.” The process began with the selection of flooring. “Instead of light oak, we went to a mid-tone, so the depth of tone started a bit darker than a typical coastal home would start.”

The dining room light fixture is overscaled. “Homeowners often underscale lighting,” Wolf notes. “We usually go up one dimension. Here we pushed the fixture up a scale and it worked because it‘s glass so it doesn’t overtake the whole room.” The artwork is framed pieces of textural cloth.

Wolf also went darker in the dining room, where charcoal grass-cloth wall covering adds sophistication against the wood tones of the floor and ceiling. The deep color on the walls provides a dramatic background that allows the chandelier — a two-tiered circular array of glass rods — to stand out. Gray dining chairs upholstered in a linen blend bring additional texture, as do a pair of framed pieces of textured fabric.

Earth tones and textural accents — in the wall covering, carpet and throw pillows — bring warmth to the lounge.

Built-ins stained black maximize storage in the desk area of the lounge and coordinate with black accents in the room. Two woven planters at different heights add interest and a hit of greenery.

The lounge, located just across the hall from the dining room, features grass-cloth wall covering as well, this time in a light “champagne” shade, which acts as a muted backdrop for the room’s black accents, including a chandelier crafted from dark bronze and leather and a wall of built-in shelving.

A seascape triptych — one of the few references to the home’s Shore location — hangs above a sofa in the family room. Blue accents against the primarily white backdrop of the room reiterate the palette in the artwork.

Wolf furnished the two spaces to complement each other, keeping in mind they are the first rooms guests see upon entering the house. “The dining room and the lounge talk to each other,” she says. “They set the tone for this four-season living aesthetic. We wanted to give a nod to more ‘masculine’ fabrics: tweeds, grass cloth, herringbone. That’s how we incorporated a classic menswear vibe into both rooms.” Textured accents abound in both spaces. “Layering textures is one of our signatures,” the designer says. “It gives warmth to a space.”

A woven chandelier above the kitchen dining table is a focal point, not only of the kitchen but also of the first floor. “You can see that fixture from the entry,” the designer says. “It’s basically a straight shot all the way into the kitchen.”

A Zellige-style tile backsplash contrasts with the flat planes of the kitchen cabinetry. The different shade of the tiles—grays, whites and taupes—make a subtle statement that helps draw the eye.

Texture also plays an important role in the kitchen. Though most of the surfaces are smooth, the backsplash features Zellige-style ceramic tile with uneven surfaces in various shades of white, gray and taupe that shimmer subtly against the white cabinetry. The light fixture above the kitchen table is crafted from woven abaca fibers.

The primary bedroom features a four-poster bed. “The ceiling is not high in that room,” Wolf notes. “But the room is wide and we needed to fill up the volume. We used this bed to provide a sense of space.”

The daybed in the primary bedroom is blue/gray with pops of rust.

In the primary bedroom, grass-cloth wall covering on three walls infuses subtle texture into the space. More overt is the bed, which is composed of woven abaca. Millwork behind the bed adds understated depth and reiterates the lines of the four-poster frame. The designer selected gray posts for the bed to contribute to the all-season vibe. “This look would have been completely coastal if the 
bed frame was a white bleached oak, so we went with a darker tone.”

Subtle greens accent the neutral palette in a daughter’s room.

Wood elements alongside the understated greens bring an organic vibe.

Wolf has imbued the Malone home with an aesthetic that goes beyond the beach-house-standard blue palette and enhances the spaces for all-season living. “This is the evolution of coastal design,” the designer says. “It involves darker woods, richer textures and a more muted palette. It’s about texture more than color. You don’t need to suggest a coastal aesthetic with a literal representation of it. You can bring it in in small ways. The result is a year-round and incredibly elevated home.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally appeared in the April/May 2025 issue of Design NJ under the headline “Four-Season Style.”

For more exquisite year-round Shore homes, see “Legacy House,” “Carefully Curated,” “Riverside Reverie” and “Sea Girt Sway.”