Christine Stucker and James Veal began dating over a decade ago, subsequently traveling the world and expanding their design worldviews together. “This is when the idea of Stewart-Schafer was born,” notes Christine. Stewart-Schafer is the couple’s multidisciplinary architecture and interior design firm with an interesting history that sets it apart from other design studios. “The company was initially started to design fashion retail spaces. The company rapidly grew as we began working with some of the world’s most respected fashion brands, producing large-scale rollouts. We organically moved into residential design, which is now 60% of our business,” she adds.

Christine and James were commissioned to redesign the Nyack, New York, home by a couple who were soon expecting a baby, giving them an extremely tight turnaround time. Additionally, the interior needed a full rethink, something Christine notes was made much simpler once they had stripped away the old. “The home had great bones but was stuck in a 1980s time warp. Every surface needed to be resurfaced. The layout was great, and the natural light was a huge bonus. Once we cleared away the variety of eyesores, you could finally see the natural beauty the home possessed,” she explains.

Stewart-Schafer designs for such a wide variety of clients with differing needs, especially in the fashion retail space, that it makes you wonder where they look for their inspiration for residential properties like this. Christine notes, "We were inspired by the home’s open plan, the lines of the beams and the light entering the space." These key elements drove the design duo toward a simplistic Scandinavian-meets-Japanese interior with an emphasis on high-quality materials.

The architecture of the space is what really spoke to Christine and James, contributing to the laid-back, California-cool influence they chose. "This house felt very much like an Eichler home — it has that midcentury California vibe. We embraced that but added a modern twist," explains Christine.

Eicher homes, often referred to as "California Modern," are known for their bright, airy interiors and midcentury modern architecture. While the homes were innovative at the time, even receiving short-lived resistance from consumers, they live on today as a hallmark of Modernist architecture.