Large triangular windows bring daylight into this dome house in western Massachusetts, which has received an extensive makeover by local firm Jess Cooney Interiors.
Built in the 1980s, the cabin is located on a lakefront site in Becket, a town in the pastoral Berkshires region.
With Summer upon us, kids are spending more and more time at home. With this in mind, we recently chatted with interior design experts regarding their ultimate decor ideas and tips for designing kid–friendly spaces. Below, they share what’s new, as well as the best colors, patterns, materials, and more to incorporate or leave out. If you have little ones (or big ones!) the kid friendly decorating tips will help you keep them in mind.
Hanging curtains or shades can have a transformative effect on a room, adding warmth and style to a drab space or hiding unfortunate views out the window. You can even create the illusion that you have more space than you really do by exaggerating the appearance of ceiling height.
Second homes are as much an investment in creating great multigenerational family vacations as they are in real estate. In both cases, you truly get back what you put into them. As her home base in Great Barrington, Massachusetts is filled with examples of the right and wrong ways to outfit one’s second home, interior designer Jess Cooney advises second home owners on how to build right.
As a digital publication we show the success of design and the professionals in the business. It can seem glamorous, uncomplicated and exciting. But the reality is that the work of interior design can require many developed skills beyond just being creative. It takes equal parts vision to business acumen. We talked to 3 of the industry’s top designers (Kate Lester, Jess Cooney, and Maureen Stevens) to ask them questions about their business and trajectory as professionals. Hint: this article can help seasoned designers and those looking to enter the field alike.
Go bold. Stay practical. Think long-term.
These are among the tips offered by interior decorators for creating a fresh, fun — even inspiring — playroom for kids.
"If you like a clean palette and don’t want to add much color or pattern, adding in a standing plant in a woven basket will give you both the pop of the fresh green tree as well as the texture of a woven basket that can warm up a space without overwhelming it," says Jess Cooney of New England's Jess Cooney Interiors. Besides plant and planters, you can shop decorative details in materials like sisal, jute, wood, and bamboo to get this effect.
This house had us at exposed wood beams! Scrolling through the stunning photos of this home in the Berkshires, you would never know that the original home burned down - right before renovations were about to start! Despite the tragedy, the home owners and Jess Cooney Interiors were able to start fresh, rebuild, and redesign this classic farmhouse in all its glory. They made sure to incorporate all the necessities for a home like this - exposed wood beams, a large stone fireplace, and wide plank floors. The result? A fabulous family home that is a perfect blend of old and new! Take a look!
Like a bespoke suit tailored to flatter your body, custom-made built-ins can enhance the appearance of a home — elevating the design, offering creative solutions to everyday problems and disguising unsightly features like exposed pipes or air ducts.
Interior designer Jess Cooney has made it her business to understand how people live in and experience their homes. Most of her clients are New York City lawyers and business elites looking to escape the city with a second home in the Berkshires, a home that will ultimately function quite differently than a primary residence.
Whoever originally said that rules were meant to be broken definitely worked in interior design. It doesn't matter if you live in a teeny, tiny apartment or sprawling beachside bungalow: Decorating your home is all about throwing out the rulebook.
Why have a cookie-cutter interior when your space can reflect your beautiful, unique aesthetic? Whether you're power-clashing ikat and tartan or blending two unlikely styles together, the best things happen when you go against the grain.
That being said, there are some basic ground rules that are worth noting. Make no mistake, these rules aren't meant to reign in your personal style. On the contrary, they exist to make sure your room looks its absolute best.
Curious to see which rules actually matter, we turned to some of our favorite design experts. Some of their answers are practical, while others are more abstract. But once you nail down these must-follow rules, the rest is up to you.
Interior designer Jess Cooney remodeled this beautiful, contemporary home in the Berkshires. The modern space features fun pops of color and unique design elements, especially in the bathrooms!
This home is located in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the clients are from Rye, New York. This is their second home. It has great views of the Berkshires from its windows, and Jess and her team completed five bathrooms, a mudroom, and their kitchen for them.
Remember our epic guide to white paint? We figured it was time to ask designers about their blue crushes as well—you know, those just right shades of cornflower, ocean, cerulean, navy, and everything in between. Blue typically isn't a polarizing color. Most people gravitate towards the spa-like, tranquil quality of its lighter shades, while others love the darker side—the energy of aqua, the intensity of midnight. Sure, you could go about picking a blue paint color alone. But why not make selecting a shade easier by starting with this list of designer-approved blues? You'll be that much ahead of the game and ready to tackle swatching sooner. So without further adieu, here are nine designers' (and one builder's!) favorite blues. Oh, and they basically all called out Hale Navy from Benjamin Moore, so give that shade a look if you want to go dark and moody. But I wanted fresh, under-the-radar hues, so here are 10 new blues for you to obsess over.
Read MoreOur homes tend to show the first signs of the changing seasons, especially when the weather here in SoCal hardly does. Hello, earthy scents, warm tones, and cozy throws! To help get your home ready for fall, we talked to design expert Jess Cooney. The New England designer knows a thing or two about transitioning decor for cooler months, and making not only pretty choices, but practical ones too. The best part? These swaps don’t have to be major or expensive in order to give your home that fall feeling.
Read MoreToday’s home takes us to a beautiful winding country road in Alford, MA. Here, designer Jess Cooney worked with a couple from New York with two teenage sons. The family purchased this as their second home, and though the Berkshires are often thought of as a summer destination, they planned to use it for long ski weekends in the winter. The house was a new construction home being built by a married couple who parted ways during the building of the home, so it was left with unfinished elements such as trim and moldings, along with stocked cherry cabinets in the kitchen and a light blue glass tile backsplash. The mudroom was an empty sheet-rocked space with wood flooring and no storage. “Upon meeting the clients and their two teenage sons, I decided that the most important aspect to address in the home was the mudroom first and foremost, along with giving them plenty of storage in the living room, master, and the home office,” Jess tells us. “The wife responded instantly to my wanting to get the mudroom in order for her first. She knew that I understood the life of a mother picking up clothing and bags on the floor at all times and the struggle of having nowhere to put things when your family, children, etc., arrive home.”
Read MoreJess Cooney Interiors have completed an extensive renovation to a home in Stockbridge Massachusetts incorporating a subtle rustic meets modern element.
How were you commissioned?:
Jess Cooney Interiors (http://www.jesscooney.com), the full-service interior design and build firm whose homes embody Berkshire living, was contracted to complete a variety of spaces in this 4,000 sq ft home in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Jess and her team were brought in to give a facelift to the kitchen and five bathrooms while opening a variety of walls in the space and renovating the mudroom.
Oh, furniture. The little pieces of personal expression that fill up your space–ideally, a mixture of investment pieces (hello, always-expensive couches), and vintage finds. When you’re in college, or in your early twenties, nice furniture might not be in your budget, or even a priority. Décor shopping might even mean a quick trip to IKEA, or buying stuff off of your recently graduated friends. However, as you move through different stages of life, the quality of what you put into your home might become more important. To help you figure out when is the best time to invest in certain pieces of furniture, we turned to three design experts. Find all of their helpful advice below.
Read MoreSomething has drawn you and your family to the Berkshires over and over.
You have stayed in our lovely inns or rented a home in the hills with your family many a summer. Maybe you went in on a ski rental with a group of friends for a few winters. Maybe you attended summer camp by one of our beautiful lakes and the nostalgia is still sitting with you.
Now, you are ready to take the next step and buy a home here. One that will truly be your home away from home.
You’ll join the ranks of poets and writers and actors that have come to the Berkshires and fallen in love with the dramatic seasonal landscape, the people and the culinary scene. You love the coziness of the small town with an influence of the big city in the arts and theater and mix of people that have settled here over the years.
So what’s next? How do you go about finding the perfect home for your family? How do you purchase, build or renovate something to have it be perfect for you and all your needs? This can be a daunting experience for many people. Our firm, Jess Cooney Interiors in Great Barrington, has been guiding clients through this process for the last 15 years. What follows is advice we give clients to help them along the way.
We hope this advice for all soon-to-be second homeowners will maximize your investment and avoid the pitfalls that can sometimes come with owning a second home.
Read MoreAs the saying goes, when mama is happy everyone is happy.
This is true in interior design, and specifically when it comes to smart storage for women. A large organized walk in closet or pantry will melt any woman’s heart.
A recent study at Michigan State University concluded what many of us moms have known for years: Women spend 10 hours more per week than men multitasking. It’s in our chemistry; if we are on the phone, we will take that opportunity to fold a few clothes or put away the dishes.
The design of the home plays a crucial role in a woman’s mental state. Order and flow help us keep up with the day’s demands. We feel better when our children have a place to put their backpacks and shoes, when there is a place for the bills and when the flow of the kitchen works well. We need systems to combat the chaos.
Read MoreUpon entering the Cooney residence, visitors are greeted by clean lines and contrasts thathighlight an organic and contemporary space with a reverence for times past. Jessie and Joe, their three children, a massive Chesapeake Bay Retriever rescue dog named Buck, and an eccentric Rat Terrier named Roxie live in this renovated turn-of-the-century house on “The Hill” in Great Barrington. The home combines antique features with modern-day efficiency for a welcoming, warm, and playful space.
The Cooneys personify Berkshire living. Jessie designs and decorates interior living spaces, bringing clarity, beauty, and ease to people’s lives. Her mastery is in resurrecting deteriorated homes and crafting spaces that work. “I like to think that I make sense of spaces and bring harmony to them while creating efficiency for busy families,” she says.
Read More
