A transformed New Jersey home at dusk, warm light in every window

You already know the feeling.
You just don't live in it yet.

New Jersey. Homes, transformed

There is a place you think about when you are somewhere else.

We build that.

Not a style, and not a package. A house that gives you back one specific feeling: the light in a room you rented once, the quiet of a road you didn't want to leave, the night everybody stayed too late. We begin with what you already own, and we build toward it.

We take on a small number of projects each year, and we choose them carefully.

Dusk, the transformed front elevation at dusk

Dusk

The best part of the drive home. From a split-level

You come around the corner and it is already lit. Low, dark and deliberate, with warm light spilling from every window onto the lawn. It is the house people slow down for, and the one you are relieved to walk into at the end of a long day.

Dusk, after Dusk, the house as it was Before After ↔
Dusk, kitchen
Kitchen
Dusk, living room
Living
Dusk, primary suite
Primary suite
Dusk, the media lounge
The media lounge
Coastal, the transformed front elevation at dusk

Coastal

The last week of summer. From a colonial

White, quiet, unhurried. Windows open, floors bare, nothing in it too precious to use. The house at the end of a road you never wanted to leave, except this one is fifteen minutes from the office.

Coastal, after Coastal, the house as it was Before After ↔
Coastal, kitchen
Kitchen
Coastal, living room
Living
Coastal, primary suite
Primary suite
Coastal, the sunroom library
The sunroom library
Glow, the transformed front elevation at dusk

Glow

Midnight, and nobody has left. From a ranch

The island is covered. Someone has opened another bottle. The children are asleep upstairs and the conversation is still going. This is the house built for the nights that run long, and it is never quite finished with you.

Glow, after Glow, the house as it was Before After ↔
Glow, kitchen
Kitchen
Glow, living room
Living
Glow, primary suite
Primary suite
Glow, the pantry
The pantry
Halo, the transformed front elevation at dusk

Halo

Morning, extended. From a 1950s cape

The light arrives early and never quite leaves. Doors open onto the yard in April and stay that way until October. You stop noticing where the kitchen ends and outside begins. It is the house you rented once on holiday and thought about for years afterward.

Halo, after Halo, the house as it was Before After ↔
Halo, kitchen
Kitchen
Halo, living room
Living
Halo, primary suite
Primary suite
Halo, the outdoor room
The outdoor room
Portrait

Why we build this way.

I started Casa Vela because I kept watching people spend serious money and end up with a house that could have belonged to anyone. Good materials, competent work, and no feeling in it at all.

We don't do packages, and we don't do the biggest house on the street. We do the one people remember. That means fewer projects, more time in the design, and a lot of questions before anything gets drawn.

If you want square footage, there are faster ways to get it. If you want to walk in the door and feel like you're somewhere you've been trying to get back to, we should talk.

[Founder name], Casa Vela

Working across Bergen, Essex, Morris and Union counties. Tenafly, Ridgewood, Fort Lee, Edgewater, Montclair, Summit and Short Hills, among others.

Before we draw a single line, we ask you five questions.

Answer them here, add the address, and we will come back to you with a first thought. We read every one of these ourselves.

We reply personally, usually within a few days.

Received. Thank you.

We will read this properly and come back to you with a first thought. If the address is one we can work with, the next step is a walk through the property together.