Most of Verona’s homes are older, built 70 or 80 years ago. Increasingly, homeowners are taking advantage of those good old bones and turning them into the frame for a thoroughly modern house.
That’s the case with 142 Morningside Road. Perched atop the hill that frames the western side of Verona, the house’s main structure dates to 1933. A fieldstone facade faces the street; a covered overhang frames the door. You would expect, as you turn the nob, to step into a warren of small rooms, starved for light.
Instead you are greeted by an open, flowing floorplan that delivers the renovated kitchen, living room and dining room as a seamless whole. There’s a massive Viking stove and a wine cooler, so you’d have no excuse not to entertain. And clean-up would be a snap since the current owners replaced the original floors with ceramic tile that looks like Brazilian cherry. Upstairs, there’s a massive master bedroom with a walk-in closet, two other bedrooms and three baths–all fully renovated in luxury hotel style.
That’s the home’s old wing. But this house also sports a new wing, added in the 1990s. It blends well with the original house inside and out, and adds a two-car heated garage, family room, full bathroom, basement, an extra bedroom upstairs, and even a back stairs to get there. The two wings are tied together by a loft currently used as a home office and a charming reading nook.
All this renovation comes at a price: $799,000 to be exact. Only you know whether that fits within your budget. My quibbles (all House Snooping profiles come with quibbles) are the turquoise paint in the loft (an easy fix) and the lack of an outdoor patio, like the one that dominated the other house I visited this past weekend. But there’s enough property on the eastern side of the house that a patio could be added off the dining and living rooms.
The listing belongs to Lorraine Montalbano and Margo Vlahinich of Terri O’Connor Realtors, which operates mostly in Bergen county. You can see all the details, and take a video tour, here.
