“I wanted something fun, comfortable, and
delightful to the eye,” Jill Shah says of her
easygoing decorating. The living room’s did>
hiding navy-and-red scheme flows from
turquoise and coral in other rooms. “Mixing
colors, textures, and styles—but staying
within a range so everything flows—makes
things more interesting.”
fit weren’t for all the vehicles in front of their Massachusetts
home, you’d think Jill and Niraj Shah had left town for the Fourth
of July weekend. Quiet from the front, it’s a different story in the
back. Relatives and friends mingle on the enclosed porch, where
the red-white-and-blue decor is especially appropriate on this
day. Kids in swimsuits romp in the yard, taking turns swinging a
racket at a tennis ball tied from a tree branch, and running inside
to fill up mugs of lemonade. “All summer long those French doors
are wide open,” Jill says. “People flow in and out.”
The Shah home is a help-yourself kind of place. “I want to
make people feel really comfortable—like it’s their home,” Jill
says. Before heading out to the morning parade with their two
kids, ages 3 and 5, Jill grabs an erasable marker and scrawls a big
“Welcome!” on a mirror by the door. As a busy mom and online
entrepreneur, she’s all for keeping the hosting simple so she’s not
stressing or pulling kitchen duty when guests trickle in. “I think
things can be done simply but in a way that’s beautiful and
refreshing,” Jill says. That may mean garnishing platters of food
with herbs or nasturtiums from her garden, using canning-jar
mugs for drinks, or placing hydrangeas cut from bushes in buckets
for easy bouquets. And for the Shahs, a party isn’t a party without
cupcakes. “Cupcakes have become the theme in our house,” says
Jill. “They’re easier for entertaining than other desserts.”
After Niraj has the burgers off the grill and Jill has moved the
child-size picnic table (“It just comes along to wherever we need
it,” she says) onto the porch, the talk turns to another Shah
signature: the turntable in the center of the big teak dining table.
Guests give the wheel a whirl to bring roasted ears of corn or a
fresh salad within reach. “People love spinning it,” Jill says. “It
inspires conversation, and makes serving family-style meals easy.”
And it squares perfectly with her goal of putting guests at ease.
“People really do like to gather and relax in this house,” Jill says.
“It allows the focus to be on family and friends.”
3 2
JULY
2010
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