Category Archives: Kitchen

Home Staging a NYC 3 BR Rowhouse

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home staging a nyc triplex135 Cambridge Place, Brooklyn

This Clinton Hill historic home was a renovation that maintained a lot of the original charm and character of the architect’s design. It is a two-family home with a 1 BR apartment below and a family triplex above.

As you can see from the floorplan, the rooms are narrow.  Being only 15′ wide, the front sitting room is challenging (it is the room with the 2 white Corbusier love seats, fireplace with round mirror and skin rug) and the bedrooms all have small closets so we had to show storage in the form of dressers and chests in every room.

home staging a brooklyn living room

The developer wanted all of the furniture to be as true to the character of the period as possible but the broker wanted a more current decor to appeal to the 30-40 year old buying demographic. This front room was a back-and-forth as white leather was not what the client wanted, but when he saw his choice in the room, it was clear that light and low was the way to go. The front room is now a sitting/conversation area that feels intimate but not crowded. Home staging is often a compromise, and we had a really good result with this home.

Midcentury modern dining room

The advantage to mid-century modern furniture is 1. it appeals to our target buyer, and, 2. by being lighter than many of the more traditional pieces, it takes up less space – physically and visually. Now you can focus on the fireplace and the extraordinary amount of natural light flooding through from the kitchen, not on whether you’ll bruise your hip on the giant table as you go to turn on the fireplace!

Family Room

To accommodate the children, we created a family room for watching TV, lounging and gathering time on the second floor. We also took one of the 3 bedrooms and gave it a serious, k.i.d. vibe!

Kids BR

For the master bedroom, we combined the warm, gold tiled hearth with the trees outside to create a green, serene scene. Everything leads your eye outside to sky and trees. It is now a calming space but practical and romantic.

home staging with Amazing Space NYC

The second bedroom can be interpreted in a variety of ways –

home staging a second bedroom

whether for a teenager, a set of in-laws or perpetual guests, this room provides a stylish, on-trend welcome.  You might think we’ve run this skin thing into the ground, but these cowhides are gaining in popularity month by month!  We have used several here to connect this home to its chic, up and coming Clinton Hill location.  Currently one of the hottest neighborhoods, it has ample places to play – quality dining, shops, coffee shops, bars, transportation (2 short blocks from the house is the subway), The Barclays Center, BAM, Pratt Institute and downtown Manhattan.

Apartment Staging in NYC: We Revive An Estate Sale

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UPDATE!Home Staging NYC

Update: The Park Avenue estate has an accepted offer, 5 weeks after being listed with the staged flyer, living room and dining room! Yippee!  

You hear of the little old ladies of Park Avenue, but it’s rare these days to find an estate sale, untouched.  The lovely pre-war apartment (pictured here, with before and afters) will likely be completely renovated by the buyers, to their tastes; but even renovators need some sense of scale, and to see hard evidence of the potential. Wreck or no wreck, most buyers do not see in 3D.

With a substantial reno ahead, the marketing team opted to present just the key rooms: entrance foyer, living room, dining room and kitchen. The staging helped make the apartment feel more loved and buyer friendly. It was released just a few days ago and there is a line for appointments .

NYC home Staging

The key to apartment staging in NYC, whether the property is an estate sale or not, is to present how rooms can be used.  We add layers of color and texture to trigger the senses, evoke happy memories and stimulate imagination.  Our buyer needs to see themselves living happily in a space, and this turquoise achieves that better than any other color at this time of year. Yellow would be garish and orange too obvious.  With Spring on the way, soon, and very soon, (fingers crossed) this bright blue suggests sunny days and soothing calm ahead.

Apartment Staging NYC

Whenever we pick a color with strong contrast, we carry it throughout the apartment. This way each room flows easily from one to another. A harmonious flow also makes the space feel bigger.

I would like to tell that we’re in citrus season, hence the lemons, but that wasn’t the motivation. I just liked the additional pop of color. That’s a lot of black, white and silver in there!

top staging companies NYC does Estate sale kitchen

 

 For more information on how to stage your apartment for sale, please call 917-428-3965 and ask for Debbie.

Amazing Space NYC covers Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights and all of the new developing neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

 

Home Staging NYC Kitchens Take A Light Touch

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Kitchen - AFTER

1. Throw down some style!

NYC kitchens tend to be small. How much actual cooking gets done is hard to imagine, though many New Yorkers proudly proclaim they can create multiple course dinners in theirs: “it’s all in the timing”. So as home stagers, when preparing a NYC apartment for sale, we need to be able to suggest cooking could happen in the space. some place to eat whatever’s been created?  Well, that calls for even more creativity!  Here are a couple things I keep in mind when home staging nyc kitchens – with examples from a few of my favorite recent successes.

1. One Big Bold Design Statement

Add style in the form of a design element – just one – whether it’s a striking piece of art, or a hide rug, or a state of the art coffee pot… even a retro fondue pot – and you will find the space packs a punch beyond its size.

NYC home Staging a kitchen

2.  Deep Clean – grime and gunk has to be removed, and grout given a good bleaching.

2. “White Glove Clean”

Seriously, clean even if you need to re-grout as a result…because with less accessories to look at, the buyer stares into the corners. It is worth hiring a pro for this, unless you’re newly single and vigorous scrubbing would be therapy.

NYC home staging

3. Find Seating – somewhere close

3.  Seating

Even if there’s only a counter  or even a shelf, add a few stools and now buyer’s can see a separate space for a chai latte. The reality is that space will become where everyone uses their laptop, pays bills, and wraps presents, but in a small space, the horizontal spaces are a premium.

NYC Home Staging

4. Dress the kitchen sparingly, but with useful things

4. Dress Barely, One Flimsy Layer More Than Naked

Nothing on the counter is too barren, and as we’ve discussed earlier, it gives buyers nothing to look at beyond the grout lines and corners. A coffee pot, if gleaming, is fine as is shiny toaster. 3 trendy cookbooks in a row, if in mint condition is eye-catching, but one open is fine, too. A bowl of glossy red apples is an easy play, though it might suggest Fall to local buyers. Those red apples are grown upstate in lovely rambling orchards. Lemons, limes adn grapefruits last a little longer, and as they age, they can do you a great turn by cleaning out the insinkerator while aromating the room pleasantly.

NYC Home Staging with red accents in a kitchen

5. Accessorize the stove with a punch of color.

5. Put a pot on the stove.

Otherwise, its an awful lot of black! Just make sure the pot or kettle is in mint condition; a beaten up old favorite only sells “country”!

For advice on staging your kitchen when you go to sell your apartment, do reach out to me – my team is available for staging consults by appointment. The wait’s not too long!! :p 917-428-3965

Home Staging A Greenwich Village 2 BR

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Beofre Amazing Space NYC has had time to work its magic.Before we started home staging a Greenwich Village 2 BR unit we went to see it and get the lay of the land, so to speak.  This 2 bedroom on the second floor of a quaint walk-up building left buyers scratching their heads. Immediately welcomed by a massive refrigerator ion the middle of their living room, the living space looked teeny and boring, not at all what a hipster who wants to live in the heart of the Village wants to see when they open the front door.

We got to work.  We transformed the place by adding color and furniture tailored to the space and the target demographic. By adding a small bar height table and stools we successfully created a dining area that takes some of the attention away from the refrigerator’s location.

You might think that we chose red as our accent punch because Fall is on its way and our instincts turn to seasonally warmer colors. In actuality, my inspiration was this fabulous chest which would be considered a Must Have by any generation, and the likely demographic for this unit.

The 2 bedrooom, 1 bath apartment, what used to be called a 4, is listed by Jeffrey Wachtenhiem, with Town Real Estate.

Amazing Space NYC adds pops of red to glamorized an expensive 4 room walk up

Both bedrooms lack a closet, a fundamental flaw in the room designs. By placing a dresser in each room, in the location where a closet or a large wardrobe unit could easily be placed, we allow potential buyers to see that this situation can easily be overcome. We staged the second bedroom to be a den/guest room using a futon bed and colorful art and pillows to jazz it up.

amazing Space NYC works wonders home staging the master bedroom

As you can see, we are not dealing with large rooms; yet it feels chic and fun.

Asking $965,000. Here is the broker’s description:

Incredibly charming and perfectly located, this two bedroom home is situated on Prime Leroy Street in the heart of Greenwich Village / West Village neighborhood. A RARE offering, this sponsor unit requires no board approval and is ready to be moved into. This home features a renovated windowed kitchen, windowed bath and the perfect Village location. Just one flight up in a charming, prewar walkup building with beautiful iron work, this is one not to be missed.   Just steps from at least 50 bars and restaurants, multiple train lines and incredible eateries such as- Murray;s cheese, Faiiaccos, Joe’s Pizza and so much more. 

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For more information on staging your NYC home for sale,

please call 917-428-3965 and ask for Debbie.

 

 

 

2014 Trends – from this NYC Home Stager

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Yes, it’s back! Un-lacquered brass (some vendors are calling it “satin brass”, “antique brass” and somewhat obviously, non-lacquered brass) is  considered to be a solid contender for the people who are “been, done that” about nickel and chrome. The theory is that brass is warmer and more elegant than its silver metal counterparts. It advances the appeal of the industrial decor revolution because  there’s little to no shine. And based on usage, each piece will tarnish and “age” differently.

“Everybody wants it!” reports Lauren Henry of Davis and Warshow a wholesale plumbing supply supplier to designers, architects, homeowners in New York City since 1925. “It’s been crazy; everybody for the last couple of months, maybe a year even. And they’re using it everywhere for everything – faucets, full bathrooms, kitchens, everything!”

Why?

“They like the way it tarnishes. Well, they like the idea of how it will tarnish. Most don’t seem to like the way it really does,” Lauren chuckled.

In this contemporary bathroom above,  the style comes from clever sleek combinations.  The matte black is a silestone surface called Tao in suede finish.  The oval mosaic sink is wide enough for a couple to share and beautifully echoes the oval tub. A sumptuous brass rain head in the shower satisfies the most lascivious aesthete; the views? Well, if I had to guess I’d say this photo was taken in NYC looking out at onto the West 70s somewhere.

Where are you with brass?

Suppliers like Samuel Heath and Barber Wilson are all jumping on the trend.  Here is just the traditional suite from Watermark, the Brooklyn manufacturer that Manhattanites yearn for —

home staging NYC trends with interior design
Can you believe that swan, in your grandmother’s house in Florida, could possibly become the biggest trend… again!!

2014 trends in NYC home staging

For interior design and home staging, please call Amazing Space NYC lead designer, Debbie Oulvey at 917-428-3965.

Home Staging A Brooklyn 2 BR for Rent

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Home Stager in BrooklynWe staged this 2 bedroom apartment in one of Brooklyn‘s most desirable school districts needed a total make-over.  The renters who resided in the unit obviously needed more space (and a good cleaning service).  The Living Room was facing the kitchen, when it was occupied by tenants, which rarely shows well.

Model in Brooklyn Condo home staged by Debbie Oulvey

Similar unit one floor below.

ASNYC brought in a team of contractors that refinished the kitchen cabinets, painted the walls, repaired closet doors and handles and topped it off with a thorough (and much needed) cleaning.

A neutral palette was used for the furnishings in the main room in order to make the kitchen a part of the room and not an intrusion.  Grays, taupes and a pop of blue bring life, warmth and a touch of color to the space.

A complete make-over.  The lamination on the cabinets was falling off; the doors and the island were badly scratched.  We had new cabinet doors made and changed the kitchen from dull cherry to a satin white. The result: a clean, contemporary kitchen that opens into a stylish, hip living space.  By adding a soft gray hue to the living room walls, we gave a little more emphasis to the contemporary kitchen while, at the same time, adding depth and character to the living – dining space.

Brooklyn Home Staging

To have your home staged by Amazing Space NYC, please call Debbie Oulvey at 917-428-3965.

“Everything But The Kitchen Sink”! Another Home Staging New York Case Study

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Home Staging New York

Well, in this case, the kitchen sink actually did have to go! LOL This is an amazing Home Staging New York Case Study. Often we do not have such clear numbers to pinpoint success solely based on the staging.  This is one I’m particularly proud of!

When we were hired to stage this one bedroom co-op, we knew that most of the budget needed to be focused on the kitchen.  Kitchen s and bathrooms can make or break a sale, and this kitchen was definitely a deal-breaker.   Metal cabinets with plastic handles.  Yellow formica counter tops.  White appliances.  Poor lighting.  And no stove!

The target demographic buying groups for this unit were a couple who would use the apartment as a pied-a-terre or a first-time buyer.   We knew we had to present a clean,move-in ready canvas to satisfy the needs of these two buyers profiles.   The 7′ wide by 8′ long kitchen space was gutted and we designed a clean, updated kitchen plan that incorporated carrera marble counters, white cabinets, stainless steel appliances, new lighting and 12 x 24 inch floor tiles that we ran lengthwise to make the room feel larger.

Kitchen-Pro shot w titleThe seller invested $50,000 in the Staging Design Plan for this property (which included the kitchen renovation, updating the bathrooms, removing wallpaper and skim-coasting the walls, removing window treatments, adding radiator cabinets with bookshelves and adding furniture and lifestyle accessories).  The real estate broker increased the list price of the property by $100,00 after the staging was completed.

At the first open house, he received 3 offers, 2 at full ask.  Our staging resulted in an immediate sale and an additional $50,000 in the buyer’s pocket.

 

Home Staging New York 917-428-3965