Possibly the best kept [owner occupied] pre-war secret in the NYC metro area!

Posted on by Debbie

Possibly the best kept pre-war secret in the NYC metro area…possibly even the country!

This glorious owner occupied townhouse in Crown Heights Brooklyn will come to market in 2 weeks. Keep in mind, this home is owner occupied, so our staging had to be easy to maintain while allowing the spectacular architectural detail to shine. Sun-bleached curtains were replaced with flowing white sheers to allow the stained glass windows to be a focal point.

We removed the micro-suede, over-sized and worn-out sectional, replacing it with the sleek modern contemporary Corbusier white leather sofas and a Nogucci cocktail table. The large rug anchors the space and all of the soft tones allow the main attraction to be the mahogany stained fireplace, woodwork and lattice trim. We did an edit and rearrange of art and accents to create a room that is all about . . . . . THE ROOM! Gorgeous!

Owner Occupied pre war in Brooklyn

White sheers are the perfect dressing for the windows. Now the windows are all about the beautiful dentil and fluted trim and inlays that surround the 2 windows facing the street …. and the stained glass!

Oh, by the way, check out the original plaster work on the ceiling. Stunning!

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For ideas on how to stage your owner occupied NYC home for sale, please email me.

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Corbusier Sofas – From the man who said that “Chairs are architecture, sofas are bourgeois” how come his white leather sofas are so very NOT bourgeois but the height of chic and style? The pieces feel eternally modern, and have long come to epitomize “International Style”. They are hardly modern in reality, having been designed circa 1928 – 1930. Le Corbusier drew inspiration for his designs from the Fibonacci Sequence. The pieces are thought to be sublimely comfortable.

“Authentic Classics never stop telling the future”.

Home Staging a NYC 3 BR Rowhouse

Posted on by Debbie

135 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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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

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.

Lifestyle Marketing Sells Condo Plus All Of The Contents!

Posted on by Debbie

Living Room Staged with Lifestyle Marketing

Photos used with permission from Brown Harris Stevens

A few years back, advanced home staging training programs started talking about Lifestyle Marketing. It was the anti-thesis of generally accepted staging principles. Simply, the concept is staging for one specific person, where home staging is preparing a home for sale to appeal to the most people possible. Surely you limit the potential buyer pool if you design for one person, what happens if they’re not in the market to buy a $3 million condo? It’s a logical question.

However, niche marketing has been proven successful many times over. The narrower the niche, the better it works. Consider how effective people find Facebook Ads, and the huge savings you get when you put your message in front of only the right audience. In many business situations, you don’t want every buyer, or even a lot of buyers, you just want the right buyer. And that, sooner rather than later. But don’t take my word for it, here are some other credible opinions:

For this listing – 388 Bridge Street in Downtown Brooklyn – I listened carefully to the developer and the marketing/sales director as they said –

“Let’s position this unit for a bachelor with money.”

Aha, lifestyle marketing at its finest! We often apply this principle at Amazing Space NYC; it works very well for high-end listings where the buyer is often quite specific. More often than not, there just aren’t a wide pool of target buyers.

Here, we kept accessories to a minimum, opting for the kinds of things a busy, single guy might have around. Sleek, modern, efficient – for sure; and calming, soothing, a zen-like private space where he can scrutinize his strategy and plot his next move.

The city is laid out at his feet. Glorious light pours in day and night. It is a stunning set of views, comfortably at arms’ length. The owner here can feel high above the fray in this unit.

Should he want or need to cook, the space is there. And there are lots of cabinets for the juicer and whatever else goes into those guys’ gruesome morning shake.

And if there is a girl… or a friend…there’s a place for them on the deck. They shouldn’t get too comfortable though. #Justsaying.

Our Lifestyle Marketing strategy worked. A bachelor bought the pad, alright. The buyer turns out to be a hedge fund executive. And, he bought every piece of furniture, lighting and textile that we installed as part of our design.

Home Staging NYC’s Legendary El Dorado

Posted on by Debbie

Barney Pressman lived here. (Yes, of Barney’s fame) Alec Baldwin, Garrison Keilor, Faye Dunaway and Michael J. Fox lived here. Nucky Thompson, of Boardwalk Empire, considered living here and it was the focal point of Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ view from 5th Avenue. It is the El Dorado, at 300 Central Park West. It’s ridiculously prestigious given how far north it is, covering the full block from 90th to 91st Street. 30 floors of large, spacious apartments, most with fabulous views of NYC’s coveted Central Park.

While it was comfortably decorated before, the two bedroom apartment needed a fresh contemporary twist to be properly showcased at its $4.5 million price tag.

The living room is a sizable 18′ x 28′. The owners, while living in the apartment, split the room in half with a formal seating area that faced the park view and comfy seating by the TV. Great for living perhaps, but not for selling. The back of a sofa is not the way to greet prospective buyers into the room. While we agreed that the room could easily support several zones, the better floor plan was one in which the various seating arrangements were open to each other and allowed the buyers to get to the windows without a large sofa blocking their path.

The formal dining room has lovely molding, and also enjoys views of the park thanks to the wide open 10 x 9 foyer. But a mission-style dining set did not depict glittering evening dinner parties or festive family holiday gatherings. Also, when staging a formal dining room, a rug does you no service. It always makes the room feel smaller. Most people use rugs that are one size smaller than what they should actually put in the space. Rugs also become hazardous, especially when you have a room that invites buyers to look UP at its lighting, moldings, coffered ceilings, etc. and not pay attention to the corners of the area rug.

We added a transitional table, with high-back, tufted upholstered chairs and a gorgeous globe over an abundance of hydrangeas. This is where the “Less is More” style helps make the room grow and breathe. The monochromatic artwork of textured circles in white relief adds a little eye candy to the room without making the walls cave in. The pattern of circles emphasizes the beautiful ceiling!

El Dorado kitchens are typically substantial, and this one had been recently renovated. It just needed a little styling and pops of color. The island offers extra flat surface for food prep – or a central place for a cup of coffee. To the right of the kitchen window is a breakfast nook, with a built-in banquette. We added a new orb light fixture and a piece of art to finish the area.

In the Master Bedroom, we wanted to emphasize the Reservoir views (how many movies have you seen in which someone is running the 1.58 mile perimeter of the Central Park reservoir?). Adding a more prominent bed yet keeping a simple, neutral color palette allowed the attention and the focus to be on the views of the park.

Who wouldn’t want to wake up here?

Amazing Views In Carnegie Hill Co-op Triggers Fun Home Staging Ideas

Posted on by Debbie

BEFORE STAGING

We were recently hired by a Seller to Home Stage a 2,900 square foot apartment on the upper east side. Fabulous, right? Well, the problem was that the apartment’s renovations were never completed – and the Seller was fed up dealing with people who took her money and did not give her what she expected.

Home Staging Ideas Needed!

Type “A” personality selling a property she designed from top to bottom and had to sell before she could even buy a sofa. This was my kind of client and my kind of project. High pressure. High energy. Go!

Using the color palette of the views as our foundation not only emphasized them but gave a harmonious flow between the inside and outside.

Home Staging continues to evolve at Amazing Space NYC into a combination of design and staging. This is especially true for Owner Occupied properties. This 27th floor beauty was being listed at $7.995 million. The Seller was ready to put some time and money into the Staging but she wanted it to look “real”, not staged since she and her family would be living in it through the selling process. We had 2 short weeks to pull it together. A contractor was hired to build and install custom radiator cabinets in 3 rooms, install closet systems and doors, finish the baseboard tile in several areas, install art lights, and paint accent walls, a bathroom, the entrance hall and ceilings. Speakers were installed. Unused wires hidden. Wine racks built. At the same time, the Seller and I were busy selecting furniture from both rental sources and on-line vendors to showcase the room sizes and uses. We had 2 weeks . . . . and the team successfully pulled it all together so the brokers could list the property mid-March, in time to capitalize on the spring selling season.

The den / third bedroom was also a combination work area, guest room, TV room. It was like a dorm room with a 60 inch flat screen TV at the head of the room. This room had to have a strong presence as it is right off the kitchen and dining areas. We turned it into a den/TV room. We rented a leather sofa and love seat, combined them with the Seller’s rug, end table, cocktail table and art, then purchased pillows and throws to complement the colors in the artwork. We extended the room into the space between the den and kitchen by adding an Eames walnut and leather chair with matching ottoman. Instantly, this room became one of our favorites!

This is a study that can be closed off with sliding mirror doors or kept open for entertaining. It opens to the kitchen, and thanks to the breakfast bar, we were able to create a reading chair.

The master bedroom carpet is very distinct and we needed to figure out a way to work with it, not against it. We added a golden-hued accent wall behind a new linen-colored upholstered headboard and 2 mirrored console tables to flank the bed. A more feminine crystal and organza ceiling light fixture was installed and was complemented by the 2 crystal table lamps we also purchased. Decorative pillows with brown, beige and warm rust tones were used to add a layer of luxury and elegance to the bed. The finishing touch – plush throw blankets at the foot of the bed. The master bedroom was transformed, using both rented and purchased items, from a home office with a large bed into an elegant oasis.

Going WITH the rug – a “fun, animal print carpet” – in the Master bedroom so that it not only some adds good texture to the space but adds a nod and a wink as to how one might behave there. 😉

10 Rooms for $7,995,000 on the 27th Floor of Carnegie Hill’s 45 East 89th Street.

Second BR Before and After Staging Photos

The Second Bedroom, with art we could hang more prominently elsewhere, and work stuff enjoying the mighty view!

The real “wow” factor had to occur when the buyer walked down the hallway towards the living room. Everything in this space was carefully chosen to complement the views and the dramatic piece of original art. The rented furniture and accessories coupled with the purchased decorative pillows and the Seller’s art turned what once was an empty room (that looked rather small) into a grand, eclectic entertaining space with the most amazing views on Manhattan!

Like in the foyer – so that we set the tone, right from the front door.

apartment staging by Debbie Oulvey has wine room

Is this not the sexiest wine room you’ve ever seen?

This is was a somewhat unusual floorplan for a Manhattan Upper East Side apartment. Yet the open flow set some parameter that were easy to work with once we acknowledged and adhered to them.

And from this experience, we were able to write down some sucesses, that you all might find useful –

Home Staging Ideas

1. Find the biggest selling feature and create interiors that emphasize and flow with it. In this case it was the views.

2. Make the crazy permanent things work in a logical, AND whimsical way. For us, the animal print carpet.

3. Use what the owner has in the most valuable places; items, like art, antiques and ….wine? We moved the art into the most prominent spots, and added picture lights. That’s how millionaires live, don’t you know?! 🙂

4. Always finish up an in-progress reno. Buyers will usually overestimate repair costs and find the very idea a huge hassle.

5. Perhaps my favorite home staging idea from this project is to give yourself a deadline. While it nearly killed me to pull this together in 2.5 weeks, it forced us to be super-creative, resourceful and smart. There was no time for second guessing and the feedback from our results has been amazing. It’s a great looking space now.

Apartment Staging in NYC: We Revive An Estate Sale

Posted on by Debbie

UPDATE!

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 .

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.

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!

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 a Brooklyn 5th Floor WalkUp

Posted on by Debbie

With a very minimal budget, we successfully staged this 2 bedroom Brooklyn walk-up to create marketing photographs that will attract the young professionals/families who love this neighborhood’s mature trees, rows of brownstones and a playground right on the corner!

The seller did not want to invest in a new kitchen (sigh) but did renovate the only bathroom and installed a stackable washer/dryer in one of the hall closets which will definitely increase the property appeal. One of our goals was to show how to arrange the living and dining furniture in the square-shaped room to accommodate a family and its guests. While minimal in art and accessories, the staging design clearly achieved its goal. Seller and broker were both very happy with the photographs!

“This listing is another example of prime Carroll Gardens living. The 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment features an oversized living room with great light, an open kitchen, fireplace, a skylight in the master bedroom and it has washer and gas dryer. In addition, this unit is on the top floor located 1 flight away from your own private roof space with stunning views of Manhattan. 200 President is conveniently located near great shops, restaurants, parks and the best schools Brooklyn has to offer. Note, this is walk up building.”

Home staging a Brooklyn walkup is not without its challenges, but we were thrilled with the result. On the one hand we hope it sells fast, on the other hand, it would be good to de-stage in January when I’m on a fitness regimen anyway!

Listed at $949,000, with a monthly Maintenance: $779
Carroll Gardens

Upper West Side Triplex Staged And Furnished Outdoors

Posted on by Debbie

Upper West Side Triplex Staged

upper westside home staging NYC
This triplex is on the ground floor and offers a large outdoor patio. To maximize the budget and the staging design, I purchased some of the outdoor furniture which the developer can now sell with the Unit (by hiring a stager who has trade discounts and resources, a client enjoys the benefit of purchasing quality goods for less than it costs to rent).

The staging needed to show a living-dining area that could accommodate a family of 5 or however many folks the buyers might fit into a 3 BR, 3 Full bath plus Rec room, 2,900 sq. ft. unit. There are a lot of options. This is a terrific entertaining home with the outside space, too. In contrast to the Penthouse Unit, we designed the Maisonette with a more transitional decor. To bring the outside into the unit, we painted the recessed ceiling a very pale blue which not only highlighted the dentil molding but “lifted” the ceiling in the room.

The outdoor play area offers a lot of space for family life. It is a built-in “play area” for the young children as well as a great dining and entertaining space. Even though the unit is on the main floor, it faces the back of the building. Surrounded by very pretty buildings and blooming foliage, the outdoor setting is tranquil and inviting.

Since some of the units are still being sold by a marketing team, not just individual brokers, we had to match the building’s official listing description and that of Streeteasy:

This new West End Avenue condominium brings modern luxury together with the traditional elegance of Manhattan’s historic Upper West Side. Set between the lush natural beauty of Riverside and Central Parks, the West End Avenue condo is surrounded by the Upper West Side’s elegant historic architecture and tranquil, tree-lined streets. With just eleven full-floor homes, a stunning duplex penthouse, and a graceful triplex maisonette, residents enjoy the many benefits of living in a truly intimate private community. Exquisitely designed full-floor residences feature private keyed-elevator access, exotic natural finishes, and premier European fixtures and appliances. Most of the residences provide expansive views of the Hudson River. Select amenities and services include an attended lobby, fitness center and live-in property staff. In every detail, the condominium creates an elegant contemporary lifestyle in one of Manhattan’s most cherished historic neighborhoods.

You can see those “expansive Hudson River views” on our blog post from last week — – Staged Penthouse Colors The Upper West Side – they are quite stunning!

To have your Upper West Side Triplex staged, give us a call at 917-428-3965.

Staged Penthouse Colors The Upper West Side For Sale

Posted on by Debbie

This Penthouse apartment on the Upper Westside was a giant white box that offered a lot of space . . . . and white walls . . . . and space . . . . and more white walls. It lacked sex appeal, and did not offer any ambiance. Working with a very limited budget, the marketing team decided to stage the main living/entertaining space in an effort to create a WOW moment as soon as the elevator doors opened on to this floor through showcase. The team wanted a design plan that was more downtown – vibrant and loft-like. More and more younger buyers are recognizing the value of the UWS (as is written in this recent New York Post article, and the Sales and Marketing team wanted to capitalize on the movement north. In order to capture this target demographic buyer, the Penthouse needed a more contemporary aesthetic, not the stodgy “Old New York” décor that is so familiar in the UWS pre-war apartments.

We added an accent wall of deep mocha-gray accent wall in the living room, then accessorized with orange for downtown punch. The accent color carries through to the oversized terrace, making the living area feel twice as grand and without obstructing any of the river views. Gorgeous!

Here’s another view of the living and entertaining space. Notice the reading nook just around the corner, which also shares the spectacular view!

Adding a cheerful turquoise rug to anchor the oversized dining room, we brought the river view to the other side of the apartment. That Hudson River view is a feature we want the buyers to remember as they flow through the unit.

The blue and orange color combination is visible outside as well as inside the Penthouse, like the bricks in the surrounding buildings juxtaposed against the sky. This color combination has several advantages:

It is modern and bold but also cheerful
The colors are recognized by many as the most eye-catching colors for online purposes and will draw in the buyers who are clicking around for inspiration and prospective homes.
[According to Basic Color Theory] Being opposites, and therefore complementary on the color wheel, blue and orange imply maximum stability – an imperative in New York City Real Estate investing (especially when the list price is upward of $7 million). The color combination creates harmony, perhaps because the colors are related.
This palette also suggests that a design professional has been employed, a very useful tool for staging high-end homes. The indication that the services of a professional interior decorator or designer were utilized increases the aspirational appeal of the property. Buyers not only get to enjoy the design suggestions the Penthouse offers; they understand that this is the lifestyle they will enjoy when residing in this floor-through Penthouse with sweeping Hudson River views.

This staged penthouse has been just released and is getting great feedback.

To have your penthouse staged by Amazing Space NYC, please call 917-428-3965, and ask for Debbie. To drool more, here is the floorplan –>

Home Staging A Greenwich Village 2 BR

Posted on by Debbie

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.

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.

Amazing Space NYC – Home Staging NYC

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Category Archives: Living Room

Possibly the best kept [owner occupied] pre-war secret in the NYC metro area!

Home Staging a NYC 3 BR Rowhouse

Lifestyle Marketing Sells Condo Plus All Of The Contents!

Home Staging NYC’s Legendary El Dorado

Amazing Views In Carnegie Hill Co-op Triggers Fun Home Staging Ideas

Home Staging Ideas

Apartment Staging in NYC: We Revive An Estate Sale

Home Staging a Brooklyn 5th Floor WalkUp

Upper West Side Triplex Staged And Furnished Outdoors

Upper West Side Triplex Staged

Staged Penthouse Colors The Upper West Side For Sale

Home Staging A Greenwich Village 2 BR