Search Results: Interior Renovation (123)

As more of us become increasingly attuned to and educated about the benefits—indeed, the necessity—of a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, multifamily buildings and residential communities are turning toward new ‘green’ features to up…

As demand for more residential space in New York City continues to grow, real estate developers are turning to churches to satisfy that constant need. Following a trend that has occurred in the Big Apple and other parts of the country, chu…

While current technology allows one to access almost infinite information in real time, history allows one to look back. And for many New Yorkers, the city’s rich architectural tradition is inscribed in the countless prewar buildings that p…

Architecture and design have changed a lot over the years. Considerations for ‘what-goes-where,’ are very different now than say, back in the Roaring Twenties, when so much of New York’s housing stock – and hence a large proportion of today…

By its very nature, life in a co-op or condominium community is different from living in a rental unit or a private home. While that statement may seem pretty obvious, many owners of co-op and condo units lack a clear understanding of what …

While a board and management take on the lion's share of responsibility for maintaining a building or community association, it certainly helps to have some extra hands on deck to keep track of smaller details. While by no means mandatory, …

For better or worse, color affects human behavior. Research indicates that practical and aesthetic applications of color, in public and private spaces, can manipulate mood and perception. A board planning to redecorate or refurbish common s…

In the past, developers would throw a few chairs and tables into a large room and call it a common area or a recreation room and leave it at that. Today, however, there's more to designing, maintaining and upgrading a successful common area…

In New York, with its countless multifamily buildings, there are certain dangers that have nothing to do with crime rates, economics, or the latest exotic imported disease. Falling bricks, short circuits leading to fires, trash piling up, a…

Just last year, Americans spent some $125 billion on home remodeling projects, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies - a collaborative effort between Harvard University's Design School and the Kennedy School of Government. That…

The Dakota co-op building is one of the most iconic New York City apartment buildings, home to many cultural luminaries, including the late, legendary singer-songwriter John Lennon. But what makes the Dakota—along with many other historic …

There’s an old saying, ‘You never get a second chance to make a first impression,’ and that holds very true for multifamily buildings. Large or small, deluxe or modest, a building's lobby serves as a snapshot for the rest of the building. …

Q I have a question about raising the maintenance fees on a condo. Is there any set limit or percentage? Case in point—our maintenance fee has been the same for 17 years. Now the board of managers has raised it 40 percent. I was payi…

Last November marked the completion of a two-year, $20 million renovation of the lobby of the Empire State Building—a pretty hefty sum just to retrofit such a particular space. While the cost was certainly of large proportions, it is no…

The original condo declaration, bylaws, amendments and house rules allow for  renovations without board approval to interior units if they do not affect  common area are not structural in nature. I installed a wall partition (does  not affe…

Throughout New York City, some of the most sought-after apartments are located in prewar buildings (those built prior to World War II), such as the Central Park West's Dakota or the stately maisonettes located on the Upper East Side. On…

Tastes and styles change with the decades (and sometimes with just the seasons), and what is considered fashionable now may seem hopelessly dated in just a few years. This applies not only to clothing and interior design, but to architectu…

 Noise is a key quality-of-life problem for almost anyone living in a  densely-packed urban environment. Many urban dwellers are immune to it as a  result of having lived all their lives in the city—maybe you even grew up next to an elevat…

David Sack has lived in the West Village John Adams apartment building since 1998. The building is a 21-story, 404-unit, white-brick apartment complex built in 1963 and converted to a cooperative in 1980. When David moved in, he…

 For the residents of a co-op or condo building, the building's lobby and common  areas function much as a front porch or entry hall might in a single-family  home; they're a spot to meet guests, get mail and packages, or to stop and chat …