Real Estate Archives | Capital CraftsmenCapital Craftsmen

May 15, 2017

5 ways to care for your renovated home

As your home renovation draws to a close, you may experience feelings of relief and joy at the transformation from the old to the new. Decisions on materials turned out to be good choices, and daily life is now blending and flowing around your new space. The question: How to keep it all looking great for years to come? Here are five ways to care for your new home.

1. Consult manufacturers’ manuals for appliance care

An obvious first step that many homeowners skip. Most appliance manufacturers have a place on their webpage dedicated to manuals or product service and support. A model number will lead you to literature on cleaning and maintenance. Often, a simple Google search is enough. For example, a stainless wine refrigerator requires little attention except for periodically washing off fingerprints. This can be done with water and mild dish soap, then polished with a microfiber cloth dipped in mineral, cooking or olive oil. Note: Clean and polish with the grain. Look closely! Steel has grain just like wood. Here are extra tips:

*Speak with your contractor about how to maintain your equipment.

*Register major appliances with the manufacturer through their website.

*Make sure you know the location of the model numbers for future reference.

2. Safeguard your kitchen countertops

You probably reviewed pros and cons of different materials before you made your final decision of kitchen countertops. Ready to start cooking? Here’s a refresh!

*Quartz countertops, such as Caesarstone, are durable, non-porous and do not need to be annually resealed, but acidic foods or juices can erode the acrylic. This material is also more likely to be damaged by excessive heat than granite, crushed glass or concrete. Treat yourself to trivets.

*Porous natural stones, such as granite and marble, may need to be resealed periodically and are susceptible to stains from oils and acids. Don’t let spilled liquids sit on your stone countertops. Spill? Swipe!

*For laminate or solid-surfacing countertops, cutting boards are mandatory because both of these materials are easily scratched.

3. Tend to your tiles

Bathroom tiles get hazy with soapy residue, while kitchen backsplashes get splattered with oil, and floor tiles experience both! Regular cleaning will prevent the need to muscle through buildup, so break out a mild all-purpose cleaner and some basic cleaning equipment.

*For kitchen backsplash tiles, mix dish liquid with water and rub away the oily residue with a sponge or gentle cloth. White vinegar mixed with warm water is another option. A mild all-purpose cleaner will clean up bath tiles nicely. Mix the solution with water and wipe with a rag, a soft brush or sponge.

*Sweep or vacuum floor tiles of any debris and grit on a regular basis to avoid dulling or scratching the surface. After clearing away large particles, use a mop and bucket with mild soap or detergent and warm water. If you wind up with a hazy film, consider switching up your mop material (sponge to chamois, for example) and/or wipe away the film with a fresh cloth and an all-purpose cleaner.

*Where there is tile, there is grout. To care for your grout, use gentle brushes to scrub it clean. And if your regular tile cleaning routine is not doing the trick on your grout, try a paste of baking soda and water, a mild bleach solution or store-bought grout cleaner. Remember to reseal it periodically.

4. Work with your wood

Refinished or brand new hardwoods can be beautiful foundations for your home. If you are the type of family that takes off your shoes before entering the home, you are off to a great start! Even if not, caring for your floors can be easy with a few simple guidelines.

*Begin with indoor and outdoor welcome mats. Mats placed before and after the threshold of your door are an important first step in maintaining scratch- and stain-free floors even in the winter.

*Area rugs cut down on regular wear and tear of the floors in the areas where they are positioned.

*Little felt stickers (available at any hardware store) do a good job protecting your floors from furniture-driven scratches.

Here are a few rules of thumb when cleaning your floors:

*Sweep or vacuum debris on a regular basis

*Mop with water and a gentle soap and never leave water or other liquids sitting on your hardwoods. Water can eventually penetrate the finish and leave stains in the wood. If you are not sure what cleaner to use on your floors, manufacturers of wood sealants often offer hardwood floor cleaners, such as Minwax® Hardwood Floor Cleaner.

5. Care for your cabinets

Although you likely will not be cleaning your kitchen or bathroom cabinets as often as higher-traffic surfaces (such as shower tiles and cooking countertops), don’t forget about them! Knobs and pulls can harbor germs and cabinet doors can become grimy over time from moisture and oils in the air. Similarly to hardwood floors, wooden cabinets don’t do well with water or other liquids resting on their surface. Whether you clean your cabinets with soapy water, white vinegar water or mild all-purpose cleaner, remember these vital last steps: wipe away cleaner residue with a wet cloth and dry your cabinets with a towel.

February 3, 2017

$50M Time Warner Center penthouse sells at an $11M loss

One of New York City’s most expensive apartments is no longer: the penthouse atop the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at the Time Warner Center is officially off the market. And unsurprisingly, it sold at a loss—the apartment, listed for $50 million as recently as November, closed for $38.9 million. For those keeping track, that’s a 22 percent discount, punting it pretty far down the list of the city’s priciest homes.

Also not a shocker: the buyer is shielded by an anonymous LLC, with the oh-so-clever name of 80CC77B, INC. The seller was Red Cherry Worldwide Inc., which, as TRD notes, is linked to Zentek Technology founder Shozo Ohtani. It went through a series of price ups and downs over the year, listing first for $35.5 million in 2010; $42.5 million in 2012; and then $50 million in 2015.

As for the apartment itself, it’s a 4,825-square-foot corner unit, with “65 linear feet on Central Park and jetliner views from all rooms.” And since there are no listings photos, those stellar photos are the only thing we have to go by when judging the space—well, that, and the floorplans below.

Capital Craftsmen has recently completed a 2-unit residence combination at the Mandarin Oriental with the same high rise panoramic views of Central Park and The Hudson River.

November 1, 2016

Go GRAY –

Gray has become a go-to neutral for designers, thanks to its ability to bring sophistication and character to a space while keeping the mood tranquil. The soft shade particularly shines in the living room, as it allows art, furnishings, and other accents to take center stage. Whether it’s a relaxing Hamptons beach house or a modern Manhattan apartment, gray fits with any style of architecture and decor.

Here are a few living spaces from our portfolio exemplifying the gray backdrop. Maybe you will find the right shade for your next design project in this collection of inspiring rooms.

September 7, 2016

Even the most premeditated renovation can spawn some regrets in the aftermath. And when you’re paying NYC prices, that’s definitely something you want to avoid if you can. Start by asking each of the professionals involved in your project to point out aspects that may bear rethinking. If you are able to explain why a client’s idea may not be the best, 99 out of 100 times they will appreciate you for it. If you have a contractor that is always a ‘yes man’, then sometimes it’s a red flag to stay away.” You should also run your plans by a real estate broker, who can point out mistakes that could potentially hurt you upon resale.

According to experts, here are six of the most common faux pas in the world of New York City apartment remodels –

1. Getting rid of the bathtub

If your apartment has just one bath tub, converting it into a walk-in shower may not be the best idea. Walk-in showers are not appealing to those families with children. Where will the baby get a bath? A more logical approach would be removing your shower curtain and adding a glass shower door instead. A glass enclosure gives off the feeling of a walk-in shower.

2. Installing modern flooring in a prewar apartment

If you own a prewar apartment, installing a bamboo floor or another modern alternative could be a mistake when it comes to resale. Although attractive and durable, staying true to the architectural details of the building may be best. If your oak or maple floors are in poor condition and cannot be salvaged, replace them with the same type of wood or something comparable. Stay away from pre-finished, engineered, or other materials like stone or tile either. These could depreciate the overall value of your apartment since many potential buyers are looking for prewar apartments with character and close-to original detailing.

3. Eliminating closets

Removing a closet in order to gain space in a bathroom or bedroom may seem like a good idea, but only if your apartment already has other closets. Often the apartments that are the easiest to live in and sell quickly are those with abundant close space. More living space seems appealing, however, buyers tend to desire storage and closet space. An uncluttered living area will go further than a bedroom with a few extra feet.

4. Ungainly tile

An 18″x 18″ tile in a stylish bathroom in a Home Depot or Lowe’s display (where the bath models may be made for suburbia) doesn’t mean it will work for your city space. Selecting a tile size that’s too large for a small apartment kitchen or bathroom could be a costly and messy error to fix. Buy a few sample tiles and lay them out on your floor to get a sense of scale and proportion. Hiring a designer could also help with selections while steering you in the right direction. He or she will not only suggest the appropriate size and material, but can draw the tile to scale on a floor plan so you can get an idea of what it will look like before the installation.

5. Turning a two-bedroom into a one-bedroom

One of the most common renovation mistakes committed by New York apartment owners is removing a wall to enlarge a room–but losing a bedroom. It may look great on paper, but in reality, if you give up a room, be prepared to rebuild the wall before putting the apartment on the market, or it will be classified as a one-bedroom instead of a two-bedroom. This could mean two things: a more limited group of potential buyers and a lower asking price.

6. Combine two apartments in one awkward layout

Combining two apartment units may seem like no big deal, but a seamless transition is far from easy. More often than not, combining apartments results in an awkward layout with aspects many buyers will object to, like having to walk through a kitchen to get to the bedrooms, a bathroom in the wrong place, or all of the above and then some. Trying to recoup the investment of the two apartments plus the renovation cost is way more than the market can bear. With that, you also now have a maintenance bill covering two units making a resale almost impossible.

June 15, 2016

Space Saving Ideas for Your Small Bathroom

1105 Park Avenue

In many cases, baths are already among the smallest rooms in a home—so what do you do when yours is especially petite? Here are a few tips & tricks on making your small space appear larger.

1.) Rethink your sink: Pedestal sinks can be attractive and have a nice vintage quality, but they’re not great when it comes to storage. You’re dealing with a basin you can barely put a bar of soap on! If you have a lot of accouterments, go with a console sink with a flat top or a converted cabinet with an under mount sink. You’ll have so much extra space, whether it’s to hang towels or store things behind doors or in drawers.

169 Hudson Street

2.) Creative fittings: A wall-mounted faucet is a very smart space-saver. Not only does it give you bonus counter space, it’s actually much easier to clean.

515 East 89th Street

4.) Create space you don’t have: If you can, hire a professional to cut into the walls just a bit to create a shallow recessed medicine cabinet. Or have them create a tile or marble recess in the shower, one just small enough to store your shampoo bottles.

500 East 77th Street

Throughout our portfolio (including all of the above), you will see various bathroom designs all fitting to each client’s needs. Our goal is to always give each renovation the attention it deserves and exceed your expectations; after all, we are Contractors of Distinction.