Why Complete Renovations Add Value to High-End Interiors

Why Complete Renovations Add Value to High-End Interiors

How a pre-war apartment in New York turned into a contemporary style that still relates to the historic space.

By Jay Johnson

Your client is moving into a period house or apartment. To clinch the purchase, they’ve spent the GNP of a small European country, and now they’re faced with a huge choice: do they move into the existing space “as is” or should they renovate? My interior design partner Irwin Weiner and I recently completed a 3,000 square foot project on Manhattan’s posh Central Park West—with park view—and we were faced with this common design choice.

The clients’ space is a Pre-War apartment with the usual thick walls and high ceilings. It’s in a building built in the 1920s. We recommended an extensive renovation that would enhance the future resale of their luxury space in the still-hot NYC real estate market.

The renovation amounted to gutting the apartment. Construction renovation plans had to be first approved by the clients’ building, followed by design filing and permit approvals from New York City. From the time of closing on the apartment until construction begins, the approval process can take about nine months to a year—and, remember, this is specific to Manhattan, which turns renovation approvals into an Olympic sport. But once approvals were finalized, our clients demolished all bathrooms and the kitchen, the layout and configuration of rooms changed entirely, and the clients couldn’t wait to move in. It’s always an anxiety-filled period where your future home is torn apart and gradually put back together. It’s important to hold hands, keep the mood light, and keep everyone’s eyes on the prize—a beautiful new home.

Updating utilities is a major driver for any extensive renovation. A central air conditioning system in a multi-million-dollar home is a priority. In the 1920s, modern utilities weren’t available, but those times dictated other aspects of home design that need to be redone. Kitchens and bathrooms were rarely decorated; they were considered staff rooms and their utilitarian purposes ruled out spending money on them. Families preferred to invest in heirlooms such as artwork and antiques that could be passed on for generations. Today, however, we’re decorating every last inch of space, down to the padded hangers in the closet that match the bedroom drapes.

With a gut renovation, you can start fresh and redefine a home for your clients. Here’s a checklist of some of the highlights from this project: central air, a new powder room, central sound and lighting systems, high-speed computer cabling, wiring for wall-mounted flat screen televisions, and a new gourmet kitchen which met our foodie clients’ demanding specs.

The renovation picked up steam when the clients agreed to revamp their Pre-war apartment into a contemporary style that still related to the historic space. We didn’t hide beams in the living and dining rooms, but painted them the wall color so they come across low key, but strong. Irwin designed a bolection molding stone surround for their living room fireplace, and over-scaled it to give the classic treatment—it’s been around for hundreds of years, from Italian villas to Versailles—a sharp modern twist. There are structural beams on either side of the fireplace wall that we gently expanded by creating a pair of deco arches, like two shallow alcoves that look like they’ve always been a part of the room.  

Our client is a sculptor, and the furnishings we recommended were primarily sculptural, including Hugues Chevalier red leather chairs and coffee table from Studium, the Elana bench from Bright, Wendell Castle dining chairs, and dining room tables from Hellman-Chang. The end result: comfort and contemporary cool in a totally renovated space.

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In November 2006, Manhattan-based blogger Jay Johnson and his partner Irwin Weiner ASID applied the popularity of watching videos on the Internet to the house-and-garden arena. The idea for Design2Share was born. On D2S, they share their insight, tips, and strong opinions about how people design and decorate their homes, entertaining over 300,000 visitors a year; their syndicated original videos had over 22 million video views in 2010.

Photo credit:

Photos © Irwin Weiner Interiors