Cookie-cutter homes and apartments can look too similar to their competition, making it harder for them to stand out. But developers and designers are finding some ways that can make an abode different from the rest.
“Everybody’s looking at what everybody else is doing,” Jonathan Miller, the president of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants, told The New York Times. An apartment can be “really nice and special and unique—and not dissimilar to the other five places you just looked at.”
To stand out, designers and developers are using materials, finishes, and tech that they believe will get noticed, including:
Herringbone patterns
Intriguing floors may be one way to lure buyers, designers say. Planks of wood flooring are not always being lined up in parallel lines. But flooring installed in zig-zag patterns with herringbone or chevron details is getting noticed, as the look provides a flooring update, designers say. With herringbone, the ends are cut at a right angle and have a woven effect. The technique can be applied in other rooms, too, such as in bathrooms, as an accent wall in the living room, or even as the backsplash in a kitchen.
Marble
Marble finishes are proving to stand out. Marble is popping up all over homes, from kitchen countertops to stove hoods and bathrooms. “Calacatta, a gray-veined marble quarried in Carrara, Italy, remains the go-to choice,” The New York Times reports. The polished stone is increasingly being “honed,” which has a softer sheen that is less flashy than it has been in the past, Nancy Piraquive, a broker at Brown Harris Stevens and former interior designer, told NYT.
Smart-home tech
More technology is also being incorporated into homes to make them stand out. Homeowners can check the temperature or security of their home from their phones. The lighting and curtains can be controlled through an app. A marketing team called Centrale is recommending Nest Learning thermostats for the apartments in Ceruzzi Properties in East Midtown, N.Y. The smart thermostats have occupancy sensors that will turn the heat or air conditioning on or off based on whether someone is in the room. “It doesn’t make sense to manually operate thermostats anymore,” Tariq Mahmood, director of construction for Ceruzzi’s New York division, told NYT.
Source: “Six Must-Haves Needed to Seduce Buyers,” The New York Times (Oct. 18, 2019)
