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JOINING
APARTMENTS IN NEW YORK CITY |
If you live in Bergen County, NJ and want to add some more room
to your cramped living quarters the answer is pretty clear: build
an addition. However, it’s not so simple if you’re living
in a one-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side. While you can
certainly look for more space, the hard fact is that in New York
City, space is a high commodity and sometimes what passes for a
two or three bedroom can be smaller than what you already have.
Of course, then there’s also the added inconvenience of finding
a new place in today’s NY real estate market, selling your
space, and then moving all of your belongings.
Besides, once you’ve fallen in love with one of New York’s
charming neighborhoods, it’s hard to leave, despite the allure
of New Jersey and Westchester’s spaciousness.
But sometimes the simplest answer is so close you don’t always
see it—and the apartment of your dreams could be waiting on
the other side of your wall. This is why, these days, more and more
city dwellers are choosing to purchase adjacent apartments and combine
them with their current homes to create much larger and more luxurious
living conditions for their families.
But how you go about adjoining the two spaces depends largely on
the current layout of both apartments. Depending on the architectural
constraints of your apartment, this could be a lot more difficult
than simply knocking down your wall. In fact, many families find
themselves with a large living room and two kitchens, which can
pose some interesting challenges that require significant structural
changes and renovations. If your renovation plans call for removing
a second kitchen, or even just opening up a sidewall, you’ll
need to work with an architect to keep your project streamlined
and safe.
Only an architect has the professional training to give you an accurate
projection of what will be involved in the process. Whether he or
she uses drawings or the latest in today’s renovation software,
you can get a pretty clear look at your end result as well as your
road toward it. An architect is also particularly important when
combining condos or co-ops, as you’ll need a trained professional
with adequate credentials to submit the project’s plans to
your condo board and the Department of Buildings before they’ll
even approve construction. Most boards are keen to approve plans
as long as they’re reasonable and won’t harm the building
in any way. Why? Larger apartments bring a higher property value.
A truly gifted architect, however, has the ability to extend your
space in ways you might not even imagine, giving you not just space
but a well-planned design. Once your architect plots out your construction
variables, you might also consult a designer and then a contractor
for ideas on how to renovate your space with the style and elegance
you want for such an elaborate purchase.
In the case of two kitchens, some homeowners choose to maintain
two sinks because it makes food preparation much easier, but, more
often than not, that extra room is converted into a dining area,
a guest room, or used to expand an adjacent bedroom or bathroom.
These days with all the technological advances you might ask a home
automation expert to begin planning a media room or screening room
with your new space. No matter what you choose, combining two apartments
it is bound to be a challenging process.
However, coordinating all these different people—from the
architect to the designer to the contractor— is hard enough,
and then of course there’s the arduous process of selecting
from the many products available to you. Now consider the added
pressure of making sure the right governing board has all the right
paperwork and you can clearly see how bogged down both you and your
hired professionals can get. This can result in months or even years
transpiring before your renovation even begins.
This is why MyHome’s full-service solution is so valuable.
Besides having a highly experienced team under our letterhead—from
today’s leading architects and designers to our experienced
Design Consultants and contractors—our corporate team has
developed an ironclad system for dealing with these or any other
problems that will inevitably arise when you’re joining adjacent
apartments.
In other words, we streamline the project for you, freeing you up
to dream about what you want to do with your elaborate new living
space. Will you choose wooden flooring or go with wall-to-wall carpeting?
What color paints will inspire you? Will each room have a different
feel or will you choose to renovate your entire space to fit one
unified theme?
Whatever you choose, you can rest easy knowing that our MyHome team
can help you at any stage of this process, making the joining of
these two spaces a real pleasure instead of an a year long chore. |
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