Interiors By AJ

We had no idea what a "gut" renovation could be like and because ours went so incredibly smoothly and well, I guess we still don't because Marilyn, her partner Andy and her crew (all of whom had worked with her for years) sailed us through it. We finishing ON TIME and IN BUDGET. Because we were renovating in a NYC apartment coop with strict rules, everything had to be done precisely as required by the Board. And it was! From helping us design the space, somehow finding extra room- in the walls? out of thin air? - to make a glorious bathroom AND a home office out of what had been cramped space before, fixing messes we could not have anticipated (the interior walls FELL DOWN when we pulled out the old wall air-conditioners!) to execution so precise that the kitchen actually feels spacious because every door, every drawer opens fully without blocking access to anything, to the absolutely straight lines in every surface from ceilings to floors to walls making it all symmetrical, to the jewel-box-like attention to detail: I cannot say enough about how wonderful the result is. Just as an example: in our built-ins, every single door 's wood perfectly matches the grain of its opposite door. Down the hallway, every single closet door's handles precisely accord with each other, and they are lined up so that the lights illuminate from the hallway so we didn't have to re-wire inside the closets to use them. They were so thoughtful about what it would be like for me to live there and they solved problems that I didn't even know would be there, like the building not permitting a duct out of the kitchen, so they rebuilt an in-window fan, hid all the wires in the wall, and crafted a framed control for it that matched my cabinets, all without increasing my cost. I actually enjoyed doing this renovation even while it was going on because of the obvious care and passion that Marilyn and her crew brought to this job, my home, every single day. We absolutely had to move in by a certain time and despite all the things that could have delayed us: they did it. I do not know any person who has had a renovation in a NYC apartment in a coop building who has had an experience as fantastic as this, nor results that were so stunning.