Renovating a Loft: Kristin Rose and Peter Burka, Buyers
Chelsea, New York
After years of renting, Kristin and her husband Peter wanted a loft to gut renovate. Fifty viewings later, the right one came along. The criteria was an authentic loft that had enough price flexibility for them to eventually sell at a profit once their masterpiece was complete. Since closing in December, these New Yorkers have experienced a pandemic, an election season, and social unrest. Enough to send them running? Not exactly.
The loft looks amazing! The first question has to be, was it worth it?
It was absolutely worth it. If you asked me in April how I felt about it, the answer might have been no, definitely not. By the end of the summer I was back to yes, totally worth it.
Where did the inspiration for materials and palette come from?
I never want to hide the bones of a building. I want to let the space just be what it is. The building was built in the early 20th century as a fur vault, then was semi-legal artist lofts for years before being converted to condos in 2000.
I wanted to let the layers of what had been there before show through, so we exposed the concrete floors, ceilings, added blackened angle iron trim, and went with simple unfussy unlacquered brass fixtures. I'm also a bit of a collector so I need a largely blank space to let the objects that I love shine. I added depth and richness by choosing a range of textures for the fixtures and fittings. The kitchen has linoleum and oak, paper composite, and matte porcelain slab. The various wall tiles in the baths and pantry are all the same shape and color (pure white rectangle) and are laid in the same pattern but are all different sizes and textures. The only floor tile we put down was the same matte black hex tile in both bathrooms and a simple black cork tile in the pantry. The only color I built in is the wallpaper in the bathrooms because I won't put art or carpets in there.
How did you do on budget? We don’t need specifics, just an idea of how successful you were in keeping spending within limits.
We did ok on the budget. Really though, I should say budgets. Peter is a detail guy so we had three different budgets, the build, the carry costs, and the furnishings.
Our build was almost right on target. We made some design decisions early in the process that helped keep the costs down. Going with the existing concrete floor was an aesthetic decision but it also was about a third of the cost of doing a wood floor. Putting in a walk-in pantry with commercial fixtures and minimizing the kitchen dramatically reduced the cabinetry costs.
In regards to the carry budget Peter had accounted for a year of carrying costs as a worst case scenario. We heard stories about months-long approval issues and disappearing contractors so we wanted to be prepared. Who would have ever thought that the worst case would be pandemic related?
And let's maybe not talk about the furnishing budget.
Best surprise?
The floors! We knew that we were talking chances by just grinding down the concrete and sealing it. Because there was so much adhesive and assorted unidentifiable material under the subfloor we had no real idea what we were going to find when the resurfacing was done. It could have been really ugly. What we got is a beautifully rich almost terrazzo looking surface with splashes of bright color. It's dramatic and fun and it reveals a bit more about the life of the building before we got there.
It seems a new trend has been towards buyers looking for turnkey spaces. Any advice for those brave enough to look for a fixer upper?
The most important thing to keep in mind is that you are going to need to be flexible. There will be problems that pop up that have no perfect solution so compromise and adaptability are very important. Stay true to your design and vision but make sure that there’s room for change as the unexpected happens. And it will happen.