Winter in New York City can be quite challenging. Although a big snow can transform our fair city into a gorgeous winter wonderland, the minute it begins to melt, here comes a wet – and often treacherous – mess. If you live in an apartment building, particularly a busy one, you know how disgusting the lobby can get when it’s awful outside.

Which wall sconces can be used? If your residential building is planning a lobby or hallway renovation, there are a lot of decisions to make. One of the most challenging decision is selecting the right light fixtures because the wrong lighting can derail even the most well-thought-out design scheme.

As an interior designer specializing in lobby and hallway makeovers, my clients are mostly coop/condo communities and management companies in the New York City metropolitan area. The selection of paint would seem to be one of the less challenging aspects of lobby and hallway renovation to the untrained eye...

During bad weather your coop or condo lobby and hallways need a bit of extra attention to keep them looking and feeling fresh. Wet conditions such as rain, sleet, snow and New York City’s famously annoying slush can wreak havoc on the public areas of your building.

Interior design is the key to creating a warm and welcoming space that you love coming home to. Interior designers employ three critical elements to create that feeling – color, light and texture. I’m best known for my work redecorating lobbies and hallways for condo and coop communities in the New York metropolitan area.

As the head of the New York City lobby design firm Sygrove Associates Design Group, we confront many common lobby design problems on every project. The most common ones include how to increase storage space when space is already tight, create a more convenient and efficient doorman station, and control the interior air temperature when exterior doors are opening and closing all the time.

As part of a recent New York City hallway project, I worked to thoughtfully revamp a 30-plus year old building in the Union Square neighborhood. Throughout this hallway project, I focused on ways to make the hallway more appealing both aesthetically and functionally. The end result is a hallway that is “fresh traditional” and universally appealing to those who live in the building currently while also catching the attention of new buyers.

A luxurious looking lobby sets the tone for an entire building. After all, a lobby is the way in which a building makes its first impression to residents and visitors, including potential buyers who may be swayed by elegant fixtures and furnishings.

As a New York City lobby and hallway designer, I am often called in to evaluate not only the functional needs of a lobby but also ways to make a lobby appear outstanding and memorable in order to distinguish a given building from others.  

Living in a prewar building is quite appealing to many young buyers for a slew of reasons. A pre-war apartment refers to a unit built before World War II, generally during the time period between 1900 and 1939. Pre-war buildings are known for the generous size of their apartments and beautiful 20th century architecture. Pre-war buildings often include features such as marble slab walls, mosaic flooring, elaborate plasterwork ceilings, and moldings.

As a New York City hallway and lobby designer, I pay close attention to the signage present within a building, keeping it top of mind throughout the design process—trust me, I have definitely witnessed cases in which signage was clearly an afterthought!

It’s safe to say that as a professional who designs New York City apartment building hallways, I witness a number of mistakes that need remedying. I wanted to share the TK most common hallway design mistakes below—make sure your building is not guilty of any of these!

As an experienced New York City based hallway and lobby designer, I am often asked about ways to make hallways appear wider. Today, I’m here to share five key tips to keep in mind when designing your building so that hallways appear as spacious as possible.

As a creative, I am always eager to learn how others stay inspired, but today, I’m here to share what is inspiring me at the moment. Truthfully, I find that I am inspired almost everywhere I look. 

It’s always exciting to hear what paint companies will choose to name the “Color of the Year,” as picks truly can run the gamut from basic whites to soft greens and teal blues to deep, rich reds. This year, green is having a major moment. Benjamin Moore—whose paints we use most often in our projects due to their quality and versatility—announced that “October Mist 1495” will be the hue of 2022.

Perhaps you’ve been putting off the task of assessing—and addressing—your building’s interior design needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Well, there’s truly no reason to delay such endeavors. Despite having just kicked off yet another year filled with masks, hand sanitizer dispensers, and extreme cleaning measures, we’ve witnessed all of our clients forge ahead in redoing their lobbies and hallways regardless.