As New Yorkers, we got used to seeing restaurant letter grades pretty quickly. At first, it seemed weird (and upsetting when you discovered that your favorite restaurant got a C). Well, soon, you will see a letter grade posted in the lobby window of most residential buildings. This rating has nothing to do with cleanliness or hygiene, however. It is a rating of energy efficiency.

Back in April of 2019, New York City passed Local Law 95, which requires all residential buildings over 25,000 square feet to publicly post a letter grade. This letter grade is a compilation of the building’s energy efficiency – the roof, boiler, windows, basement, stairwells, and my passion – the lobby and hallways.

Yes…your building’s energy efficiency rating will soon be posted for the world to see!

Local Law 95 is part of New York City’s sweeping Climate Mobilization Act. It includes the goal of reducing the level of building greenhouse gas emissions from 40% during the next ten years. According to the City Council, buildings contribute nearly three-quarters of all citywide emissions. The law establishes a cap on the level of emissions for each building in the city and will be administered by the Office of Building Energy and Emissions Performance.

As a lobby and hallway interior designer in New York, this new law comes as no surprise. In fact, I’ve predicted it ever since LEED ratings came into play back in 1993. LEED is the most popular green building certification program in the world, and it employs a set of ratings systems that relate to design, construction, operation, and maintenance of buildings, homes, and neighborhoods.

Its public spaces represents approximately 20% of a building’s energy use. The main reason is lighting. Nobody would enjoy groping their way through a dark lobby or navigating a scary hallway to get to their apartment. So, the lights must be always be kept on.

My firm has taken this seriously for years. An integral part of our design work is to specify and design lighting for our clients. But, we’ve always been keenly conscious of how and where we source and select lighting impacts a building’s energy use.

We’ve always been the leader in energy efficiency in our field. We were one of the first interior design firms to use LED bulbs, and today we still lead the pack with our expertise in the use of LED light boards and sensors. Our clients know we are committed to create amazing public spaces that they love and to reduce their energy consumption, as well.

For example, for years, we’ve used motion sensors in areas such as back stairwells, compactor rooms, basements, gyms, garages, and even lobbies. We set up lighting to alternate between dim and bright using motion sensors and based upon the time of day.

With the passage of Local Law 95, my firm is now tasked with more than just helping our clients save on their energy bills. Today, we must help them “save face.” Our goal is to choose lighting that will perfectly integrate into the style, texture, and design scheme of the project, and positively impact their energy efficiency grade, too.

Unfortunately, the selection of motion-detecting LED decorative light fixtures on the market is beyond limited. So, we custom-design fixtures for our clients using LED light board technology. As a result of three decades in the field, my firm has developed sources that produce custom-designed light fixtures at very reasonable costs that are energy efficient as well.

If you live in an apartment building that is 25,000+ square feet in New York, you will soon see a building’s energy efficiency grade prominently displayed in the window. It’s going to feel weird at first, but just like the restaurant grades, we New Yorkers have a way of getting used to things pretty quickly, right?

(And, by the way, a good letter grade is a sure way for buyers to instantly see what they are buying into and why.) Lower letter grades will give buyers a “bargaining” chip when purchasing – so watch out!

If you’d like to check out your building’s energy efficiency rating, you can find it here.

A big challenge in my line of work as a hallway and lobby interior designer in New York is the city’s ever-expanding safety code regulations. I’m proud of how my firm manages to find a balance between the aesthetic sensibilities of the spaces we create while we carefully follow every rule.

However, a new set of rules has caused my artistic sensibilities to be piqued. It is posing a significant challenge for us. It involves fire safety signs.

Now, I’m all about safety first – don’t get me wrong. One can’t live in the greatest city in the world and not be aware of the risks of living like canned sardines in apartment buildings – many of which were erected before WWll.

However, these new fire safety sign requirements are really pushing it. Here is an excerpt from the FDNY website, which will give you an idea of what designers are up against:

Letters and numbers shall be san serif, not less than one-half (½) inch in height, and shall use Arabic numerals and/or English alphabet capital letters. (B) Character proportions and spacing, including stroke width, spacing between characters and line spacing, shall be in accordance with national and industry standards for building signage. (C) Letters and numbers shall contrast with the background (whether of the door, the wall, or the sign) so as to be plainly discernible. Room number markings and signs may, but are not required to, include hyphens or other forms of punctuation. (Original Source)

The new rules also state that each interior door in a residential building displays a fire safety sign – including individual apartment doors.

To make things even more complicated, the signs must:

• Be phosphorescent (glow in the dark, but not in a cool way)
• Include key symbols indicating if the unit is a duplex or combined apartment
• Be no higher than twelve inches above the floor, so firefighters can crawl on their bellies and be able to see them.

Oy vey! The signage, as presented by the FDNY, is flat out ugly!

Each of our clients makes a significant investment when they hire us to renovate their coop or condo’s hallways and lobby. We take great care when in the selection of new lighting, flooring, wall coverings, hardware, decorative accessories, artwork, and more. We create environments that are at once beautiful and functional. (A little brag: my firm has been in business for over thirty years, and most of our work comes through word-of-mouth.)

Design and aesthetics are critically important to my staff, our clients, and to me. So, today, I’m rolling up my sleeves to make my voice heard. With the help of a colleague who is also a leader in the NYC interior design industry, we are lobbying the FDNY to allow interior designers like us to customize fire safety sign designs for our clients.

Here are some design concepts we’re working on:

I believe that design can play nice with safety regulations. If you agree, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading!

–Marilyn

If you own a coop or condo in a vintage New York City building, you may be wondering how the value of your property is holding up in the face of the vast residential construction of the past few years.

Realtors will tell you there will always be people who want to own a beautiful apartment in a classic NYC structure. However, there’s a catch. Your property will likely hold its value only if the common areas of your building – the lobby, elevators, and hallways – are beautiful, too.

As a lobby and hallway interior designer, most of my work involves updating the common areas in classic NYC residential buildings. Granted, it’s not always easy for a condo or coop board to convince owners to make the kind of investment my work requires. In my experience, however, the results are totally worth it.

Check out our before and after gallery HERE.

I recently spoke to four busy real estate professionals and got their take on the topic. Here’s what they had to say:

Beautiful common areas can elevate perceptive value anywhere from 5-10%.

John Wollberg of Halstead Real Estate explains: “When you walk into an apartment that hasn’t been kept up – that has cracks and water stains on the walls, for example – the buyer asks thinks, “What’s gone on in this apartment? It looks like it hasn’t been kept up.”

The lobby sets the tone for the entire building. When there are gorgeous apartment upstairs but drab and run-down common areas, buyers often think, “If the common areas look like this, the building probably is not well-maintained.”

You Must Get Buyers Upstairs.


Rande Coleman of Douglas Elliman Real Estate said this on the topic, “First impressions matter. A clean and fresh appearance when a customer enters a building sets the tone. I have had buyers walk in and out of a building because the lobby is run-down. When a lobby is run-down it doesn’t present well to a customer.”

It’s Always Worth It.


Ellen Cohen, who represents Compass agrees. “Outdated, shabby-looking lobbies and hallways can hold people back from buying. As the president of the coop board in her vintage 1911 building, she knows this to be true first-hand. “Before renovations, we heard a lot of negative comments about our shabby hallways and lobby, even though the apartments are beautiful.”

“As a project, it’s always worth doing. But you need a designer who is willing to really listen to the residents. The outcome is always worth the pain and effort to get there.”

First Decisions Happens Instantly.


Randy Lombard of Sotheby’s International Realty told me, “The first part of the decision about a property happens the minute a buyer steps into a building. Sometimes a seller’s apartment is beautiful, but their building’s lobby and hallways are run-down. People want not just their apartment to be beautiful, but the whole building to be as attractive as possible.”

If you find yourself in this situation, you need to make the case to your neighbors and board that a common areas renovation is the way to ensure your apartments hold their value and appreciate over time. Here’s what I recommend:

1. “A drab and dreary lobby makes potentials buyers think that our building is not well maintained, even though it has.”
2. “Some buyers don’t make it upstairs to view our units because our lobby is such a turn-off.”
3. “We’re competing with newer buildings that have beautiful common areas and offer amenities our building can’t provide.”
4. “Our building’s “curb appeal” is determined by the condition of our lobby.
5. Young, affluent buyers want to be proud, not just of their own spaces, but of the common areas, too.

In Conclusion:

As John Wollberg said, “In real estate perception equals value.” So, don’t wait until you’re ready to sell to start thinking about your building’s common areas.

Want to discuss a lobby or hallway renovation in your building? Let’s talk!

You probably don’t think about umbrella stands very often. But, as a lobby interior designer, I think about umbrella stands – a lot!

According to the national weather service, five of the wettest years on record have occurred since 2001. So, if you suspect it rains more than ever before in NYC, you’re right!

Although we are known for creating distinctive and sometimes jaw-dropping lobby interior design in coop and condo buildings in New York, a big part of our job is selecting materials and finishes that will withstand the ravages of the weather.

Nothing as hard on fine interiors than water.

It’s pretty awful to sit down on a lobby sofa where someone had previously dropped a sopping wet umbrella while they gathered packages at the doorman desk. When people have a designated place to drop a wet umbrella, this problem goes away.

Umbrella stands are an often-overlooked design element, and we have love sourcing them. Our criteria: they must do their job well (hold wet umbrellas) and integrate into the interior design of the lobby.

As far as umbrella stands are concerned, there are a ton of choices. The material, size, and shape all figure into our selection. Some owners want their building name and logo added, so they match their customized umbrellas.

There’s an umbrella stand for every décor, from traditional to contemporary and everything in between. Here are a few of our favorite umbrella stand shapes and styles:

This simple metal cylinder with perforated sides is a perfect addition to a lobby that has many metal finishes. It’s is a unique umbrella stand that evokes the style of Jugendstil, a German design movement popular from the 1890s to the early 20th century.

For mid-century modern buildings, we try to retain as much of the original design elements that make the era so inspiriting. This beauty was made Austria in the ’60s.

This minimalist umbrella stand is almost “not there” and works well in light and airy contemporary lobby designs.

With its sharp angles, this distinctive umbrella stand is a piece of artwork itself. It would be fabulous in a modern lobby that has lots of geometric artwork.

Another almost “not there” umbrella stand. This one is great for a classic lobby because it simply melts into the background and draws little or no attention away from the interior design. It’s also perfect for small spaces.

For busy lobbies in large buildings, this umbrella stand is a workhorse. Its attractive architectural features make it a great choice to fit into any classic urban setting.

This elegant porcelain umbrella stand takes its inspiration from hand-painted Chinese ginger jars. It’s a piece of artwork itself. For a classic New York City apartment building lobby, this works.

Many prewar buildings New York have beautiful brass details, so this type of umbrella stand not only fits the interior design but is a lovely piece of décor on its own.

This incredible piece is an umbrella stand and a planter all at once. In an Art Deco lobby, it would be a serviceable and conversation-worthy addition.

Sometimes we need a good old stand-by umbrella stand that blends into a traditional Park Avenue lobby or any pre-war apartment building. We love this one for its clean lines and simple fretwork collar. It does the job with class and elegance without shouting “look at me”!

This beauty would seamlessly fit into a warm, Asian-inspired lobby interior. It has a residential quality and can be left out all year round. It’s an artful accessory that can dress up a space and be understated at the same time.

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