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.

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.

Covid-19 has exacerbated concerns about residents and guests sitting in apartment lobbies, but there are still many ways to make a lobby shine without chairs or sofas. A lobby can still appear warm, elegant, and appealing with the right materials and design. As I always say, if you must do less, you must maximize the quality of what you do—and this philosophy most certainly appeals to designing a lobby sans seating. 

When I founded my interior design firm over 35 years ago, I couldn't have imagined the quantity and scale of new residential development in New York City today.

Since the day I hung out my shingle over thirty years ago, any notion that design meetings and presentations could be conducted other than in-person would have sounded ridiculous. But, Covid taught me something about my interior design business that I never saw coming: design meetings can be conducted virtually!

Finally, the worst seems to be behind us. Our clients, coops and condos, are getting geared up make the improvements they put on hold for the past year. While the pandemic will be a memory at some point (I hope), there’s no question that lobby and hallway interior design has been changed forever.

It may be counterintuitive, but my firm has received a large increase in lobby renovation proposal requests during the pandemic. Why now? Well, if you’re a New Yorker you’ve probably been stuck at home for months in your apartment, coop, or condo.

The other day during the monthly meeting I have with my marketing director, we tossed around ideas for my next blog post. I have a lot to say about lobby interior design so, for me, coming up with blog ideas is usually lot of fun.