Making Your Modern Apartment Homely

Modern apartments are great, often built in city centres or other fantastic locations, they are spacious and made with everything you need. However, the one thing they are often lacking is the personal touch, and the cosy, homely feel that you need from a home. Quite often these modern apartments all look the same, the wooden or tiled floors, the white walls, grey kitchen cabinets...you get the idea. For some people who don't want to bother with decorating or doing any DIY then this is perfect and for some, it is the reason they went with a modern flat in the first place to avoid having to do this to an older house. For others though, the location is, and they still want to put their stamp on their place, so here are a few tips on how you can make your home unique and homely:

Start With The Walls

Depending on how many rooms you have will depend on if you want the same colour throughout your flat. If you have the space, then treat every room as a separate room just as you would with a house. If it's smaller, then you might want to stick to neutral walls throughout and personalise in other ways. Also, try a feature wall, perhaps all the other walls could be one colour and then one with some exotic wallpaper. Decide on your colour schemes first and add some colour into that apartment to get started. Next, for the walls, they need pictures, either photos or artwork or posters - this really adds the personal touch as well as brightens up those walls and adds character to your home. Get a good variety of different items for the walls, various sizes, colours, different frames and be adventurous with how you place them on the walls.

Invest In Quality Curtains

Long, thick curtains add real luxury to a room and if you get decent quality ones, even custom-made in a beautiful fabric, this will really add to the personality of the place as well as adding comfort and warmth to the apartment.

Change The Doors

You'll be surprised how much of a difference this makes as you might not even notice doors. However, get some new ones, and your flat won't look like anyone else's anymore.

Get A Headboard

Just like the luxury curtains, an upholstered headboard can add another level of comfort and luxury to your home. It will make your bed look completely different and again will give it a unique look that no one else has.

DIY The Bathroom

Okay, you don't actually have to Do It Yourself, you can get the experts in if you aren't a professional builder or plumber, but getting your bathroom redone and personalised just for you is a winner. Bathrooms are a personal place, you might just need more storage space, or you might hate storage space, and your idea of the perfect bathroom is having little baskets on a shelf or having minimal products in it. Do it your way, get the colours right, the layout and make it your own.

Fluff Up Your Floors

Get some beautiful rugs down. Again the better the quality, the more luxurious they will be and will make your home more cosy. When you have hard floors then having something fluffy to walk over on your bare feet is ideal as well as that it just makes the apartment look better and homely, adding warmth and colour where you really need it. Plus, it's far cheaper than getting a carpet fitted, and there are some fabulous designs available too. You can find more carpet stores coventry pa.

Buy Second Hand

Buying vintage, antiques or second-hand is a great way to get some unique furniture in your house so that you don't end up with the same apartment as everyone else filled with the same IKEA furniture that everyone else has. Try antique fairs and car boot sales as well as looking online for some interesting pieces of art, a beautiful chair or lamp.

Plant Plants

Make sure you add some greenery to your home. If you're in an apartment, it's unlikely you'll have a garden so bringing in some plants is really good for your health as well as makes the place look a lot smarter, greener, homelier and more personal

Inject Colour
In any way you can, the walls the curtains, the furniture - make sure you're bringing in colour to your home. The easiest and cheapest ways to do this is by getting colourful accessories such as cushions and throws which can also be swapped or changed as little or as often as you want if you get a little bored and want to change the colour scheme. 

Spending time on your home is very important, it is your home, and it is your nest, so make it yours. You spend a lot of time at home, and you need it to be somewhere that you want to be, not somewhere you dread going to or look at the four walls hating them. Also, if you are getting work done in your home and the professionals are in, perhaps it looks like a building site, then be careful of injury as it can be a dangerous and you don't want to find yourself injured or in a lawsuit. According to Shrager & Sachs, as the owner, you are supposed to keep the premises safe for the people that will be on the property. However, this could be compromised, and different insurance issues may override it, so just make sure you're careful but also consult a lawyer if you need to. 

Have a listing you think should be featured contact us or email at Jeremy@offthemrkt.com to tell us more! Follow Off The MRKT on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

5 Popular Green Features Being Added To New Homes

All across the country, home buyers are now looking for more green features than ever. Environmentally friendly elements make homes easier to sell today while also doing good for the environment. If you've got any of these features in your home or are looking for upgrades to make before listing your home, here are a few green elements that could improve your market value.

Solar Panels

Alternative energy sources are becoming increasingly popular as more and more people make the switch to solar power in their homes. One reason for the increase in popularity is the lowering costs of solar. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average cost of solar PV panels has dropped more than 60% since 2010 and the cost of solar electric systems has dropped by 50% since that time. This makes it more affordable to go green, pushing more people towards this source of renewable energy.

Alternative Building Materials

While vinyl is still a popular siding choice, the production of this material contributes to the amount of plastic waste worldwide. Today the world makes and consumes about 600 billion pounds of plastic yearly, and the market is still growing about 5% a year. Instead of relying on resource-draining materials like plastic or rare types of wood, many homeowners are looking to recycled materials or more easily replaced materials, like bamboo. And new metal roofs may contain up to 60% recycled metal content and are 100% recyclable at the end of their service lives. These materials can reduce the overall carbon footprint of the home, while also decreasing cost.

Modular Construction

While many people still consider modular construction or prefabricated homes as cheaper alternatives and not up to the standards of a traditionally constructed home, this couldn't be farther from the truth. Modular constructions reduce energy consumption during the building process by around 67% and reduces energy costs later on for occupants. Over time, prefabricated homes have become more sophisticated, making them a more realistic option for many home owners.

Improved Insulation

While you might not necessarily be able to see this upgrade when initially walking through a home, improved insulation can make a huge difference in the energy efficiency of a house. Heating and cooling makes up a significant portion of the average home's electricity bill, and installing extra insulation or replacing existing insulation with one of a higher R-value can reduce long-term costs and energy requirements.

If you're unsure where to start with improving insulation or other energy-efficient upgrades, companies like Green Improve offer tailored advice and solutions. They specialize in helping homeowners incorporate eco-friendly features that boost property value while reducing environmental impact.

Energy-Saving Appliances

Not all green features are necessarily included in construction. Switching to Energy Star approved appliances can make a home more marketable; these appliances are often newer and in better condition. They'll also reduce energy costs for later occupants, providing long-term benefits as well as initial appeal. If you're looking to upgrade appliances throughout your home before selling, check to see if they're Energy Star certified first.

James Baldwin's Home Among NYC Buildings To Get Landmark Status For Significance in LGBTQ History

New York real estate is famously expensive and hard to come by. In the fast-paced and ever-changing city, buildings are quickly sold and bought, torn down, or renovated into modern oases of luxury. While homes that are rehabbed typically sell twice as quickly as those that are not, some efforts in New York City are aiming to keep certain buildings off of the market and in their original state.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission of NYC formed over 50 years ago with the purpose of granting landmark status to certain buildings and neighborhoods based on their architectural significance.

The commission started these efforts after the demolition of the old Pennsylvania Station was met with outrage. The building wasn't any average train station with subway tiles that originated in the NYC subway stations of the early 1900s, but an amazing piece of architecture. Novelist Thomas Wolfe even described the old Pennsylvania Station as "vast enough to hold the sound of time."

Now, the commission is expanding its protections to buildings with cultural significance as well. With the World Pride celebration coming to New York City for the first time this year, it's no coincidence that the next buildings under consideration for landmark protection had critical roles in the gay rights movement.

Six buildings are now under consideration for landmark protection status because of their significance to LGBTQ history and culture. While five of these six buildings are in neighborhoods that are already designated historic districts, the new status would give the buildings an additional layer of protection if future owners ever tried to make exterior changes.

The new status would also be a recognition of the individual buildings' histories and their importance in LGBTQ rights. One of the buildings under consideration is 137 West 71st Street. This structure in the Upper West Side is where writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin kept an apartment for himself and his family.

The building was last altered in 1961 and, according to comments from the current owner Romeo Salta, it would fall within the 85% of homes in the country built prior to 1980 that are currently in need of home improvement. Salta said that he was considering fixing up the building's facade within the next few years as it is starting to look run down, making him a bit ambivalent about the building's impending landmark status. As Baldwin met with other literary and cultural figures and worked on many plays, screenplays, and novels in that apartment, the building certainly qualifies for cultural significance.

Another of the six buildings is in Greenwich Village on Cornelia Street. The ground floor of the building was once a restaurant called Caffe Cino from 1958 to 1968. Although 34% of Americans visit casual dining restaurants once a week, this space became much more than just a cafe for the city's gay artists in the middle of the 20th century.

At the time, the portrayal of homosexuality in theatrical productions was illegal. Local theater artists instead gathered at Caffe Cino to share their work with one another. This simultaneously made Caffe Cino the city's first gay theater and the birthplace of Off Off Broadway.

The other buildings under consideration include Audre Lorde's home in Staten Island and various centers in Manhattan for members of the LGBTQ community. The Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse is considered New York City's first gay community center and the Women's Liberation Center was a crucial home for lesbian organizations that wanted to break away from both male-dominated groups and feminist groups that wouldn't accept them.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center is the sixth building under consideration. This center has been crucial to the LGBTQ community as a home for groups such as the Partnership for the Homeless and S.A.G.E and in its role as an HIV clinic. In today's times about 85% of urgent care centers are open seven days a week. However, the medical field was not quite so accessible or kind to members of the LGTBQ community in the 1980s, making this space an essential structure in the community's history.

Sarah Carroll, Chair of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission, has said that there will be a public hearing to discuss these sites on June 4. The commission is expecting to make a final vote on the six buildings just before the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the city's Pride celebrations that take place at the end of June.