Ann's Performing Arts Centre is Designed for Dancing

Home staging involves preparing a property for sale by cleaning, decluttering, repairing, depersonalizing, and updating it to appeal to potential buyers and enable them to envision themselves living in the space. Real estate professionals and homeowners have various staging options, including self-staging, engaging professional stagers, or utilizing virtual staging. A significant majority of real estate agents indicate that staging facilitates buyers' ability to imagine themselves in the home, often leading to quicker sales. Staging is the process of furnishing and decorating a home with appealing items. It serves as a crucial element in helping buyers connect with a property on an emotional level. While a complete decorative overhaul is not always necessary, stagers commonly advise removing personal items, using neutral color palettes, decluttering spaces, and incorporating storage solutions to highlight the home's potential. Certain areas, such as bedrooms, living rooms, and versatile bonus spaces like home offices, tend to have a greater impact on buyers. Focusing limited time and resources on these key areas can maximize returns for sellers. Virtual staging has gained considerable traction, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar to traditional staging, it uses digital furniture and decor to enhance a space. This method is particularly useful for designers exploring different decor styles or for vacant properties that would require extensive physical furnishing. It also offers a solution for occupied homes, allowing for digital transformation without disrupting the current residents. Virtual staging provides a cost-effective and time-efficient alternative to physical staging, enabling real estate professionals to create diverse listing photos for various buyer preferences. However, it has limitations; while virtually staged photos can attract buyers for showings, the absence of physical staging upon arrival can make it challenging for buyers to truly visualize the space. Recent trends in home staging show a shift from minimalist, contemporary designs with neutral palettes to incorporating dramatic colors, unique art, textured furniture, and eclectic decor. Expanding kitchen islands are now often presented as central dining areas, and outdoor spaces are being highlighted as popular entertainment zones with features like fire pits. The cost of staging typically ranges from $800 to $1,000 for the service fee, with additional staging fees of $400 to $700 per room monthly, and furniture rental costing $500 to $600 per room monthly. For a two to three-month period, staging can cost approximately 1% of the home's list price. Despite the upfront investment, many sellers and agents find staging to be beneficial, often leading to quicker sales and higher offers. Homeowners are encouraged to focus on practical improvements rather than extensive renovations. Simplifying layouts, incorporating decorative accessories, and decluttering can significantly enhance a home's appeal. For instance, an agent reported that decluttering a home and staging it led to an increase in listing price and multiple offers. Key improvements for living rooms include maximizing natural light, using neutral wall colors, opening up spaces, streamlining decor, replacing old carpets with modern flooring, demonstrating room versatility, and adding storage. In bedrooms, avoiding cluttered closets, ensuring adequate lighting and artwork, and removing pet items are crucial. For kitchens, maintaining clear countertops, focusing on lighting, removing personal items from the fridge, clearly defining the dining area, keeping floors bare, and ensuring a deep clean are essential for attracting buyers. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) provides resources, including reports and guides, that offer insights into home staging practices, trends, and their impact on real estate transactions. #HomeStaging #RealEstate #PropertyMarketing #VirtualStaging #HomeDecor #SellingTips #BuyerExperience #RealEstateTrends

Angela Trimbur, a dancer, actress, choreographer, and writer, transformed her Brooklyn loft apartment into an 80s-inspired dance studio and living space after moving from Los Angeles. This decision was largely influenced by her desire for a fresh start following a battle with breast cancer and a period of healing during the pandemic. She aimed for an interior aesthetic reminiscent of the 80s, specifically citing the loft space from the movie 'Flashdance' as inspiration. Her key requirements for the new apartment included a true loft with a wall of windows, hardwood floors, a top-floor location to avoid noise from above, and a tin tile ceiling to enhance the vintage mood. Trimbur found her ideal spot in the historically industrial neighborhood of Bushwick, New York City. Before her cross-country move, she significantly downsized her belongings through an estate sale, embracing a clean slate for her New York life. Her primary goal for the Brooklyn space was to have it function as a half dance studio. To achieve this in a city known for its compact apartments, Trimbur deliberately minimized decor and furniture, dedicating a substantial area next to the windows as her dance zone. This setup prioritizes her professional needs over accommodating large social gatherings, reflecting her philosophy that her home is a personal 'playground' rather than a space designed for frequent hosting. Trimbur offers practical tips for creating a personal creative space within a home. First, she emphasizes the importance of intentionally making space, suggesting clearing an appropriately sized area for the intended activity. In her apartment, this involved mounting mirrors on one wall, placing a piano, and installing a ballet barre for stretching. She also advises making furniture easily movable; her lightweight couch can be effortlessly shifted to expand the dance area. Maintaining tidiness is another crucial aspect, treating the creative studio as a separate work area. Trimbur utilizes specific cleaning tools like a cordless mop and vacuum, and even enlisted a cleaning company, to keep her dance floor pristine and organized. She also highlights effective stain removers for unexpected messes, particularly relevant with pets. Regarding decor, Trimbur suggests allowing large furniture pieces to dictate the overall aesthetic. Her vintage cream-colored piano from Facebook Marketplace became the starting point for her black, white, and cream color palette. This was further developed with a vintage mirrored black lacquered bed and a custom black and white tiled kitchen counter. Identifying a recurring motif is another key strategy; for Trimbur, mirrors became a central theme, appearing in her headboard, TV stand, and wardrobes, effectively opening up the space and reinforcing the dance studio ambiance. She also incorporated unique vintage finds, such as glass bricks from a Coney Island ride, to enhance the 80s aesthetic. Trimbur advocates for a minimal approach to collecting furniture and decor, particularly in transient rental situations, to ensure ease of movement. Finally, she encourages embracing a visual theme authentically and allowing for decor mistakes, viewing them as opportunities for adjustment rather than failures. Her personal preference for her vintage desk, despite others' opinions, underscores the importance of trusting one's own aesthetic judgment. #RentalRevamp #LoftApartment #DanceStudio #EightySAesthetic #HomeDecor #CreativeSpace #NYCInteriors #SmallSpaceLiving #VintageFinds

This article offers a detailed look into the custom-designed and hand-built home of Tommie Lin Kesten, a principal dancer with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Tommie, a 24-year-old native of Baldwin Borough, collaborated with her mother, Lynnette, on the design, while her father, Tom, a contractor and owner of Kesten Poured Walls, Inc., meticulously built the three-story residence. The home serves as a testament to her parents' support for her demanding ballet career and incorporates numerous personalized features that reflect her life and passions. The residence features a dedicated dance studio, a significant space for Tommie, adorned with hundreds of blush-pink pointe shoes, representing her journey to becoming a principal dancer. These shoes are those she wore before securing her professional position, symbolizing the financial and emotional investment made by her parents. The studio is further decorated with nutcrackers, a collection her mother adds to annually in honor of PBT’s "The Nutcracker" performance, a show in which Tommie has taken on various prominent roles including Marie, the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Snow Queen, and Elegance. This area also includes practical amenities for a dancer's recovery, such as a cold-plunge pool and a sauna. An alcove within the dance room displays a custom painting by a friend, depicting Tommie's late older brother, Ty Kesten, who passed away in 2016, adding a deeply personal and commemorative element to the space. Beyond the dance studio, the home reveals more unique design choices. A speakeasy-inspired study, painted in a moody gray-green, contains a secret door intended to lead to the kitchen pantry, a feature still being perfected by her father to open with a book lever. The kitchen itself blends industrial and feminine aesthetics, featuring black subway tiles and a black quartz countertop, complemented by indoor plants and woven overhead light fixtures. A massive wood island includes a custom feeding station for her two French bulldogs, Pork and Beans, who also enjoy a hidden playpen and a second-floor dog-washing station tiled with canine drawings sourced from ProSource of Pittsburgh. The open-concept kitchen and dining area flows into a two-story living room, which boasts a tall, two-sided fireplace overlooking the outdoor space. A striking black-paneled accent wall, meticulously built by her father using a crane for installation in the 21-foot-tall room, stands as a focal point. Her father's craftsmanship extends to the fabricated metal staircase railings and the first-floor bar shelves made of glass, metal, and wood. Tommie highlights her father’s dedication, noting that he often worked on the house for hours daily before and after his regular job, completing the construction in just over a year. The second level houses three bedrooms, including Tommie’s primary suite, which features a main bathroom with a wet room, a separate soaking tub for post-performance recovery, and a connected custom closet with a glamorous chandelier. Additional space for two more bedrooms is available on the third floor. The home encapsulates Tommie’s childhood dreams of living close to her parents, who reside nearby, and performing ballet in her hometown. She expresses gratitude for the rare opportunity to pursue her passion while surrounded by her loved ones, particularly her close bond with her mother, who encourages her to “bloom where you’re planted.” The article concludes by emphasizing how the home symbolizes the culmination of her personal and professional aspirations. #HomeDesign #CustomHome #InteriorDesign #BalletDancer #PittsburghHomes #FamilyProject #ArchitecturalDetails #PersonalizedSpace

NestSpace Design has completed the 'Revival House: Echo of the Body' in Taipei, Taiwan, a dwelling designed for a contemporary dancer. The project aims to cultivate a micro-community for living, dancing, and interaction. Inspired by the continuous motion of body flow, the architects integrated concepts of immersive theater and a subtle seat hierarchy to create an open-plan layout promoting calm and harmony. The design philosophy centers on making people and space interconnected, with the dancer's body serving as the primary measurement for scale within the residence. Each room is intended to gather energy from perception, creation, and performance. The design concept is structured around three phases of the dancer's mind: 'the state of consciousness,' 'the path of contemplation,' and 'sleep | dream,' which guided the development of a gradual floor plan to facilitate a multi-dancing experience within a residential setting. The front area of the 'Revival House' is designed to evoke a fluid state of mind, encouraging the activation of original senses, particularly in relation to nature. This is achieved through the extensive use of wood materials and natural textures, creating a warm and forest-like ambiance. A sloping ceiling enhances the overall mood, while a distinctive clay plaster wall design symbolizes the transformation of clouds at sunset, adding a meditative quality to the space. The open-plan layout of the front area is likened to an immersive theater, allowing anyone to become both character and audience. This configuration provides flexibility for various activities, including dancing, stretching, seating on extensive platforms, or simply relaxing. The space can function as a single stage or be divided into two distinct areas for different purposes. In contrast, the practice room, located at the rear of the public stage, incorporates mirrors and glass walls to create multi-experiential reflections and extensions, resulting in an obscure and ambiguous environment. An aisle along the practice room wall separates the public areas from more private spaces, serving as a transitional link to the dining area and bedroom. The 'Revival House' covers a gross built area of 109 square meters in Taipei, Taiwan. The architectural firm responsible for this project is NestSpace Design, with the design team comprising Jun-Cheng Yeh and Chun-Ting Yeh. The photography for the project was done by Hey!Cheese. This project was submitted through designboom's DIY submissions feature, which allows readers to share their work for publication. The design effectively combines functionality for a dancer with a harmonious living environment, demonstrating an innovative approach to residential architecture by integrating artistic movement and daily life into a cohesive spatial experience. #ResidentialArchitecture #TaiwanDesign #NestSpaceDesign #DanceStudioHome #OpenPlanLiving #NaturalMaterials #ImmersiveDesign #SpatialFluidity

Mifune Design Studio has implemented an innovative and interactive design concept for Room 211 of Hotel T'Point in Osaka City, Japan. The project redefines the spatial arrangement of a hotel room by utilizing three flexible partitions, inspired by shower curtains, to delineate different functional areas. This approach challenges conventional hotel room layouts, which typically feature fixed walls, by offering guests the ability to reconfigure their immediate environment. The core idea behind this design is to create a dynamic and engaging experience for the guests. Instead of static boundaries, the translucent curtains can be moved to enclose or open up the bed, shower, and toilet areas. This flexibility allows guests to personalize their space according to their preferences and needs at any given moment, transforming the act of defining space into a 'graceful dance'. The studio intentionally placed these essential functions in close proximity to emphasize the need for their concealment, thereby highlighting the curtains' role. The design aesthetic of Room 211 is minimalist, with decorative elements purposefully omitted. This stripped-back environment ensures that the interaction with the movable partitions becomes the primary visual and experiential focus. The 'dance' of the shower curtains serves as the room's sole decoration, drawing attention to their material quality and the way light interacts with them as they are repositioned. This absence of traditional decor encourages a more thoughtful engagement with the spatial dynamics. A key functional detail in the design is a slight inclination of the floor around the shower area. This subtle change in elevation is the only physical differentiation in the floor plan, serving the practical purpose of containing water while maintaining the overall fluidity of the space. While curtains are commonly used to prevent water splashing, Mifune Design Studio expands their utility beyond this conventional role, showcasing their potential as versatile architectural elements. The project, named 'Room 211 (Hotel T’Point)', was designed by Yasutoshi Mifune of Mifune Design Studio. Located in Osaka City, Osaka, Japan, the hotel room covers an area of 42 square meters. The primary materials used are shower curtains, plaster, and concrete, chosen for their practical and aesthetic qualities within the minimalist scheme. The construction was carried out by Obai Carpentry Shop, and the photography was done by Yasunori Shimomura. This design was submitted to designboom through its 'DIY submissions' feature, inviting readers to share their work for publication. The design offers a unique perspective on hotel room functionality and guest interaction, prioritizing adaptability and interactive spatial experiences over static room layouts. #HotelDesign #ShowerCurtains #FlexibleSpace #MinimalistDesign #InteractiveDesign #SpatialDynamics #YasutoshiMifune #HotelTPoint #OsakaArchitecture

Lori Olsen McElvain and Jay Eiler, former colleagues with a history of working together at two design firms, have reunited to establish a shared office space, transforming a former Webster dance studio into a functional and collaborative environment. This joint venture provides a mutually beneficial arrangement, especially for McElvain, who notes the challenges of maintaining a workspace alone while balancing a part-time and working mother's schedule. Eiler emphasizes that their established relationship, built on trust and respect, allows them to effectively brainstorm and share ideas, metaphorically leaving 'breadcrumbs on each other’s desk.' The designers' new office is strategically located within a developing 'mini-design district,' situated between two other interior design and architecture firms and in close proximity to a PPG Paints store, a factor Eiler highlights as making their shared space a logical choice. The office setup itself demonstrates practical design solutions for a dynamic workspace. To manage the inherent challenge of a large, open space that can quickly become cluttered, they utilize an ample supply of bins from IKEA to maintain organization and tidiness. Key features of their collaborative workspace include homemade presentation boards constructed from galvanized metal sheets set on plywood magnet boards. These boards are instrumental in helping clients visualize proposed designs, such as a unique whisk chandelier concept presented to St. Louis Kolache, one of McElvain's clients. The designers also incorporate versatile furniture, exemplified by a metal restaurant-style table that has served multiple functions, including a desk, kitchen island, and work table. Two tall desks are also present, allowing the designers to work standing up, which promotes productivity and physical well-being. This variety of surfaces is crucial for spreading out materials when working on multiple projects simultaneously. Lighting throughout the office is provided by metal Bryce table lamps, also known as hotel lamps, which are equipped with USB ports. This selection is particularly fitting given Eiler's extensive work in boutique hotel design, both nationally and locally, including the upcoming Hotel Saint Louis. These lamps serve the practical purpose of allowing the designers to charge their electronic devices throughout the day, aligning with McElvain's vision for a flexible workspace. The transformation of the dance studio into a dynamic and organized shared office underscores the designers' ability to combine their individual expertise and resources into a synergistic and efficient working model. This article was originally published in *Design STL*'s May/June 2018 issue, showcasing innovative approaches to interior design and collaborative professional spaces. #InteriorDesign #SharedWorkspace #OfficeDesign #CollaborativeEnvironment #DesignSolutions #WebsterGroves #LoriOlsenMcElvain #JayEiler #DesignSTL