Grand Rapids Chair Company had a careful plan laid out: to slowly, deliberately break into home.

The Michigan-based company, founded in 1997, has built a sizable international business making seating for restaurants, and creative director Dean Jeffery reasoned that it could make a dent in the residential business with its new brand, Only Good Things. A lot of e-commerce furniture brands are focused on big upholstered pieces like sofas, and the kitchen and dining rooms are an afterthought, he says. So, we thought it was a chance for us to expand. The initial goal was to launch in 2022, stretching development over a nice-and-easy three-year period. Then 2020 happened, and Jeffreys timeline was cut down to six months.

Its no secret that the restaurant industry has been hit hard during the pandemic, and that is primarily where our customers are, says Jeffery. Many of the companys hospitality project orders were put on hold or canceled altogether. The push for residential and e-commerce was something that the pandemic almost forced us to do. We had to throw caution to the wind and jump in full force before it was too late.

Grand Rapids was hardly alone. This spring, after the initial shock and disorientation of COVID died down, a new reality began to settle inand it wasnt good for the commercial interior design industry. Hotels, facing a devastating drop-off in bookings, canceled planned renovations. Restaurants and retail shops have found it hard enough to stay afloat, never mind investing in a new look. And maybe youve heard that the office is dead?

Facing a ruinous landscape, many manufacturers and design firms that specialize in commercial work have zeroed in on a new market for their goods and services: the home.

FAST-TRACKING E-COMMERCE

The most obvious example of this pivot has come from office furniture makers, who have all become work-from-home furniture makers. Some of that move was simplea few product tweaks and some new marketing copy. But behind the scenes, going from office to home office is complicated by the fact that big contract players arent used to selling to individual homeowners.

Their challenge has been to not only recast their product for the home, but find a way to actually get it there. That shift had already been in the works before COVID, says Amanda Schneider, founder of Chicago design research agency ThinkLab, and host of the Design Nerds Anonymous podcast, a show that explores macro trends in contract design. The pivot to serve residential customers is more about becoming digital so anyone can buy your product without complex distribution, she tells Business of Home.

The debut collection from Only Good Things, the new residential brand from Grand Rapids Chair CompanyCourtesy of Only Good Things

This push helps explain why the big legacy players have been snapping up smaller DTC companies. Last year, for example, Pennsylvania-based furniture giant Knoll acquired buzzy Portland, Oregonbased online office furniture maker Fully, whose revenue growth subsequently shot up 100 percent. Not to be outdone, another major contract player, Indiana-based Kimball International, acquired New Yorkbased DTC furniture maker Poppin earlier this month.

In other words, the big makers of office furniture were already looking to get better at selling direct to small businesses and homeowners, but the pandemic has sped things up.

Of course, big corporations have the option of simply buying their way into a new distribution channel. The COVID-19 era has been harder on small and midsize hospitality-focused brands like Grand Rapids. Plus, there are built-in challenges for commercial makers of any size.

Last year, Knoll acquired Fully, a DTC maker of office (and home office) furniture.Courtesy of Knoll

Residential brands have spent years building relationships with designers at the big A&D firms and making sure theyre using their product, says Jeffery. And often, those designers are using that companys product in their own homes, where they are interacting with a piece every day. Our products have never had that chance, because they go into hotels and restaurants.

Ironically, it was an entirely different macro change in the market that convinced Jeffery to shoot for the home: the slide toward resimercial. As hospitality design has moved into a more homey territory, weve seen this massive push from designers asking if they can spec our pieces for residential work, he says. That was the [original] catalyst for Only Good Things.

While ideally, the brand would have debuted with a mostly original portfolio of new designs with a sprinkling of bestsellers from Grand Rapids Chair Company, speeding up the timeline meant that it had to rely entirely on existing designs from the commercial line. For this initial launch, the only change from one brand to the other was to retool some color schemes. Only Good Things is, at base, a commercial collection remarketed for the home.

A COMMERCIAL DROUGHT

Of course, its not only commercial manufacturers who have been affected by the drying up of contract workdesign firms felt the impact first. According to research that Schneiders firm conducted, new leads have been stagnant for the majority of the pandemic: Anywhere from 60 to 75 percent of respondents have consistently reported that they have either very few bids or none at all.

A window from a residential project by ArcsineCourtesy of Arcsine

Adam Winig, co-founder of Oakland, Californiabased architecture and design studio Arcsine, has seen those numbers play out in real time. With a portfolio full of stylish restaurants and hotels, Arcsine was directly in the path of COVID disruption; Winig reports that the pandemic led to a 50 to 60 percent drop-off in commercial work. A number of our airport restaurant projects, [which were] in varying stages of design and permitting, have been put on hold, he tells BOH. Additionally, several of our non-airport restaurants went on hold or were terminated fully.

To make up the difference, Winig has been looking to grow the residential side of his business. Luckily, he had prior experience. Prior to co-founding Arcsine, my primary focus was on luxury residential projects. [Here], high-end residential has always been part of our purview; however, it was less actively sought afterwe took on projects that came directly to us, he says. When our contract work started to take a hit, I leaned into [my] network and reconnected with general contractors I had worked with in the past.

The pandemic also caused a sharp decline in commercial work for New Yorkbased design firm Workshop/APD, which normally splits its time roughly 50-50 between residential and contract projects. However, company principal Andrew Kotchen says this swing is not the first time business has gone topsy-turvy, and they were ready for it. Coming out of the 2008 recession, we made a conscious effort to diversify beyond just single-family residential projects into commercial and hospitality so that we would not be so vulnerable to a slowdown in one sector that could crush our business, he tells BOH.

Taking on commercial work helped Workshop/APD find its way out of the last big market disruption. Holding on to residential work has helped it weather this one.

TAPPING INTO COMMERCIAL EXPERTISE

While there are clear challenges for commercial brands looking to break into the crowded home market, they also bring evident advantages. A design firm accustomed to the strict deadlines and budgets of commercial work may hold unique appeal for an antsy homeowner. And a designer who focuses on luxury hotels doesnt need to reinvent the wheel to tackle a bedroom refresh.

Makers of commercial product, too, have unique strengths, says Jeffery. Because Grand Rapids Chair Company manufactures all of its products to contract-grade standards, there are multiple durability tests baked into its process. Residential brands dont have the quality were able to offer, he explains. You go into a big box furniture store and sit on a chair, and while it might look great, you can tell that its worn out just from being on display. How is that going to hold up in your home? Were selling at those same prices, but our pieces will last.

The debut collection from Only Good Things focuses on seating and tables.Courtesy of Only Good Things

Another advantage: The scale of commercial production volume (a typical order is in the realm of 30 chairs, as opposed to two or three), allows Only Good Things to keep its pricing competitive with West Elm or Blu Dot for a trade-quality product.

And the fact that all of Grand Rapids Chair Companys products are made in America has been a benefit during a year when delays have been rampant in overseas production. We saw a lot of new customers who were looking for domestic manufacturing because they were facing such lengthy lead times, says Jeffery.

A BALANCING ACT

There are good and bad aspects to COVID-19s drawn-out vice grip on every aspect of American lifeincluding the design business. Pfizer and Modernas remarkably effective vaccines, announced back to back, are reasons to be hopeful. Skyrocketing case numbers across the country are a sobering reminder that its going to get worse before it gets better.

News coming out of the commercial corner of the industry suggests similar patterns. BOHs sources report that commercial work has been perking up a little in recent months. However, its an occasional project here and therenot an avalanche of new workand everyone expects contract design to remain depressed throughout 2021. In other words, theyll be staying in the home for a while to come.

But when COVID-19 ends, will they all rush back to the commercial side of the industry? Most, it seems, are planning to keep their options open. Only Good Things gives us more freedom to expand beyond just furniture with things like lighting or accessories, says Jeffery. It has so much potential to be nimble and grow in different directions.

Homepage image: Sherman upholstered dining chairs in Rust Velvet; courtesy of Only Good Things

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Commercial designers are coming for the home - Business of Home

Designing the Hamptons: Long Island's Luxury Homes

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The Hamptons are defined by a storied past. As wealthy New Yorkers were drawn to this part of Long Islands South Fork for the last century and a half, they increasingly built a series of exclusive and luxurious homes. Today, new residences along the coastline are some of the most expensive properties in the United States. As summer homes and vacation getaways, many of these residences are designed as private retreats surrounded by nature.

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Homes in the Hamptons have become synonymous with decadence. Popularized through television and film, this string of seaside communities are built around diverse landscapes. Between Long Islands dense woodlands and sandy beaches, new homes embrace the outdoors and provide space for recreation and relaxation. Close to sea level and surrounded by nature, they are made with new approaches to Long Island design while including ample space for an affluent few.

Set among fields along the south-facing coast of Long Island and within a short walk to the ocean, this Hamptons residence is a quiet refuge for a growing family and offers extraordinary views of the surrounding landscape. The residence lies parallel to the water, looking south into preserved agricultural land and north to a field of wildflowers and native grasses.

The Peconic House is comprised of a 4,000-square-foot building and 2,000-square-foot terrace. Gently wedged into a hillock just north of the great sycamore and featuring low-slung proportions, the residence is designed to preserve the trees sun exposure and original views to Peconic Bay. Its roof is planted with native meadow grasses to camouflage human intervention.

The goal for this Hamptons pool house was to create a maximum variety of experiences within a relatively small set of indoor and outdoor spaces, all within eyeshot and earshot of each other. Moving through the space reveals a range of dedicated areas: a seating area with fireplace, trellised sections that frame the sky, as well as enclosed areas for storage, a changing room and bathroom.

Straddling freshwater wetlands and a tidal estuary just six feet above sea level, this houses site demanded sensitivity to environmental concerns. The houses basic massing was limited to a one-story, 1,900 square foot design, raised eight feet above the ground. The spaces within this envelope are articulated by a structural system thatorganizes the home.

Building codes in the Hamptons specify that a pool house can only contain 200 square feet of interior space. Here, the interior section maxing out at exactly 200 square feet, and enclosable by folding doors was carefully crafted to maximize the space: it contains a kitchenette, bathroom, day bed and chair.

Located at the edge of a heavily wooded 3-acre plot in East Hampton, New York, The C+S house is a complete redesign and renovation of an existing 1970s era residence and serves as a retreat for the Manhattan based clients; a graphic designer, and an art consultant and curator. Clean lines and minimalist details were chosen to breathe new life into the existing house.

Designed by Blaze Makoid Architecture with interiors by Purvi Padia Design, this 17,000 square foot family compound is located on a flat, four-and-a-half-acre flag lot in the Hamptons with views of Sagg Pond. It was conceived of as a garden wall in that the landscape connects agrarian inspired outbuildings.

This residence is primarily used when the clients extended family comes from England for long visits. The design objective was to make unique spaces by providing a range of destinations within the site through diverse scales, functions, and views: from gathering in the expansive living room overlooking the fields of the former peach orchard to reading alone on a shaded bench between the library and the edge of the forest.

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Designing the Hamptons: Long Island's Luxury Homes - ArchDaily

Author Nathan Watson - November 18, 2020November 18, 2020Making your home warm and inviting isnt hardespecially with these tips from Lauren Murphy. Photo via Lauren Murphy Realtor LAH Real Estate on Facebook

Whether youre staying home and self-quarantiningor having family and friends over, thesetips will make your home feel festive through the season and beyond.We turned to Lauren Murphy, local interior designer and agent at LAH Real Estate, to learn more.

Based right here in Birmingham, Lauren Murphy can do it all. As an interior designer and realtor at LAH Real Estate, Lauren is dedicated to finding her clients the perfect houseand then using her passion for interior design to bring their vision to life.

Lauren grew up in Alabama, graduating with a degree in Interior Design from The University of Alabama and obtaining a masters in Historic Preservation from the University of Georgia. Afterwards, she moved to Birmingham, where she lives with her husband and two precious puppies.

When we wanted to learn more about sprucing up our homes this Thanksgiving, we knew where to turnthe experts at LAH Real Estate.

Tidying up around your home may seem like a no-brainer, but it truly makes a huge difference. Whether its finally getting to that pile of laundry or dusting in places you normally pass over, little steps like that can make your home seem even more open and inviting.

Whether youre having people over or trying to sell your home, decluttering is a MUST! Storing away any personal items and tidying up around the home makes a huge difference when you have guests.

Now that your home is nice and tidy, its time to add some visual flair:

Personally, I like all my big furniture pieces and staples to be neutral tones. Then, I use accent pieces with color to mix things up. That way, you can change your statement pieces if you need to without replacing all of your furniture.

One of the best ways to make your home feel natural and alive is by addingyou guessed itplant life! You can find eye-catching greenery at places like Botanica, Shoppe and even Trader Joes. P.S. Trader Joes has small white pumpkins that make excellent centerpieces.

Plants arent the only way to make your home warm and inviting. Candles and diffusers are an easy way to add a welcoming scent to your homethe trick is finding the scent that works for you.

Pro tip: Shy away from overpowering scents like cinnamonfind a fresh, subtle scent. You can even make your own at several local hand-poured candle companies in Birmingham.

P.S. use fresh Eucalyptus from Trader Joes in the shower. When the hot shower steam gets going it lets off a nice aroma. Always a plus to make guests feel like they are staying in a luxuriousBed & Breakfast!

Whether youre looking to spruce up your home for the holidays, or hoping to get your home ready to sell, the experts at LAH Real Estate know all the tips and tricks to turn your house into a home!

Reach out to the team at your local branch to get started:

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3 tips from local interior designer Lauren Murphy to make your Thanksgiving celebration festive + cozy - Bham Now

These custom built homes are the stuff dreams are made of, showcasing exceptional design and building prowess. They beat strong competition this year to win their categories.

Winner: Split Building Custom Built Home Up to $600,000

A double height void defines the living space in this new build by Split Building. It won the Custom Built Home up to $600,000 category.

Central to the design of this stylish architect-designed home is a double height void with gallery space on the upper level leading to the bedrooms. The kitchen is tucked under the bedrooms on the ground floor and leads onto a fully equipped outdoor entertaining area. Timber has been used along with cladding to add warmth to this light and bright home.

splitbuilding.com.au

This new house by Split Building has a fully equipped outdoor kitchen and entertaining space.

Winner: Solitary Designer Homes Custom Built Home $600,000 to $1 million

This new home by Solitary Designer Homes won the Custom Built $600,000 to $1 million category.

Lightweight construction and generous use of louvred windows were the perfect choice for this seaside house, allowing it to make the most of the north-easterly breezes. Designed to step down the site in three parts to manage height issues without losing out on ocean views, there are separate areas for the children and adults, offering easy access to the decks and pool. Working with a sloping site had its challenges but the result is a stunning contemporary family home.

solitarydesignerhomes.com.au

This spectacular home by Solitary Designer Homes has been designed to step down the steep site.

Winner: Hammerhead Building Projects Custom Built Home $1 million to $2 million

This house built by Hammerhead Building Projects references Japanese design.

Taking inspiration from the owner's Japanese heritage, this home in the Byron Bay hinterland is a collection of separate wings connected by a low-profile roofline. The floorplan has been designed for flexibility, with living areas positioned to take advantage of the north and easterly aspects while also being able to open up to the south for better cross-ventilation. Natural materials dominate in this beautifully crafted house, including stone and Australian timbers.

hammerheadbuilding.com.au

Indoor/outdoor flow is fundamental to this house built by Hammerhead Building Projects.

Winner: Bellevarde Constructions Custom Built House over $4 million

This extraordinary house built by Bellevarde Constructions won the Custom Built over $4 million category.

As impressive as it is, it's the work you cannot see that makes this Point Piper house designed by Durbach Bloch Jaggers so exceptional. Extensive excavation and underpinning anchor this four-level off-form concrete harbourside home into place. Punctuated by double-storey voids and angled balconies, the house has a 7m-wide glass roof made from a single piece of glass that had to be craned into position. It has a smart-home system, underfloor heating, sauna and triple car stacker.

bellevardeconstructions.com.au

Originally published as Check out the best newly built homes in NSW

Concrete formwork is the standout in this amazing project by Bellevarde Constructions.

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Check out the best newly built homes in NSW - Daily Examiner

While there has always been a kinship between the fashion and the home industries, the two have only grown closer this year during the pandemic. (Hello, cashmere loungewear.) But it was months before COVID-19 hit that Kym Gold, co-founder of denim brand True Religion, made the decision to step away from clothing retail to launch Style Union Home, a Los Angelesbased pottery and lifestyle brand.

Kym GoldCourtesy of Style Union Home

Golds interest in ceramics began last year when her son took her to a pottery class for her birthday. I started throwing and I thought, This is so much fun, she says. I had a studio space, and [decided] to make this a business. My son said, Mom, why cant it just be a hobby? Thats just not me!

The shift from designer denim to ceramics isnt quite as big of a leap as it seems. A seasoned entrepreneur, this is the sixth company Gold has founded, albeit the first outside of the fashion industry. (Her most recent venture, Babakul, sold bohemian clothing until the label dissolved in 2014.) But all the while, shes also had a foot in the world of interiors and real estate: For years, Gold has been designing and staging, including flipping a number of properties. Along the way, she struggled to find a brand that produced both high-style tabletop pieces and practical home accessories like pet food bowls or entry baskets that matched her taste. Her solution? If I dont find something, Ill just make it, she says.

The resulting ceramics reflect a streamlined cool, with a refined palette of bisque, black or a color-blocked combination of the two; some pieces are also available in teal, orange or a sunny yellow. The brands two place settings reflect the companys range: the restrained Legacy (a simple pair of plates and a bowl with a spout-like notch) and the more freewheeling Malibu (with irregular, undulating edges on all three pieces); the collection also features a dash of humor, with personalized pet bowls and three playful labeled serving pieces (napkins, chips and guac) that resemble crumpled cloth bags.

Creating a brand with what Gold calls whole-home cohesiveness (a quality that stems from a shared material language and design sensibility) is one of her primary goalsand it makes the collection attractive not only to homeowners, but also to hospitality groups and stagers. Im working with Soho House in London, stagers, interior [designers], and a lot of bridal, explains Gold of her current clientele. When I was staging my own homes that I built, it was really difficult to find something like a basket that would go with the sculpture so that the pieces werent jumping out at youthat they had an easy flow. Thats hard [to achieve] when you have so many other vendors that you get to pick from.

A table setting using pieces from the Legacy collectionCourtesy of Style Union Home

Still, Gold is bringing some lessons from fashion along. For starters, she has chosen to have the Style Union Home production cycle sync up with the fall/spring fashion calendar. Shes also adopting a personal approach to product testing she learned from fashion: Anything I ever designed or made, I would wear it to make sure it fit perfectly and that there were no issues, says Gold. In the same way, everybody eats on my plates, the pieces are all in my house.

Like everything else, the pandemic affected Golds plans. In January, she was purchasing equipment and developing design concepts. In early March, she started hiring. Then came COVID-19. Challenge No. 1 is doing everything yourself; challenge No. 2 is trying to build a team, but having everybody working remotely when youre working with a hands-on product, she says.

Despite that hurdle, Gold was able to assemble her team and develop a modern-day cottage industry, giving the potters wheels to take home; the pieces are then dropped off at her house for firing and glazing. Her goal was to build up shippable stock before launching. From my business background, I knew that I needed to gear up for inventoryI knew I was going to have buyers that wanted the product right away, she says.

One unique aspect about Style Union Home: Gold has been building the company with the intention of being acquired. Its not about the money, she says. Im a woman, I hire a lot of women, and [Im] dividing shares for their futuretheres the excitement of leaving a legacy for the people who work with me. Its a team. Giving back underpins the business in other ways, too; Gold donates 5 percent of all sales from her Unity collection to Black Women for Wellness, a Los Angelesbased nonprofit that is committed to the health and well-being of Black women through education, empowerment and advocacy.

High-gloss meets a matte finish in the Laurie dinner plate for a sophisticated place setting.Courtesy of Style Union Home

Gold sees an eventual acquisition as a necessary next step to grow Style Union Homeadditional capital that would give her the freedom to expand her team and bring on a strategic partner, in addition to the purchasing power that would go toward additional pottery equipment. Im finding that companies like West Elm and Restoration Hardware are going to want to acquire a company like mine [because] its very difficult to go overseas right now, she says.

Since launching Style Union Home in August, Gold has been filling orders daily, bolstered in part through Zoom-based collaborations with companies like Girls Night In, but also through her fashion network. On December 1, the brand will launch a collection with Kim Chi Avocado, the lifestyle brand started by Fred Segal Couture partner Yunnie Kim Morena. Golds tabletop pieces will also show at NY Now and Shoppe Object next year, albeit virtuallywith a few pandemic-borne workarounds to help along the way, from videos on her website to sending out tile samples to editors and showrooms.

For the time being, Style Union Home will continue to focus on ceramics, but in the coming seasons, napkins, pillows and other lifestyle pieces will make their way into the brands portfolio. Its still a new medium for me, which is a challenge, but clay is exciting[and] Im getting orders every day, says Gold. Im excited to be waking up with a new passion, and its not fashionits passion for the home.

Homepage image: The Jill Candle in three sizes, by Style Union Home | Courtesy of Style Union Home

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This fashion entrepreneur is giving home a spin - Business of Home

Netflixs Holiday Home Makeover with Mr. Christmas follows Mr. Christmas himself, interior designer Benjamin Bradley, as he teams up with his most trusty elves to transform his clients loved spaces and help them welcome the holiday season with a bang. He takes the dull and dreary out of the everyday setting and turns it into a warm and pleasant place to ensure that everyone can feel the genuine merriment of the festival. Benjamin usually only designs homes and relatively small spaces, but as we saw in the second episode, he took on a Fire Department at the behest of Jeffrey Kempf Jr., whose story just had to be highlighted.

A native of West Islip, Long Island, New York, Jeffrey Kempf Jr. is a volunteer firefighter who followed his father and grandfathers footsteps when it came to his career. Because his father, Jeffrey Jacko Kempf Sr., was the Chief at the West Islip Fire Department, Jeffrey Jr., or Jeff, basically grew up there, visiting him after school and helping out wherever he could. Unfortunately, though, last year, in August, at the age of 60, Jeffrey Sr. passed away after losing his battle with cancer.

Jeffrey Sr.s death obviously crushed his family, but because of his nature and his loud, loving, and caring personality, the whole community of West Islip felt the loss. Thus, to continue on his path, keep up the tradition of celebrating Christmas in the over-the-top way that he loved to, and to keep his memories alive, Jeff Kempf Jr. contacted Benjamin Bradley and his team for help. Subsequently, together the team, Jeff, and many of the volunteer firefighters, along with their family members decorated the Department in such a way that it would have made Jeffrey Sr. proud.

Jeffrey Kempf Jr. still resides in West Islip, New York, with his wife, Samantha Kempf, and their only child, a now three-year-old son named Jeffrey Kempf III. And according to records, along with being a maintenance worker at the North Patchogue Fire District, Jeff is also a part-time Fire and Rescue dispatcher at the West Islip Fire District, holding the position of a Captain.

Jeffs place of work as the Captain is the West Islip Fire Department Mohawk Engine Company #5, stationed on Union Boulevard, which houses three engines. Even though he is a volunteer, Jeff still prides himself on the fact that he is a trained firefighter thanks to regular sessions at the Suffolk County Fire Academy as well as weekly ones within the Department itself.

The best part of it all for Jeff, it seems like, is that his son, Jeffrey III, has started taking an interest in his work as well, showing up for visits and walking around with a radio in hand, just like he himself used to when he was a little kid.

Read More: How to Hire Mr. Christmas? How Much Does He Cost?

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Where Is Jeffrey Kempf Jr. Now? Holiday Home Makeover with Mr. Christmas Update - The Cinemaholic

By Katie Boyden The view of the new Westgate and Garlinge housing development looking over at the Dent-de-Lion gatehouse (Image: Millwood Designer Homes)

Controversial plans to build 2,000 homes south of Westgate and Garlinge have been revealed.

Plans for the development on agricultural land in Thanet, Kent have been submitted by Gillings Planning on behalf of applicants Millwood Designer Homes, and the executors of the will of Michael Cotton Garratt.

The homes, seen as overdevelopment of Westgate town by councillors and protesters alike, will infill much of the open land north Shottendane Road and located mainly between Minster Road and Garlinge High Street.

The land was designated for use as housing in the district's Local Plan which was finally approved this summer after years of uncertainty and delays.

The design and access statement submitted alongside the application for 'The Gallops' reads: "The Gallops derives its name from the history of the site which was once a Victorian racecourse.

"This new mixed-use neighbourhood will include up to 2,000 new homes, a primary school, a potential care home, land for a medical facility, and a variety of green spaces that thread through the development.

"A 'village green' preserves the setting of the listed Dent-de-Lion and the framed avenue retains and enhances existing long-range views."

As part of the hybrid application submitted to the district council earlier this month, detailed proposals have been submitted for the first phase of residential development: 120 homes accessed from Garlinge High Street and Dent-de-Lion Road.

The plans could also include a new link road between Shottendane Road and the A28, and will see Shottendane Road widened and roundabouts installed at its junctions with Minster Road and a new road joining Dent-de-Lion Road.

Roughly 600 of the homes provided would be classed as affordable.

So far seven objections have been submitted against the proposals, with one saying there are "so many things on so many levels" that are wrong with the development, and another calling it an "act of wanton vandalism" against Westgate and Garlinge.

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Hated plans for 2,000 homes in Westgate have been submitted - In Your Area

The sheer absurdity of listings also makes for engaging content. Its really fun to have a virtually unending supply of very interesting things to look at, Mr. Boner said. Theres always going to be someone with too much money and too much creativity that results in some Frankenstein of a home.

Zillow surfing is especially popular among teenagers. A TikTok meme over the summer consisted of users talking about knowing where the bathrooms were in their friends or crushs house before ever visiting it because they had toured all of their classmates homes on Zillow. Many young people have extensive lists of saved homes and discuss and share listings with friends.

We dont have control over where we live because most of us live in our parents home, Ms. Silva said, so being able to create this world where I pick where I live and what house I live in regardless of price is fun.

After Ariel Norling, 29, a designer in Oakland, made a name for herself on Zillow Twitter by identifying unique, enviable listings around the country, she started a weekly house-hunting newsletter on Substack called I Know A Spot. Ive always been a Zillow scroller, she said, but its been a big activity for me as a part of quarantine. I felt like I was running out of things to do, Zillow felt like a different kind of outlet.

Ali Zaidi, 40, an attorney in Boston, prefers Redfin over Zillow, and has made checking the site part of his morning routine, despite the fact that he has no plans to buy a house. Its part of my morning, he said. I log into my work email, check different media outlets, then one of the websites I open up is always Redfin.

He compared the serotonin rush of seeing beautifully staged homes to checking social media and seeing pictures of peoples private lives. I get the same sort of joy from looking into Redfin as I do on Facebook or Instagram, he said. I find it interesting and almost voyeuristic.

What makes Zillow different from those social networks, though, is the absence of people, the writer Brian Feldman noted in his newsletter, BNet, this summer. It has no engagement loop, no social interactions, no real network effects to speak of, he wrote. It is a giant canvas onto which people project their desires and insecurities, and a constantly evolving document not just of the housing market, but of how people lived.

Though the site hasnt delved into social networking yet, many users have begged Zillow to add a comment section where surfers can connect and bond over listings.

I think for a lot of people, Zillow feels like the opposite of doomscrolling, Ms. Norling said. Youre stuck in your apartment, maybe you cant move, but its easy to look at listings and imagine yourself in a different life. And maybe in that life Covid isnt happening.

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Zillow Surfing Is the Escape We All Need Right Now - The New York Times

Earlier this year, Schumacher quietly acquired the digital assets of erstwhile online design platform Homepolish, which went under in September 2019. This morning, the company launched a new website (and rebranded Homepolishs social media accounts) to announce the debut of Freddie, a to-be-developed membership community for interior designers that aims to amplify the to-the-trade industry by encouraging consumers to engage with decorators. (The name is a playful nod to Frederic Schumacher, who founded the New Yorkbased design house in 1889.)

The new brands development has been spearheaded by Schumacher president and CEO Timur Yumusaklar and creative director Dara Caponigro, along with Stephen Puschel, the fifth-generation owner of F. Schumacher & Co., which includes Schumacher and rug and carpet brand Patterson Flynn Martin. The three also brought on Homepolish founder Noa Santos as an adviser, and he has helped shape Freddie around Homepolishs original purpose while offering guidance on how to sidestep some of the challenges his company faced.

I still very much believe in what we were doing with Homepolishthe mission of helping designers build their business by helping them find clients, Santos tells Business of Home. I also want to make sure that Freddie is set up for as much success as possible, and that it is not falling into the same potholes that [Homepolish] might have fallen in over the years[because] Im intimately familiar with those potholes.

The Freddie homepageJoinFreddie.com

Founded in 2012 by Santos and early Buzzfeed employee Will Nathan, Homepolish offered designers a steady stream of leads, marketing muscle, and back-office support. In exchange, the company kept a percentage of the designers hourly rates. At the time, its approachespecially its embrace of clear pricing and entry-level budgetswas revelatory in an industry that largely chases only the biggest projects. For several years, it worked well: Designers built healthy businesses with Homepolishs leads, and clients were happy. But by 2016, facing mounting competition from well-funded online competitors that had entered the scene, the company announced a $20 million round of funding. The resulting pressure to turn a profit, fast, led the company to implement unpopular featuresan unwieldy project management tool designers had little incentive to use, a hastily built platform matching clients with contractors, and a more restrictive contract structure. Running low on cash, Santos looked to raise another round of funding to keep the company afloat, but a deal never materialized and Homepolish shuttered dramatically last fall, leaving many designers owed thousands of dollars for their work.

In the aftermath of Homepolishs collapse, Santos went looking for the right buyer for the companys most valuable assetsan Instagram account with 1.8 million followers, a robust presence on Pinterest, and email newsletter lists reaching both designers and consumers. (A Marker story in February suggested that one early model he considered was a subscription service where designers and clients pay to be matched.) Once the partnership with Schumacher was secured, Freddie was developed throughout the spring and summer, in part in reaction to the dramatic ways COVID has reshaped consumer thinking.

Whats wonderful about having Schumacher as a partner is that it is in stark contrast to the venture-funded history we had, says Santos. Obviously we want to make money, but there arent the same expectations that come with venture capital funding. The sense that this is something thats meant to be built slowly and with carein the spirit of the original Homepolish, when we were self-fundedis why I was particularly excited to find this partnership.

While the vision for Freddie is in place, the specifics of its development are still in flux. In its first phase, the brands landing page invites designers to request an invitation for membership. In return, Freddies initial offering includes exposure on its social media platforms and in email newsletters. Future additions to the platform will likely include a matchmaking tool to more directly connect designers with potential clients, as well as community-building features that enable designers to pick up business best practices from one another. What were trying to do is start low and iterate, listening to the participants on the platform, says Santos. In the beginning, were using the assets to help designers generate business. The obvious best way for us to do that is with our marketing channels.

The work of Freddies three founding membersdesigners Paloma Contreras, Celerie Kemble and Mark D. Sikesis currently showcased on a page dedicated to featured members, but Yumusaklar says he expects members to ultimately range from emerging to established designers. Once we launch, well have a really exciting group [of founding members] to help us make the whole community a real success, he says. Helping decorators build out their businesses will help them to strengthen the industry at large. Not everybody has the time or resources to build [a social media following] out themselves, so I feel we can be very helpful as a great starting point.

Its a concept that has precedent. Homepolish in its heyday provided a launchpad for designers who are now inching toward stardom, from Ariel Okin to Orlando Soria. And though Freddie is launching without much of the back-end operations that powered Homepolish, its marketing capabilities remain powerful tools. One of the things we did particularly well with Homepolish was to understand how these platforms all interact with each otherhow, through the customer journey, someone is first exposed, and then they see it again and again, explains Santos. On average, it takes being exposed to something five times before you convert. So the idea is: How do you create that multi-touch experience that gets the person who is thinking about doing their kitchen in six months to actually reach out?

Throughout its many incarnations, one of Homepolishs greatest strengths was clarity for consumers: The company established an uncomplicated path to finding, hiring and working with a designer. It also acted as a custodian through a stressful process, offering the security of knowing that there was a larger company involved to manage billing and referee misunderstandings. Without that standardization or perceived guarantee, however, the path to consumer confidence will likely be more complicated.

The most important thing is to keep it focused and simple, adds Yumusaklar. Were not in the business of losing money, but this is coming from a place of strengthening our industry rather than [us] figuring out how we can make the most money off it. The main idea is that were building a great community and a great stage. Thats our mission, and thats what connects us to the mission of Homepolish when it started out, which was to empower designers and provide the necessary resources.

Timur YumusaklarCourtesy of Schumacher

Noa SantosJulia Robbs

Left: Timur Yumusaklar Courtesy of Schumacher | Right: Noa Santos Julia Robbs

While Freddies membership fee is expected to generate some revenue, its founders say theres no external pressure to fast-track profit-driving initiatives on the platform. In fact, Yumusaklar is just as adamant about what Freddie will not become as he is about its potential. For example, unlike Homepolish, Freddie will remove itself from the design process once it links a designer with a client, and the platform will not take a cut of the designers fee. He is also adamant that the site will not evolve into a project management tool or a marketplace, and that it wont be another marketing vehicle for the Schumacher brand. Its very much open for other brandswell definitely post images of everybodys product, says Yumusaklar. Santos agreed that, in general, the accounts Instagram followers may not even notice a shift beyond the name change: The channel will stay by and large almost identically what it was, which was promoting designers work.

Freddies basic business mission to help designers is not a new one. Its current model recalls Dering Halls original business plan, which, when it was founded in 2011, promised designers exposure, help getting projects published and a listing in an online directory in exchange for a membership fee. The matchmaking component has also gained digital legs of late: Several membership-based platforms have debuted in the past year, from Estee Stanleys agency, The Eye, to Interior Collab, a nonprofit founded by former Homepolish designers after the platform went offline, which has grown into a collective of nearly 30 firms.

But Freddie is certainly a product of the current climate, motivated in part by an underlying concern that consumers are increasingly turning to online resources and major retailersfrom Wayfair to West Elm to RHfor design inspiration and expertise. As it presents viable alternatives to well-known retail options on a consumer-facing platform, Yumusaklar sees Freddie as a big-picture play that helps trade brands by supporting their customers (designers) in attracting their customers (consumers) in hopes that designers will keep shopping. Its a giant sales pitch on behalf of every decoratortelling homeowners why they should hire a designer to save them time, finding them better prices and exclusive goods, and preventing them from making costly mistakes.

Despite the challenges, educating would-be clientsand helping them find the right designeris certainly a worthy goal. After all, for every homeowner out there who hires a decorator for a full-service project, there are hundreds more who dont realize a designer could help themand who have no sense of how much the resulting project would cost. (Santos says that Homepolish once conducted a survey to understand consumer expectations when it came to spending on their homes. The result? Respondents indicated that they expected a fully designed living room to cost $1,500a figure so off-base that the company never released the surveys findings.)

Santos says that ultimately, Freddies goal isnt just to get jobs for designers, but rather to help reframe the way designers are perceived in the culture of home. If you just see a designer as just an avenue to get a sofa, theres not a lot [of opportunity] there in the long run, because technology will supplant it, he says. But if you see a designer like an artist or a therapisttheres a reason why they havent been replaced by software. Away doesnt sell luggage, they sell the promise of travel. I think the conversation in the industry needs to move from design being a functional and aesthetic exercise to it being a life experience.

Homepage photo: A project by David Kaihoi, featured in a recent issue of Schumachers biannual magazine, Bulletin | Francesco Lagnese, courtesy of Schumacher

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Schumacher bought Homepolish. Here's what they're going to do with it - Business of Home

Nobility Crests amenity area.

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (PRWEB) October 20, 2020

Nobility Crest, a 55+ luxury condominium community in Ocean Township, recently announced the opening of Building 6 with only limited opportunities remaining in Building 5. To learn more or to schedule a one-on-one or virtual appointment, call 732-361-4982 or visit http://www.NobilityCrest55.com. All in-person appointments will follow all state-mandated guidelines to guarantee the safety of staff and future residents.

If the benefits of new construction appeal to you, now is the time to make your move and receive the best pricing on the remaining homes in Building 5 and learn about the last new opportunities available in Building 6, said Robert Adinolfi, Chief Operating Officer at Renaissance Properties.

Building 6 is the final building that will ultimately complete the 198-unit Nobility Crest. This new building features one- and two-bedroom home designs including some new model types priced from the mid $300s. All homes highlight open living spaces, spacious master suites, and appealing, designer-selected finishes. In addition, each home comes with an assigned parking spot and storage space in a secure, well-lit enclosed garage that enjoys elevator access to and from each floor.

Just minutes from Asbury Park Beach and Boardwalk, Nobility Crest at Ocean Township also features exciting onsite amenities that can be enjoyed year-round. The community showcases a low-maintenance lifestyle with access to a 4,300 sq. ft. Lifestyle Center with a fitness center, business center, lounge, library, large multi-purpose room, media room, billiard and card rooms. Each new building will also add either a club room with billiards, a fitness room or an all-purpose room. For those with furry friends, a new dog park will also be constructed onsite.

Following a $1M redesign and renovation of Nobility Crests pool and amenity area, residents spent the summer taking advantage of all that the community has to offer with a beach-entry pool, sundeck, shaded pergolas, barbeque areas, fire pit and more. This community offers the carefree lifestyle our savvy buyers have worked for, said Adinolfi.

In addition to ample onsite amenities, the Jersey Shore location of Nobility Crest put owners at the center of it all. Nearby shopping includes everything from groceries at Shop Rite just 1.3 miles away to incredible deals on world-famous designer goods at the Jersey Shore Premium Outlets less than three miles away. Need some beach therapy? Make a quick left onto Route 66 and youll be at the Asbury Park Beach and Boardwalk in under four miles. The community also offers easy access from both Route 18 and the Garden Parkway.

Nobility Crest is located at 7 Centre Street in Ocean Township. Take Route 66 to Cedar Village Boulevard, enter 0827 on the Call Box for the salesperson to open the gate and make a left on Centre Street. To learn more, visit http://www.NobilityCrest55.com or email nobilitycrestinfo@renaprop.com. The Sales Center is now open, schedule an appointment from 10am to 5pm daily. To learn more, please call 732-361-4982.

About Renaissance Properties Since its creation nearly 30 years ago, Renaissance Properties has evolved from a small real estate brokerage company to a multi-faceted real estate development firm and home builder with over 1,000 new homes and nearly 800,000 square feet of commercial space to its credit. The dedicated team at Renaissance Properties works tirelessly to ensure quality, integrity and customer satisfaction in all its endeavors. With distinctive designs and accommodating layouts, new home buyers and tenants alike are delighted with the product offered by Renaissance Properties. To learn more, visit https://www.renaissanceprop.com/.

About Blue Star Group With over 80 years of combined experience in home building excellence and customer satisfaction, the Blue Star Group, LLC is recognized as one of Staten Islands foremost builders. Since its inception in 1976, Blue Star has received continual acclaim both from homebuyers and respected industry associations. Blue Stars standards are set at the highest levels of home design, building materials and craftsmanship to consistently deliver on its promise of bringing the best value to its deserving customers.

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Final new building now open at Nobility Crest in Ocean Township - PR Web