These are beautiful apartments, and the most important upgrades are behind the walls. One could move in without fear of a utility disaster, because you have already figured it all out and done it right. Also, thanks for having no music playing during the videos, as other people's taste in music has begun to drive me crazy. Without musical distraction, we can concentrate on what you're saying, and learn a bit about construction as well as what beauteous appointments are available these days.
I've been in Florida since 1992 but still consider myself a Native New Yorker. Every time I see one of your videos, my heart sings. Thank you for sharing your gift with us.
@6:00, I loved it when she's talking about the gas riser going under the floor. "If you don't know what it is, you can't touch it." If you do, you blow up the entire building!!
@ 7:27. The before and after pictures. Absolutely astonishing transformation. The incredible openness she creates out of these closed rooms never ceases to amaze me.
You truly are brilliant. Your delivery on each video and the detail you go into, about the problems and solutions, really is quite good and is even getting me thinking in ways of solutions fixing.
Anytime Paula! If I had the finance and lived in New York, I would most certainly hire you to do the work. Because you are so practical, logical and elegant with regards to delivery and design. Watching these videos, has aided myself to aim for a higher standard with my small apartment renovation, but also in my line of work! Keep it up. New York is very lucky.
I have no interest in ever living in Manhattan or in a pre-war building but have become hooked on Paula’s videos. She has an amazing and consistent design aesthetic - If she was up,to a real challenge, I would love to have her redo my 4400 sq foot 1928 Spanish Colonial in Beverly Hills.
Excellent transformation. I cannot stop giggling because seeing the bathroom in its "before" state reminded me of one of my all time favorite movies "Mr. Blandings Builds" with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. I always thought their apartment was good sized and am betting they should have had you come in to redesign their space. Would have been less expensive than moving to the suburbs.
I love your designs. So refreshing to see that you transform with function in mind. You really take in to consideration the growth of the home with the people who live there. Very nice work. Plus you have my name😍
I have noticed that herringbone wood floors are found in a lot of places like this in New York. Do you know what is the common factor or reason that this particular design was chosen around the time these building/floors were built/put in?
This pattern has been around longer then the early part of this century.. in textiles as well. I don't think there is a "source" for why..other then it representative of more expensive construction and preferences at that time. The higher end and better built residences always had floors and finishes that were more expensive, more detailed with borders and different types of wood inlays.. it was very labor intensive to do.
I realize this is not a new comment, but the herringbone style wood floors are found all across the world. In European apartments, hardwood floors are mostly parquet and either in herringbone, chevron, basket weave style etc. Especially in living rooms there is parquet, but sometimes in other rooms of the house, there can be straight planks, because they are cheaper to make. There is also a parquet flooring type called "Marquetry" which has inlays and borders, but it is found in higher end old buildings. Anyway, the point is, the design is not exclusive to NYC.
There is a video somewhere about a Soviet wood floors where it explained that it was the more expensive way to make floors which was was later simplified to make it cheaper.. my dad had to rip out parquet floors from early 1900s and he said they were made with multiple layers to be really really sturdy
You are so exceptional! May I ask you about the color of the wall paint and brand in kitchen and bedroom, the glass wall tile color, the floor tile color, etc.? Please. please. I am attempting to pick colors for my condo. It is a forced renovation and I have limited funds. I put in shaker white cabinets, white appliances, camel carpet, white trim, ceiling and doors, travertine fireplace, brass trims, open plan. No tile yet, counters, or wall paint. HELP! I love the wall color.
She knows her stuff. 'Tho I think all that black hardware must have been a major headache to fit in an old apartment. She must have had to plate some pieces. (not sure if it's black or a very dark bronze).
That original toilet off the kitchen looked rather beautiful. What do you do with original fittings like these? Are they sold or recycled or simply thrown away?
There is a company that picks up good construction materials and fixtures from renovations and resells them for 50% of the cost.. but many contractors list them on Craigslist for free to be picked up.. the old toilet won’t be efficient with amount of water it uses to flush though.
2:31 I watched some of your videos and was wondering why you don't use Miele more. You say a lot of good things about Liebherr but Liebherr is nothing but a mass-made-in-China brand with an exorbitant price tag, whereas Miele is a truely German company with an amazing quality. In my humble opinion, as well as experience, any respectable home should be equipped only with Miele appliances. They are slightly more expensive than cheap brands but the build quality and the quality of washing, drying, ironing, dish-washing and food storage is unsurpassable. They now even make wonderful cooking ranges especially for the US market. I highly recommend it.
Liebherr has four factory sites in two Chinese towns, they are for earth moving machines and parts, gears for rather big 'things' like wind energy installations, recycling installation machines, and - I think - concrete mixer systems for or already mounted on trucks … In complete under 700 workers. Liebherr has facturies for earth moving and concrete producing equipment / machines,... in other countries as well including the US. They produce also cranes (contruction sites, maritim, special versions, and...), equipment for trains, control technology, special high precision parts for planes and helicopters also climate control for those too, Diesel machines for construction sites equipment, block-type thermal power stations, biogas plants, and... They even run a few hotels in Germany, Austria and Ireland. Refrigerators, freezers… get produced in 3 European countries: Germany (in Ochsenhausen with 1950 workers), Austria (in Lienz with 1475 workers, not-built-in domestic cooling appliances and professional cooling appliances), and in Bulgaria (in Plovdiv with 1600 workers). The one thing you are right about is Miele is producing really nice appliances (i.e. IMHO their washing machines, their higher quality ovens/ranges, and their smaller kitchen machines like food processors), but Miele seems to be aware no one can 'be the best in everything', so they let produce their refrigerators by…. Liebherr. And no, I am not a worker there or whatever, but I did inform myself a bit before buying my kitchen appliences after a kitchen fire. Never again cheap or badly engineered... installations at home.
What’s wrong with me. My rental has a Liebherr and I don’t like it. Maybe it’s an older model because it’s narrow and tall. I saw that the man on America’s Test Kitchen has one just like mine in his home and he loves it.
I know why this is the case, but it's odd you have good, ADA compliant door hardware everywhere but into and out of the unit. You'd think ADA would over-ride building aesthetics in a case like this.
Manhattan is one of the most expensive places to renovate..between insurance costs, limited time to work, logistics.. it's more time, more money..unfortunately!
We prefer the true renovation concept for bathrooms, exclusively focused on replacing old bathroom fixtures ONLY with new fixtures true to the time period. If this home was ours, we’d prefer a second renovation to bring back the original charm, using time-typical piedestal sinks and tile patterns.
Beautiful renovation. Practical, functional and lovely. We have renovated several homes and as the homeowner, we get to choose our own preferences. That is the beauty of being a homeowner, especially when footing the bill.
What a great job done on the kitchen. But I have never even for just a few milliseconds of my life liked the Herringbone pattern. I think it's one of the ugliest floor patterns ever invented. It's so old school and just sooo ugly to me. I would have asked you to replace the entire floor.
i hate when people take a piece of history and strip it back to modern. i love historical buildings and homes. i know not everyone does, but i think we distroy our history unlike other countries. we claim to be so patriotic and go on about the usa being so great yet we wipe out all our visual history. the apt looks so clinical. if walls could talk, but these cant because we tear them down. my house was built in 1947 and we restored it to 1947 and decorated in 1947 with hidden modern conveniences and accents. i wish they would have saved some of the 1920s accents and didnt tear out the walls. i hate open floor plans. i like kitchens that arent open to my guests. i like to create and present in the diningroom. i dont like people in my kitchen while i cook. oh well guess im old fashion that way.
I think it’s personal preference, you don’t have to be mad, time pases and humanity changes. There’s always going to be historical buildings but is nothing wrong with wanting new or renovated spaces. I personally like historical buildings but I don’t like the feel to live in one. If I could afford a new house I would buy it without questions, but I can’t. So instead I would buy a creepy old house and renovated it and put everything I can new. I’m very afraid of what people before me did in the house. I think I had saw a lot of American horror movies, but my worst nightmare is to find a dead body between the studs. Also I hate cleaning, but I don’t like to live in dirty, so I prefer “plain” designs, no molding where dust can rest and later I had to clean, so those claim “a lot of character houses” are so beautiful but so impractical to me... but that’s only my preference 🤷♀️
I agree to an extent. If you have a classically built home, such as Arts and Crafts, Craftsman, Victorian, etc., then restoration is a must. And someone who doesn't appreciate and preserve those styles has no business owning one. If you have an apartment in a historic building that is loaded with original timeless details, again, you'd restore and integrate modern touches. But for a basic NY apartment that had zero charm to begin with, regardless of when it was built, what is worth saving? The awful checkered linoleum? The rickety cabinetry? The red toilet seat?
Our next-door-neighbor's house was built in the early 17th-century. The owner was fanatical about keeping everything period--the furnishing were no later than 1630, single glaze windows, no insulation, all the appliances hidden behind paneling or in furniture. The utilities were a small fortune, but it was a real achievement.
"That's why they pay me the big bucks" ... lol ... I so enjoy Paula's wit and personal style along with the elegant, intelligent design.
These are beautiful apartments, and the most important upgrades are behind the walls. One could move in without fear of a utility disaster, because you have already figured it all out and done it right. Also, thanks for having no music playing during the videos, as other people's taste in music has begun to drive me crazy. Without musical distraction, we can concentrate on what you're saying, and learn a bit about construction as well as what beauteous appointments are available these days.
Thank You!!
I've been in Florida since 1992 but still consider myself a Native New Yorker. Every time I see one of your videos, my heart sings. Thank you for sharing your gift with us.
Saida Swift Thank you Saida!!!
@6:00, I loved it when she's talking about the gas riser going under the floor. "If you don't know what it is, you can't touch it." If you do, you blow up the entire building!!
LOL.. that's the truth!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Needless to say, I'm aware that this is an older video however, it's brilliant work non the less from Paula....Abrazos
I need a Paula McDonald home 😍
Hey Clare, thank you!!!
Absolutely stunning place.
I'm so impressed! You not only focus to make it look stunning but also to make it functional and comfortable to live in :)
All the storage in the bath! Just fantastic! Way to make use of all the space in such a small area.
Thank you!!
Love your classy designs, and bonus! your scarves! Makes me smile.
@ 7:27. The before and after pictures. Absolutely astonishing transformation. The incredible openness she creates out of these closed rooms never ceases to amaze me.
Thanks so much!! :)
Wow this is beautiful. Love the modern look. I also love that the flooring continues straight into the bathroom as well!
thanks for amazing detailed video of the problems and design, especially for small spaces.
Thanks!!
You truly are brilliant. Your delivery on each video and the detail you go into, about the problems and solutions, really is quite good and is even getting me thinking in ways of solutions fixing.
Hey.. Thank you11!
Anytime Paula! If I had the finance and lived in New York, I would most certainly hire you to do the work. Because you are so practical, logical and elegant with regards to delivery and design. Watching these videos, has aided myself to aim for a higher standard with my small apartment renovation, but also in my line of work! Keep it up. New York is very lucky.
Wow! Gorgeous transformation and genius use of the bathroom mirrors! !!
Oh Paula this is just beautiful my dear! Breathed such new life into this home, you've certainly gained a new fan!
Paula has great style and class
I have no interest in ever living in Manhattan or in a pre-war building but have become hooked on Paula’s videos. She has an amazing and consistent design aesthetic - If she was up,to a real challenge, I would love to have her redo my 4400 sq foot 1928 Spanish Colonial in Beverly Hills.
Hey.. that would be a blast!! Thank you!!
Excellent transformation. I cannot stop giggling because seeing the bathroom in its "before" state reminded me of one of my all time favorite movies "Mr. Blandings Builds" with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. I always thought their apartment was good sized and am betting they should have had you come in to redesign their space. Would have been less expensive than moving to the suburbs.
Another amazing meticulous design job!
I love your designs. So refreshing to see that you transform with function in mind. You really take in to consideration the growth of the home with the people who live there. Very nice work. Plus you have my name😍
That apartment is beautiful.
A really good job for an old building.
Debra Kepola Thanks Debra!
That's a beautiful master bedroom. I love your channel!!!
Thank you!!
i always LOVE the new kitchen but like the old bathroom better
I really liked the old bathroom too!! The problem is modern homes really require storage with the sink and upgrades with the shower/tub.
inspiring! the mirror trick is quite clever
Hey.. Yep that was a challenge.. but it completely works!!
I recently found your channel. You do a fantastic job! I love your videos. Love your personal style too.
I have to admit, I say I come for the reno but, I really stay for the wardrobe! Equally done with impeccable taste!😍😜
Love her fashion sense. She wears clothes well and always looks stunning!
Hey Thanks so much Carolyn!!
Love the makeover!!!!!
Thanks for sharing! You are amazing, skillful
I love your work my taste for home it's same. Thank you your videos that you make it i love them. I know how much work its behind everything
LOVE, love, love your style.
1. You sound to remind me of an actress but for the life of me I can't remember who !
2. You got style and class and Great Taste in fashion !
Jill Clayburgh
@@stevie68a that's it thank you !
Christine Baranski/Jill Clayburgh
Your work is amazing. Thank you for sharing : )
mc0122 Thank you so much!! Truly appreciate that you think do!! 😄
so!!!
Impeccable taste, Paula! Thanks for sharing :)
Kristi Miller Thank you Kristi!!
I have noticed that herringbone wood floors are found in a lot of places like this in New York. Do you know what is the common factor or reason that this particular design was chosen around the time these building/floors were built/put in?
This pattern has been around longer then the early part of this century.. in textiles as well. I don't think there is a "source" for why..other then it representative of more expensive construction and preferences at that time. The higher end and better built residences always had floors and finishes that were more expensive, more detailed with borders and different types of wood inlays.. it was very labor intensive to do.
I realize this is not a new comment, but the herringbone style wood floors are found all across the world. In European apartments, hardwood floors are mostly parquet and either in herringbone, chevron, basket weave style etc. Especially in living rooms there is parquet, but sometimes in other rooms of the house, there can be straight planks, because they are cheaper to make. There is also a parquet flooring type called "Marquetry" which has inlays and borders, but it is found in higher end old buildings. Anyway, the point is, the design is not exclusive to NYC.
There is a video somewhere about a Soviet wood floors where it explained that it was the more expensive way to make floors which was was later simplified to make it cheaper.. my dad had to rip out parquet floors from early 1900s and he said they were made with multiple layers to be really really sturdy
Paula is amazing.
Thanks!
"So I guess that's why I get paid the big bucks..."👌✊
allways admirable
sooo much storage. :O
Modern life!! Especially in USA.
You are so exceptional! May I ask you about the color of the wall paint and brand in kitchen and bedroom, the glass wall tile color, the floor tile color, etc.? Please. please. I am attempting to pick colors for my condo. It is a forced renovation and I have limited funds. I put in shaker white cabinets, white appliances, camel carpet, white trim, ceiling and doors, travertine fireplace, brass trims, open plan. No tile yet, counters, or wall paint. HELP! I love the wall color.
Loved this except the tile of the previous bathroom looked much better. Wish they could've salvaged it or found modern replacements.
amazing work asusual
She knows her stuff.
'Tho I think all that black hardware must have been a major headache to fit in an old apartment.
She must have had to plate some pieces.
(not sure if it's black or a very dark bronze).
Paula what is the purpose of a sink tilt out like the one in this kitchen?
Hi. They store sponges.. small items that can be put away instead of remaining on the counter...
What is truly amazing., is your figure and those stems, omg.....subscribed .
How long ago were people ripping up or convering the parquet floors?
I liked the bathroom before the renovation. It fit the 20's architecture and style better and was more classic than what it was replaced with :/
That cabinetry in the after is awful. If it were me I would have replaced the toilet and maybe the fixtures to something similar and left it.
Such a canary yellow for master bedroom.
Do you have your own construction crew that you keep busy just doing your renovations?
That original toilet off the kitchen looked rather beautiful. What do you do with original fittings like these? Are they sold or recycled or simply thrown away?
All three.. it wasn't to the owners, but to each his own!!
There is a company that picks up good construction materials and fixtures from renovations and resells them for 50% of the cost.. but many contractors list them on Craigslist for free to be picked up.. the old toilet won’t be efficient with amount of water it uses to flush though.
Major electrical upgrade.
oh no! that beautiful checkered floor! 😩
I know!!😢
2:31 I watched some of your videos and was wondering why you don't use Miele more. You say a lot of good things about Liebherr but Liebherr is nothing but a mass-made-in-China brand with an exorbitant price tag, whereas Miele is a truely German company with an amazing quality. In my humble opinion, as well as experience, any respectable home should be equipped only with Miele appliances. They are slightly more expensive than cheap brands but the build quality and the quality of washing, drying, ironing, dish-washing and food storage is unsurpassable. They now even make wonderful cooking ranges especially for the US market. I highly recommend it.
Liebherr has four factory sites in two Chinese towns, they are for earth moving machines and
parts, gears for rather big 'things' like wind energy installations, recycling
installation machines, and - I think - concrete mixer systems for or already
mounted on trucks … In complete under 700 workers. Liebherr has facturies for
earth moving and concrete producing equipment / machines,... in other countries
as well including the US.
They produce also cranes (contruction sites, maritim, special versions, and...), equipment
for trains, control technology, special high precision parts for planes and
helicopters also climate control for those too, Diesel machines for
construction sites equipment, block-type thermal power stations, biogas plants,
and...
They even run a few hotels in Germany, Austria and Ireland.
Refrigerators, freezers… get produced in 3 European countries:
Germany (in Ochsenhausen with 1950 workers), Austria (in Lienz with 1475 workers,
not-built-in domestic cooling appliances and professional cooling appliances),
and in Bulgaria (in Plovdiv with 1600 workers).
The one thing you are right about is Miele is producing really nice appliances (i.e. IMHO
their washing machines, their higher quality ovens/ranges, and their smaller
kitchen machines like food processors), but Miele seems to be aware no
one can 'be the best in everything', so they let produce their refrigerators
by…. Liebherr. And no, I am not a worker there or whatever, but I did inform
myself a bit before buying my kitchen appliences after a kitchen fire. Never
again cheap or badly engineered... installations at home.
What’s wrong with me. My rental has a Liebherr and I don’t like it. Maybe it’s an older model because it’s narrow and tall. I saw that the man on America’s Test Kitchen has one just like mine in his home and he loves it.
Why is the Washer & Dryer at 2 separate places? Isn’t it supposed to be placed side by side?
Was not possible with the plumbing layout.. and constrained space.. so that was the compromise!
These renovations are always amazing, but I always wonder why clients go for all white... Guess I'm just a color guy... ;-)
HaHa... thank you and I wish they would too!! I love color.. and it's just amazing when you can work with a client who embraces that too!
maybe to make it easy if they need to sell someday?
Does America know what a split system is?. Why do the air con units and heating basically need a room of their own lol?
Wow, your apartments are gorgeous. I love the way the historical feel of them never gets lost. I'm curious. What is the address of this apartment?
Paula, where is the unit and what was the budget? ~ Liz
I know why this is the case, but it's odd you have good, ADA compliant door hardware everywhere but into and out of the unit. You'd think ADA would over-ride building aesthetics in a case like this.
!
Sounds REALLY expensive!
Manhattan is one of the most expensive places to renovate..between insurance costs, limited time to work, logistics.. it's more time, more money..unfortunately!
We prefer the true renovation concept for bathrooms, exclusively focused on replacing old bathroom fixtures ONLY with new fixtures true to the time period. If this home was ours, we’d prefer a second renovation to bring back the original charm, using time-typical piedestal sinks and tile patterns.
Well, to each his or her own!! all beautiful!!
Beautiful renovation. Practical, functional and lovely. We have renovated several homes and as the homeowner, we get to choose our own preferences. That is the beauty of being a homeowner, especially when footing the bill.
It's funny how sometimes she sounds as though she disapproves of choices the owners made.
What a great job done on the kitchen. But I have never even for just a few milliseconds of my life liked the Herringbone pattern. I think it's one of the ugliest floor patterns ever invented. It's so old school and just sooo ugly to me. I would have asked you to replace the entire floor.
Nice apartment but the video seems more about Ms McDonald than the rehab project.
i hate when people take a piece of history and strip it back to modern. i love historical buildings and homes. i know not everyone does, but i think we distroy our history unlike other countries. we claim to be so patriotic and go on about the usa being so great yet we wipe out all our visual history. the apt looks so clinical. if walls could talk, but these cant because we tear them down. my house was built in 1947 and we restored it to 1947 and decorated in 1947 with hidden modern conveniences and accents. i wish they would have saved some of the 1920s accents and didnt tear out the walls. i hate open floor plans. i like kitchens that arent open to my guests. i like to create and present in the diningroom. i dont like people in my kitchen while i cook. oh well guess im old fashion that way.
Teresa Palmer sometimes old apartments can be dangerous
I think it’s personal preference, you don’t have to be mad, time pases and humanity changes. There’s always going to be historical buildings but is nothing wrong with wanting new or renovated spaces. I personally like historical buildings but I don’t like the feel to live in one. If I could afford a new house I would buy it without questions, but I can’t. So instead I would buy a creepy old house and renovated it and put everything I can new. I’m very afraid of what people before me did in the house. I think I had saw a lot of American horror movies, but my worst nightmare is to find a dead body between the studs. Also I hate cleaning, but I don’t like to live in dirty, so I prefer “plain” designs, no molding where dust can rest and later I had to clean, so those claim “a lot of character houses” are so beautiful but so impractical to me... but that’s only my preference 🤷♀️
I agree to an extent. If you have a classically built home, such as Arts and Crafts, Craftsman, Victorian, etc., then restoration is a must. And someone who doesn't appreciate and preserve those styles has no business owning one. If you have an apartment in a historic building that is loaded with original timeless details, again, you'd restore and integrate modern touches. But for a basic NY apartment that had zero charm to begin with, regardless of when it was built, what is worth saving? The awful checkered linoleum? The rickety cabinetry? The red toilet seat?
I agree. Kitchens lose their appeal with an open floor plan. I stopped watching when I saw the remodeled bathroom. 😔
Our next-door-neighbor's house was built in the early 17th-century. The owner was fanatical about keeping everything period--the furnishing were no later than 1630, single glaze windows, no insulation, all the appliances hidden behind paneling or in furniture. The utilities were a small fortune, but it was a real achievement.
An actress owns this? Hollywood? I wonder who it is?
Not loving the colors