{"id":205267,"date":"2025-12-22T15:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T15:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/205267\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T15:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T15:11:07","slug":"an-uws-interior-designers-take-on-the-holidays-after-779-days-and-some-staging-a-quirky-uws-apartment-finally-sells-uws-luxury-housing-market-is-hot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/205267\/","title":{"rendered":"An UWS Interior Designer’s Take on the Holidays; After 779 Days (and Some Staging) a Quirky UWS Apartment Finally Sells; UWS Luxury Housing Market is Hot!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Happy holidays from the staff of West Side Rag! Photo credit: Laura Muha\u2019s camera in self-timer mode.
\nToday is Monday, December 22nd, 2025.<\/p>\n

The forecast calls for a breezy, cloudy day, with a chance of late-day snow showers. High 38.<\/p>\n

More of the same tomorrow; the rest of the week, temperatures are expected to climb into the 40s, with the possibility of a wintery mix on Friday.<\/p>\n

On this date in 1984<\/a>, so-called \u201csubway vigilante\u201d Bernhard Goetz pulled out a pistol on the No. 2 train and fired at four Black teenagers, who, he claimed, were trying to rob him. The case \u2014 one of the most infamous in city history \u2014 ignited nationwide conversations about race, crime, and the right to self defense. Goetz faced multiple charges, including attempted second-degree murder, but was convicted only of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. He was sentenced to a year in prison and released after 8.5 months. All four of the teenagers survived, though one was paralyzed and suffered brain damage when the bullet severed his spine.<\/p>\n

On a lighter note, here\u2019s some holiday-related trivia:\u00a0 On this date in 1882, the first string of Christmas tree lights was created by Thomas Edison. And in 1958, \u201cThe Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don\u2019t Be Late),\u201d by the fictional singing group Alvin and the Chipmunks, hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, making it the first holiday song ever to take that slot.<\/p>\n

Notices<\/p>\n

Our calendar<\/a>\u00a0has lots of local events.\u00a0Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.<\/p>\n

Looking for holiday gifts? Check out the Rag\u2019s brand new online shop, where you can order WSR T-shirts, coffee mugs, hoodies, teddy bears, tote bags and more. You\u2019ll find the shop \u2014 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

News Roundup<\/p>\n

Compiled by Laura Muha<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Designer Hillary Wallace\u2019s festive brownstone on West 82nd Street. Photo by Gus Saltonstall<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t so much a news story as a holiday coincidence: Recently, managing editor Gus Saltonstall was walking down West 82nd Street when the hot pink holiday decorations on this brownstone caught his eye. He snapped a photo which we initially planned to use as the lead photo for last week\u2019s Monday Bulletin (we\u2019re always searching for photos for that slot \u2014 hint, hint!) but wound up subbing in a snow picture at the last minute; we knew the snow photo wouldn\u2019t keep, but a holiday photo would.<\/p>\n

Between then and now, however, the festive brownstone also caught the eye of the YouTube channel Homeworthy, founded in 2019 by former Good Morning America producer Alison Kenworthy. The channel showcased the house in its most recent episode and interviewed the owner, interior designer Hillary Wallace, who described her approach to this year\u2019s holiday decor: \u201cThe interior is classic, traditional, lots of greenery \u2026 The outdoor theme is \u2018Wooooh! Its Candyland with a little twist, and I really wanted it to be happy and bright and vibrant, and bring people in.\u201d<\/p>\n

More details plus a tour of the brownstone\u2019s equally (but more traditionally) bedecked interior\u00a0 \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Cleburne. Photo by Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0,<\/a> via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

To stage or not to stage? That\u2019s the question many people face when putting their apartment on the market. Here\u2019s the story of a three-bedroom UWS apartment which recently was featured on the lifestyle blog Apartment Therapy; it had been on the market for a whopping 779 days before apartment-stager Jason Saft, of Staged to Sell Home, entered the picture.<\/p>\n

The problem: A quirky layout, odd-shaped rooms and general run-down condition, which were off putting to prospective buyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaft describes how he \u2018fell for it instantly,\u2019 even though the walls were scuffed and the air was stale,\u201d author Shifrah Combiths<\/a> wrote in the piece. \u201cHe saw past the desolate condition of the interior and got to work showcasing its features: the \u2018rambling rooms, molding [that went on] for days, long hallways, quiet corners, little places to get lost in.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Saft told the blog \u201cit was shocking\u201d to see an apartment, located in the Cleburne at West End Avenue and West 105th Street, sitting on the market for so long, especially because it was priced at only $823 per square foot, compared to the UWS average of $1,336 per square foot.<\/p>\n

Though the apartment needed a gut renovation \u2014 beyond a stager\u2019s scope \u2014 his goal was to do enough to make prospective buyers see the possibilities. That meant repairing cracked walls, repainting, brightening dark kitchen cabinets with high-gloss white paint, updating fixtures to improve lighting and then \u2014\u00a0 the fun part \u2014 furnishing the apartment to show off its livablility.<\/p>\n

The result? Thirty-five days after the staging was complete, the apartment, priced at $1.89 million, was under contract.<\/p>\n

Read the full story and see the before-and-after photos \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>15 Central Park West. Photo by Thomas Craven, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a> , via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

Since real estate seems to be the theme of this week\u2019s bulletin, here are a few more items rounded up from other sources, all of which could appear under the headline \u201cThe UWS Luxury Market is Hot!\u201d<\/p>\n

For starters, two apartments in 15 Central Park West, designed by the late architect Robert A.M. Stern, recently topped the list of the most expensive homes to sell in Manhattan \u2014 and both sold in the same week, reports Mansion Global, a site that covers the high-end\u00a0 estate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe priciest deal was a three-bedroom apartment at 15 Central Park West that was last asking $26.8 million,\u201d according to the publication. \u201cSpanning 3,347 square feet, it has a living room, a formal dining room and an office that faces Central Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second-most expensive contract was in the same building, with an asking price of $25 million, reduced from $27.5 million when it went up for sale in May. \u201cThe unit spans 3,364 square feet with four bedrooms, and the living room, formal dining room and primary bedroom face Central Park. Included in the sale is a studio on the sixth floor,\u201d Mansion Global reported.<\/p>\n

In addition, Crains New York Business reports two high-end sales in the West 80s near Riverside Park:<\/p>\n

Business consultant and Democratic party operative Josh Wachs has closed on an $11 million penthouse in a co-op building facing Riverside Park at West 81st Street. The unit has three bedrooms, three and a half baths, and a wraparound terrice that\u2019s the same size as the interior: 3,000 square feet, Crains reported.<\/p>\n

And Alex Lasry, the executive who heads the host committee for the region\u2019s upcoming World Cup soccer matches, recently paid $20.7 million cash for a penthouse on West End Avenue at West 86th Street, according to Crains, which cited the lack of any mortgage documents in the deed registry. The unit, which had been owned by a holding company, listed it in January for $26 million but dropped the price several times before finding a buyer, according to StreetEasy data cited by Crains. However, the publication noted that the apartment\u2019s most recent asking price was about $19 million, which suggests that a bidding war broke out at the last minute and pushed the price up by $2 million. The unit has six bedrooms and six and a half baths, plus a 1,900-square-foot private terrace with an outdoor kitchen and fireplace, Crain\u2019s said.<\/p>\n

Read the Mansion Global story HERE<\/a> and the Crains stories HERE<\/a> and HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ICYMI:<\/p>\n

Here are a few stories we think are worth a look if you missed them last week \u2014 or a second look if you saw them. (Note that our comments stay open for six days after publication, so you may not be able to comment on all of them.)<\/p>\n

BOOK REVIEW: A River Runs Through This Memoir by a Former 79th Street Boat Basin Resident\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Meet the 2nd Busiest Person on the Upper West Side: Gale Brewer\u2019s Scheduler<\/a><\/p>\n

An UWS Mystery in the Riverside Park Foliage: Gift Bags, Backward Words, and Eggs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Happy holidays from the staff of West Side Rag! Photo credit: Laura Muha\u2019s camera in self-timer mode. Today…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-205267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}