Compensating for a lack of view is not insurmountable. Here are some clever ways to create your own.
Prestigious addresses in desirable neighborhoods may suggest apartments and townhouses that check all the boxes, but sunlight and views are not guaranteed. It is a simple matter of geometry: Each building may be a square or rectangular box, or a series of boxes, with a front, two sides, and a back. While the front of the building may boast park or river views, the two sides most likely abut another building or a courtyard, and the back may have no view of any kind.
While everyone, whether renter or owner, may prefer an open view, as opposed to a partial or obstructed view, it is clear that lovely homes exist in charming neighborhoods at affordable prices, but without a view.
Compensating for the lack of any view is not insurmountable. Urban living offers many options, particularly in New York City, and views may be the first amenity to fall by the wayside. The density of construction and the need to utilize every square inch of land virtually guarantees that views will be less than ideal, if not entirely expendable.
Buyers are willing to pay for a favorable view, particularly of a landmark building, skyline, park or river. Units on a building's lower floors, or its rear, while they may receive ample light and air circulation, can benefit from innovative ways of manipulating space.
Create a Tropical Feeling
I have rented apartments to individuals who come to New York from warm, sunny countries near the equator, with courtyards and fountains in the center of their homes, looking to recreate the same ambiance in an urban setting. I recommend using bright, warm colors, lighting, mirrors and plants to evoke a tropical feeling in the middle of a concrete jungle.
Light fixtures with higher wattage and warm bulbs can provide a sunny atmosphere. Plants of varying heights, both live and artificial, grouped with light shining onto their leaves, casting shadows on the walls and ceiling, can add a sunny feeling, especially if combined with a small water feature or recirculating fountain and maybe even a live bird in a cage.
Get Window Treatments and Stained Glass
Large expanses of glass that look at nothing, or worse, look out onto garbage dumpsters or HVAC systems offer greater challenges. Window treatments consisting of sheer fabric can soften these non-views. Colorful antique stained-glass windows, modern reproduction colorful glass, or beveled glass windows suspended both in front of and behind the fabric will distract the eye. Lighting will again play an important role: In spotlights or track lighting, focus on the jewel-like glass to create the suggestion of sunlight.
Wooden shutters and blinds of light wood or composite materials can do wonders to disguise a depressing view. Other options include lighting behind window treatments that can be dimmed to prove subtle effects or dialed up to the maximum to create a sense of sunlight.
Window treatments, from the minimal to the most elaborate, can help detract from a less-than-inspiring view. To add the illusion of an additional window or to create symmetry, it is possible to hang a curtain rod opposite or next to an existing window and add draperies or curtains with a bamboo or translucent shade in the center. Only you will know that it is not a real window.
Use Mirrors Strategically
This brings us to mirrors, a tried-and-true solution to dark and viewless apartments. A wall-hung framed decorative mirror, opposite a sunny window, with or without a view, easily expands a space and reflects exterior interest. If it reflects some sunlight, a wall of mirrors will make your home feel more expansive.
A mirrored three-panel folding screen, which is angled, can reflect exterior light, adding sparkle and energy. Caution! Overdoing mirrors can create a fun-house effect that can be disconcerting.
Clear mirrors, as you see in any bathroom medicine cabinet or department store fitting room, are not the only option. Rose-colored mirrors provide a warm, healthy glow, gray or smoky-toned mirrors evoke a mysterious mood, and crackled or veined mirrors provide an atmospheric feeling that will make one forget the absence of a view.
Antique mirrors can be both dramatic and historically accurate in a period setting. The lack of a view is mitigated if a statement crystal chandelier is reflected in the antique mirror.
Distract With Artwork
Artwork is another solution to no view. I listed a very large apartment, a combination of three units in a former hotel in a historic landmarked district of Brooklyn Heights. Despite being on a high floor, with ample light, there was no view to speak of.
While I used plants and mirrors, I placed dramatic "statement" art to distract from the lack of a view. The artist who loaned me the art was willing to part with her paintings, and they were so effective that several sold to the couple who ultimately bought the apartment. A landscape or ocean view, as depicted in a framed poster or print, can substitute for a view. I had to catch myself when looking at the artwork out of the corner of my eye, as they appeared to be a real window with a view.
Make Your Own View With a Projector
If the view from your window is a completely bland brick wall, there are clever ways to compensate or even "create" a view. A projection camera on the windowsill can use the blank wall as a screen for an image of a Venetian canal or Alpine mountain.
Your neighbors may be fascinated by your changing choice of projected images, that you can select according to time of day, season or your mood. Your virtual "view" is limited only by your imagination.
Create Interior Interest in Your Home
Apartment dwellers and house owners alike get very excited about exterior views and sunny exposures, but every residence has desirable and less desirable aspects. Views and sunlight may be expendable when the location, price, size and resale value are right.
A less-than-perfect kitchen or bathroom can be rehabbed, ugly paint colors can be replaced, floors refinished, closets added and light fixtures or moldings changed or enhanced. But a drab or nonexistent view cannot be altered.
Creating interior interest in a home, as mentioned, with artwork lighting or plants and disguising a flawed view are possible solutions to this dilemma. Each space, even the least desirable, has potential and can be transformed into a welcoming environment with imagination and creativity.
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