After a slump, condo sales in Florida have recovered spectacularly.
“It’s unbelievable the amount of views that all the condos are getting... sales at the higher end are still mostly in cash, and buyers typically use the condos as part-time residences."
Liz Heinkel, the Smith & Associates listing agent. April 2023, Tampa Bay Times.
The upper, upper end units are setting records for prices.
Mid-level units are selling well.
Many of the new owners are calling on designers to help give their apartments a professional look and feel.
We at Addison/Dicus think that it would be helpful to the interior design community to let you know what you might encounter when you set about to cover condo floors.
Aquatica, a recently finished condo in Tampa. Notice the absence of right angles.
With the possible exceptions of the bedrooms, new condos will come with hard surface floors. This means that wall to wall carpeting is not an option (except in some bedrooms) unless the owner is willing to destroy the finished floor with tack strips. Not likely.
Clearly on this floor plan there are more non-right angle and curves than there are right angle.
The problem is compounded by rooms with whacky angles. Florida architects are charged with bending geometry in order to give the most residents the most views. Or to fit the building into an odd-shaped piece of property.
Even condo buildings that seem square can have un-square rooms. A rug that's a true rectangle there can make an untrue room seem like a boy whose legs have outgrown his pants.
A rectangular hand knotted rug will not work in a room that is not a true rectangle. The slightest deviation from 90 degrees in a room with a true rectangular rug can look odd, unfocused.
So what is the answer?
Virage, another recently completed Tampa Bay condo building with many different angles.
There are a lot of floor covering challenges here.
Make your own rugs
Fabricate rugs that conform exactly to the shape of the room.
You pick a broadloom carpet product. Your choices are virtually limitless. We cut a rug that follows the shape of the room and serge its edges.
Voila! You have a custom room with a custom shape fitted with a custom carpet. Back into focus!
We do it in two ways.
Make the rug on site
A multi-sided hallway fitted with a fabricated rug.
Cut the carpet and serge its edges on site. This method is the quickest and most efficient in a unit that is empty of residents, furniture and free of other complications.
Hallway with two widths.
Make a pattern
Master rug fabricator, Bob Ford, builds a pattern out of brown construction paper. He will take the pattern back to the Addison/Dicus shop and use it to cut an exact-fitting rug.
When the shape of the room is especially difficult and/or the apartment is occupied, or there are other particular problems, we come in and make a pattern for the rug. From the pattern we cut an serge the rug in our Tampa workshop.
A well made pattern can make fabricating rugs easier. Notice how the bookcase, upper right, is handled without having to move it. We cut can rugs of any shape on the shop floor from the pattern.
What if the unit has true rectangular rooms?
Many new sales are for seasonal use. So designers have clients who are excited to have a new condo and want it to look great. But there're budget constraints. "Afterall, this is not our main residence."
Then we suggest that you have a look at budget-fitting hand-knotteds that have a primary residence look, but fit a secondary home budget.
Find a beautiful rug that fits with a seasonal budget.
For example:
Verona VR-614
Verona VR-607
Ivory 8x10
Ann-4
Charisma-saffron-smoke
TV-590
These are available in both the Orlando and Tampa showrooms.