SpiceIT - The Kitchens
Now I get it. They stage homes. For an absolutely ludicrous price SpiceIT will come and stage your home for sale. It doesn’t explain why none of their beds were properly made. One would assume that if you are trying to sell your house it would help if you have an inviting bedroom.
Even with the idea that they stage homes instead of doing interior design - they still suck.
Look at the kitchen above. It’s pretty obvious what is wrong. There’s an oven missing, it’s cluttered, the towels hanging from the cabinets do it no favors and the rug on the floor looks like a rag. Then SpiceIT comes in and it turns into this:
The layout hasn’t changed. There is NOTHING original about the layout - it’s identical to what it was before. Even worse, now it is so individual you are alienating potential buyers. People who hate red will not buy your flat with this kitchen in it.
If you are staging a home for selling you try to NOT place too much personality on it. I’m not even going to start with the fact that they put in an IKEA kitchen in place of something which looked like it was done by a proper firm and was better made. They didn’t fix the oven issue. The upper cabinets are simply ugly. The wallpaper is great, but not appropriate for staging a home. Worse off, someone paid for this - when they could have gone to IKEA and had the whole thing designed for them FOR FREE. OH - and it looks like they put a linoleum floor in - who puts in linoleum when they already have tile????!!!! Linoleum was created for people who can’t afford tile.
[post edit: It turns out that the red cabinets don't come from IKEA, they are wallpapered - which means they ruined the original wood veneer fronts instead. This would explain why nothing moved in the space.]
Instead of ruining the original space they should have simply cleaned up what was already there, put in a proper oven, and bought an amazing light. Honestly, the financial irresponsability leaves me shocked. The fact that they made it worse - I’m gobsmacked.
They couldn’t even bother to put in nice accessories. They all come from IKEA as well. If a designer doesn’t know about the importance of good handles and bars - they aren’t good designers. Goldstein people, it’s in Florentine in Tel Aviv - get a clue and go there. NOW.
I have to admit, I’ve never liked the rounded door kitchen cabinets. But these cabinets aren’t so bad.
Again, what did SpiceIT do? Take out a perfectly fine kitchen and put in the cheapest crap IKEA had to offer - with rounded doors. They didn’t change the side bar. They didn’t even change the size of the tile in the kitchen, they simply picked a different color.
The window dressing is great, but it would have worked equally well in the original kitchen. Again, since nothing essential in the space was moved - the person who paid for this WAS A FRIAR (fool in Hebrew). You can go to IKEA and they will design this space for you for free.
What I really like is now the middle cabinet door on the bottom isn’t even installed flush with the doors on either side. Great staging guys. And someone paid close to 2000 NIS for this? This is just for them to ‘design’ it, it’s not even for the materials or work. Hire me instead - I promise you I will do a significantly better job with nicer materials and better results.
Remember the painfully boring living rooms? Someone paid 3,500 NIS to have that done to their flat. The mind boggles.
I love the red counter. I have no idea what it looked like before, because the site isn’t offering that, but I do like the red and the green. It’s like Christmas on acid.
I HATE the ‘texture’ beneath the red counter. It looks cheap and unfinished. They took the kettle from an old house above and put it in this room. The cabinets look original. My guess is that they simply tidied up and painted. All of the accessories look like IKEA (shocker). It’s fine. But it isn’t worth almost 2000 NIS.
Chutzpa, thy name is SpiceIT.
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July 6th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
OK, I’m properly shocked myself. I hope the owners of the second kitchen sued SpiceIt. The result looks totally unprofessional; what’s the point of hiring a designer if they can’t oversee the final execution? And the tile on the wall looks terrible; its size, its colour….it does not match the counter at all. If my friend had done this, I would say it’s alright; but to pay a designer for such a result….?
The biggest chutzpah is the ad. If you ask me, staging means doing minimal changes to the house in order to sell it. Biggest bang for your buck. Indeed, the add says ’shinui katan’. Sorry guys, renovating a kitchen is not a ’shinui katan’, it’s the biggest redo you can possibly do in a house. You only redo your kitchen to sell if it’s scaring people away, and then you do it in a nice, neutral scheme. These guys took a nice, neutral kitchen most people would be OK with, and transformed it into a modern red creation, nice but far too dominant for many buyers’ tastes (including mine).
July 6th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
the red kitchen was made for “NISH” magazine for a young man in tel aviv - they took a “kablan” kitchen and with 0 account made a change with TAPET and none of the things are taken from IKEA, and not everything else you thought. but i’m sure it makes your blog more interesting so whatever.
July 6th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Hi Omri,
Ok - that explains the weird upper cabinets. Wallpaper on cabinets only looks good when used in the middle section of a wood cabinet with wood detailing where you can’t see the edges. Here it just looks bad. They would have been better off cleaning up the space and putting the effort into better accessories.
For your other comment - there are plenty of Israeli designers that I absolutely adore. I’m just not impressed with SpiceIT.
-shira
July 6th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
OK, Omri’s comment changes my perspective; if the red kitchen was commissioned for someone specific, it’s great, it has an energy and vibe missing in the first.
But then WHY advertise it in an ad for staging homes???
It’s not neutral, and narrows the potential market of buyers by a lot.
And I still think the second (white) kitchen looks worse than the mediocre original. A few bright colours can’t hide every flaw.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Your bedding fetish needs to be given some proportion. Your wholw “dress the bed” fetish belongs in a world where 30 degrees are considered record highs, or where everybody sleep with AC all night. Anything more than minimal bedding is simply impractical (and for some of us - any bedding at all is too much).
Of course, if you find me a “dressed bed” that doesn’t look like I will need to change the sheets every day in the summer, I might be convinced.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Hi Sarit,
I have Bachelors in Textiles, so the fetish will continue… However, you have raised an interesting subject for a post - dressing the bed for summer.
Expect that one soon.
-s
p.s. I don’t know where you live in Israel - but winter in Zichron is cold. Down comforter cold.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:12 am
I love your blog and have learned a lot from it. Regarding SpiceIT, I agree with most of the things you wrote, disagree with others. Overall, I think your critique is way too harsh. And re the whole tile/linoleum issue - who says? I’m sorry but in today’s world of design, aesthetic snobbery regarding linoleum/formaica/fornir etc. is fast becoming passe - if it looks better, is good quality (and some of the stuff out there is fantastic), why on earth not?
July 8th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Hi Lisa,
First off, thank you for the compliment. You know, I try really hard to find good things in everything I see design-wise, because I know that the designer will very likely read it. However, where SpiceIT is concerned they are trying to sell something that they don’t do well at a very high price (whether they are selling themselves as interior designers or home stagers). This irks me. I believe that the consumer deserves more, and I will take to task anyone who doesn’t do their job well - just as I will lavish high praise on those who I think are great.
As for the linolium - ok, in some cases it can look really cool (I’ve seen some colored linoliums which can really funky-up a space). So, I’ll agree with you there in theory. However, for this practice their original floor looked fine and in Israel, people prefer tile - which means they are wasting materials and lowering the value of the space.
-s
July 8th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Thanks for responding Shira. I do get your point, thing is, clearly they are filling some sort of niche if people are willing to pay for it, and I do think some of their stuff is cute, especially one of the bedrooms.
Actually you have raised a (sincere) question - I want to renovate an old apt in order to sell it - currently it has old mosaic balatot (like in the last pic). Do you think that re-tiling would make it more appealing to potential Israeli buyers rather than PVC parket? Personally, for me I prefer to go with the PVC (perhaps not in the salon or kitchen, but in the bedroom), but if Israeli’s explicitly prefer tiling it would pay me to go with that. Is this statement from your experience? (I don’t really have any and def would appreciate the advice).
July 8th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Hi Lisa,
First off, the old mosaic balatot is starting to come back in style, so you may want to do something else instead - like putting some decorative cement tiles in key places. It depends on where your flat is located and its size (basically - who would be buying your flat?) Send me some pics and I can give you a better opinion.
The only places I have seen PVC in Israel has been in bathrooms. I’ve neither seen or heard about it being used in a bedroom. I have seen wood laminate in bedrooms - that’s actually quite popular - but I think it looks sloppy when you open a door and see a different material there with edging. That’s a personal opinion and not one that I think many people share.
-s
July 8th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
It’s in Kfar Saba. I know the mosaic balatot are coming back, but there’s only so much I can put my personal opinion aside and I just can’t stand them, beige, green or funkified
When I say PVC, I am referring to the linoleum (fake parket) like in the kitchen pic discussed - terms get confusing. Wood laminate is one step up, right? With the click-in boards…
I know what you mean with the alimunium edging - I also don’t like it, but I’m not sure how keen I am on the same flooring throughout an apartment, especially when the look I want to achieve in the bedroom would do so much better with a “parket” floor. Any ideas on that?
Will send you pics as soon as I have a sec to take some - thanks!
July 8th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Forgot to add- it’s a smallish apt, 4 rooms, 100 meters. Target would be young couples, maybe with one, max two children.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Do not not not put in the fake parquet linoleum. It looks like plastic wood. Wood doesn’t look like plastic. In other words, it’s awful.
Wood laminate is the click-in boards. I’m also not totally nuts about that, because I prefer real wood. But I’m more realistic when it comes to price and practicality - so this is an acceptable option.
One thing I want you to keep in mind - as you are looking to sell the flat it’s not what you want to do with the space that matters. (This is going back to your comment ‘when the look I want to achieve in the bedroom would do so much better with a “parket” floor’). Again, need to see pics of the space. Plus, as wood laminate is darker than the tile that most people pick, the space will seem smaller, but it will also seem cozier. Keep that in mind as well.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I’m not sure I agree. It may not look like wood, but does that matter? It creates a different look - neither wood, nor plastic, just different. Whether you think it is awful or not is besides the point - the question is - do you think it looks awful because it is fake and offends your design sensibilities, or because aesthetically you don’t like it.
Regarding whether or not the look I want to achieve is relevant or not - I think it is, because I believe that will sell the apartment faster. A lot of people need some help seeing what a space can do.
I tend towards lighter laminate, even off-white. I like a bit of shabby-chic combined with some contemporary pieces, some retro, etc. Not sure how well that would go down with the buyers though
As for the aluminium edging between different floors, still trying to figure that one out.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
‘do you think it looks awful because it is fake and offends your design sensibilities, or because aesthetically you don’t like it.’
I hate it because it’s fake. Also, I have yet to see linoleum in fake wood that looks as good as the laminate. I think younger female buyers today love shabby chic - I just don’t know how many of those there are out there…
Just out of curiosity, why sell and not rent?
July 8th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Thanks - appreciate the answer.
I plan to sell and not rent because it makes far more financial sense for me. I am looking to make a profit fast - not increase my financial worth in 20 years time. At least, that’s the hope.
July 12th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I’m actually not sure that it really is a staging company - I have always known staging to be that you rent the stuff they put in your house to make it look better while bringing potential buyers through. Their ad says that their prices don’t include labor to put the stuff in the house, and purchase of the items - why would you purchase the items if it is just staging? The changes they are making to the decor are not what I would consider staging, but rather cheap renovations.