I am writing this letter today to attempt to summarize my respect, admiration, endorsement and gratitude I have for Arturo Palombo and the members of his team. I feel I owe it to whoever reads this that I provide some background information. In April 2010, my wife Amy and I purchased a home in Chester, NJ. It is a mid 1800’s reproduction that was about 20 years old when we purchased it. When we identified the house, it was on the right street for us and met most of our needs, but clearly needed to be updated. Being married to an Architect and having done a major renovation on our New York City apartment, we felt we were up to the task of making this house our home. We started in the usual fashion, getting recommendations from friends, reading through design magazines and talking to “one stop” kitchen designers and installers. After several months, we were not able to find anyone who would take the time to get to know us a bit and find out what we were really trying to accomplish. Then, one day, I was thumbing through a magazine and I saw a kitchen that I knew my wife would love. It was at a house in Madison, NJ. Needless to say, with the use of the internet, I was able to find out it was designed by Arturo Palombo Architecture, of Morristown, NJ. The rest, as they say is history…..
Art, as he likes to be called, came to our house and we learned about his work on historical buildings, and he learned about our small, but growing family. He asked us questions like how are you going to use the space and made gentle suggestions to a design that, while we thought was perfect, but would have never worked. If I had to summarize things, Art saved us from ourselves. We knew we wanted to open the family room, kitchen and dining room up to make the space flow, for example, but tearing down the wall was not the answer. Art suggested creative use of cabinetry to divide the space, without making it feel choppy or detached.
We were so impressed with his ideas and vision, we let him design 3 new bathrooms, a Laundry Room, our Mud Room and add things like a Pantry and Cubbies for the kids that we would have never dreamt of. Art connected us with tile designers that were more than just order-takers, but actual contributors to the project. He was able to communicate our sense of style to them which made the whole process more meaningful. This did not end up costing more than a trip to the Home Depot and having to fend for ourselves.
Art worked closely with the General Contractor, always looking out for our best interests. As a matter of fact, he greatly exceeded my expectation of the amount of time he would spend during the actual construction phase. To be completely frank, I repeatedly asked him to charge me more for the services he provided, because in good conscience I could not stand by and watch him work for free. He never complained or minded, because it is obvious that he really loves what he does. In the end, we now have a house beyond our wildest dreams, for much less than we would have spent if we did these projects piece by piece. At resale time, which is many, many years away, we will not have to explain the quality and expertise that went into this project. It will be obvious, and we will have one person to thank for that, Art Palombo.
Please feel free to call or email if you would ever like to come and see our home or ask any questions of my wife or I.
Respectfully,
Anthony Cuiffo
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