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PHOENIX FALL HOME SPECIALg g jM l - M M MLittle Things Make HouseSince 1910, C.A. Ohman and Co. Inc., ownerMichael Beck predicts business will boom./ have a double-breastedtuxedo that's coming backin style and in the same waypeople are feeling anostalgia fo r the Victorianstyle, which is the tinceiling.ISg **%&%u2022*$%u25a0> v s x K -1 '-' mm p ' ' '> %u25a0 / %u2022>\| | | g | - g | *. mBY LIZ KOCHMuch like owners and their pets, houses can begin to adopt a striking resemblance to the person who holds the deed. The whole idea behind the man and woman with their respective castles is that their house in essence becomes them; they can change it, build it, mold it and invest their personality in it. Four walls will always be four walls and a facade will always be a facade until someone comes along to add their own personal touch. With this emphasis on the value and importance of the home, many businesses are devoted to work that specifically addresses just one facet of living in a home but acts as an extension of personality, whether inside in a closet or the cornice on the roof.In the last few years, closet accessories have become increasingly popular. Closet World in Brooklyn Heights opened just last year and since that time has boasted a brisk business. Closet space has not become more scarce in recent years, but according to owner Michael Goellner, the reason behind the business boom is an increased desire for organization. People invest in his accessories, he says, because in the 1980%u2019s they like their lives to be neat and organized.Drastically different, but none the less reflecting a spreading trend, is the recent desire to cover ceilings and in some cases even walls with pressed metal sheets. This ceiling style, which found its way into many a Brooklyn home at the turn of the century, is making a comeback now and Michael Beck, owner of C.A. Ohman and Co. Inc. metal ceiling contractors on Court Street, points to a not uncommon human emotion as spurring the style%u2019s proliferous comeback: nostalgia. This trend is not just limited to Brooklyn, he says, but is growing all over the country and even some newly built houses.The exterior of a house says as much about a person as the interior, and in some ways more because it speaks to the greater world. Michael Pangia began his cornice building business five years ago and now says his only problem is keeping up with demand as the world troops to his door to order a cornice for their houses. Although expensive, he says, more and more private homeowners are taking pride and pleasure in their property and they want things to look good from the outside in.From top to bottom, from inside out, the home is still considered the castle and a place to manifest whims and desires whether organizational, nostalgic or egotistical.'Tin Ceilings TapN ostalgia, A n dW ork G reat TooLying on th e couch, starin g a t c ra c k s in the ceiling and m using on life%u2019s qu irk s and follies is an indulgence th at in h ab itan ts of Brooklyn brow nstones have long been denied. R a th e r, th e y %u2019ve had the privilege of gazing a t d etailed p attern s, an a rt deco .vista or a V ictorian collage on th e ir ceiling %u2014 th a t re m a in fro m the late 19th-century when a rc h ite c ts of the period gave p la ste r ceilings a thum bs down and launched into a fad of p re sse d m e ta l ceilings.It is a ra re building in Brooklyn and throughout New Y ork City co n stru cted d u ring th a t e ra th a t does not boast a p ressed m etal ceiling and in m any cases even p ressed m e ta l w alls. T he m otivation back a t the tu rn of th e cen tu ry w as to solve the problem of expensive and poorly m ad e ceilings by covering th em with inexpensive tin sheets p ressed into a num ber of different designs to suit an asso rtm en t of decorating tastes. Today, the pressed tin ceiling is m aking a com eback and hom eow ners are using th e m a te ria l in newly constructed hom es. E ven re sta u ra n ts and offices are sparkling w ith tinshine.TH EY T A P NOSTALGIA %u201c I have a double-breasted tuxedo th a t%u2019s com ing b k into style and in the sa m e way people a re feeling a nostalgia for th e Victorian style, which is the tin ceiling,%u201d says M ichael Beck, ow ner of C.A. O hm an & Co., one of a handful of com panies in Brooklyn th a t still install th e pressed m etal. %u201c I t%u2019s like used furniture. Y ears ago people used to buy used furniture and now they buy antiques. I t%u2019s strictly a nostalgia th in g ,%u201d he adds.C.A. O hm an & Co. has been located on Court S treet in C arroll G ardens since 1910 when the ceilings w ere a raging fad. The business, with its sm all storefront stocked with pressed m etal, survived until th e early sixties when the a rriv al of new ceiling products tem p o rarily squelched the popularitynf thp m p ru l c e il in g s T ip poilinno in o onrrroof m oder ,tic tendencies w ere covered up with susc nded grid system s and decorative ceiling t According to Beck, how ever, in the last y ears the tide has tu rn ed and his com pany has even received phone calls from hom eow ners in the m idw est wishing toPage 14, PHOENIX, Section II, October 9, 1986install a tin ceiling. To accom m odate th e ir needs, he h as p rin ted an instruction booklet for those w ishing to install th e ir own.%u201c In the la st five y e a rs th e re h as been a m assive surge of renovation w ork all over the country th a t is bringing back the popularity of the tin ceiling,%u201d Beck, who inherited the com pany from his father-in-law , explains. %u201c E ven in som e of th e new construction people a re looking to install som e of the deco a rt type of ceiling,%u201d he adds, pointing out th a t this style is becom ing increasingly popular in offices and re sta u ra n ts. %u201c W hat originally sta rte d a s a co rrective m e a su re in the 19th C entury h as now becom e a purely decorative m e a su re ,%u201d he says.The popularity and the nostalgic longings, as with antiques, h as brought anotherH im o n c in n tn th p r n p ta l p p ilin o hn<;inp<;<;%u201c W hat once w as a cheap alte rn a tiv e for a ceding has now becom e one of the m ost expensive type of ceilings to h a v e ,%u201d Beck points out. C om paratively, w hereas a board of sheet rock runs roughly $10, costs for a four ft. by eight ft. piece of sheet m etalhover roughly around $70. %u201c It%u2019s not th e installation th a t ru n s up th e cost, it%u2019s th e m a te ria l,%u201d B eck explains.An a v e ra g e living room he says co sts m ore th a n $1000. P a rt of th e high co st stem s from th e fact th a t the m achines u sed to produce th e p re sse d m etal h av e alm ost wholly gone out of existence. C urrently only one m achine exists in the co u n try %u2014 lo cated in New Je rse y %u2014 and periodic breakdow ns coupled w ith increasing dem and p u t a stre ss on the av ailab le supply.ONLY 18 PA TTER N S REM AIN%u201c At one tim e th e re w ere about five o r six m a n u fa c tu re rs m aking about 50 different p a tte rn s,%u201d B eck explains. %u201c Today w e have one m a n u fa c tu re r in the country a n d only 18 p a tte rn s a re still being produced,%u201d he says. A ppropriately nostalgic how ever, non e w n a t t p m s h a v p h p p n H p vp lo n p H r a t h p rthe designs of y e ste ry e a r continue to be reproduced. %u201c It gives a certain type of feel to the room th a t goes back in tim e ,%u201d he says. %u201c It is not a new or different ty p e of decorative elem ent.A ccording to Beck, the practical elem entsA Hometh a t originally cau sed th e tin ceilings to be so w idely used a re still applicable even by to d a y %u2019s sta n d ard s. T he fa c t th a t th e m a te ria l cannot d ry out, he say s, ad d s y e a r s to its life. %u201c W ith p la ste r an d sheet ro c k , eventually it w ill d ry out. T his is so m eth in g th a t%u2019s b asically m ain te n a n c e free a n d doesn%u2019t peel, c ra c k or fall dow n,%u201d he e x p lain s. %u201c You can see how d u ra b le the m a te ria l is when you see old houses being to m down an d the only thing th a t%u2019s com ing dow n in w hole pieces is th e ceiling,%u201d he sa y s.A lthough Beck h a s receiv ed o rd e rs from o th e r p a rts of the co u n try , h e sa y s th e la rg e s t d em an d for th e ceilings is still in th e N ew Y ork M etropolitan a re a , w ith Long Isla n d increasing a s a m a rk e t. %u201c W ith the b row nstone m o vem ent, people b eg an strip %u00adp in g b ack , taking off th e ceilings th e y put on in th e sixties a n d finding th e m e ta l b e n e a th ,%u201d h e says. Also, a s p a rt of th e upsu rg e , th e com pany h a s been receiving m o re custo m ers re q u estin g p re sse d m e ta l on th e ir w alls. %u201c F o r h allw ay s it%u2019s v e ry p ra c %u00adtic a l. You see a lot of th a t in th e old building an d som e people a re even putting it on h alf of their w all,%u201d he say s.%u201c T his re su rg e in p o p u larity is developing p a ra lle l w ith the d eco ratin g b u sin ess in b row nstones. People w ant th a t old life and th e y w ant to put flav o r into th e ir ceiling,%u201d h e say s. %u201c They don%u2019t ju st w ant to se e a flat, sm o o th ceiling w ith no te x tu re .%u201dC.A. O hm an a n d Co. Inc., is lo cated a t 455 C ourt Street. F o r fu rth e r inform ation on p re sse d m etal ceilings, call, 824-2772.C raftsm an L ikesTo W ork OnThe O uter E dgeA high paying, fa s t paced job on Wall S tre e t com pletely lost its appeal fo r M ichael P a n g ia a fte r he bought a house in P a rk Slope an d busied h im se lf w ith resto rin g it to its fo rm e r 19th C entury g ra n d e u r. The conn ectio n betw een th e two m a y a p p e a r odd, b u t it all sta rte d w hen P an g ia could not find a c o n tra c to r to build him a cornice for his h isto ric hom e.%u201c I could not find anyone to build m e a r e a l honest to God cornice a t any p ric e ,%u201d P a n g ia sa y s with a disbelieving sh ru g . But d e te rm in e d to hav e th e cornice in place, he d ecid ed to build h is own and, a fte r th ree m o n th s of toiling in his w orkshop on w eekends while w orking his job on Wall S tre e t, h e com pleted th e stru c tu re sta rtin g h is doorbell ringing non-stop. A rchitects, n eig h b o rs and p assers-b y , in trig u ed by the a p p e a ra n c e of th e elab o rately w orked, a u th e n tic replica of 19th cen tu ry cornice w e re a fte r the sa m e item th em selv es. And w ith th a t, a new business w as b o m . P angia ab an d o n e d his job on W all S treet and set up sh o p on the parlo r floor of his hom e, building cornices fo r th e ren o v ato rs of g re a te r N ew York who coveted authentic d eco ratio n for th e ir building.T oday, P angia C ornices, Inc. is located in a 20,000 sq. ft. fa cto ry in W illiam sburg, the n ew est im p ro v em en t in the five-year-old b u sin ess. P angia recen tly m oved from his fo rm e r location a t Sm ith St. an d B ergen St. to acco m m odate a need for la rg e r space b e c a u se , a s he points out, %u201cm y biggest p ro b le m now is keeping tra c k w ith the dem a n d .%u201d In his new location, he a n d his 14 em p lo y ees have th e space n e c e ssa ry to build co m ice se v eral h undred feet long, a ch allen g e he recen tly began to tackle.M O R E AM BITIOUS PR O JE C T S %u201c l a m being faced w ith m o re a n d m ore am b itio u s p ro je c ts,%u201d P an g ia sa y s laughing. %u201c In th e beginning people w ere skeptical ab o u t th e work b ecau se th e re w as no one doing it. Now they com e to m e w ith the m o st in tricate p lan s for gargoyles and I say s u r e ,%u201d he adds. B efore, nobody h ad the au d a c ity to ask of a co n tracto r o r dem and of a co n tracto r th a t he build a cornice with th e classical elem en ts,%u201d he says.Since Pangia sta rte d the com pany, he has co n stru cted and nut in nlacp annrovim atplv 200 cornices, m ost of them in M anhattan m d Brooklyn, but one a s far aw ay as New Jersey. Calls have com e in from acro ss the country for people seeking his cornicenak in g skills and although he h as not fanned %u25a0ut geographically, he does not dism iss thei&mr*?.%u2022 ; ~rna~i ......................