An unorganized closet. Empty walls. Negative energy. There’s always something that homeowners and renters want to improve about their spaces. But the first question is often: Who do I call for something so specific?
The answer: niche home professionals who serve both high-end clients and those looking for help to save time. How niche? That depends on what you’re looking for. From closet organizers and feng shui consultants to aquarium installers and artwork advisers, no job is too narrow.
Make a Home Child-Friendly
Securing furniture, adding latches to drawers and installing gates aren’t always top of mind for expectant parents. But child-proofing homes “usually remains a pretty good investment, if you consider the cost of a trip to the E.R.,” said Sebastien Amy, the owner of A+ Childproofing, a business that helps safeguard homes in and around Northern New Jersey, Manhattan and Brooklyn.
With his first child on the way in 2008, Mr. Amy struggled to find and install the right tools and products for baby-proofing his older house. Realizing he wasn’t alone, he sought the help of the International Association For Child Safety and learned the tricks of the trade. After receiving certification, he started his company in 2009.
Child-proofing, he said, is all about preventing accidents like a burn in the kitchen or a fall down the stairs. Mr. Amy starts with a room-by-room assessment and then provides the necessary services along with tips for a safer home. “At the end,” he said, “it should give parents a little bit of peace of mind.”
Rent Your Art
Hanging artwork correctly is a common request on on-demand service platforms like TaskRabbit and Thumbtack. But maybe you want to feel like an art collector. There’s help for that, too. Creative Art Partners, a Los Angeles-based art rental and sales service, leases art to homes across the country from its collection of more than 15,000 pieces.
“The traditional art world is rigid, and we look to be flexible,” said Brian Ludlow, the company’s chief executive and co-founder. “It’s really reaffirming to hear people say, ‘Hey, this is what I needed to start living with great art.’”
With warehouses in Los Angeles, Miami and New York City, Creative Art Partners rents out collections that range from $500 to $5,000 per month, depending on how many pieces. Artists in the company’s rentable collection include the painter Joe Bradley and the multidisciplinary creative Sterling Ruby. Some clients opt to rotate pieces out, but there’s also an option to use 20 percent of the art rent toward purchasing the piece.
“Ultimately, our kind of thinking was not every home, not every lifestyle is the same,” Mr. Ludlow said. “This is an art program that adapts accordingly, and it grows with you.”
Consider a Home ‘Edit’
Has clutter taken over your living room or closet? Organization might come naturally for some, but it’s a hassle for most of us.
Lisa Jacobs and her team of professional organizers at Imagine It Done suggest starting with an “edit” before any big home move. Her team will toss unnecessary items and document how a client’s old home was organized. Each project, she said, depends on the client’s needs, like how a doctor tailors treatments for patients. After the boxes are unpacked, Ms. Jacobs will organize the new space, which is similar to completing a “jigsaw puzzle.”
Ms. Jacobs, who started Imagine It Done in 2004, is based in Manhattan and works mainly in the tristate area. Her moving tip: “It’s all about paying attention to what you have — all of your stuff — and where it’s going to go in your new home, and so that it doesn’t become clutter again.”
Weed Out Bad Vibes
Sometimes what needs fixing can’t be seen, but rather, felt. Creating a home with positive energy is part of Jessie Kim’s work as a feng shui consultant. Feng shui is rooted in how energy flows in a space. Furniture orientation is one aspect of it: A headboard, for example, should not be against the same wall of a bedroom door or a bathroom door. The goal is to create a home with positive energy, where comfortable vibes flow through the space.
Ms. Kim, a third-generation feng shui consultant, founded her firm, Ms. Feng Shui, around 20 years ago. She specializes in black hat feng shui (bagua), which she described as helping “manage the space that you already have without having to completely rebuild or feel like you’re doomed because you can’t move.”
“Your home is where you plug in and you need to recharge, so how do I optimize that space for you?” she said. “Because ideally, you’re the one who’s being recharged by your own space.”
Matt Yan is a real estate reporter for The Times and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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