4H ❚ THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 2020 ❚ THE RECORD
HOMESCAPE / ADVERTISING SECTION
Direct from Denmark:
Furniture refurbished for U.S.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1H
Balderskilde travels to
Denmark six times a year to fill
shipping containers holding up
to 300 pieces of furniture he
has carefully sourced through a
network that has grown exponen-
tially since his first trip in 2016.
“It took three
months to fill
up the first
container
because I had
no connec-
tions. It was
just me walking
around neigh-
borhoods,
knocking on
doors, going to
markets, and
meeting peo-
PHOTO BY TAV JINIVIZIAN
ple who were
Found in Denmark, these Midcentury Modern dress-
downsizing,”
ers are made of teak wood and date from the 1950s
he recalls.
and 60s. The known history and provenance of each
While that
piece is shared with buyers.
first search
took longer than expected, subse- they’re not sourcing each piece.
quent trips became faster, more
They order a container and get
fruitful missions. “Now, we have a
whatever is inside, whereas we
network and people call us. Every
curate each collection and even
hunt, sometimes years, for very
specific pieces for repeat customers,”
says Singh. Their boots-on-the-
ground approach has put them
in a unique position to not only
sell direct to consumers, but to
collect and share the backstory
of many of the pieces. “A lot of
our customers are interested in
the provenance. Was it a wedding
gift? Was it handed down through
a family?”
Before the furnishings make
it to Lanoba’s showroom floor or
website (www.lanobadesign.com),
each piece is meticulously refur-
bished. “The two of us do it all
by hand,” explains Balderskilde,
“because every piece needs a lot
of work. It is a seven-to-ten-day,
full refurbishing process that
includes deep cleaning, sanding,
repairing, oiling and staining each
piece. Most of them date back to
the early to mid 1950s and have
been neglected for decades but,
because they were handcrafted,
it’s possible to restore them to
mint condition.”
Highlights in their current
inventory include a mahogany
bookcase made for the Danish
month, we get more and more
calls. As far as I know, I’m the only
Dane in the U.S. who is import-
ing and hand-refurbishing these
pieces in this way,” he says.
“Ours is a true person-to-
person business. There are deal-
ers in the U.S. who are importing
Danish Midcentury Modern but
Each piece of vintage Danish Midcentury furniture imported by
Lanoba is carefully refurbished by Lars Noah Balderskilde, above,
and David Singh before it is put on the showroom floor for resale.
Ministry of the Treasury and sets
of vintage teak dining chairs by
noted Danish furniture maker
Kai Kristiansen. “Not long ago,
we found a vintage Kristiansen
desk that was part of a set of 20
commissioned by a bank. When
the bank began closing branches
in the 1980s, the bankers were
all offered their desks. Only one
accepted and he kept it for over
30 years. That desk is now a con-
versation piece in an office at
Columbia University,” says Singh.
The Lanoba warehouse/show-
room is open by appointment
only, though they occasionally
open to the public on weekend
afternoons. Typically, there are
up to 600 pieces in the ware-
house, about a third of which
are ready to take home or have
delivered. For customers who see
a piece they love that hasn’t been
refurbished yet, the owners are
happy to move it up in the refur-
bishment queue.
And with a new container
arriving every few months, it’s
not unusual to find a crowd of
enthusiastic customers checking
out what’s new. “Even though we
know exactly what’s in every new
container, it’s still like Christmas
when we open one up and see
what’s inside,” Balderskilde smiles.
Home Office: Work space adds value and can have tax benefits
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2H
If you are very tech savvy, you can use
a green screen behind your desk to project
any office environment you want.
FINANCIAL BENEFITS
Home offices can also provide annual
tax benefits and increase the value of your
house when you put it on the market.
“Today, with many businesses giving
their employees the option to work remote-
ly, a home office adds value to a property,”
says Angela Sicoli, president for New
Jersey Realtors. “We find that buyers often
ask if a house has extra space for an office.”
According to Sicoli, because renovat-
ing room to create an office can be costly,
younger home buyers are looking for
homes with areas that can easily be divided
with a wall or partition for a bit of privacy.
that they can designate
as a home office, such as
a basement, finished attic
or an extra bedroom.
“If you are self-
employed, you have all
the benefits of the tax
deductions for home
office expenses,” says
Robert Traphagen, CPA,
CGMA and managing
partner of the Traphagen
& Traphagen CPAs, LLC
in Oradell.
As a self-employed
worker, you can use the
simple method: deducting
PHOTO COURTESY OF THYME AND PLACE DESIGN
$5 per square foot of office
Cherry cabinetry highlights this home office by Thyme and Place. space, up to $1500. Or the
“People are just looking for added space
regular method: deducting the sum of your
direct home office expenses and a
percentage of your indirect expenses.
Direct expenses are for the office itself (e.g.
painting, equipment); indirect expenses are
the office’s share, based on square footage
of expenses for the entire home (e.g. mort-
gage interest, heating, new roof).
However, if you are a salaried employee,
someone who telecommutes, for example,
you are not entitled to a home office de-
duction under home office rules. But there
is a method whereby you can get some tax
benefits. That would involve having your
employer classify your home office expens-
es as “working fringe benefits.”
Your employer would then reimburse
you for some of your home office expens-
es, and that money would not be consid-
ered part of your taxable income (IRS code
section 132 (a) (3).
REPORTERS
REVEALING TRUTH
School buildings bought with
public money but owned privately
Inflated rents, high interest
rates and unexplained costs
Tax dollars used to pay
exorbitant rents
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