Sold: 250 East 54th Street #37B, Virtually Staged Before and After

250 East 54th Street #37B, a renovated two-bedroom on the 37th floor of The Mondrian in Midtown East, was listed on June 3, 2026 at $1,595,000, went into contract on July 7 (34 days later) and closed on August 21 for $1,635,000, 2.5% above the asking price. Brown Harris Stevens had the listing. The apartment was empty when it was photographed, and Bella virtually staged four photos, ordered on May 27, a week before the listing went live.

The sale at a glance

The living room: furniture that keeps the skyline in view

The living room wraps around a corner of floor-to-ceiling windows, and the apartment had just been renovated, with new 7.5-inch light oak floorboards. Empty, the room showed the view and nothing else, so it was hard to judge how much furniture it holds. Our designers placed a low white sofa with yellow and blue pillows, a round black coffee table on an organic-shaped rug and a large ocean print, with a round dining table and cane chairs in the foreground. Everything sits below the window line, so the skyline stays the main subject.

The dining area: using the pass-through

The kitchen opens to the dining area through a pass-through window with counter seating, a feature the listing calls out. We put two counter stools at the pass-through, then a round white pedestal table with four cane chairs, a fiddle-leaf fig and a coastal print, so buyers can see that the space works for breakfast at the counter and a sit-down dinner a few steps away.

The primary bedroom: a bed, a chair and the view

The primary bedroom has a corner of glass looking over Midtown. Our designers staged it with a light wood bed and navy bedding, matching nightstands with lamps, a bold striped rug, an arc floor lamp and a green armchair by the window, so the room reads as a place to sleep and a place to sit.

The second bedroom: staged for a child

To show one clear use for the second bedroom, we staged it as a child's room: a bed with yellow and blue bedding, a small desk, a bookshelf of toys and a row of framed prints. The big window and the city view are left clear.

What we can and cannot say

We do not claim staging sold this apartment. It was freshly renovated, high up, with a skyline view, in a full-service building, and two other two-bedrooms in the building had closed that spring at $1,620,000 and $1,650,000. What the record shows is the timeline: the staged photos were ordered a week before the listing went live, the apartment was in contract 34 days later, and it closed $40,000 above its asking price.

Takeaways for New York condos

• Keep furniture below the window line. In a high-floor apartment, the view is what buyers pay for, so staging should frame it, not block it.
• Show how the features are used. A pass-through counter becomes a selling point when the photo shows stools in front of it.
• Give the second bedroom a job. Staged as a child's room, a guest room or an office, it stops reading as an empty box.

Want your next listing to look like this?

Bella's designers stage empty rooms in New York listings in 24 to 48 hours, from US$37 per photo, and every image is designed by a person, never AI. See more on our virtual staging in New York page, browse the lookbook, check pricing, or order virtual staging now.

For more Manhattan results, see our luxury virtual staging work and the other sold listings we staged.

Sale details come from public listing data and New York City Department of Finance records and were checked against more than one source. Virtually staged photos should be disclosed as such wherever they are published.