Featured Business: NEW VISIONS KITCHEN AND BATH

Jim and Rose Paciullo in their Mahopac showroom. MICHAeL BReNDAN DOUgHeRTY Rose and Jim Paciullo are the husband and wife team behind Mahopac’s New Visions Kitchen and Bath. The Paciullos have been renovating homes in Putnam and Westchester for five years, though their experience begins much earlier.

Jim has been remodeling kitchens and baths since his childhood, moving from block to block in New York. “I worked with my father and my grandfather remodeling in Brooklyn,” he recalled. “I had to do a lot of plaster work.” Jim has been doing renovations and space management ever since. He is retired from the United States Postal Service, where he helped the mail-carriers to better use the spaces they worked in.

Jim explained that his Italian heritage endows him with a unique design perspective. “I love Italian architecture, “ Jim said. “It just beautifies a home so much, and that beauty remains.” His wife Rose added that while she is consulting with a client about their budget and their redesign goals, her husband is “walking around sketching on a pad of paper, even a napkin.”

“Sometimes the client doesn’t even think I’m paying attention, but then I show them a sketch and show them how they could use their space. They’re amazed,” said Jim.

Keeping New Visions as a family business is reassuring to customers, said the Paciullos. “Most of the people in contracting are male,” said Jim, “so having that feminine touch, with my wife is reassuring to people.”

“Many of our customers become our friends,” Rose said. “One dream for the future would be to have a show on HGTV, where we work with other husband and wife couples.”

“Really?” said Jim, skeptically.

Renovation is a scary word for most homeowners, and the Paciullos know it. “We teach our guys to treat the home like their own home, “ Rose explained, adding, “Cleanliness is so important. During a renovation we shop-vac every night before we leave so there is no mess carried around the home.”

For the Paciullos an essential part of business is helping other local business. They are proud members of the Chamber of Commerce. “I like to recommend other local people when we are designing,” Rose said. “We don’t send people to the big home centers,” Jim said. “We want them to have that personal touch, and you can only get that at other small and family-owned businesses,” Jim said, adding, “If we can spread out and help each other, we’ll make it through these tough times,”

In the same spirit, the Paciullos also use American-made products, especially Welborn cabinets. “We always try to lift America up,” stated Jim. “Other people will use inferior products from Japan, but these cabinets last forever.”

The Wellborn cabinets that New Visions installs are made in Ashland, Alabama, at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. “We wouldn’t sell something we didn’t believe in,” Jim said.

The Paciullos say that their ethic of supporting American and local workers helps their business. “Our kitchens, although they are very highquality, often come in at a better price because we come in with that sense of community,” said Jim.

The dragging real-estate economy has had an effect on home improvement businesses. “I know people are apprehensive,” Jim said, “but if you have a job, your economy is good and it’s the right time to maintain and enhance the investment in your home. Every dollar spent renovating a kitchen is worth two when you sell your home.”

Jim said his message for Putnam residents is this: “Go ahead, do that project you’ve been thinking about for so long. We’re ready to help.”