Diamonds, for some, are a girl’s best friend. Other luxe lovers dig designer finery.
But Kristi Hemric, a married Upper East Side mom of four, adores décor — and you sure can’t miss it.
With the façade of her five-story townhouse on 78th Street as her canvas, she artfully beautifies the building with faux flowers, spending hours (and a small fortune) on the lavish landscapes she dreams up in her head.
To toast the dawn of spring, the millennial covered the exterior of her crib, located between Second and Third avenues, in light pink tulips, peonies and bows, bidding the grayness of winter a cheery farewell. For Easter, crochet carrots, bunny rabbit busts and rosy roses took center stage on Hemric’s ever-changing, never boring stoop sensations.
Ahead of Mother’s Day, she hit the motherlode, adorning her doorpost in toy petals, much to the delight of tickled onlookers. Over 5 million digital fans gave the pretty playthings a virtual thumbs-up, too.
Her efflorescent embellishments are public displays of affection for a community she loves. And it comes with heaps of precious perks.
“We love looking out of our windows and seeing people on the stoop,” Hemric, a 36-year-old lifestyle influencer, told The Post. “It’s like our own reality TV show.”
The look-at-me layouts serve as her welcome mat to NYC, inviting Gothamites to stop and stare at her stairs.
“I cover my stoop in flowers to make my house fun and pretty,” she said. “We’ve had couples get engaged here, people take their graduation pictures here, puppies come for photos.”
It’s a neighborly vibe that comes in stark contrast to the homeowners of Carrie Bradshaw’s famous “Sex and the City” West Village stoop, who — aggravated by the endless seas of series fans flocking to their 66 Perry St. brownstone for photos — posted a “No Trespassing, Private Property” warning near their front door.
Hemric’s family, however, doesn’t share that sentiment.
They do have a little sign on their abode, but it reads, “Feel free to snap pics! Please tag us,” with her social media handles inscribed.
The visionary’s vibrant installations can take anywhere from five hours to two weeks to arrange.
Most recently, rescues from Muddy Paws, a downtown doggy shelter, posed for “adopt-me” pics on Hemric’s steps ahead of Memorial Day Weekend. For the frames, she and her husband, David, curated a canine-friendly motif, complete with synthetic sunflowers and bouncy tennis balls.
But transforming their staircase into a blossomy showcase in honor of a new season or major holiday is no cheap thrill.
Hemric has shelled out the green on silk stems, animal-shaped statues, pots and planters from home-good shops, such as Hobby Lobby and Pottery Barn, over the past two years. The creative chose not to disclose exactly how much money she’s spent on all the splendor.
She and David also purchased several huge, natural Wisteria branches and drilled them into their home. The living limbs support the rotation of fake florals that adorn their doorpost. The couple stores the flowers in their basement — which has become a color-coded garden of artificial blooms — to clean and reuse in future stoop setups.
Owing to the virality of their masterworks, the pair even scored sponsored brand deals with haute homeware label, MacKenzie-Childs and LEGO’s Botanical Collection — building-block bouquets their young sons happily helped mommy and daddy assemble. For those visuals, the family project earned upwards of 202,000 social media likes.
Online spectators guestimate that their outdoor displays cost around $2,500 per look.
But “it’s not about the money,” Hemric insisted.
“It brings joy to the neighborhood, and we love it,” she told The Post, adding that they haven’t experienced any thefts or damage to their posh property.
Hemric and David, with kids ranging in age from 2 to 5, began investing in the curb appeal of their dwelling in July 2023.
That’s when neighbors turned their street into a construction-site eyesore.
One morning, we woke up to construction workers drilling into our house, putting up scaffolding,” she recalled, claiming neighbors originally erected the unsightly structure for brickwork repairs.
Thankfully, a portion of the hardware has been removed from her home. However, she says it’s far from a home run.
“This ugly scaffolding covered our entire entryway,” Hemric groaned. “It was only supposed to be up for a month — it’s been two years.”
But when life gives her lemons, she simply uses them in her stoop installations.
The bright, yellow fruit starred in her summer 2024 exhibition, which inspired her boys to pitch a $2 lemonade stand on the steps. The kiddos sold the tart refreshments to impressed passersby.
To celebrate this year’s hot season, Hemric is bringing Italy’s Amalfi Coast to the Big Apple.
“We’ll have huge orange trees and lemon trees and these beautiful, royal-blue checkered pots from Mackenzie-Childs,” she said, teasing her forthcoming theme.
“It won’t be flower-heavy,” she said, “but it will be really, really pretty.”
For her, it’s all about sprucing up her street — and the family will “keep doing this as long as it’s fun for us,” she declared.
“Selfishly, we get so much joy out of doing it,” Hemric laughed. “So, the fact that other people get joy out of it, too, is just icing on the cake.
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