Perched on the side of the Roxiticus Valley, with splendid views, rises this massive 8,100 sq. ft giant man-cave!  A 5 BR home designed by 4 men, who joined together to build the kind of house each of them dreamed of.

It is majestic.  It is huge.  It is kinda dark and definitely splendid.

Juliet Johnson Staging was brought in to "fem up" a few rooms and demonstrate how a family might love to live there.  My crew and I loved the home.  In fact, of all the homes I've done in the last 7 years, this is my favorite... and oddly the one I think the most livable... of the giants, at any rate.  One of my crew took the sales sheet home to a colleague who'd just won the Lottery!

Many more blogs on this to come - here's the preliminary slide show.

For more information, please visit ~ http://www.tourfactory.com/557040 ~ or call Ann Gegelys of Weichert Realtors' - Mendham at 908-812-4392.

A super house in Glen Ridge, NJ that had rich, specific colors freshly painted on beautifully restored walls.  Our challenge?  Make sense of it for as many potential buyers as possible.

You know the antique furniture guy who hasn't had much business lately?  Not surprisingly, it's a tough economy and maybe folks can live without the pair of gorgeous, French bergere chairs (THAT STILL NEED TO BE RE-UPHOLSTERED) for now! 

So, there's this builder and he needs furniture 'cos his thing's not selling at that price and he can't afford to fire-sale it (yet) and ... oh why not try it?  What have we got to lose?

  South Orange, NJ

We-ll.  What deal did you make with the guy?  Is he set to have a furniture sale every other weekend while you're trying to show the place?  Never know who might be interested in the home when all they thought they wanted was a wobbly Victorian settle!

You might want to set aside only certain hours, and make sure the pricing tags are off when regular showings are taking place...or you'll find people are looking at the crazy furniture not the pleasingly renovated house.  Or you could spend a few hours of time on your stager ($250 - 350) and have them modify the space a bit:-

Over the course of 5 rooms, it makes some sense, no?  But it still looks mismatched, and inexplicably odd.  Plus, now the question might be what do these people have about creepy, tufted armchairs?

Here's another example.  Here, the antique dealer is a relative of the listing agent:-

  Rural Morris County

   What room is this? 

   It's an office/library.  The first room you see when you walk into the home.

This is the formal "away room" (if you read anything by Susan Zuzanka like the Not So Big House)  in an enormous new construction in rural Morris county.  According to the attractively typed price list, the sofa is actually an 1820s settee with vintage barkcloth fabric, offered at $4,200 and those chairs are a "Pair of 1930s Green Painted Arms Chairs" for $1,100.  Wanna close up of that Chess Set...sure?  If you get too close to it, it's yours at an investment of only $15,000:-

   It's a "Tramp Art Table and Chess Set - executed by Paul M. Cunningham, a member of the Hermitage Artists.  Chess pieces are all storage boxes that open!"

Imagine.

Magnificent it is.  In a certain horrific, terrible, kind of way.  It would most likely looks sensational in the right spot and be great fun.  And I'm sure the artist is a highly respeted, hugely talented craftsman.  But context, people!  Where it is now it junking up a $3 million library and scaring little children.

<sigh>

The first time we tried this - it was in a massive home in Short Hills.  We knew we had to accessorize to help, and we teamed up with an art dealer to provide spectacular wall decor of the highest quality. 

  Short Hills, NJ

Here we hit another problem.  Now people were looking at the paintings, not the rooms or the house.  And we still had this bloody awful, mismatched furniture.

In conconclusion, while I always try to make things work, and do honestly believe there are lots of ways to successfully present a home for sale, this free stuff is actually more trouble than it's worth.  It looks bad, and makes the home confusing.  Rarely does it get that job done, which let's recap, is to get 2 seperate folks to love the house so that it sells well, fast and with minimal stress on all sides.  (Why not 1?  Ask any realtor worth their salt and they'll tell you all about looking for a loony needle in a haystack!)

So nut up, folks and spend for proper staging.  It works every time!

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Most staging projects wind up with dramatic differences.  It's why we all take, and love to look at other people's, Before and After pictures.  Here's a project this week - one of 5 homes that had to suddenly be rushed to market this week and next. (mainly for job relos) - where the day I had to photograph was dark... so the staged photos don't look as dramatic as the transformation really was.

A simple house, with a lovely porch, huge deck and nice backyard, this 5 BR is split into 3 floors as a 3 and 2.  Narrow, but with lovely high ceilings and period detail. One of those awkward diagonal fireplaces though in the Living Room. How I do hate those!

The real fun for me with these pix is that the homeowners understandably had nowhere else to put a large piece of furniture and so they blocked the window.  This had the added benefit of then not needing curtains.  But when you go to sell, your windows are one of each room's assets; they need to be shown.

Same with the sink in the Master Bedroom. It may not be terribly useful as is, but it's still an asset. And the more I think about it, the more I realize I should have used it to create a morning kitchen!!

When it's a teardown, does it matter what the home looks like?

My response?

1.  Who says it's a "tear down"?  Yes, great lot .82 acres in top suburb, with beautiful trees. (for $1,075,000) but a tear down?

2.  Is the estate sale imminent?  Is the house for sale or the candle sticks?

That turquoise and olive green is a current Crate and Barrel combo.  They started it last year and have been running with it.  I, even, used it last year, to garner multiple offers!

Mind you, they said this was a tear down, too.  And the family living there are very happy, thank you!

What d'you all think?

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[Disclaimer - "House for Sell" is being used as an experiment. According to keyword research, that phrase get 3x the traffic that House for Sale does. No idea why, but thought I'd try it for this challenge.]

* ~ *

This post is the 6th in my 7 part series illustrating Home Staging in NJ with Before and After Staging photos. Today's topic is ~

In New Jersey, as perhaps most parts of the country, the Master Bedroom is ideally a sanctuary.  No kids stuff, no photos of the children, just soothing, luxurious adult stuff.  And when I say "adult" I do not mean the "swing" in the corner for seriously adult behavior.  Everyone knows that this is where one hopes intimate life will take place, but no-one wants to think of other peole actually living it!

So the key elements in Master Bedrooms, here in NJ, at least, are simple and straightforward:-

• Soft, diffused light,

• Soothing, muted colors
  

• Rich, luxurious textures,
  

• Restful

Some examples of successfully staged Master Bedrooms in New Jersey:-

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using What They've Got Already

BEFORE	AFTER
Rumpled bedding just doesn't cut it anymore.	crsip bedding, lots of pillows, open the curtains...
Sometimes all it takes is to make the bed!	And add some bedside lights, a few sparkly accent pillows and... opening the curtains!

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
This house was owned by a Lehman Brothers guy.  Because he was one of the first people caught up in the Wall Street crisis of 2008-2009, he got a job right away.  The guys that became available at year end were not so lucky.  A relocation to California was a nice silver lining, at least.	Rental furniture gives a fresh, finished look.  Once again, we see a grave preference for a certain Master Bedroom set huh? It's called the Pebble Beach, and I do confess, I love it!  it's so reliable.  Always looks excellent, for all price ranges.
Is it the stairs for the ailing, ancient cat that makes this room so depressing, or is it the lighting, the general untidyness, the tired, haphazard flinging of any and everything in all 4 corners?	We kept the bedskirt. That poor cat ...survived the move, last I heard.

Vacant House ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
Lovely big space...is it too big?  Where d'you put stuff?    This is the perfect example of a large room that works well with staging.  If obviously HUGE pieces of furniture are added and still look lost, the place must be spacious indeed, right?	We were going to hang a picture over the bed.  The problem was the mattress wasn't big enough to fit in the frame properly; it was sitting on a paint can.  We didn't want to move the bed, once we'd got it settled, and we certainly weren't about to stand on it!! So this is how we left it.  Fine enough!  The Saks Fifth Avenue Shopping bags were a fun lifestyle tell, and would have to carry the day.  (The thing sold fine.)

Other posts in this series:-

1. Living Rooms
2. Foyers
3. Dining Rooms
4. Kitchens
5. Family Rooms

* * *

~ Juliet Johnson ~ has been home staging NJ in the luxury real estate niche (with the predominant home value of $1 - 3 million) for the last 7 years. Juliet Johnson Staging is a founding contributor to the commercial blog - Property Marketing.

[Disclaimer - "House for Sell" is being used as an experiment. According to keyword research, that phrase get 3x the traffic that House for Sale does. No idea why, but thought I'd try it for this challenge.]

* ~ *

This post is the 5th in my 7 part series illustrating Home Staging in NJ with Before and After Staging photos. Today's topic is ~

In New Jersey's older homes (that have yet to be renovated) family rooms tend to very small.  In England we would call them snugs; here, they are often referred to as dens.  Also, they tend to be a long way away from the kitchen. As if the last thing the occupant wants to do is be anywhere near the cook, cooking!  Obviously, this doesn't work particularly well for modern life, where the "cook" likes (or maybe needs) to have the kids close by. Hence reason #347 why today's buyer's prefer new construction.  Or indeed anything built in the 80s forward so that the large family room is conveniently located adjacent to the kitchen.

So then what role in family life do family rooms have to be able to accommodate:-

• TV
  

• Games

• A place to "chill" - do they still say that, when they mean hanging out, supposedly talking to one another but actually texting other people on their phones and simply relaying those conversations?

• Homework?  Yeah, maybe not!

• A place to read (though more and more I find I am using our formal Living Room for this.  It's the only way the room gets used during the week.  Even Jane won't sit in there for tea these days; we're usually on the computer.... or the phone texting our kids and relaying... :-)

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using What They've Got Already

BEFORE	AFTER
The thing about Family Rooms, if they're used, is that they look used.  This one is a classic example.   Yet, buyers don't want to see reality, (despite all of the reality tv shows) they actually want to believe that neat, clean, happy living is possible!	Plus, we really didn't need that pink chair in the way.  I loved the architecture of this room, where the diagonal cutout was the perfect size for a sofa.  So smart of the builder.  Now, you really can zone the space - up by the fire for reading Facing the fire but angled at the tv for watching lots of floor space for games, toys, etc.

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
Typical, really. Rubbish furniture because the kids play on it, and they're little, spill things and roll around on everything! Professional photos do make a huge difference, don't they?	Rental furniture gives a fresh, finished look. And I don't care how many buyers say "it was so nice to see some family photos in that house." It means that's what they noticed, not the house! This "hotel ready" look is much sleeker, and eminently more desirable.
You can see that the homeowner reckoned the black shiny wall unit tied in with the fireplace and the grand piano. It did.  But it made the room kinda heavy and disparate.  Odd, somehow.	During the renovation, and before I arrived to stage, this house had all the carpeting removed and marble put down.  How then, for me, to soften up that marble into a soothing, inviting place? Didn't work.  The house was crazy overpriced and I'm not sure it ever sold.  One of the builders bought out his partners and moved in, last I heard. (Notice the random, architectural detail glued onto the ceiling!:-)

Vacant House ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
Massive, beautifully finished and... is it, maybe, too big?	Nah, not once you've got 2 sofas, a luxuriously soft leather ottoman, a snuggling chair and... well, actually behind there was a table and room for more chairs. Plenty of room for the #1 selling car in America - the Tyco Crazy Coupe - to do its, er, crazy thing.

Other posts in this series:-

1. Living Rooms
2. Foyers
3. Dining Rooms
4. Kitchens

* * *

~ Juliet Johnson ~ has been home staging NJ in the luxury real estate niche (with the predominant home value of $1 - 3 million) for the last 7 years. Juliet is taking the month of August to brush up her internet marketing skills by participating in Ed Dale's 30 Day Challenge with a blog on Property Marketing.

[Disclaimer - "House for Sell" is being used as an experiment. According to keyword research, that phrase get 3x the traffic that House for Sale does. No idea why, but thought I'd try it for this challenge.]

* ~ *

This post is the 4th in my 7 part series illustrating Home Staging in NJ with Before and After Staging photos.  Today's topic is ~

Here, in New Jersey, as anywhere, kitchens serve 2 important roles deliberately and 1 important role by happenstance.

Before we get to the photos to NJ Luxury Real Estate's kitchens, let’s recall some key elements:-

• Food Prep, by homeowner and caterer for entertaining.  i.e. lots of counterspace
  

• Food Consumption - a nice, comfortable, inviting place to eat or your kids won't eat your vegetables!

• Hub - since people will congregate in the kitchen of any house, no matter what, you need seating and places for them to "hang" without getting in the way

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using What They've Got Already

BEFORE	AFTER
Bit blah, no?	Stylish yet casual, I thought.  So did buyers: multiple offers.
	Amazing what a coat of paint can do, huh?

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
The table they had they removed.  I never saw it.  One can only imagine!	They just needed a table and 4 chairs, so enter this glass thing, which I use a lot and love.  Elegant, leggy and see-through so a space always looks bigger.

Vacant House ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
Massive, beautifully finished and... I'm not sure this kitchen needed to be staged, frankly.  Yes, we warmed it up.  Yes, we have shown buyers how things can fit into the space.  Sure, we added a glass table in a town where all the high end homes have glass tables in the kitchen - no idea why, just is. And we warmed it up, I suppose.	Oh heavens, I just realized it's the same table!  It's not like I use it that often!! This kitchen is actually from the June Bloom 2009 RESA Show House.  The builder extended the contract and this room was an accumulation of the talents of Bernadette Flaim and Susan Corbo of Attention 2 Detail, Ingrid Heil of Ingridable Design and Juliet Johnson Staging.

Here are some other New Jersey dining rooms that I'm real proud of but don't have "befores" of ~

Then there's my own kitchen, that I sold in January of this year (2009) ~ 28 days on market ~

BEFORE	AFTER

Other posts in this series:-

1. Living Rooms
2. Foyers
3. Dining Rooms
   

* * *

~ Juliet Johnson ~ has been home staging NJ in the luxury real estate niche (with the predominant home value of $1 - 3 million) for the last 7 years. Juliet is taking the month of August to brush up her internet marketing skills by participating in Ed Dale's 30 Day Challenge with a blog on Property Marketing.

Dear Tide:

I am writing to say what an excellent product you have!   I've used it all of my married life, as my Mom always told me it was the best. Now that I am in my fifties I find it even better!

In fact, about a month ago, I spilled some red wine on my new white blouse. My inconsiderate and uncaring husband started to belittle me about how clumsy I was, and generally started becoming a pain in the neck. One thing led to another and somehow I ended up with his blood on my new white blouse! I grabbed my bottle of Tide with bleach alternative and to my surprise and satisfaction, all of the stains came out!

In fact, the stains came out so well the detectives who came by yesterday told me that the DNA tests on my blouse were negative and then my attorney called and said that I was no longer considered a suspect in the disappearance of my husband.

What a relief! Going through menopause is bad enough without being a murder suspect!

I thank you, once again, for having a great product.

Well, gotta go, have to write to the Hefty bag people.

I rarely blog humor, but this was too good to miss.  I apologise if you've all seen it before.

WARNING:  Juliet Johnson Staging endorses liberal use of both TIDE and Hefty bags when marketing luxury NJ Real Estate.

[Disclaimer - "House for Sell" is being used as an experiment.  According to keyword research, that phrase get 3x the traffic that House for Sale does.  No idea why, but thought I'd try it for this challenge.]

* ~ *

This post is the 3rd in my 7 part series illustrating Home Staging in NJ with Before and After Staging photos. (The first post was on Living Rooms.) Today's topic is ~

Here, in New Jersey, most houses have a Dining Room. Some are large and impressive. Others are smaller and utilitarian, asked to play several roles in family life: from hosting committee meetings for volunteer activities, homework, crafts, a place to put the sewing machine, a wrapping station and of course, the most often I see – a plonkery. i.e. storage, or a place you just plonk this down while you figure out what to do with them. (Plonk is British slang for mindlessly dumping an article in the most irratating place for your spouse, partner, parent, etc.!)

My series on luxury NJ Real Estate started with the Living Room, and then we moved on to the Foyer. As we begin to take a look at today’s Dining Rooms, let’s recall some key elements:-

• Formal Entertaining (whether folks do that stuff anymore of not, though in the higher end homes they still do it a lot)

• Festive but not jam-packed with furniture or decorative items.

• Flow – you don’t need to have all 12 chairs to show people that the room is big enough to fit them. However, if you’ve got a HUGE room and you’re selling “Massive”, then by all means use as many chairs as customarily sit there.

• Do not use fresh flowers or live plant material if you don’t plan on going back in and dealing with them! There’s nothing worse than foul-smelling, fur-growing water holding up dead flowers in a beautiful crystal mausoleum! For some reason the homeowner has a blind spot on this. If you ain’t there, it ain’t getting done.

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using Their Own Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
Owned by a travelling executive single mom,this charming Victorian had no eat-in kitchen.  In fact, the Dining Room had the only large horizontal surface on the first floor.  As you can imagine, it was used for everything!  Clearly visible through the sheers were a washing machine and dryer. Kinda messy, kinda junky, the room was blah and awkward, with a diagonal fireplace off to one side as well!	We doubled up the layers of curtains so as to mask the laundry, and then kept the color palette as simple and clean as possible.  Setting the tone, was an exquisite charcoal drawing from a Kenyan Safari of a leopard bending down for a cool, soothing drink.  That then gave us the opportunity to marry all the other "eclectic" (read: disparate) elements together - from drooping crystal chandeliers to wooden farmhouse table, from pampas grass in an earthernware pot to a crisp white-on-white hand embroidered Edwardian table cloth with African eggs sitting in a wooden olive tray on it. Jute rug, wicker chairs... I know! Still, it worked!  The thing flew off the market for well over asking.  It really was a one-of-a-kind for our area of NJ.

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
This mural went all around the room.  Columns, flowing fountains, long-tailed birds... the thing didn't quit.  How to show a young family relocating from the City with their "transitional" dining room that they could comfortably co-exist with this thing. Yeah, no question of painting over it!	So what to do?  We installed The largest "transitional" dining room set the budget could take Mercury glass table decorations to keep it light and airy. A wide silver-framed mirror No rug.  Enough going here.  Really. Did we help?  Not sure.  We did well in the rest of the house.   The home sold in just over 3 months after being on the market for over a year before I got in to give it a shot.

Vacant House ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
How to contend with doorways on 3 sides and windows on the 4th?  this space is essentially a pass-through. All that panelling? How to handle something so period-specific?	By keeping the accessories few, simple and in keeping with the period, we were able to show how the space would work with pretty much anything. Buers could see that the room is large enough for 8 though we've only shown 6 chairs, and there is still ample room for a buffet/sideboard.  (Very sad to have sold those urns ~ I did love them.  They reminded me of Kate's.... ) Result ~ the home sold handsomely in 53 days for over $2 million.

Here are some other New Jersey dining rooms that I'm real proud of but don't have "befores" of ~

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~ Juliet Johnson ~ has been home staging NJ in the luxury real estate niche (with the predominant home value of $1 - 3 million) for the last 7 years. Juliet is taking the month of August to brush up her internet marketing skills by participating in Ed Dale's 30 Day Challenge with a blog on Property Marketing.