LVP or something else in my million dollar home?
Janae Ballingham
3 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (45)
Related Discussions
Million Dollar Decorators
Comments (28)Found this too: Just read that Mary McD thinks Bravo "punked" her with that Taco Bell house. She says she had no idea. It was real for her! Interesting how we viewers suspected that something was *fishy*, but she and her assistant didn't? (Especially after that tacky fruit basket!) The design bloggers all over the web are having a *field day* with this! ETA: Dru Mouser (supposed owner of the taco bell house) is on Mary McDonald's friends list on Facebook - no, not the company page, but Mary McD's personal one. So, this was a set-up and the Mary, her assistant and anyone else involved were ALL in on it! They were ALL acting and Mary probably suggested her buddy, Dru, to play the part of the housewife with bad taste. That house is being offered for rent now, it's under 4000 sq ft. (NOT 8500 sq ft)! Another blogger posted the actual address somewhere, the realtor's name and the name of the architect who designed it in 1992!...See More$9 million dollar decorating
Comments (51)Nouveau riche in decorating is not an indictment of someone who has recently come into money, either by hard work or by luck (i.e. Lotto or unexpected inheritance). Nouveau riche to me is about someone who has an unlimited budget and is chomping at the bit for everyone to know how much they have by showing it off in an ostentatious way and refers to the decor more than to the owner of the property. One can decorate tastefully and one can over-do it by a mile. One can be rich and decorate elegantly, beautifully and with style. In fact, in theory, it should be easier for them to achieve a lovely outcome because they don't have budget constraints that the average Joe has and often, they have interior decorators who can keep them from glaring errors of judgment. It is not about the money spent, but the aesthetic. I hold expensive properties to a higher standard because if so much money was spent, it should come out wonderfully. If one is on a huge budget, that eliminates many excuses. I see houses, from all different categories of inexpensive to over the top expensive, every day. Some of the houses of people with a lot of money are done nicely and I am in awe. They are delightful to see. I find that there are also some that are done in poor taste and how much they spent is painful because the outcome is unpleasant. Most expensive houses are somewhere in the middle leaning towards nicely done. BTW - we have a section of our area where the houses are quite expensive and decorating is known for being over the top, NJ Housewife type of decor. I have seen way too much of it over the years in the many trends it has been incarnated in from bright red sculptured wall to wall carpeting, sometimes even on the walls, paired with velvet wallpaper and lots of gilding, to wild shag carpets and wildly patterned foil paper to the current Olive Garden gone wild with too much stone. Nearby, there are expensive homes that are well known for their charm and restraint and those who choose this area seem less likely to go overboard. Some people who live in each area are wealthy and have been all their lives. Some have come into their money more recently. The decorating is not an infallible clue as to who is who, but it can give you a good guess at times. To give you an example, I live less than a mile from where Mary Jo & Joey B used to live. I saw their house and decorating when it was sold a few years ago. It was not inexpensive, but it sure was "cheap". I aspire to having new money as we don't come from old money (at least not in my parents' generation). I am surely not judging someone on when they acquired their bank accounts, just how they choose to present their homes to the world. We all know someone can dress trashy or classy and in that context, Snookie comes across as nouveau riche no matter how expensive her clothes and some houses are her type of place. This one is not quite on that end of the spectrum, but it is closer than it ideally should be. You can call it "layered", but I see it as unpleasantly overdone. It desperately needs to be edited down, IMO. You can disagree, but that is your opinion. Art and decorating are subjective. This is not a pretty house on the inside to my eyes. I'd gladly take many of their individual pieces, but as a whole, I could leave it easily....See MoreSelling our house: Just bad luck, or something else?
Comments (11)@brickeyee and nc- both good points! Thank you for challenging my thinking. I'm definitely starting to see this more from a business perspective. We've lowered the price once so far- she suggested it, but I thought it was overdue, honestly. But she's the professional, so we feel like we should let her decide when we need to change things up- that's why we hired her, after all. I would like to take charge (that's my nature), but I don't want to mess her strategy up. @kirkhall- we're in one of those really weird areas where you can't really find a good comp. We're in a county that's kind of split in two- on one side is the postage-stamp neighborhoods, with shopping and amenities that all the relocating families flock to.......and on the other is a very rural, farming community with a fantastic school and low-to-no inventory (which is where I live). So basically what I'm saying is, we have no true comps to visit! :) If you're looking at our market competition, there's only one other house for sale in a 2 mile radius around ours, and there's no comparing the two. So when you do a search for houses in our price range, you see mine mixed in with all the others from the other side of the county (we're all in the same "city", postal wise). So, yes, our house is over priced when you look at the MLS without knowing the specifics. But someone (REA) who knows the area will know that our house is in a very different area from the others, and not a fair comparison. It's a tough situation! When we interviewed the realtors, they all brought different "comps" and their recommended listing prices were spread out from $235 to $255. We went with the one in the middle and listed at $245. It's starting to look like maybe they were all over pricing our house.........See MoreOT but does anyone else think "Million Dollar Rooms" is obscene?
Comments (33)Despising the wealthy solely because they are wealthy and for no other reason is one of the last socially acceptable prejudices in the United States. Just because someone is vulgar doesn't mean they made their money by illegal, unethical or exploitative methods, and a drug dealer or human trafficker might have exquisite taste. As far as the Victorians go, the Victorian era was a lousy time to be poor or working class in many ways. Poverty was considered a character flaw: if you were impoverished, it was your fault. The lowest level clerk or servant might get no more "salary" than permission to sleep on the floor someplace. A bootboy might not even officially get meals--he might only be allowed to eat off the dirty dinner plates before they were washed. I am not bothered by the price tag, I am bothered by the attitude about it. But Americans seem to be both fascinated and repelled by "other". On another channel, you get your own media attention by being obnoxious white trash....See MoreBruce in Northern Virginia
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoJanae Ballingham thanked Bruce in Northern Virginiaarcy_gw
3 years agoJeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
3 years agoJanae Ballingham thanked Jeffrey R. Grenz, General ContractorJanae Ballingham
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoJohn Creek
3 years agoacdclosgatos
2 years agoacdclosgatos
2 years agoBetsy Rutkowski
8 months agodan1888
8 months ago
Related Stories
HOME OFFICESGuest Picks: Million Dollar Decorator's Glam Office
In Honor of the Season Finale, an Inexpensive Alternative to One of Their Pricey Designs
Full StoryHOME TECHHome Tech: There's an Easier, Affordable Future for Home Automation
Say goodbye to the headaches and high price of current systems, and hello to home automation products for the masses
Full StoryDECORATING GUIDESAn Expat’s Guide to Making a Home Away From Home
How do you stay balanced when each foot is in a different culture? You take a stand where you hang your hat
Full StoryGREAT HOME PROJECTSHow to Bring Out Your Home’s Character With Trim
New project for a new year: Add moldings and baseboards to enhance architectural style and create visual interest
Full StoryDECORATING GUIDES9 Things for Every Home’s Wish List
A splurge, some sparkle and a great place to read. Elements like these can dramatically elevate your interior design
Full StoryTRADITIONAL HOMESCincinnati Couple Honor Their 1897 Home’s History
Homeowners preserve treasured original features while adding their own fun touches
Full StoryCURB APPEALHow to Get Your Home’s Stucco Exterior Painted
Learn what’s involved in painting a stucco exterior and how much this project might cost
Full StorySELLING YOUR HOUSEThe Latest Info on Renovating Your Home to Sell
Pro advice about where to put your remodeling dollars for success in selling your home
Full StorySELLING YOUR HOUSE5 Savvy Fixes to Help Your Home Sell
Get the maximum return on your spruce-up dollars by putting your money in the areas buyers care most about
Full Story
David Cary