- 2021/2022 Real Estate Market OutlookIn February 2021, Danbrot+Labianca’s newsletter column, The Real Real (Estate), about the real estate market outlook, started like this: “We are two months into 2021, and the market is showing …
- Researching Your Home’s HistoryOriginally published in this blog in December 2017. Ever Wondered Who Died in Your House? AREN’T YOU JUST A BIT CURIOUS? Researching your home’s history can be rewarding. If you’re …
- Trees Do FallI love love love trees. In fact, when people talk about being “an ocean person” or “a mountain person”, my answer is “I am a tree person.” So I, like …
- Home Buying in 2021Well hello Essex County NJ homebuyers! We are two months into 2021, welcome to this year’s unusual melange of housing market variables. We thought we’d compile some defining factors at …
- Modernizing the Present by Honoring the PastOriginally published in the 2020 Matters Magazine, Home & Hearth Edition. Insights from local professionals on doing right by our homes. Every home has a story. And around South Orange …
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- LOOKING AHEAD TO 20212020. Where to begin? Since Carla Labianca and I are a Real Estate Partnership, let’s begin with one aspect of the beast that was 2020 – the local real estate …
- Tips on Using the Maplewood Memorial Library Digital ArchiveIf you are interested in the history of your SOMa NJ home and community, Maplewood Memorial Library has many ways in which to aid historical research. Through generous grants made …
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- Home Renovation COVID-19 Edition: How the Pandemic Shifted My PrioritiesWaaaay back in March (can you remember what life was like back then?) I was scheduled to kick off a relatively small scale kitchen renovation over here on Oakview Avenue …
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- Real Estate Competition | Making an OfferMaking an offer for real estate in Maplewood, South Orange, Montclair, or other Essex County commuter towns of New Jersey was not for the faint of heart pre-Covid-19, and even …
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- Considering Our Homes from QuarantineMere months ago it was rare for the majority of us to spend 24 hours a day hunkered down in our homes. Prior to COVID-19, our houses acted more like …
- Northern NJ Real Estate in the Time of Covid-19“Don’t blink or you’ll miss it!” is an expression we use to describe the way the real estate market in the NYC bedroom communities of NJ Essex county commuter areas, …
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- Curate, Don’t DecorateGreetings! I’m Sarah Gee, of Sarah Gee Interiors, an interior design studio based right here in SOMA. I am so happy to be the newest Inhabit Your Home contributor – …
- In Contemplation of StagingConsidering Local perspectives Scrolling through listings or visiting open houses in different parts of the United States, one might see homes looking very much the way they look on an …
- Torrential Rainstorm, Flooded Basement & Burned Out Sump PumpThe last week of March brought torrential rain to Maplewood, NJ, so much rain in fact, that at one point on Saturday, our one sump pump burned out. Earlier in …
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- A Few Minutes in Maplewood, NJA Look at Maplewood, NJ at the Turn of the Last Century Look what we found in the Maplewood Memorial Library? It’s a Real Estate marketing pamphlet written specifically for Maplewood, …
- How We Found No. 139 Maplewood AvenueWelcome to No. 139 Maplewood Avenue, our home. Let me tell you a story… “That’s the most perfect house around here.” I said to our Realtor as she drove Gary …
- Great Interior Design is An Expression of Who He Was, Even Harvey Keitel Thought SoGreat interior design is anything but static – it morphs with the ever-changing needs of the inhabitant/s. It is the exploration of space and the quest to fuse comfort, utility, and …
- Winter Warmth, Chicken Pot PiesOne of Carla’s favorite winter-time meals is a warm, creamy chicken pot pie. The recipe is pretty quick and easy, and is definitely one the kids can help with, especially …
- Casa Vicens, My Visit to Antoni Gaudí’s First Residential HomeIt’s not hard to find one word that describes a visit to Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Vicens. Color. Overwhelming, brillant, color. Walking through the garden, past exterior walls of teal and yellow-colored tiles …
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- The History of My Home | The Thompson’s 1907 – 1966The history of my home tells a unique story about a family in love with Maplewood, NJ. Do you ever wonder who lived in your home before you? Do you …
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- Urbanites in the Suburbs Find Your Green ThumbHaving lived my life in cities with no outdoor space to speak of, an ample backyard in the suburbs presented an unfamiliar yet intriguing canvas.
- Nureed Saeed, Interior Design Outside the LinesA look inside the beautiful, fully reimagined mid-century modern home of Nureed Saeed, one of the top interior designers in New Jersey.
- Designing for Small Spaces | A Handful of DIY IdeasContrary to popular belief, designing for small spaces doesn’t mean you can’t go big, bold, and deep. So pick a wall and consider one of the following ideas.
- Everyday Objects with Jess DavisA glimpse of how interior designer Jess Davis of Nest Studio juxtaposes modern sensibilities with vintage Victorian charm.
- How to Hire Contractor Part Two: How to Plan for a Home RenovationDave Kasdan talks about the key factors that all contractors need to understand to manage and successfully complete a project.
- How to Hire a Contractor Part One: Ready for Your Kitchen Remodel?Nicole Sinclair, a project-manager-turned-home-renovator, discusses the highs and lows of home renovation.
- Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies with Sea SaltThis recipe is a variation on my standard Chocolate Chip Cookie. Instead of toffee pieces, I’ve done pretzel pieces and even chopped maraschino cherries. (I like to save those for …
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- An Outdated Colonial Goes Glam in a Stunning Home MakeoverAlexis Goldstein is an artist by nature. A successful Director of Sales at a major digital property by day, her art hangs from the walls of her Maplewood NJ home …
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- A Menagerie of Curiosities Finds a Home in New JerseyA Collection of Natural Curiosities, Textiles, and Victorian-esque Oddities That Wes Anderson Would Adore. Margot Tenenbaum greeted me at the door, as she so often does when I visit, and …
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- Spicy Asian Noodle Soup For What Ails YouSpicy Asian Noodle Soup, A Family Favorite The fall cold season settled heavily upon the Labianca/McDaniel household. With three sick kids sporting four infected ears among them and two sniffly …
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- Understanding Steam Heat. Simple.Many homes in South Orange and Maplewood, NJ use steam heat, an outdated but very comfortable heat source is simple to understand, but requires routine attention for proper operation. Steam …
- If You Relish Pickles, You Will Love Our Pickled VegetablesEvery year we host at least 2 big outside parties – the pig roast on the 4th of July and Oktoberfest in the fall. One of the first things I …
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- We Nearly Sold No. 139A perk of practicing real estate is the Broker Open. This is when agents debut new listings or listings with a recent price modification or renovation of some sort or …
- Baskets of Hot Peppers in the Garden? Make Hot Sauce!Our garden this year has been a juggernaut – kale that grows faster than we can eat it, tomatoes everywhere, carrots with greens shooting up over our kids’ heads, and …
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- 10 Tips for a Killer Outdoor PartyIf you’ follow this blog, you know that Gary and I like to throw parties – like the 4th of July Pig Roast. In the beginning of October, we host …
- How to Hunt for Flea Market FindsI have two gallery walls in the parlor of 139 Maplewood Avenue. I often get asked where I found the art that created them. They are nothing fancy, in most cases, …
- Four Chairs and a Pot of Annie Sloan PaintWhen we bought our first home, my parents gave us their kitchen table, a dark-wood, colonial type.I grew up with that table, just like my kids are – hours of …
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- A Ballet Barre as Installation Art, A Young Ballerino Finds His Special PlaceNatural Elements Meets Industrial Design If you’re Linda Beck of South Orange NJ, you’re at home in natural environs where the simplest of scavenger hunts can turn up the most …
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- Italian Comfort Food, My Mother’s Baked ZitiBaked ziti is Italian comfort food. Several pounds of rich, delicious cheese, pasta, and my marinara sauce are the key components added to this dish. To me, there’s nothing so creamy …
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- Successful Landscape Design is Child’s PlayWhen Carla approached me to write about landscape design, I was unsure of an approach. I could discuss Aesthetics, Function, Feel, Grading and Drainage, Privacy, Lighting, Water, Trees/shrubs/Perennials, Native Plants, …
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- A Bird Nest in a Tree? Yes! In the Attic? Not So MuchFor two years, we’ve lived in our Victorian with her sharp angles, steeply pitched roof, and openings so small that only a tiny house sparrow could fly in. In each of those …
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- My Marinara SauceIt’s said that each Italian knows how to make good marinara sauce. It’s learned by watching the elders, but never participating in the act. They cook for YOU, they don’t …
- An Outdoor Bar Cart for Your Fine Lawn Party and Boozy NeedsGOAL: Makeover a rusty mid-century modern three-tiered shelving unit on two wheels into an elegant outdoor bar cart for my stone patio. On our last moving run from our South …
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- A Modern Farmhouse with Global Flair in South Orange, NJFresh & contemporary meets rustic & classic with a twist in this beautiful farmhouse. For this newly added family room, the homeowners had a vision for coastal style for their …
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- Magnetic Chalkboard WallGOAL: Create a large chalkboard wall to display the loads of artwork created by my three kids – all at the same time. Admittedly, this is gonna be a difficult …
- Congrats. You’re in Your New Home. Now What?Before you begin decorating your new home… Most of us come from apartments and don’t have enough furniture to fill our new space. We also have partners, kids, pets, …
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- How to Paint a Bistro Set in Bright Yellow and BlueGOAL: To paint a bistro set that is peeling and chipping and turn it into a fun and colorful addition to my kid’s outdoor play area. My kids love playing …
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- Building a Garage in Maplewood NJBuying a home doesn’t usually involve building a garage. And building a garage is no small feat. It takes planning and hiring the right people to see that it gets …
- Renting vs. Buying | What to Do?“Should I continue to rent? Or should I buy?” is the single most common question I am asked, except for maybe “What is my home worth?” I’m often asked …
- It’s Not Just a Finished Basement, It’s a Lower LevelDon’t just create a finished basement, create a lower level that discovers new, livable space and increases the value of your home at the same time. “What do you mean …
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- Narrow Spaces, Choosing the Right CouchRecently, I was asked by a friend to write about designing for narrow spaces. She specifically asked about couches. If you live in SOMa, you know that our living rooms …
- Architectural Design | Who Designed No. 139 Maplewood Avenue?Something bugged me about my Victorian. It took a few weeks of actually living in No. 139 Maplewood Avenue for it to dawn on me. There were obvious clues that …
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- Designing for My Narrow Victorian ParlorIf you’ve read some of my other posts, you may already know the backstory to our purchase of No. 139 Maplewood Ave. When we finally moved all our living room …
- Roasting a Pig in a Box, A 4th of July Pig Roast to RememberHow the hell does one go about roasting a pig in a box? If you’re like Carla and me, you love good food, good friends and you LOVE a good …
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