50 Midland Blvd Maplewood, NJ

// *THE* Kitchen//

So when we first walked into 50 Midland, we were wowed by the cathedral ceiling in the living room and horrified by the kitchen. It was broken up into three awful and unusable chunks. One with a cute Bavarian style booth, one with the primary space of the kitchen, and one giant pantry (with a window in it! Uh, wha?) and on the other side of the entryway (behind a wall and separate from the kitchen) a refrigerator. This isn’t the half of it but you get the idea.

Photo credit: Sean Sime.

Suffice it to say, Sean took everything down to the studs, knocked down walls, ran all new electric to bring the thing into the 21st century, put in a beautiful sustainable wood floor, custom cabinets, the works. We got a few bids from contractors just to demo the space, not one was under $50K so despite being seven months pregnant. I did the demo myself:

Okay, I’m just kidding. Sean did the demo with some help from friends and they quickly learned why the bids were so high. This place is built to outlast Armageddon. Seriously, inside the plaster walls is not your typical chicken wire with concrete slabbed on but sheet metal with some holes gouged in it AND THEN the concrete on top.

It took three months and change to complete. A baby came during the process, we moved in sans our über amazing Bluestar range, but it all worked out.

The door frames have since been stained and some other little tweaks happened but there it is all pretty and done. The dishwasher and refrigerator hide behind custom cabinet faces and everything looks really clean and finished.

Next post: bathroom renovation!!

No open house this weekend, Happy Mother’s Day! But the house is available for showings by appointment. Call Jeff Kinglsey: (917) 767-4519.

// Welcome to an experiment in social media marketing//

As a publicist and a social media person I couldn’t help myself when posed with the opportunity to social media market my own house. Today it went on the market with the broker open house from 11am-1pm. Forty-one brokers showed up and the excitement was palpable. 

So it’s official, we’re on the market. Have a look. Comment, circulate, reply and tell me what crazy project you’ve promoted online or send me your suggestions for promoting this one.

Stay tuned to see photos of the renovations in progress, information about the amazing people who brought the house together and prepared it for market, and more about the lovely town that is Maplewood, NJ. And(!) what it’s like to try and sell your house when you have two small children with full-time in-home childcare, and you and your husband both work from home. Let the insanity ensue! 

Yours,

Sarah

sarahrussopr.tumblr.com

www.sarahrusso.com

To visit the listing: http://www.weichert.com/42284306/

photo credit: Dan Morris

First open house: April 22 from 1pm - 4pm

Buyer inquiries: Jeffrey Kingsley, Weichert Realtors, (917) 767-4519.

By far
the cutest
little house
in Maplewood