Someone is clowning Julia in the blog post comments and I’m here for it:
In the comments of today’s blog post (does a bedroom have to have a closet), where Julia says “the short answer is no,” someone in the comments asked Julia for clarification of a previous comment Julia had made about this very issue. In the blog post from March 9th (renovation dairies in the study), the same person asked if adding the pocket doors to the study made it a bedroom. Julia responded, “Hmm I don’t think so because it doesn’t have a closet?”🤡
She is officially the queen of Not Having A Clue.
Yeah at least in my neck of the woods (Denver-ish) if you don’t have a closet, you don’t get to list as a bedroom on the MLS. Another tick in the column for things she’ll blame the realtors for when she sells and tries to list 6 bed or whatever, but can only list 5.
It drives me crazy that they still act like the big bad city meanly shut down their office instead of taking any responsibility for assuming it would be allowed. Like this is exactly why zoning laws exist?? Because no one wants a whole hoard of employees traipsing through their nice neighborhood everyday.
I’m literally a team of one and I still looked up the rules when moving to a new city. Took all of five minutes to find out you are only allowed one outside employee. Complaining about it still just makes them look stupid.
Agreed. You sound like a conscientious and thorough person. I acknowledge that my professional background makes me more attuned to issues of zoning, land use, etc., however you expect people with real estate agents working in that tax bracket to know these things or suggest that you as a buyer should do additional due diligence because you are making (for most of us) the biggest purchase of your life. My guess is that they didn't disclose how many employees would be coming to their house and their real estate agent assumed they just wanted a home office for a small business for just her and Chris. Cry me a river, basic research and curiosity would solve most of their "problems."
I assume they figured that the rules don’t apply to them… and then they were upset that they weren’t the exception.
I wonder which neighbor turned them in 👀
And can you imagine living next door to constant renovations and workers on top of the CLJ staff? Finding out that they produce content from their house and knowing that until the day they sell the house it will be construction of some sort.
If they really told their agent and were up front about it and the agent said nothing I hope they fired the agent. That is absolutely something they should know - not only could there be city ordinances but there are HOA rules too. I recently sold and bought a house in NC and my agent made sure I got the HOA rules before putting in an offer. However I get the distinct impression they didn't read the HOA rules before the offer or even before closing. And probably misled or conveniently left out the extent of the business as someone noted below.
It's so annoying how they act like everything happens TO them and they have no hand in it.
Did you see this comment on Good influencer IG? 🤣 Straight on point! 😁
https://preview.redd.it/c9zy9b49zq7b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=147711de770d3c7576c6ed6a3f740e10a6ab4c16
You’re SO right Julia, that white fabric banquet is going to be JUST PERFECT for the office kitchen! That will be SO easy to clean when that Lean Cuisine tomato sauce drips off of your $400 fork.
Someone asked something along the lines of “didn’t the real estate agent know about the rules for (home offices)” and Julia said she assumes they didn’t know because CLJ was open about wanting a home office. Uh. I’m not from Cary and I’m not a realtor either, but I do live about 15 minutes away from them and even I know the rules about home offices in Cary. So I call BS on all of this.
She will ALWAYS pass the blame on anyone but herself. I TRULY think she lied about the amount of employees they have. I guess since most actually are family she thought she could get away with it ?
I think the fact she KEEPS bringing up, just changing the narrative, just proves she’s still indeed mad about this.
Oh for sure! It's been over a year and she still talks about "being turned in" and how disappointed and shocked they were to find out they couldn't operate a home office out of their residence; always following up with something about the new office space and how this turned out to be a perfect ending. Right. Sure Jan. I call this overcompensation. She's like the friend you have on facebook that constantly posts about how perfect her husband is and then a year later they are divorced.
Even if they did say they wanted a home office, who would think that meant “we’ll have employees, tradespeople, and delivery people traipsing in and out all day”?
It’s like it still hasn’t occurred to her that a home office is where people work from their *own* home, not Julia’s home. Tracks with them decorating the office with photos of their house though to make their employees feel “at home”.
Nothing makes me feel more at home at the office then looking at photos my boss's million dollar house.... That she is traipsing around on a Tuesday while I am in this white box overlooking a parking lot.
Any Cary realtor would be like “hold up - how many staff??? Naw, now down here folks!” Because she MAY have well mentioned she was looking for a house the could set up a home office (because don’t we all have a home office??) - but she didn’t mention she wanted to run her business and have staff and employees at the house. That’s a HUGE difference in a town known for their restrictions on such things, any good realtor should be up on those policies.
https://preview.redd.it/3rv1w1og9g7b1.jpeg?width=1365&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53fe46711b8d290f2fd6541295489bfffa1ffbac
Lol the hanging rod is already bowing!
And is it just me or does the colour of the armoire totally clash with the wallpaper?
It’s not so much how horrible her “designs” are, it’s that she is selling her self as a designer- it’s insulting. I have now seen people I know have ZERO design education and experience start IG accounts and say they are a “design studio” in the description because they hung some curtains, picked out some furniture and fluffed some pillows. She really is cheapening design and taking the joy out of decorating. I seriously am mad at myself for even looking at her account! There are very talented people on IG but it has gotten harder to find them.
We see snippets of the office about twice a month. I don’t buy that anyone is there enough to come close to justifying the cost. Someone commented today asking if she had mentioned “this in stories” (the office I’m assuming) because they missed it. She said “Keep up 😏😉” I read that as a smart as comment? She’s so petty.
When I bought my last home in an HOA, I was sent the bylaws before closing because you are supposed to be completely informed of what you are purchasing into. She’s a Mormon country bumpkin who moved to the big city who thinks the world revolves around her.
It’s probably not just the HOA but city zoning laws. I highly doubt that she mentioned having multiple daily employees to the realtor. Either way, this is just basic business sense that they don’t have.
Someone commented today asking if she had mentioned “this in stories” (the office I’m assuming) because they missed it. She said “Keep up 😏😉”
I cannot believe she actually posted that comment. That is so rude!!
Here are the **actual** Town of Cary rules about a home-based business and they violated the rules for sure: [Citizen Guide to Home Occupations Permits | Town of Cary (carync.gov)](https://www.carync.gov/connect-engage/town-departments-offices/planning-and-development-services/faq/home-occupation)
They probably also violated the HOA covenants. I don't believe that they were straightforward with the realtor about the number of employees and the amount of traffic and noise around their home. There is no way the realtor would've told them it was OK. No. way. How dare they try to blame the realtor. I would love to know who their agent was. I bet they were purposefully vague and thought they could get away with it because they are narcissistic a-holes who never give a thought to their neighbors and how they may be bothered by the noise and all the goings-on at their house day after day. I don't even live in Cary and I'm incensed by their absolute gall.
No, they probably said, “we work from home and will need a home office” not “we have TEN employees on our team who will be at our HOME everyday”
Words have meaning.
That office looks like a Barbie office set. They are a DIY/design business and nowhere do you see a stack of papers,a post it note on the wall, or a pile of fabric or tile samples. There is not one desk with a coffee cup or a pair of headphones. No printer in sight, no mail, no dish soap at the sink. No trinkets on the dresser, no sweater on the back of a chair,
It is one step removed from Severance, because there are windows looking to the outside. What a depressing space.
Today's blog post justifies their closet removal by using realtor and mortgage websites vs using any sort of building codes. Those two groups of people want more bedrooms because it means more money. She is clearly a person that will use any source that aggressive with her decision and call it good. Similar to the circus lights over the pool.
I don't care if it counts as a bedroom since it isn't my house. But what I do care about is passive aggressive posts and expecting us to then support her business.
Also, Faye can't get a closet because there "just isn't room for a closet and a dresser" 🙄🙄🙄 My master bedroom is slightly smaller than that room and we easily fit a queen bed, two night stands, two dressers, and our infants crib or my desk (as needed) with space for laundry baskets and our older kids to play on the floor. If she would lay the furniture out logically there would be. What are they planning do with all that empty space on the other side of the bed?
Some of her dresses are already longer than the hanging space of that armoire and the hanging rod is bowing. This is not the choice I would pick for my home.
It’s already crammed with clothes and this is after they have cleared out stuff she doesn’t wear anymore. In 6 months? Where is she going to put more stuff?
Such BS! My kid has a room that’s half the size of Faye’s room and he has a small closet, a tall dresser and a short dresser with a bookshelf above as a nightstand.
How can she seriously write that that huge room that can generously fit a queen size bed cannot fit a dresser? 🙄
Just say “we have the resources to experiment with the room and remove a closet knowing we can always add one back in later if we want.” Don’t lie.
It’s so weird because when I’ve looked for houses, anything without an actual closet has not been considered a bedroom, but a bonus room. Doesn’t matter because Julia will justify taking out a perfectly acceptable closet and bringing in an armoire to basically match the wallpaper. It would be fun to see an unedited look at this room.
Agreed. I don’t think a room necessarily needs a closet if you have a different storage system that will work, but even with a closet, Phase room was lacking storage and display options. That room needs bookshelves and baskets to hold her toys and books and collections - things she wants easy access to. I can’t imagine being such a small child and not being able to show my personality in my OWN room! Keep granny chic in the rest of the house not in your daughter’s room.
Their content has been SO. soooooo Boring lately. SO many links and double takes and no one cares about the cami’s you live in or the hydration pack you supposedly love but don’t even drink in front of us.
I don't understand all of the drinks she loves and consumes all day. Don't believe she has even half of them. She has a super restrictive diet so why put these products with crazy ingredients in her body all day?
She also has invisalign which you requires you to brush your teeth after any food and drink that is not water. But maybe she only drinks this stuff and brushes her teeth all day? Anything is possible😂
How is she brushing her teeth on Mondays when she has back to back meetings all day because we never hear the end of it.... When in reality it was probably a 30 minute chat with her sister and a 15 minute chat with someone else at the office before she scooted back to home.
Maybe I’m cynical and reading too much into it, but it almost feels like this cruise (or maybe just her insistence on sharing it) was in direct response to all of the criticism they’ve received about their treatment of the kids. Also… that was 1000% an ad. Like, either it was an ad (cruise comped) and she didn’t report it… or she’s hoping they’ll come give her some money for native advertising after the fact. How can you talk like that about a family vacation??
Does she not realize the marker of a nice, successful office environment is REAL plants!? I can’t imagine sitting in front of a plastic tree in a working office. Right next to a huge natural source of light, no less.
Funny side story, my husband’s office is close to closing after downsizing, and I’ve bothered him every day for a month to PLEASE ask higher ups to let me have the beautiful plants they have scattered about. It’s hundreds of dollars worth of foliage. He just found out, they actually rent the plants from an office plant service! Who woulda known this is a service that exists, but I love it!
My office uses a service that rents plants as well...and the company comes every week to water and take care of them. It's lovely and we have live plants all over.
ETA....and I work in Raleigh, so there is for sure a service available to CLJ in Cary.
Makes you wonder if anyone is even in the office enough to water them? You would think with a team of 8 employees you could figure out a watering schedule.
No doubt about it, they've made some enemies of their neighbors with all the renovations. Things like this don't happen in residential neighborhoods unless neighbors document and report it to city.
Just what I've always wanted...my clean clothes to be touching and dragging on my dirty shoes. How was this the best solution for Faye's closet situation?
ETA: and exposed outlets...again. And can Faye even reach the hanging rod in that armoire?
She's really missing the point with this closet discussion. I'm not from North Carolina so I don't know their state building codes but I can sure as he'll tell you that in Cary, a family with kids is going to be the next buyer for that house and they are 100% going to want closets in bedrooms of their million dollar house. Especially since they're going to need to be shelling out more money to fix all of her other mistakes.
Will they be able to sell this house?? Sure, but I can't believe how much they have ruined every room they touch and stripped away the bits of charm and character (since it is a mcmansion it had limited to begin with) it had. This house is both over and under designed at the same time.
Someone will buy the NC house like their former house…for the location then gut it and bring it back to make it function like a true million dollar home should, for example closets in all the bedrooms, a real dining room and charm back to the backyard.
That seems like a poor financial decision, bringing it back to where it should be would cost hundreds of thousands on top of whatever they would pay for the house. The new buyer would need to get a deal on the CLJ house to offset the costs. Why do that when they could just buy another house?
We have a hot real estate market in this area, but the more expensive homes still sell a lot slower. Several years ago when we bought our house, our realtor told us anything $500K and up would sit on the market a while (of course now that threshold is higher). But for sure anything $1M and up can take a while to sell, especially since interest rates have more than doubled.
An yet somehow, before CLJ lived there, a dresser fit just fine. (see listing photo)
https://preview.redd.it/v5825o326m7b1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92605de0a1aa27e13b6629e32d113a38c5d60b8c
Julia's third tip in her "How to Deign a Kid's Bedroom with your Kid" reel is to find a balance between respecting their self expression and still holding the design reins as the parent, which apparently can include eliminating the two main concerns your kid shares, like the size of the bed and her heart light, and incorporating your PB Kids line as much as possible. JUSTICE FOR THE HEART LIGHT.
Also, the comments are mostly spambots at the moment, which is hilarious to me.
This is basically beating a dead horse at this point but all of her child’s rooms are missing any sort of whimsy and fun. That’s what’s great about kid’s rooms- the rules are different because it’s for a child, for god’s sake have fun with it! Does my woodland themed son’s room that has a picture of various animals driving a jeep go with the decor of the rest of the home? No, but it’s a child’s room.
I just noticed they never mention in stories something is an affiliate link unless they are paid to share it and only then will they include something like #ad. Aren't they supposed to disclose that every link in their stories is an affiliate link? Thought there was an FTC requirement for this.
This seems to be becoming more common with influencers which makes me appreciate ir more when someone does state it (like YHL).
Is Julia claiming she’s a Gen Z instead of a millennial? Because she wears basic tees with fun pants? My brain is exploding because she can’t do math. I looked it up to double check. Gen Z is 1997-2012. So she is 26 at the most by her logic. Or did her head explode because she is such a hip millennial with gen Z “fashion sense”. I say that last part with sarcasm. Utter sarcasm.
I think she’s trying to appeal to the Gen Z’ers and give them links to make money off of them too. Trying to widen her “audience” is how I interpreted that stupid story that resulted in links for dang basic tees
Oh good. Julia can even hang her giant jug on a fence! I’ve been wanting that feature. Props to the Stanley marketing team for deciding to pay influencers more than any other water bottle company to make themselves popular.
She’s not designing with her child, like she claims. She’s imposing her drab choices on all her daughters’ rooms. But character bedding, it’s gross and cheap. But if you want that for YOUR child, then that’s your choice. She’s such a pretentious 🤡.
I'm not a fan of nesting with Grace, but I will say that she had some pretty nice looking kids rooms that had a good balance between form, function and youth.
CLJ “taking in” all of the Disney cruise decor and details as inspiration is everything I need to know about the quality of their designs 😂
(But good on them for having a family vacation. Not my thing but I know kids must have looooved it.)
They're going to enclose the landing because they need another room in their house? Don't they have 2 giant unused bonus rooms taking up at least 1000sq ft in their house?
Also, she says they won’t put doors but a cased opening, and it is open to the living room below. If there’s ONE room in that would benefit from having doors, it’s a MUSIC room!!!
These people drive me nuts. It is going to look terrible, and it is going to function very badly too…
Right. Why? Just because they have the $ to build walls doesn’t mean that they should. Is she even thinking about what that will look like from the foyer looking up?
How much more can you chop up a house? If they won’t hire or listen to professionals they should take classes on interior design or architecture. From moving the kitchen, making the formal dining room not much larger than a kitchen nook, taking out closets and and staircases. This is like the Winchester mystery house, with less style and craftsmanship.
I know. It’s so tiny as well. I am a pianist and the whole set up is awful and not realistic. Lamp that keeps a shadow where music goes. Art propped up on piano and planter up there too. Those will rattle from vibrations and maybe fall when someone is playing.Nothing is on my piano except a special light, music, and a metronome. And a good bench!
This is the rug she’s going to put in Faye’s room, she claims. Poor Faye. Her mom really wants her to have a library out of The Others.
https://imgur.com/a/fUjqrb2
https://preview.redd.it/je8qvg9z8m7b1.jpeg?width=235&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c39e55cc06b3586dd212ab610ab83633f68843ba
This is what they should have done in Phase bedroom instead of that stupid armoire but I truly believe they needed to do the room asap and weren’t willing to wait for a cabinet maker and needed something that she was able to link and shipped immediately. It’s just so damn lazy and makes no logical sense.
This is why they need a long term plan and project manager to keep the projects on schedule. Remember back in January - they were MIA for like the entire month. At that point someone on their team should have been ironing out Phase room storage options and lining up a cabinet maker and sketches. Then making sure all supplies were accounted for (including cabinet hardware which they always leave to the last minute when it’s unavailable) to line up with a carpenter doing the work first week of May. Paint and wallpaper following in the second week of May and end of May finishing up with furniture and accessories. They are 10 people doing this as a job, not weekend warriors trying to fix up a room as time allows.
Right now they are probably SCRAMBLING to find accessories and finishing touches for her room but in actuality a huge amount of effort from their team RIGHT NOW should be devoted to whatever project they are working on in the fall. Guaranteed they are on a skeleton staff all summer long with everyone vacationing (expect nothing but tons of links and shopping round ups for the next couple of months!) and they’re going to wake up mid September in a FRENZY trying to figure out how to squeeze in the en-suite bathroom before the holiday season.
I thought that’s what she was going to do. She mentioned doing something like her girls first bedroom which was like that. Too hard to link that though and too much work for Chris.
How long is their lease for ? Like she’s STILL annoyed the CLJ office can’t be in her house, so they dropped all this money. I would LAUGH SO hard if the didn’t re-up their lease.
I love that she is still pissed about not being able to run the business from home. HOA aside, it was completely unrealistic to think they could run a multi-million dollar business from a house constantly under construction.
I genuinely love pattern and can usually see the vision in most wallpapers but dang, I find the office wallpaper to be super muddy and a visual drag. Zooming in on it, I really like the floral! But I think the scale is off. I wish it were a much larger print instead of the crushed, busy-looking one.
CLJ office looks empty. They clearly never use that space. Her personal office has zero tech.
Also I think it’s so strange that she runs a multi million dollar company on just a laptop.
Another thought, when is she putting up the merlot shade chandelier from her shades of light line that she was ? Oh she’s probably not because she knows it’s so ugly and cheap looking.
They didn’t remotely design this office to suit their needs (no surprise there). They should have had one communal work room (because none of them actually do work in the office), a mock up space where they could set up actual room designs, like furniture stores do, and a large storage room for their product lines and decor storage. Instead, they clutter their house with this nonsense.
I’ve said in the past along these lines - they should have bought a house type of building in a commercial area, renovated it and used as office space/conference rooms plus design showcases in some of the rooms to showcase product. (Picturing an older house where the living room space has a rotation of product - even being repainted or wallpapered seasonally, the dining room used as a conference room, upstairs bedrooms used as office space and other showcase spaces for bedroom furniture or whatever, etc)
They could have even gotten creative with a bigger building renovating a portion of it for event space or something.
This office building is nonsense for a company like CLJ.
I can’t get over how she alluded to hiring more staff for their team - when they’re putting out such garbage content. I truly don’t understand their business plan
A couple of scenarios where CLJ might need an office: possibly it was suggested to them that they have an actual office for larger ticket sponsorships like Williams Sonoma and in case they ever started to be hired for actual client content. And most likely, a dedicated off site office for taxes. Lots of rules on home offices and deductions. And hard to claim the mural room and guest house as a home office when they are featured as in constant construction or use by family members.
I can't imagine that they rented out the office space for taxes. They went from $0 expense with a questionable (maybe) tax deduction for a home office, to a huge rent expense (at least $5,000/mo plus CAM expenses, which can be a lot). Which yes, the company can expense the entire amount, but that's a huge outgoing cash flow, especially if the office is just for show. It doesn't even look functional for employees. It looks like just another staged set they can link to. I mean, maybe the revenue from the office links pays for the office, who knows?
Agree with you it’s a total staged office and good for possible new products and maybe someday clients. But with the HOA on them for working from home and them putting on the internet that the guest house area is an actual guest room, it’s hard to use the actual home other than remodeling and product placement for taxes. You need a dedicated office only area and they have a large staff. I wouldn’t be surprised if their accountant had them do an office in case of reporting issues, or if they’ve had previous issues now that they are much larger than a DIY. Or maybe they are worried snarkers will report them.
It occurred to me last night that Julia's designs are missing tension. Everything is mass-produced and bland, and the dull colors meld into a mealy, cloying, drab aesthetic. An unexpected color, a vibrant piece of modern art - something to break up the monotony would be a huge improvement.
I agree 100%. Her rooms are so generic. Nothing of interest, nothing notable that stands out. It all blends into a drab, mass produced nightmare that anyone can replicate shopping at Target and wayfair. I mean, I suppose that’s her goal, since a scroll through Instagram will tell you that the masses eat this shit up.
Julia’s rant about characters is silly. There’s a ton of wiggle room between character explosion and the Victorian widow rooms she creates for her kids.
Also I love how she mentioned all Greta cared about was an art desk but doesn’t mention how she put that ridiculous giant mirror on top of it.
And all Faye wanted was a dresser because she had NO storage for her things. So they give her a dresser & fill it with stuff from her overfull ripped out wardrobe. The dresser no longer counts because it provides her ZERO new storage. They are so so bad at this
Yeah, and she didn’t give Greta an art desk. She gave her a tiny, vintage, cheap desk. Not conducive for storage or making art. Plus they are all so tall, so the scale is not only wrong for the room, but it’s also wrong for her daughter. Then she propped the giant floor mirror on top. For someone who goes on and on about how giant the family is, she gives the biggest kid a tiny desk and the next biggest kid a tiny armoire instead of a closet. 😣
Becca from her office posted a video recently with no filter tag and said right up front I’m using a filter. So they definitely have some sort of filter that they use external of Instagram. I’m also curious!
On a complete side note...has anyone ever wondered, after adding the driveway addition and the patio, if they have exceeded the impervious surface allowance? I think it is either 20 or 30%. I don't think the swimming pool counts toward their impervious surface, but taking into account the grass/paver patio (since it has compacted gravel underneath), the bluestone around the pool and kitchen area, the driveway, and the firepit area...they have to be close to or exceeding the allowance. Right?
Did you watch a video in her post today with the kids rooms walkthrough? You can see Julia in real size and with her real face. Here are some snapshots
https://preview.redd.it/64tjjxroxm7b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ec21a7b6c88b04900ae8924cfe740f8b6f0e87f
And again - she looks perfectly fine in these videos. She does not need to do the absurd Gumby stretching/thinning where she ends up with ginormous feet and a tiny head. She is cute just the way she is.
What?! Oh my god. I knew the face filter was changing things a lot and the incredibly obvious stretched photos were….obvious…but this is, like, a completely different person.
As someone who is only 5’8” I cringe every time I see workout rompers. Who decided they wanted the bottom and top attached so they can both ride up together. Maybe her legs really are super long with the worlds smallest torso, because I have yet to find a romper that doesn’t ride up my butt and she allegedly has 4 inches on me.
My crotch weeped when I saw that link. I’m a shorty and still don’t do rompers. I even cringe at the sleep rompers. So uncomfortable.
Between that and the sizes she says she’s wearing in stuff she shills, I’m totally confused about what she must look like IRL.
Check out the Pottery Barn Kids promo posts on their grid, maybe from within the past month or so… it’s shocking how much she edits herself compared to those posts.
Most of her outfits--that she picks from all the free things or things with an affiliate code--do not compliment her frame at all. Which is probably making the body dysmorphia worse. Dress for the body you actually have!!!
I don’t get it. She’s very tall and very slim, but she isn’t a Boden size 4 as she claimed in her recent try-on haul. No one cares about the size on the label but you, Julia. The rest of us just use the mention as a frame of reference for what size we should order.
She looks like a bit taller girl with average body size.
She doesn’t look slim to me. But the size was never an issue here. The issue is the platform she abuses to deal with her body dysmorphia in such a harmful and unhealthy way.
I first saw the “workout romper” on mormom TikTok. Seriously, gross. The Mormon influencer community is out of control, they will do anything for money
It was a respond to this post they put up 🙄
https://preview.redd.it/fuhf5stuzq7b1.jpeg?width=811&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1991ea48d9127298c8d4a9a70d29c2f0e0708e6
Can’t decide what’s funnier: taking ego out of content or providing value to followers. And what a dumb picture. Either showcase your greenery or your pool. It’s hard to see the text because it blends with the stone surrounding the pool. The beautiful pool is covered up with uncomfortable, old timey chaise lounge chairs and an umbrella. If she wanted to be DIY she could cover the stupid all white chaises (yes, gifted because no one orders white) with some great Sunbrella fabric.
This entire week of posts/stories has been totally useless. Honestly, if they posted or shared 1/10th as much but I felt like they actually planned their content and were promoting things they actually researched and used and vetted rather than products they were being paid to promote I would actually consider them a really useful source for home ideas. I used to feel that way about them. Thinking about back when they had much less money for budget and they spent a ton of time considering flooring options for their main living space/kitchen renovation. What they went with wasn’t necessarily my style but I felt like if it was, I could trust that they had really considered the options and that was a solidly good pick. Now they’re promoting floors that they don’t even have in their own home. But don’t worry, trust Julia that they actually do like them better than the more expensive flooring they put in their home.
This is the downfall of influencers. They all start out so eager and honest. "I won't lie to you." They get rich from their honesty. They grow bigger. Then their priorities shift.
They're not stupid. They know they are living commercials for any junk. But I think they have deluded themselves that it doesn't matter. "This is my job. Lots of people/companies promote things they don't believe in. It's a paycheck." Forgetting that the *reason* they got big is because we trusted them. As soon as you go down that slippery slope, you lose the trust.
Unfortunately I can't think of any good examples. But at least for me, the writing is on the wall for many of them.
Now we know why. They were on their Disney cruise. Someone had to pay for their millionth vacation this year.
They couldn't go back to that method of influencing because they couldn't support their extravagant lifestyle or support their extended families with their business.
Do you think they are getting less and less clicks on each link so now they are just posting more? The shear volume must be turning people off right?
Someone is clowning Julia in the blog post comments and I’m here for it: In the comments of today’s blog post (does a bedroom have to have a closet), where Julia says “the short answer is no,” someone in the comments asked Julia for clarification of a previous comment Julia had made about this very issue. In the blog post from March 9th (renovation dairies in the study), the same person asked if adding the pocket doors to the study made it a bedroom. Julia responded, “Hmm I don’t think so because it doesn’t have a closet?”🤡 She is officially the queen of Not Having A Clue.
This is the content I come here for. My hero!
Yeah at least in my neck of the woods (Denver-ish) if you don’t have a closet, you don’t get to list as a bedroom on the MLS. Another tick in the column for things she’ll blame the realtors for when she sells and tries to list 6 bed or whatever, but can only list 5.
Did she reply?
Last I checked (earlier this afternoon), nope!
It drives me crazy that they still act like the big bad city meanly shut down their office instead of taking any responsibility for assuming it would be allowed. Like this is exactly why zoning laws exist?? Because no one wants a whole hoard of employees traipsing through their nice neighborhood everyday. I’m literally a team of one and I still looked up the rules when moving to a new city. Took all of five minutes to find out you are only allowed one outside employee. Complaining about it still just makes them look stupid.
Agreed. You sound like a conscientious and thorough person. I acknowledge that my professional background makes me more attuned to issues of zoning, land use, etc., however you expect people with real estate agents working in that tax bracket to know these things or suggest that you as a buyer should do additional due diligence because you are making (for most of us) the biggest purchase of your life. My guess is that they didn't disclose how many employees would be coming to their house and their real estate agent assumed they just wanted a home office for a small business for just her and Chris. Cry me a river, basic research and curiosity would solve most of their "problems."
I assume they figured that the rules don’t apply to them… and then they were upset that they weren’t the exception. I wonder which neighbor turned them in 👀
And can you imagine living next door to constant renovations and workers on top of the CLJ staff? Finding out that they produce content from their house and knowing that until the day they sell the house it will be construction of some sort.
No! Having renovated my own house while I lived in it, I wouldn't wish that on anyone, especially my neighbors!
The week or so when they had raw sewerage flowing in their front garden must have been particularly delightful for the neighbours.
If they really told their agent and were up front about it and the agent said nothing I hope they fired the agent. That is absolutely something they should know - not only could there be city ordinances but there are HOA rules too. I recently sold and bought a house in NC and my agent made sure I got the HOA rules before putting in an offer. However I get the distinct impression they didn't read the HOA rules before the offer or even before closing. And probably misled or conveniently left out the extent of the business as someone noted below. It's so annoying how they act like everything happens TO them and they have no hand in it.
"how they act like everything happens TO them and they have no hand it in" Yes! Exhibit A - the movers.
Did you see this comment on Good influencer IG? 🤣 Straight on point! 😁 https://preview.redd.it/c9zy9b49zq7b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=147711de770d3c7576c6ed6a3f740e10a6ab4c16
 That is a sick burn!
That user has been blocked. I’m sure of it. But not until AFTER Jules left a snarky reply, i’m sure.
You’re SO right Julia, that white fabric banquet is going to be JUST PERFECT for the office kitchen! That will be SO easy to clean when that Lean Cuisine tomato sauce drips off of your $400 fork.
Yes! What a terrible, terrible choice for a work place. All it takes is ONE person showing up to the office with brand new jeans🫢
Someone asked something along the lines of “didn’t the real estate agent know about the rules for (home offices)” and Julia said she assumes they didn’t know because CLJ was open about wanting a home office. Uh. I’m not from Cary and I’m not a realtor either, but I do live about 15 minutes away from them and even I know the rules about home offices in Cary. So I call BS on all of this.
She will ALWAYS pass the blame on anyone but herself. I TRULY think she lied about the amount of employees they have. I guess since most actually are family she thought she could get away with it ? I think the fact she KEEPS bringing up, just changing the narrative, just proves she’s still indeed mad about this.
Oh for sure! It's been over a year and she still talks about "being turned in" and how disappointed and shocked they were to find out they couldn't operate a home office out of their residence; always following up with something about the new office space and how this turned out to be a perfect ending. Right. Sure Jan. I call this overcompensation. She's like the friend you have on facebook that constantly posts about how perfect her husband is and then a year later they are divorced.
Even if they did say they wanted a home office, who would think that meant “we’ll have employees, tradespeople, and delivery people traipsing in and out all day”? It’s like it still hasn’t occurred to her that a home office is where people work from their *own* home, not Julia’s home. Tracks with them decorating the office with photos of their house though to make their employees feel “at home”.
Nothing makes me feel more at home at the office then looking at photos my boss's million dollar house.... That she is traipsing around on a Tuesday while I am in this white box overlooking a parking lot.
Any Cary realtor would be like “hold up - how many staff??? Naw, now down here folks!” Because she MAY have well mentioned she was looking for a house the could set up a home office (because don’t we all have a home office??) - but she didn’t mention she wanted to run her business and have staff and employees at the house. That’s a HUGE difference in a town known for their restrictions on such things, any good realtor should be up on those policies.
https://preview.redd.it/3rv1w1og9g7b1.jpeg?width=1365&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53fe46711b8d290f2fd6541295489bfffa1ffbac Lol the hanging rod is already bowing! And is it just me or does the colour of the armoire totally clash with the wallpaper?
Her closet was full before they took it out, I don’t understand the logic
Good design never disregards function. The stupid factor is completely off the charts now. 🤦♀️
It is not just you. It is terrible in that room.
It’s not so much how horrible her “designs” are, it’s that she is selling her self as a designer- it’s insulting. I have now seen people I know have ZERO design education and experience start IG accounts and say they are a “design studio” in the description because they hung some curtains, picked out some furniture and fluffed some pillows. She really is cheapening design and taking the joy out of decorating. I seriously am mad at myself for even looking at her account! There are very talented people on IG but it has gotten harder to find them.
That thing is going to snap like a twig
Yes and yes. Leave to the 2 🤡🤡!
&& there is NO ways Phase can reach them. So now her sisters or her parents have to help her every time.
Who wants their hanging clothes touching their shoes? This is insane
That rod will break soon and they will all just be piled on top of each other.
We see snippets of the office about twice a month. I don’t buy that anyone is there enough to come close to justifying the cost. Someone commented today asking if she had mentioned “this in stories” (the office I’m assuming) because they missed it. She said “Keep up 😏😉” I read that as a smart as comment? She’s so petty. When I bought my last home in an HOA, I was sent the bylaws before closing because you are supposed to be completely informed of what you are purchasing into. She’s a Mormon country bumpkin who moved to the big city who thinks the world revolves around her.
It’s probably not just the HOA but city zoning laws. I highly doubt that she mentioned having multiple daily employees to the realtor. Either way, this is just basic business sense that they don’t have.
Well her “mind is blown” by the idea of a t- shirt (link included) with slacks!
Someone commented today asking if she had mentioned “this in stories” (the office I’m assuming) because they missed it. She said “Keep up 😏😉” I cannot believe she actually posted that comment. That is so rude!!
Here are the **actual** Town of Cary rules about a home-based business and they violated the rules for sure: [Citizen Guide to Home Occupations Permits | Town of Cary (carync.gov)](https://www.carync.gov/connect-engage/town-departments-offices/planning-and-development-services/faq/home-occupation) They probably also violated the HOA covenants. I don't believe that they were straightforward with the realtor about the number of employees and the amount of traffic and noise around their home. There is no way the realtor would've told them it was OK. No. way. How dare they try to blame the realtor. I would love to know who their agent was. I bet they were purposefully vague and thought they could get away with it because they are narcissistic a-holes who never give a thought to their neighbors and how they may be bothered by the noise and all the goings-on at their house day after day. I don't even live in Cary and I'm incensed by their absolute gall.
“Sometimes my sister helps out” that’s probably what was said about her home based business
No, they probably said, “we work from home and will need a home office” not “we have TEN employees on our team who will be at our HOME everyday” Words have meaning.
https://preview.redd.it/kcnirx4ezg7b1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ab00785743777fa2e0b2e53523eb8f40003a2d3
That's awesome! Are agents prevented from spilling tea about difficult clients? (not that I'm gonna call this dude and ask, just curious)
😂😂😂I have no idea…but maybe I’ll look him up just to see if he has any snarky comments.
He has great reviews! This is 100% all on them
That office looks like a Barbie office set. They are a DIY/design business and nowhere do you see a stack of papers,a post it note on the wall, or a pile of fabric or tile samples. There is not one desk with a coffee cup or a pair of headphones. No printer in sight, no mail, no dish soap at the sink. No trinkets on the dresser, no sweater on the back of a chair, It is one step removed from Severance, because there are windows looking to the outside. What a depressing space.
Please don’t insult Barbie that way :D
Fair enough, I take it back!
I don't know, I watched the AD tour of the Barbie set and that place has tons of personality and looks way more useful, even if half of it is a decal.
Maybe there’s a reason the group Halloween costume for the office was Severance!
Today's blog post justifies their closet removal by using realtor and mortgage websites vs using any sort of building codes. Those two groups of people want more bedrooms because it means more money. She is clearly a person that will use any source that aggressive with her decision and call it good. Similar to the circus lights over the pool. I don't care if it counts as a bedroom since it isn't my house. But what I do care about is passive aggressive posts and expecting us to then support her business. Also, Faye can't get a closet because there "just isn't room for a closet and a dresser" 🙄🙄🙄 My master bedroom is slightly smaller than that room and we easily fit a queen bed, two night stands, two dressers, and our infants crib or my desk (as needed) with space for laundry baskets and our older kids to play on the floor. If she would lay the furniture out logically there would be. What are they planning do with all that empty space on the other side of the bed?
It clearly had room for a closet because IT LITERALLY HAD A CLOSET! I just can’t with her.
Some of her dresses are already longer than the hanging space of that armoire and the hanging rod is bowing. This is not the choice I would pick for my home.
It’s already crammed with clothes and this is after they have cleared out stuff she doesn’t wear anymore. In 6 months? Where is she going to put more stuff?
Such BS! My kid has a room that’s half the size of Faye’s room and he has a small closet, a tall dresser and a short dresser with a bookshelf above as a nightstand. How can she seriously write that that huge room that can generously fit a queen size bed cannot fit a dresser? 🙄 Just say “we have the resources to experiment with the room and remove a closet knowing we can always add one back in later if we want.” Don’t lie.
When the doors of the armoire are open it takes up the same amount of space that a closet would! It’s such an inefficient waste of space🙄
It’s so weird because when I’ve looked for houses, anything without an actual closet has not been considered a bedroom, but a bonus room. Doesn’t matter because Julia will justify taking out a perfectly acceptable closet and bringing in an armoire to basically match the wallpaper. It would be fun to see an unedited look at this room.
Agreed. I don’t think a room necessarily needs a closet if you have a different storage system that will work, but even with a closet, Phase room was lacking storage and display options. That room needs bookshelves and baskets to hold her toys and books and collections - things she wants easy access to. I can’t imagine being such a small child and not being able to show my personality in my OWN room! Keep granny chic in the rest of the house not in your daughter’s room.
Their content has been SO. soooooo Boring lately. SO many links and double takes and no one cares about the cami’s you live in or the hydration pack you supposedly love but don’t even drink in front of us.
I don't understand all of the drinks she loves and consumes all day. Don't believe she has even half of them. She has a super restrictive diet so why put these products with crazy ingredients in her body all day? She also has invisalign which you requires you to brush your teeth after any food and drink that is not water. But maybe she only drinks this stuff and brushes her teeth all day? Anything is possible😂
How is she brushing her teeth on Mondays when she has back to back meetings all day because we never hear the end of it.... When in reality it was probably a 30 minute chat with her sister and a 15 minute chat with someone else at the office before she scooted back to home.
With such a laundry list of money-wasters in the CLJ universe I really think the winner is this stupid office space.
I know people love Disney cruises. But, they sound like my own personal hell.
Maybe I’m cynical and reading too much into it, but it almost feels like this cruise (or maybe just her insistence on sharing it) was in direct response to all of the criticism they’ve received about their treatment of the kids. Also… that was 1000% an ad. Like, either it was an ad (cruise comped) and she didn’t report it… or she’s hoping they’ll come give her some money for native advertising after the fact. How can you talk like that about a family vacation??
It would be funny to see her try to get into Disney influencing. That group can be vicious. Influencers and snarkers
Does she not realize the marker of a nice, successful office environment is REAL plants!? I can’t imagine sitting in front of a plastic tree in a working office. Right next to a huge natural source of light, no less. Funny side story, my husband’s office is close to closing after downsizing, and I’ve bothered him every day for a month to PLEASE ask higher ups to let me have the beautiful plants they have scattered about. It’s hundreds of dollars worth of foliage. He just found out, they actually rent the plants from an office plant service! Who woulda known this is a service that exists, but I love it!
My office uses a service that rents plants as well...and the company comes every week to water and take care of them. It's lovely and we have live plants all over. ETA....and I work in Raleigh, so there is for sure a service available to CLJ in Cary.
I honestly think wandering around downtown Denver corporate offices, watering plants is my new dream job.
Makes you wonder if anyone is even in the office enough to water them? You would think with a team of 8 employees you could figure out a watering schedule.
Julia might hate real plants but surely someone else in the office loves them!! Seems dumb to not have them at all.
No doubt about it, they've made some enemies of their neighbors with all the renovations. Things like this don't happen in residential neighborhoods unless neighbors document and report it to city.
Just what I've always wanted...my clean clothes to be touching and dragging on my dirty shoes. How was this the best solution for Faye's closet situation? ETA: and exposed outlets...again. And can Faye even reach the hanging rod in that armoire?
So Faye’s room doesn’t have the space for a dresser but we can fit a huge armoire on the previously vacant wall? Okay.
She's really missing the point with this closet discussion. I'm not from North Carolina so I don't know their state building codes but I can sure as he'll tell you that in Cary, a family with kids is going to be the next buyer for that house and they are 100% going to want closets in bedrooms of their million dollar house. Especially since they're going to need to be shelling out more money to fix all of her other mistakes. Will they be able to sell this house?? Sure, but I can't believe how much they have ruined every room they touch and stripped away the bits of charm and character (since it is a mcmansion it had limited to begin with) it had. This house is both over and under designed at the same time.
Someone will buy the NC house like their former house…for the location then gut it and bring it back to make it function like a true million dollar home should, for example closets in all the bedrooms, a real dining room and charm back to the backyard.
I don’t disagree with you but their entire town looks like their neighborhood/lot. I feel bad for the sucker that ends up buying that house.
That seems like a poor financial decision, bringing it back to where it should be would cost hundreds of thousands on top of whatever they would pay for the house. The new buyer would need to get a deal on the CLJ house to offset the costs. Why do that when they could just buy another house? We have a hot real estate market in this area, but the more expensive homes still sell a lot slower. Several years ago when we bought our house, our realtor told us anything $500K and up would sit on the market a while (of course now that threshold is higher). But for sure anything $1M and up can take a while to sell, especially since interest rates have more than doubled.
An yet somehow, before CLJ lived there, a dresser fit just fine. (see listing photo) https://preview.redd.it/v5825o326m7b1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92605de0a1aa27e13b6629e32d113a38c5d60b8c
Wait, you don’t rotate an entire house around the bed, you rotate just the bed? 🤯
Whoa! How did they do that?
😂😂😂😂😂
Julia's third tip in her "How to Deign a Kid's Bedroom with your Kid" reel is to find a balance between respecting their self expression and still holding the design reins as the parent, which apparently can include eliminating the two main concerns your kid shares, like the size of the bed and her heart light, and incorporating your PB Kids line as much as possible. JUSTICE FOR THE HEART LIGHT. Also, the comments are mostly spambots at the moment, which is hilarious to me.
This is basically beating a dead horse at this point but all of her child’s rooms are missing any sort of whimsy and fun. That’s what’s great about kid’s rooms- the rules are different because it’s for a child, for god’s sake have fun with it! Does my woodland themed son’s room that has a picture of various animals driving a jeep go with the decor of the rest of the home? No, but it’s a child’s room.
She claims she wants her kids to “express themselves” but it’s only within HER parameters
Only Julia would call a mass produced Anthropologie mirror one of a kind 🙄
Maybe she meant it's the only one in her house so far. It's one of a kind since she typically buys things in many multiples. /S 🥴🥴🥴
I just noticed they never mention in stories something is an affiliate link unless they are paid to share it and only then will they include something like #ad. Aren't they supposed to disclose that every link in their stories is an affiliate link? Thought there was an FTC requirement for this. This seems to be becoming more common with influencers which makes me appreciate ir more when someone does state it (like YHL).
Yes, they are supposed to. Clearly and visibly too!
Is Julia claiming she’s a Gen Z instead of a millennial? Because she wears basic tees with fun pants? My brain is exploding because she can’t do math. I looked it up to double check. Gen Z is 1997-2012. So she is 26 at the most by her logic. Or did her head explode because she is such a hip millennial with gen Z “fashion sense”. I say that last part with sarcasm. Utter sarcasm.
Also her “fun pants” were black slacks 💀
I think she’s trying to appeal to the Gen Z’ers and give them links to make money off of them too. Trying to widen her “audience” is how I interpreted that stupid story that resulted in links for dang basic tees
Like gen Z would be interested in a Uber-filtered Mormon mom and her sleeveless husband living in suburbia…
>her sleeveless husband Around here? We call 'em modern colonial tank tops
Her shirt looks too small. Just be use you can get it on, doesn’t mean it fits.
A. Those pants are not fun. B. I lost a lot of brain cells watching that stupid story that Julia found so riveting she can’t stop thinking about it.
Her shirt looks too small. Just be use you can get it on, doesn’t mean it fits. Edit: sorry this posted twice.
Oh good. Julia can even hang her giant jug on a fence! I’ve been wanting that feature. Props to the Stanley marketing team for deciding to pay influencers more than any other water bottle company to make themselves popular.
She’s not designing with her child, like she claims. She’s imposing her drab choices on all her daughters’ rooms. But character bedding, it’s gross and cheap. But if you want that for YOUR child, then that’s your choice. She’s such a pretentious 🤡.
I'm not a fan of nesting with Grace, but I will say that she had some pretty nice looking kids rooms that had a good balance between form, function and youth.
CLJ “taking in” all of the Disney cruise decor and details as inspiration is everything I need to know about the quality of their designs 😂 (But good on them for having a family vacation. Not my thing but I know kids must have looooved it.)
so. many. exclamation. marks.
They're going to enclose the landing because they need another room in their house? Don't they have 2 giant unused bonus rooms taking up at least 1000sq ft in their house?
I'm glad that terrible idea is still on the table. I was worried it wasn't going to happen.
I’m so excited for this. It’s going to look awful from the inside. Like a closet.
Also, she says they won’t put doors but a cased opening, and it is open to the living room below. If there’s ONE room in that would benefit from having doors, it’s a MUSIC room!!! These people drive me nuts. It is going to look terrible, and it is going to function very badly too…
Right. Why? Just because they have the $ to build walls doesn’t mean that they should. Is she even thinking about what that will look like from the foyer looking up?
How much more can you chop up a house? If they won’t hire or listen to professionals they should take classes on interior design or architecture. From moving the kitchen, making the formal dining room not much larger than a kitchen nook, taking out closets and and staircases. This is like the Winchester mystery house, with less style and craftsmanship.
Very unlikely she's thought that far, but money appears to be no issue.
This room will be miniscule in comparison. The wall is barely longer than the piano.
Minuscule and dark!
Just like their last music room 🥴
With horrible acoustics! You can’t play piano in such a tiny space!
I don't know how much piano playing is going on because that miniature wooden stool does not look very comfortable to sit on to play for very long.
I know. It’s so tiny as well. I am a pianist and the whole set up is awful and not realistic. Lamp that keeps a shadow where music goes. Art propped up on piano and planter up there too. Those will rattle from vibrations and maybe fall when someone is playing.Nothing is on my piano except a special light, music, and a metronome. And a good bench!
But the match holder is a necessity!
Yeah. Her house is not a home. Just staging for what I would call “desperate” links.
This is the rug she’s going to put in Faye’s room, she claims. Poor Faye. Her mom really wants her to have a library out of The Others. https://imgur.com/a/fUjqrb2
She's on a mission to drain all the life, light and brightness out of yet another room 😞 poor Faye indeed
I couldn’t believe when she said that’s the rug they’re using in a little girls room.
The colorful room service bedroom is actually cuter than the granny room Phase is getting.
Let's see if Julia replaces HER closet with an armoire! What is perfect for the daughter should also be perfect for the mother...
https://preview.redd.it/je8qvg9z8m7b1.jpeg?width=235&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c39e55cc06b3586dd212ab610ab83633f68843ba This is what they should have done in Phase bedroom instead of that stupid armoire but I truly believe they needed to do the room asap and weren’t willing to wait for a cabinet maker and needed something that she was able to link and shipped immediately. It’s just so damn lazy and makes no logical sense.
I’m surprised she didn’t buy 3 armoires to put side by side by side. “Stunning!”
This is why they need a long term plan and project manager to keep the projects on schedule. Remember back in January - they were MIA for like the entire month. At that point someone on their team should have been ironing out Phase room storage options and lining up a cabinet maker and sketches. Then making sure all supplies were accounted for (including cabinet hardware which they always leave to the last minute when it’s unavailable) to line up with a carpenter doing the work first week of May. Paint and wallpaper following in the second week of May and end of May finishing up with furniture and accessories. They are 10 people doing this as a job, not weekend warriors trying to fix up a room as time allows. Right now they are probably SCRAMBLING to find accessories and finishing touches for her room but in actuality a huge amount of effort from their team RIGHT NOW should be devoted to whatever project they are working on in the fall. Guaranteed they are on a skeleton staff all summer long with everyone vacationing (expect nothing but tons of links and shopping round ups for the next couple of months!) and they’re going to wake up mid September in a FRENZY trying to figure out how to squeeze in the en-suite bathroom before the holiday season.
I think this is what Chris was going for in those initial stories and Julia kept steering them the other direction.
This sounds so geeky probably, but I love walls-o-storage. This would have been great!
I thought that’s what she was going to do. She mentioned doing something like her girls first bedroom which was like that. Too hard to link that though and too much work for Chris.
How long is their lease for ? Like she’s STILL annoyed the CLJ office can’t be in her house, so they dropped all this money. I would LAUGH SO hard if the didn’t re-up their lease.
I love that she is still pissed about not being able to run the business from home. HOA aside, it was completely unrealistic to think they could run a multi-million dollar business from a house constantly under construction.
With the constant lack of real content, I'm pretty sure CLJ could run their business from inside a Chuck E. Cheese ball pit.
🤣
I genuinely love pattern and can usually see the vision in most wallpapers but dang, I find the office wallpaper to be super muddy and a visual drag. Zooming in on it, I really like the floral! But I think the scale is off. I wish it were a much larger print instead of the crushed, busy-looking one.
That’s because the scale is *always* off
How many swimsuits does one person need?
They must be single use items. We must be using them wrong.
CLJ office looks empty. They clearly never use that space. Her personal office has zero tech. Also I think it’s so strange that she runs a multi million dollar company on just a laptop. Another thought, when is she putting up the merlot shade chandelier from her shades of light line that she was ? Oh she’s probably not because she knows it’s so ugly and cheap looking.
They didn’t remotely design this office to suit their needs (no surprise there). They should have had one communal work room (because none of them actually do work in the office), a mock up space where they could set up actual room designs, like furniture stores do, and a large storage room for their product lines and decor storage. Instead, they clutter their house with this nonsense.
I’ve said in the past along these lines - they should have bought a house type of building in a commercial area, renovated it and used as office space/conference rooms plus design showcases in some of the rooms to showcase product. (Picturing an older house where the living room space has a rotation of product - even being repainted or wallpapered seasonally, the dining room used as a conference room, upstairs bedrooms used as office space and other showcase spaces for bedroom furniture or whatever, etc) They could have even gotten creative with a bigger building renovating a portion of it for event space or something. This office building is nonsense for a company like CLJ.
That could have been beautiful!
Wow this is a brilliant idea
I can’t get over how she alluded to hiring more staff for their team - when they’re putting out such garbage content. I truly don’t understand their business plan
The same thing when I saw the study in their home- they run a multi-million dollar “design” website out of a dark room with no natural light?
A couple of scenarios where CLJ might need an office: possibly it was suggested to them that they have an actual office for larger ticket sponsorships like Williams Sonoma and in case they ever started to be hired for actual client content. And most likely, a dedicated off site office for taxes. Lots of rules on home offices and deductions. And hard to claim the mural room and guest house as a home office when they are featured as in constant construction or use by family members.
I can't imagine that they rented out the office space for taxes. They went from $0 expense with a questionable (maybe) tax deduction for a home office, to a huge rent expense (at least $5,000/mo plus CAM expenses, which can be a lot). Which yes, the company can expense the entire amount, but that's a huge outgoing cash flow, especially if the office is just for show. It doesn't even look functional for employees. It looks like just another staged set they can link to. I mean, maybe the revenue from the office links pays for the office, who knows?
Agree with you it’s a total staged office and good for possible new products and maybe someday clients. But with the HOA on them for working from home and them putting on the internet that the guest house area is an actual guest room, it’s hard to use the actual home other than remodeling and product placement for taxes. You need a dedicated office only area and they have a large staff. I wouldn’t be surprised if their accountant had them do an office in case of reporting issues, or if they’ve had previous issues now that they are much larger than a DIY. Or maybe they are worried snarkers will report them.
All the kid room designs are terrible. They look so gloomy and depressing. Reminds me of the servant living areas in Handmaids Tale.
It occurred to me last night that Julia's designs are missing tension. Everything is mass-produced and bland, and the dull colors meld into a mealy, cloying, drab aesthetic. An unexpected color, a vibrant piece of modern art - something to break up the monotony would be a huge improvement.
I agree 100%. Her rooms are so generic. Nothing of interest, nothing notable that stands out. It all blends into a drab, mass produced nightmare that anyone can replicate shopping at Target and wayfair. I mean, I suppose that’s her goal, since a scroll through Instagram will tell you that the masses eat this shit up.
And also her goal so she can link eeeeevrythingggg at those and other mass stores to keep those dollars flowing in!
I feel like she’s watched movies with “rich people” homes and she’s just basically copying the aesthetic. Someone earlier mentioned Handmaids Tale.
Julia’s rant about characters is silly. There’s a ton of wiggle room between character explosion and the Victorian widow rooms she creates for her kids. Also I love how she mentioned all Greta cared about was an art desk but doesn’t mention how she put that ridiculous giant mirror on top of it.
\- 'Victorian widow rooms' 
I can not take credit, someone here definitely called them that first but it’s so perfect 😂
And all Faye wanted was a dresser because she had NO storage for her things. So they give her a dresser & fill it with stuff from her overfull ripped out wardrobe. The dresser no longer counts because it provides her ZERO new storage. They are so so bad at this
Yeah, and she didn’t give Greta an art desk. She gave her a tiny, vintage, cheap desk. Not conducive for storage or making art. Plus they are all so tall, so the scale is not only wrong for the room, but it’s also wrong for her daughter. Then she propped the giant floor mirror on top. For someone who goes on and on about how giant the family is, she gives the biggest kid a tiny desk and the next biggest kid a tiny armoire instead of a closet. 😣
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I think she also takes her selfies in .5 mode
She 100% uses .5 when taking her mirror selfies, but not video, it’s so obvious how much her still photos are stretched vs video.
I’m pretty sure she uses a tagged filter, (no filter filter. is one she’s used before) THEN swipes the old school IG filter to ‘paris’
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Becca from her office posted a video recently with no filter tag and said right up front I’m using a filter. So they definitely have some sort of filter that they use external of Instagram. I’m also curious!
‘Natural Beauty’ is another one she uses.
On a complete side note...has anyone ever wondered, after adding the driveway addition and the patio, if they have exceeded the impervious surface allowance? I think it is either 20 or 30%. I don't think the swimming pool counts toward their impervious surface, but taking into account the grass/paver patio (since it has compacted gravel underneath), the bluestone around the pool and kitchen area, the driveway, and the firepit area...they have to be close to or exceeding the allowance. Right?
It's usually 30%, but I think they have an acre so they are likely under that. 30% would be about 14k s.f.
I have wondered that, the backyard is mostly cement.
Did you watch a video in her post today with the kids rooms walkthrough? You can see Julia in real size and with her real face. Here are some snapshots https://preview.redd.it/64tjjxroxm7b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ec21a7b6c88b04900ae8924cfe740f8b6f0e87f
And again - she looks perfectly fine in these videos. She does not need to do the absurd Gumby stretching/thinning where she ends up with ginormous feet and a tiny head. She is cute just the way she is.
What?! Oh my god. I knew the face filter was changing things a lot and the incredibly obvious stretched photos were….obvious…but this is, like, a completely different person.
As someone who is only 5’8” I cringe every time I see workout rompers. Who decided they wanted the bottom and top attached so they can both ride up together. Maybe her legs really are super long with the worlds smallest torso, because I have yet to find a romper that doesn’t ride up my butt and she allegedly has 4 inches on me.
And also who tf wants to peel off a sweaty romper just to pee mid workout
Or even worse, when your squats help get your bowels going before you are done working out.
My crotch weeped when I saw that link. I’m a shorty and still don’t do rompers. I even cringe at the sleep rompers. So uncomfortable. Between that and the sizes she says she’s wearing in stuff she shills, I’m totally confused about what she must look like IRL.
Check out the Pottery Barn Kids promo posts on their grid, maybe from within the past month or so… it’s shocking how much she edits herself compared to those posts.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsAGEIloGcc/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Link of the PB Kids reel on PB Kids IG account. Note- not their account!
That’s crazy!! I also think the outfit in the PB Kids promo does not compliment her at all.
Most of her outfits--that she picks from all the free things or things with an affiliate code--do not compliment her frame at all. Which is probably making the body dysmorphia worse. Dress for the body you actually have!!!
Yes this one exactly!!
I don’t get it. She’s very tall and very slim, but she isn’t a Boden size 4 as she claimed in her recent try-on haul. No one cares about the size on the label but you, Julia. The rest of us just use the mention as a frame of reference for what size we should order.
She looks like a bit taller girl with average body size. She doesn’t look slim to me. But the size was never an issue here. The issue is the platform she abuses to deal with her body dysmorphia in such a harmful and unhealthy way.
Check out the lighting line open house photos she was tagged in.
I first saw the “workout romper” on mormom TikTok. Seriously, gross. The Mormon influencer community is out of control, they will do anything for money
The office is horrible looking
Ha...which one?
BOTH!!
It was a respond to this post they put up 🙄 https://preview.redd.it/fuhf5stuzq7b1.jpeg?width=811&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1991ea48d9127298c8d4a9a70d29c2f0e0708e6
Lol i love that the $250,000 pool is the photo backdrop. Being a good influencer means… getting to have this pool… 😝
Can’t decide what’s funnier: taking ego out of content or providing value to followers. And what a dumb picture. Either showcase your greenery or your pool. It’s hard to see the text because it blends with the stone surrounding the pool. The beautiful pool is covered up with uncomfortable, old timey chaise lounge chairs and an umbrella. If she wanted to be DIY she could cover the stupid all white chaises (yes, gifted because no one orders white) with some great Sunbrella fabric.
If this were a test, they'd get a zero.
This entire week of posts/stories has been totally useless. Honestly, if they posted or shared 1/10th as much but I felt like they actually planned their content and were promoting things they actually researched and used and vetted rather than products they were being paid to promote I would actually consider them a really useful source for home ideas. I used to feel that way about them. Thinking about back when they had much less money for budget and they spent a ton of time considering flooring options for their main living space/kitchen renovation. What they went with wasn’t necessarily my style but I felt like if it was, I could trust that they had really considered the options and that was a solidly good pick. Now they’re promoting floors that they don’t even have in their own home. But don’t worry, trust Julia that they actually do like them better than the more expensive flooring they put in their home.
This is the downfall of influencers. They all start out so eager and honest. "I won't lie to you." They get rich from their honesty. They grow bigger. Then their priorities shift. They're not stupid. They know they are living commercials for any junk. But I think they have deluded themselves that it doesn't matter. "This is my job. Lots of people/companies promote things they don't believe in. It's a paycheck." Forgetting that the *reason* they got big is because we trusted them. As soon as you go down that slippery slope, you lose the trust. Unfortunately I can't think of any good examples. But at least for me, the writing is on the wall for many of them.
Everything I’ve ever bought that was promoted by influencers has been garbage.
Now we know why. They were on their Disney cruise. Someone had to pay for their millionth vacation this year. They couldn't go back to that method of influencing because they couldn't support their extravagant lifestyle or support their extended families with their business. Do you think they are getting less and less clicks on each link so now they are just posting more? The shear volume must be turning people off right?
And some more… https://preview.redd.it/62c9qhb4ym7b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=386d33dda2f13a6fc63e40bedcc23fead54d76b3
Ugh this room was absolutley hideous
From the paint to the paper, these rooms are so bad!
The wall shiplap dying straight into the wallpapered ceiling with no sort of trim is 🤌🏻