RHONJ Star Margaret Josephs Embraces Motorized Shades in Her Home Renovation

On Bravo’s ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’ there’s always drama in the air. But for RHONJ cast member Margaret Josephs, the real drama was right at home, living in a never-ending home renovation project. Margaret and her husband Joe knew they were taking on a large project when they bought their 115-year-old home. 

"This is a restoration, as opposed to a renovation," Margaret told BravoTV.com. 

Margaret had a vision in mind for what she wanted the home to look like and wanted to bring her own unique design spin on the historic house. Her design goal was to make the home look like a “rock and roll hotel” with “vintage Hollywood glamour.” That meant bold choices were in order as the renovation continued and the design work began.  

Just because the home was 115 years old didn’t mean it couldn’t be updated with modern touches. Marrying technology and style was a big part of the renovation, and one of the reasons Margaret wanted to add motorized window coverings for her kitchen, ballroom, and library.  

The first stop was the kitchen, often referred to as the heart of any home. Margaret’s former kitchen was a tad behind the times in terms of technology. 

“The kitchen in my house was the most high-tech state of the art kitchen 1956 had to offer… complete with built-in meat slicer and a flame grill in a chimney that spanned three floors and completely split the room in two,” Margaret wrote in a blog post about her kitchen renovation.  

The kitchen transformation is stunning, with an extra-long island, all new appliances, and gorgeous motorized shades that match the wallpaper for a seamless kitchen look. Somfy dealer Glamour Decorating installed beautiful motorized shades that Margaret can now control via a remote, smartphone app, or even with voice control.  

“I hate going to each individual window and hoisting my shades up,” Margaret said. “So, having motorized shades makes life so simple. With just the click of a button they close and open.”  

The ballroom was the room that sold Margaret on the house the first time she saw it. The potential to turn this gorgeous, dramatic room into the ultimate entertaining space was too much to pass up. Her design inspiration was to turn the ballroom into a room that looked like it could be the lobby of a chic hotel. To that end, she went with high-end finishes, bold colors, and hidden technology like the beautiful motorized draperies covering the large floor-to-ceiling windows in the room.  

“As my room has many functions it is really important that I can easily set the tone for a party or movie night easily so using motorized draperies is very important,” Margaret said in her blog post about the ballroom renovation.  

The emerald green motorized draperies, installed by Glamour Decorating, create a dramatic, colorful look in the room. They pull the room together with pops of green and off-sets the black and white custom wallpaper. Glamour Decorating installed the draperies and sheer curtains on two different tracks, so Margaret has flexibility in how much light she lets into the room. Margaret had nothing but praise for her experience with Glamour Decorating. 

“They’re an amazing partner who created these beautiful window treatments for me,” Margaret said. “They did my curtains, which are magnificent, and my sheers.” 

Best of all, the motorized draperies are rechargeable, which is key on large windows. Margaret doesn’t have to swap out any batteries; she only needs to plug in her draperies when they need to be recharged. Due to long-lasting batteries, her draperies typically only need to be recharged about once a year. She can still use the draperies even when they’re charging, so her family never misses a movie night or RHONJ marathon.  

“It’s so great to have your window treatments motorized,” Margaret said.  

Ready to get started with your home project? Connect with a Somfy dealer to get started!