A married couple are selling their eye-popping New Jersey mansion made of real gold for $9.995 million – which is $6 million less than it cost them to build it.
The current homeowners Dan, 63, and Sheree Funsch, 57, used 47,000 sheets of 22-karat gold leaf to build the home.
Dan had promised Sheree he was going to ‘build you the biggest, most beautiful home, and I’ll marry you’ when they were first dating, and that’s what he did.
The couple, who both worked as executives in the beauty industry and met in 2005, finished the construction of the 16,000 square foot Château Sheree in 2012 after buying the property in 2007 for $2 million and spending $14 million on building and landscaping.
Their time, effort and money resulted in a bedazzled mansion just 15 miles northwest of New York City – complete with eight bedrooms, 13 fireplaces, a home theater and two bars.
The front doors of the mansion open up up to a breathtaking foyer with a Cinderella staircase set on top of white marble floors and framed by matching marble pillars embellished with gold finishes, in pictures listed on Special Properties website.
The foyer features a dome with a cherub mural inspired by François Boucher paintings that the couple liked when on travelling in Europe.
The Funsches paid an artist $1.5 million for the murals in the house as well as the gold leaf that was used to bling out their New Jersey home in what was reportedly an eight-month-long bedazzling process.
The mansion has a sprawling backyard with a large pool and hot tub sitting right at the center, surrounded by lounge chairs and a cabana with its own kitchen.
The estate has plenty of parking space with a four-car garage – which has lifts for eight total cars – but the couple chose to park their Rolls-Royce right outside the front door.
Sheree Funsch is chief executive of the personal-care manufacturing company LaDove. Dan Funsch, former owner and chief executive of Intarome Fragrance, sold the fragrance company to a private-equity firm and is now chairman of the board at Sheree’s company.
The house includes its very own salon where Sheree Funsch said she tests products and gets her hair done.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Dan Funsch said he put the house on the market for less money than he spent on it to be competitive in the local marketplace.
He said he built the house for his wife and family’s enjoyment, rather than for a return on investment, which is just as well because the property is now on the market at a $6 million loss.
The state of the art kitchen comes with a large island with two dazzling overhead chandeliers, which match the chandelier in the adjoining dining room – which has a view of the pool. Both rooms offer lots of natural light to catch the off-white and gold finishing touches.
The estate sprawls across 16,000 square feet of land, including spacious lawns and a long driveway leading up to the house. The mansion and its gardens are surrounded by tall trees and lush green grass.
The mansion features its own private movie theatre with rows of red leather seats and two figures stood on either side of the huge screen.
The house is perfect for entertaining guests with a stunning 12-chair table in the grand dining room and plenty of wine in the state of the art wine cellar.
There are two bars in the mansion, each one fully stocked with a full bar worth of alcohol, high bar stools and mood lighting that will make you feel like you’re at a real pub without leaving the house.
The estate has eight bedrooms and the ceiling of the primary suite features an ornate ceiling inspired by the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris, where the Funsches vacation.
The master bedroom comes with a walk-in wardrobe that has two floors and a staircase, which Sheree said is ‘like paradise’ and described the closet as her ‘sanctuary’.
There is a billiards room in the house which also showcases a full suit of armor and lots of valuable nick-nacks along the wall’s shelves.
Amenities also include a full gym in the house with lots of exercise equipment and machines for working out
The living room features another one of the house’s 13 fireplaces as well as a TV and two French windows leading to the pool.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Funsches are sad to be leaving their New Jersey home, but now spend most of the time on their superyacht.
The couple are planning to move to a waterfront home in Red Bank, New Jersey, so they can maximize boating time.
Dan and Sheree also own property in Florida, Wyoming and the Bahamas.
