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Where Celebrities Live: Montecito

Mark David — 2011-03-03T09:43:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes

Montecito has been attracting the rich and famous for centuries. Here's a who's who of who lives in this breathtaking California city today.

In the late 1800s, industrialists, heiresses and other high society types with the time and finances to do so flocked to the coastal enclave of Montecito, California in search of winter sun, sea air and mesmerizing views of the Pacific Ocean. They hired lauded and applauded architects including George Washington Smith and Reginald Johnson to design significant mansions amid lushly landscaped gardens, many of which survive today.

Photos: JPIStudios | Getty Images | AP

Swank but surprisingly casual, Montecito regularly ranks among the most affluent communities in the United States. The near-perfect Mediterranean climate and ocean breezes -- not to mention sky-high real estate prices -- continue to attract global business leaders, luminaries and wealthy Tinseltown types in search of a getaway that's far from the fray yet close enough to quickly get into Los Angeles when required.

Villa Cresta Montecito in Santa Barbara. Photo: Alamy Images

Montecito's most famous and wealthiest celebrity resident may very well be talk show titan turned media mogul Oprah Winfrey who famously paid around $50 million for a lavishly landscaped 42-arce spread with a 23,000 square foot mansion she dubbed "The Promised Land."

Former Brat Packer and long time Montecito homeowner actor Rob Lowe was forced to evacuate his home during the wildfires that swept through the area and destroyed a number of mulit-million dollar homes in the fall of 2008. Lowe and his wife have since built a new mansion in Montecito, a gigantic 20-room Georgian style home with four kitchens and 2 guest houses. Gorgeous photographs of the Lowe spread appeared in the November 2010 issue of Architectural Digest.

Miramar Beach in Montecito. Photo: Nik Wheeler, Alamy

Other longtime residents include the Kirk Douglas and Michael Douglas, tennis titan Jimmy Connors and comedienne Carol Burnett. Emmy winning actress and heiress Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a modest if shockingly expensive oceanfront house. Comedian and conservative radio host Dennis Miller has owned property in Montecito since the early 1990s, but he recently put both of his homes on the market for a reported combined total of around $20 million.

One of the coastal community's newest celebrity residents is troubled child actor turned entertainment industry power player Drew Barrymore. She reportedly laid out $5.7 million for a secluded estate with 5 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms on a quiet cul-de-sac near Montecito's lower commercial district.

Another example of a Montecito mansion, this one with an elegant swimming pool and statue. Photo: Corbis Images

Former vice president and global warming guru Al Gore splashed out nearly $9 million for a Mediterranean mansion recently, and Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner is constructing a massive compound on a bluff high above the ocean. Just south of Montecito, former California governor Arnold S and Maria Shiver coughed up more than $4.5 million for 25-acres of undeveloped land in the foothills with jaw dropping views up and down the coastline.

Photos: tkksummers, flickr | Getty Images

Buying property in Montecito may be prohibitively pricey for all but the very wealthy. But regular folks can grab a glimpse of how the other half lives by touring some of the community's grandest historic estates and magnificent gardens that are open to the public. The perfect example is "Lotusland," the breathtaking horticultural obsession of eccentric opera superstar Madame Ganna Walska who owned the sprawling 37-acre estate from 1941 until her death in 1984.

For more on celebrity neighborhoods, don't miss:
Where Celebrities Call Home: Hancock Park
Where Celebrities Live: Bedford

Here's a video about celebrity luxury vacation homes.

Celebrity Decorator Kevin Haley's Hollywood Hideout

Mark David — 2011-02-14T11:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Design, etc, House Tours, Celebrity Homes, Cool Homes

Kevin Haley has designed rooms in Brad Pitt's house and a handful of other A-listers, but what does his house look like? Take a tour.

A fluke childhood friendship with A-list actress Winona Ryder -- his parents lived next door to her grandparents in Minnesota -- set Kevin Haley on a crash course to become an interior designer and decorator to the stars. Since doing the first house she ever bought in Beverly Hills, Haley has done a couple more for Ryder as well as homes for a laundry list of famous folks, including Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meg Ryan and Cameron Diaz.

Photo: Everett Fenton Gidley

Since 1997, Haley has made his home a secluded bungalow in the hills above Hollywood. Recently, the low-key designer decided to move on and put his done, done, done house in Hollywood on the market with a price tag of $999,000, otherwise known as a million bucks.

Photo: Everett Fenton Gidley

Living Room
As expected, Haley's interior spaces are quintessential Kevin Haley: A sleek and glammy old Hollywood vibe is paired with a sexy 1970s feel, but all of it is encased in a cottage-style skin. At around 1,500 square feet the bungalow isn't big, but the living room makes a grand statement with its raised tray ceiling, wood burning fireplace and walls nearly completely covered in antique mirrors. A baby grand piano ambitiously anchors one end of the room that opens up through a series of French doors to several terraces and patios that surround the house.

Photo: Everett Fenton Gidley

Haley filled the living room with elegantly funky and richly textured furnishings including a deep pile flokati style rug and a clean lined sofa softened with plush, dark gray velvet upholstery. A pair of chairs that may or may not have been designed by another decorator to the stars, Billy Haines, are bravely covered with leopard print fabric and flank the fireplace. A Lucite and brass coffee table between the sofa and the animal print chairs minds the gap and successfully joins a cacophony of wildly dissimilar decorative styles.

Photo: Everett Fenton Gidley

Dining Room
The petite Chinoiserie-style dining room is bright and chic. Matching wall coverings and window shades depicting ancient Chinese landscapes are paired with a contemporary chandelier painted the same pretty turquoise as the window frames and baseboards.

Photo: Everett Fenton Gidley

Kitchen
Haley turned architectural lemons into decorator lemonade in the small and oddly configured kitchen. The rich, almost lurid red lacquer that coats the walls that line the staircase in the living room gets another run on the kitchen floor. But it's carefully toned back with simple white Shaker cabinets and marble counter tops, then jazzed right back up with zebra print cushions in the window seat. He finishes the kitchen off with a vintage powder blue range, a funky and fun final thought.

Photo: Everett Fenton Gidley

Sitting Room
A small sitting room is fearlessly wrapped in a dizzying blue and green patterned wall covering. It gets the Kevin Haley stamp with a tufted, somewhat tatty looking but luscious sectional sofa with plush down cushions wrapped in kitten-soft, steely blue velvet. A rose velvet covered ottoman doubles as a coffee table and an oversized mirror, the exact same height as the doorway, leans up against the wall, which makes the room seem twice as large as it really is.

Photo: Everett Fenton Gidley

Bathroom
Haley's courageous use of color and intricate patterns continues unabated in one of the bathrooms slathered in itty-bitty navy blue glass tiles and accented with beautifully brash brass accents and shocking hot pink paint.

Photo: Everett Fenton Gidley

Master Bedroom
The small master bedroom gains maximum impact with a coved ceiling bathed in shimmery gold leaf and a square patterned wall covering. A glam headboard is made of mirrored panels, and a pair of matching ridged, green glass cylinder lamps that sit atop glitzy matching Lucite end tables.

Photo: Everett Fenton Gidley

Outdoor Living
At the front of the property, atop the garage and shielded by a thick and tall stand of bamboo, a pergola-shaded deck provides the perfect spot for an outdoor room furnished with comfortable and cushy upholstered pieces and lit with a funky multi-colored chandelier.

For more celebrity home stories, don't miss:
Jeff Lewis, Reinvented
Where Celebrities Live: Bedford
J. Lo's House is More Elegant than We Expected
Cheap Chic Ideas From Gwyneth's Bedroom
Million Dollar Listing Star Dishes Dirt

Check out this video of some of the most incredible homes in Hollywood!

It's Ben Stiller's House!

Mark David — 2011-02-04T13:01:00 00:00

Photo: T/X17online.com

Actor and comedian Ben Stiller's long list of film credits include "There's Something About Mary," "Meet the Parents," "The Royal Tenenbaums," "Meet the Fockers," "Little Fockers," and the money-minting film franchise "Night at the Museum." The outrageous success of Stiller's movies -- Forbes estimated he earned $53 million in 2009 -- allows him and his wife Christine a superstar lifestyle as evidenced by their compound in the Hollywood Hills.

In 1999 Stiller shelled out $1.825 million for a 1929 Spanish Revival-style mansion in a Hollywood Hills neighborhood favored by famous folks including Charlize Theron, Felicity Huffman, Kyle McLachlan and Orlando Bloom.

A couple of years later he spent another $1.84 million to purchase two adjacent lots, one of which has a Mediterranean-style residence with more than 4,000 square feet. Combined, the Stillers' walled and gated compound spans nearly one acre and includes a total of 10 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms.

A two-year renovation and expansion brought the size of the compound's main house to around 10,000 square feet and the meticulously maintained, restored and enlarged residence was given a decorative do-over by du jour design duo Roman and Williams who have worked over homes for some of the Tinseltown demi-monde including Kate Hudson and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Photo: Elle Decor

Outfitted with all the modern conveniences, the Stillers' kitchen retains an authentically vintage vibe with antique clay tile floors, crisp white cabinets with glass-fronted uppers, ebony counter tops and antique light fixtures.

The master bath was painstakingly done in a high-glam and yet utilitarian 1930s style with hexagonal tile floors, a free-standing soaking tub for two and white-tiled walls with deep blue accents.

Photo: Sotheby's International Realty

Outdoor living and dining areas include a wide and deep covered terrace at the back of the house with treetop views. A staircase with bright blue custom-tiled risers descends from the upper terrace to a lower patio. From there an a extra-wide set of steps leads down the Stillers' swimming pool and spa surrounded by thick and lush landscaping.

In the fall of 2008 the Stillers coughed up $10 million for a 4 bedroom and 5.5 bathroom duplex apartment in the very same building on New York City's Upper West Side where his comedic genius parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara have lived for years.

In August of 2009 Stiller listed his celebrity-style hideaway in Hollywood with an asking price of $12.5 million. The property remains unsold.

Click here to see a photo of the house and the hints.

Want to guess other celeb homes? Don't miss:
Guess the Celeb Home: He's a bit mad.
Guess the Celeb Home: He makes a scene.

Guess the Celebrity Home: The Funny Guy's Son

Mark David — 2011-02-04T10:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes

Take a look at the photo and read through the clues. Can you figure out who lives here?

What lovable and sometimes crass Emmy-winning comedian and bona fide movie star paddles around in this swimming pool tucked into the lush backyard of his A-list, celebrity-style compound in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills?

Photo: Elle Decor

Hints

He once hosted the MTV Movie Awards.

He is the son of a famous comedy couple who summer on Martha's Vineyard.

He worked as an intern on Alan Thicke's show "Thicke of the Night" in the 1980s.

He was once engaged to -- but did not marry -- "Big Love" star Jeanne Tripplehorn.

His lifetime gross film receipts exceed $2 billion.

What do you think?

Want the answer? Get it here!

Where Celebrities Live: Bedford, New York

Mark David — 2011-01-27T12:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes

The tranquil hills of Westchester County, just north of New York City, is home to hordes of high profile folks who crave a quiet country setting close to midtown Manhattan. Here's who lives here.

Pastoral and pristine Westchester County has been a bucolic haven for horsey and high society types since the late 19^th-century when huge homes on vast estates were built by some of America's wealthiest families including the Rockefellers (Pocantico Hills).

Photos: Getty Images | Bauer-Griffin | Wikimedia Commons

Many of the quaint and upscale communities that dot the countryside claim celebrity residents, including political movers and shakers Bill and Hillary Clinton (Chappaqua), divorcing Tinseltowners Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins (Pound Ridge), late night talk show king David Letterman (North Salem), "Desperate Housewives'' Vanessa Williams (Chappaqua) and New York City's multi-billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg (North Castle).

As many celebs as may be strewn around throughout Westchester County, it's in and around the three itty-bitty unincorporated hamlets that comprise the Town of Bedford (Katonah, Bedford Village and Bedford Hills) where a veritable crush of notable names from the rarefied and glammy worlds of politics, high finance and Hollywood own country getaways and sprawling estates.

An aerial view of Martha Stewart's Bedford home. Photo: Michael Appleton / NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

Homemaking honcho Martha Stewart, the reigning queen of Katonah, has bunked in Bedford since 2000 when she shelled out around $15 million for a historic 150+-acre working farm (shown above). Stewart spent many more millions more restoring and customizing her Katonah crib. She even went so far as to lift a 1925 farmhouse, spin it around so it would face her pasturelands and add 4,000 square feet of interior space, including a kitchen any gourmet chef would die for. It was here in this residence, called the "Winter House," where in 2005 Stewart endured five months of house arrest after she was released from a Federal prison on a conviction related to obstruction of justice charges.

Stewart painted every structure on her big Bedford spread a particular shade of gray she dubbed 'Bedford Grey' and now sells to all the regular people who want their homes to look like hers. When Stewart sought a variance on the height of a barn she wanted to raise she reportedly handed out chocolate chip cookies at the town hall meeting. She was granted the variance for the barn but she ran afoul of some of the local residents a few years later in 2007 when she audaciously attempted to trademark the name Katonah, the name of the Indian chief from whom the town was originally purchased. Her request was denied.

Downtown Katonah. Photo: sonjalovas, flickr

Just down the road a piece from Stewart's spread, close enough to send a day-maid to borrow a cup of sugar, is a vast estate owned by billionaire financier George Soros who added an adjacent 63 acres and a 19-room mansion to his existing property in 2003. He reportedly paid around $21.5 million for the property he bought from "Jurrasic Park" author Michael Crichton.

Since the early 1990s American fashion icon Ralph Lauren has owned a lavishly maintained 250+-acre estate in Katonah that actually abuts Martha Stewart's farm. A long tree-lined driveway meanders through the property until it comes to Lauren's 17,000-square-foot Norman-style stone manor house, built in 1919. The posh pad, photographed for Architectural Digest back in 2004, includes a mahogany-paneled library and a 5-room master suite with a colossal custom-built dressing room far larger than most Manhattan studio apartments.

Photo: Realtor.com

Michael Douglas and his actress wife Catherine Zeta-Jones are some of the town's newest celebrity residents. The A-list couple reportedly leased the Colonial-style mansion (shown above) for at least six months before they paid paid $5.075 million for a 5.7-acre estate tucked down a long driveway and surrounded on three sides by a famous horse farm. The 6,300-square-foot main house and includes 5 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms and a separate cottage perfect for overflow guests or staff.

Celebrated actress Glenn Close and her bio-tech entrepreneur husband David Shaw are long time Bedford Hills residents who purchased the first part of their 10+-acre homestead that includes a 1910 Federal-style farmhouse in 1989. The couple scooped up an adjacent parcel in October of 2000.

The Bedford Post Inn attracts the local power crowd. Photo: Bedford Post Inn

Academy Award winning actor and activist Richard Gere and his wife Carey Lowell, who own a residence in nearby Pound Ridge, recently re-opened the low-key but very luxe 8-room Bedford Post Inn (shown above) in Bedford Village that includes a well-regarded restaurant popular with locals and local celebs.

Billionaire real estate pooh-bah Donald Trump has owned the historic 'Seven Springs' estate in Bedford since 1995 when he paid a reported $7.5 million for the 200+-acre property once owned by the Rockefeller family. The 39,000-square-foot Georgian-style mega-mansion, built in 1919, was the childhood home of Pulitzer Prize winning powerhouse Katherine Graham, owner of The Washington Post. Previous reports on the property reveal that Trump's mansion includes 13 bedrooms, 12 baths and an indoor swimming pool made of gleaming white marble.

Photo: pheezy, flickr

Because of its exclusivity and proximity to New York City. Westchester County will likely continue to attract celebrities and other monied types for many decades to come. It's long been rumored that superstar music moguls Beyoncé and Jay-Z bought a house in Scarsdale and this reporter was told that Alex 'A-Rod' Rodriguez was interested in a Bedford estate on the same road as Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

For more celebrity news coverage, don't miss:
J. Lo's House is More Elegant than We Expected
Cheap Chic Ideas From Gwyneth's Bedroom
Million Dollar Listing Star Dishes Dirt

Cheap Chic Ideas From Jane Fonda's Home

Mark David — 2011-01-25T11:04:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes, Cool Homes

Jane Fonda's Atlanta home is as interesting as her acting career. Here, 5 ideas inspired by her unique decorating style.

Actress and activist Jane Fonda burned and blazed her own path through life: She stirred up controversy during the Vietnam War, made millions on a slew of exercise videos, married and divorced a billionaire and earned two Oscar statuettes plus five more nominations.

It should be no surprise then that her unique and personal style is reflected in the décor of her celebrity-style loft in Atlanta that has a quirky entrance hall she herself compared to a "womb with a narrow birth channel."

Photo: Nathan Martin, Getty Images

Fonda bought her Hotlanta loft in 2000 after splitting from media tycoon Ted Turner. The duplex has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a voluminous main living space with soaring windows and double height ceilings and a petite but expertly equipped kitchen. The Hollywood royal, who recently relocated to Los Angeles, heaved her loft in the A-T-L on to the market in May of 2010 with a price tag of $4.5 million, an optimistic number that's since been slashed to $1.95 million. Fonda also put the loft up for lease with an asking price of $10,000 per month and word on the celebrity real estate street is that Queen Latifah recently rented the place while in Atlanta to make a movie.

While it will cost you two million clams to buy Fonda's loft, there are some great decorating ideas that can be easily recreated on a non-celebrity budget.

Create Invisible Walls
Fonda's long living room is split into two living areas with the smart placement of her sofa and accent chairs. Rather than trying to create one large space with accent chairs at either end of her couch, she put them back to back with her sofa. One one side she can watch TV or snuggle in front of the fireplace. On the other side, she can sit with a friend and sip tea. In between the chairs and sofa is a console where she's displayed some eco-chic bowls. Nifty use of space!

Go All-White With Slipcovers and Paint
Fonda kept the palette of her loft's main living area neutral with bleached blond hardwood floors, creamy white walls and winter white sofas and armchairs. The pale palette allows the color from the artwork and books to pop dramatically.

It's extra simple to copy her white-washed space: Paint your walls, ceilings and furniture a crisp white and slipcover your furniture in white. Voila! While it may not be practical for many folks with children and/or pets to spend a lot of money on white furniture, slip covers that can be easily removed and laundered are a practical and affordable option for keeping white sofas looking crisp and clean.

Photo: Nathan Martin

Don't Underestimate the Power of Plants
In Fonda's dining room a quintet of miniature cacti in identical shallow pots not only add visual interest to the room but also inject a bit of color into an otherwise monochromatic space. Most local nurseries and mass-market retailers like Home Depot sell a variety of miniature cacti and other plants such as mother's tongue and bamboo that can be clustered to create interesting tabletop tableau.

Don't be limited to just plant materials. Those without the gift of a green thumb can take a cue from decorators and add a grouping of vintage glass, ceramic vessels and/or other funky objet d'art.

Mix Materials in the Dining Room
Fonda must host lively dinner parties at her extra large wooden dining table (which is actually two identical tables pushed together), but we love the way she added sleek modern chairs around it, rather than choosing heavy wooden ones to match. Consider replacing your dining table's matching chairs with a contrasting material. Or pick up several mismatched chairs from flea markets and scatter them around. Cheap chic at its best!

Photo: Nathan Martin

Have Fun in the Bedroom
Fonda really let her decorative flag fly in the master bedroom that features a one-of-a-kind glass fireplace surround, a super-fuzzy flokati rug, an über-femme white tufted chaise and a whimsical canopy bed fitted with bedazzled bed linens. We're not sure we want to re-create this room, but we do appreciate that Fonda decorated a room just for her.

Consider the bedroom your space to make a mark. Whether you want it to be whimsical or eclectic, don't be afraid to make it a reflection of who you are. This is especially fun when the rest of your home is neutral and simple, like Fonda's.

Now that you've seen inside, check out the details of the deal -- and see more of the place on AOL Real Estate.

For more great ShelterPop stories, don't miss:
Cheap Chic Ideas From Gwyneth Paltrow's Bedroom
Cheap Chic Ideas From Jimmy Choo Founder's Home

It's Natalie Portman's Home!

Mark David — 2011-01-14T13:35:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes, Cool Homes

Photo: Getty Images

ANSWER: Natalie Portman

In April of 2009, when Natalie Portman was still mixing it up romantically with L.A.-based musician Devendra Banhart, the drop-dead gorgeous Israeli-born actress dropped $3,250,000 for a historic mansion in the Laughlin Park neighborhood, a gated Los Angeles enclave with a long history of celebrity residents who include Cecil B. DeMille, Charlie Chaplin and Lily Tomlin.

Portman has since traded Banhart in for New York City Ballet principal dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied. The comely couple met on the set of her latest film, the Darren Aronofsky-directed thriller "Black Swan." They are currently engaged and expecting their first baby.

Portman's two-story and 4,886-square-foot house in Los Angeles, built in 1930, has four bedrooms, two bathroom, three fireplaces, two guesthouses, and a state of the art, celebrity-style security system. The updated and upgraded interior spaces retain much of the home's original charm and architectural details, such as leaded glass windows and beautifully maintained paneling that covers the walls and vaulted ceiling in the ballroom-sized living room.

Previous famous owners of Portman's property include LeRoi Moore, the recently deceased saxophonist from Dave Matthews Band, Catherine Keener and Dermot Mulroney when they were still married, and Grammy-winning musician Chick Corea.

Current property owners in the historic Laughlin Park neighborhood include British pop star Natasha Bedingfield, actress Ellen Pompeo and husband Christopher Ivory, Black Eyed Peas's will.i.am., Jenna Elfmann and her husband Bodhi and Casey Affleck and Summer Phoenix.

Since Millepied is based in New York City, speculation among real estate gossips is that Portman might pack her bags and move back to New York City where she previously owned a two-bedroom and three-bath apartment in one of the celebrated and celebrity-stuffed Richard Meier green glass towers on Manhattan's West Side Highway. She sold the apartment in 2008 for $6,550,000.

More celebrity real estate gossip:
- J. Lo's house is more elegant than we expected.
- Lindsay Lohan's Post Rehab House
- Cheap Chic Ideas From Gwyneth's Bedroom

Guess the Celebrity Home: Newly Pregnant!

Mark David — 2011-01-14T09:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes, Cool Homes

Take a look at the photo and read through the clues. Can you figure out who lives here?

What newly engaged and preggers Golden Globe-nominated actress will be bringing up baby in this stately paneled living room? It's located in an exclusive gated community in Los Angeles that's been home to a myriad of Tinseltown types since the 1920s.

But note -- don't let the decor sway you. This is the listing photo, so those wingbacks and the opulent chandelier are not of her choosing.

Photo: Coldwell Banker-BH East/Wayne Saks

Hints:

She once co-hosted a New Year's Eve bash with Britney Spears at the Hudson Hotel in New York City.

She was discovered in a pizza parlor at the age of nine.

She has a pooch named Charlie.

She was born on the same day in June as her mother.

She has a psychology degree from Harvard.

What do you think?

Want the answer? Get it here!

More celebrity real estate gossip:
- J. Lo's house is more elegant than we expected.
- Lindsay Lohan's Post Rehab House
- Cheap Chic Ideas From Gwyneth's Bedroom

Guess the Celeb Home -- Hint: He's a Bit Mad

Mark David — 2010-12-23T13:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes, Cool Homes

Whose house is this?

An over-sized outdoor chessboard sits on the Malibu, California estate of this Oscar winning actor. He was recently nixed from a small part in a big movie -- a part he hoped would restart the engines of his fast-fading career. Who is he? See more hints below.

Photo: Coldwell Banker Previews International

Hints:

He roomed with Academy Award winning actor Geoffrey Rush in college.

He owns an entire island in Fiji.

His career box office receipts are well over two billion bucks.

He turned down the role of "The Terminator."

He is just one child shy of a baseball team.

What about you?

Want the answer? Get it here!

Celebrity Homes for Rent

Mark David — 2010-12-20T10:07:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes, Cool Homes

Ever wanted to live sleep in Mick Jagger's bed or cook in Jessica Alba's kitchen? We tell you how. (Just get ready to cough up some cash!)

Many celebrities own two or more homes and a surprising number of these big-name stars will rent you their home -- as long as you can afford it. Yes, it may seem strange that a privacy seeking celebrity is willing to rent out his or her home, but it makes financial sense. The income from renting a house helps defray the high cost of a mortgage, property taxes and maintenance.

Photos: Nick Harvey, WireImage | As Seen on Realtor.com

Hollywood: Jessica Alba's Mansion
In early 2008 Jessica Alba and her husband Cash Warren bought a home overlooking a canyon in star-studded Beverly Hills, California. That left Alba's previous residence, also in Beverly Hills, vacant. She recently floated the 3,000-square-foot multi-level residence on the market as a furnished rental with a monthly price tag of $8,950.

Alba bought the hillside house in 2002 for $1.1 million, according to property records, and the current listing shows there are a total of 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths including one bedroom that Alba converted into a cozy media room. The vaguely French-style exterior wraps around a Balinese-inspired interior that include a double height living/dining room with fireplace and city views, a fully equipped gourmet kitchen, a double height family room with pool table and a master suite with a custom-built walk-in closet, spa-style bath and private terrace with panoramic view.

Photos: Ethan Miller, Getty Images | Hawaii Life Real Estate Services

Hawaii: Charo's Cuchi-cuchi Crib
Spanish-born firecracker Charo -- best known as a fierce flamenco guitarist and campy B-list actress who cuchi-cuchi-ed across the small screen on "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" -- has owned a home in Hawaii for at least 15 years. She owned a now shuttered restaurant on the celebrity friendly island of Kauai, and she still owns a large ocean front estate on the North Shore that overlooks Tunnels Beach. It's this house that Charo has up for lease at $10,500 per month. Other glitterati who reportedly own homes on quiet Kauai include Drew Barrymore, Pierce Brosnan and Ben Stiller.

Charo, who currently works her stuff in a glitzy Las Vegas show, calls her palm tree sprinkled 3-acre Hawaiian hideaway 'Bali Hai.' The sprawling 2-story house has 7 bedrooms, 8.5 bathrooms and, let's be honest, some down on its cha-cha heels décor. But then again, who's looking at the tatty rattan sofas and old-fashioned floral bedspreads when there are multi-million dollar views out every window? Plus, one of the best beaches in Hawaii is right outside the back door. The lease price includes linens, cookware and use of a barbecue grill as well as a washer/dryer, ping pong table, pool table, stereo system and cable TV. Oh yeah, and broadband internet access for those who need to remain connected to the real world.

Photos: John Shearer, Getty Images for amfAR | The Mustique Company, Ltd.

Mustique: Mick Jagger's Rock Star Residence
Scads of stars have Caribbean island getaways including A-listers like Christie Brinkley, Bruce Willis and Oprah Winfrey. Rock and roll legend Mick Jagger of "The Rolling Stones" doesn't have one but two villas on the private island of Mustique. Celebrities of all stripes -- from Amy Winehouse to Prince William and Kate Middleton -- flock to Mustique during the winter months and shack up in luxurious residences such as "Stargroves," Jaggers beachfront villa that he rents at a high season rate of $22,000 per week. Stargroves offers six bedrooms for 10 guests, a private swimming pool and a full time staff of six to cater to every celebrity whim and desire.

Raised walkways meander through lush landscaping and connect seven discreet pavilions that dot the property. The open-air dining pavilion overlooks a private pond and the nearby living room pavilion spills out onto a large sundeck that overlooks L'Anescoy Bay. The six bedrooms, all air-conditioned for summertime comfort, are divvied up among four pavilions: A very private 1 bedroom and 1 bath pavilion; another with 2 bedrooms that share a single bath; a separate children's cottage with living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, two baths and an ocean side veranda. And lets not forget the master suite, It's a beach side pavilion of its very own with sitting room separated from the bay-view bedroom by rice paper shoji screens (private bathroom and water side deck included).

In 2006 Jagger bought 'Pelican Beach,' a 3-bedroom and 3 bathroom villa conveniently located right next door to 'Stargroves' that he also leases but with a much lower but still expensive $7,000 per week during the high season.

Photos (Jagger): The Mustique Company, Ltd.

Don't miss other great ShelterPop stories:
- The Case Against Cleaning
- Fashion Designers Open Up Their Homes
- Julia Roberts Buys Second Manhattan Apartment

The Biggest Celebrity Real Estate Losers of 2010

Mark David — 2010-12-16T14:24:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes, Cool Homes

What do Scarlett Johansson, John Mayer and Chris Tucker have in common? They all lost big on real estate this year.

Many American homeowners lost their shirts, their shorts and even their homes when the U.S. economy fell off the wall like Humpty Dumpty. Two years later the government still struggles to put it all back together again while regular hardworking Americans and stars of all stripes continue to be pummeled by the steep devaluation of their real estate investments, many of which were purchased at the peak of the recent real estate bubble.

Photos: Robert Marquardt, Getty Images | Realtor.com

Even though they priced them far below what they paid, there were oodles of celebs who failed to sell their homes in 2010 and many who lost substantial amounts of money, even when they did manage to offload their properties. And still other famous folks, like Latoya Jackson, Timothy Busfield and hip-hop entrepreneur Damon Dash, found themselves forced into foreclosure on luxurious and expensive residences they could no longer afford.

One of the biggest losers in the 2010 celebrity real estate game was idiosyncratic and stunningly beautiful actress Scarlett Johansson who plunked down a very A-list $7 million to buy a huge house in May of 2007 in the star studded Outpost Estates section of Los Angeles. (This was before she wed Ryan Reynolds; she and Reynolds made headlines this week when they announced their marriage was over after just two years.) Her neighbors included Oscar nominated desperate housewife Felicity Huffman and Oscar winner Charlize Theron. Property records show Johansson caught a very serious and costly case of the real estate fickle and sold the 1930s Spanish hillside villa at a pocketbook punishing $3 million loss in June of 2010.

It was only in August of this year that Johansson and the equally beautiful Ryan Reynolds paid $2.9 million for a mid-century modern love nest in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. Now that they're headed to divorce court, could it be that they're facing another extreme financial real estate loss in 2011?

Nic Cage with three of his losing properties. Clockwise from top: His homes in Newport Beach, Bel Air and Middleton, Rhode Island. Photos: Jemal Countess, Getty Images | As Seen on Realtor.com

The biggest loser in the 2010 celebrity real estate game is Academy Award winner and notorious property collector Nic Cage whose extensive real estate woes became tabloid fodder. Cage claimed his financial bedevilment was due to financial malfeasance by his (now former) business manager Samuel J. Levin whom he sued for $20 million and settled with for undisclosed terms in the fall of 2010.

Before that happened the eccentric actor watched ten or more million bucks evaporate when many of his dozen or more homes around the world were sold off for far less than he paid. He lost several more posh properties into the angry maw of foreclosure. He sold a Bavarian schloss at a steep discount in 2009, lost more than a million American bucks on a castle he owned in the English countryside, and he sold an historic estate in Middletown, Rhode Island at a multi-million dollar loss. A large Las Vegas mansion slipped in to foreclosure as did two historic and fabled mansions he owned in New Orleans. The nail in Cage's real estate coffin in 2010 was when his legendary primary residence in the swank Bel Air section of Los Angeles - formerly owned by Dean Martin and Tom Jones - was seized by the bank.

Photos: Mark Van Holden, Wireimage | As Seen on Realtor.com

Nic Cage is not the only famous person to endure bone-crushing blows to their bank accounts due ill-timed real estate transactions. Singer/songwriter and notorious self-promoter John Mayer recently put his house in the Pacific Palisades area of L.A. on the market for $1.325 million, a lot of money for most people to be sure, but $425,000 less than he paid for the property in the summer of 2006.

Young actor Adam Brody (from "The O.C.") also acquired a high-priced residence at the height of the raging real estate bubble. In April of 2006 he shelled out $2.25 million for a 1916 traditional in the foothills above Hollywood that he bought from Limp Bizkit front man Fred Durst. Four years later and Brody now has the house on the market with a price tag of $1.99 million, $235,000 less than he paid.

Photos: Frank Micelotta, Wireimage | As Seen on Realtor.com

Nashville and its surrounding semi-rural suburbs burst at the seams with music stars, some of whom lost their real estate chaps in 2010. Texas-based American Idol Kelly Clarkson has her Nashville, TN pied a terre on the market for $1.449 million, about $40,000 less than she spent for the 4,900-square-foot house in August of 2007.

All Sheryl Crow wants to do is sell "Cross Creek Farm," her 160-acre spread outside Nashville in itty-bitty College Grove, TN. Crow coughed up a total of around $4.5 million to buy up the solar powered horse farm with its 10,000+ square foot mansion. In May of 2010 Crow hoisted the property on the market with an asking price of $7.5 million. The property did not sell and she arranged for a late November auction that carried a minimum bid of just $1 million. Unfortunately for Crow, the real estate gods where not smiling on her and the auction closed without the reserve price being met, which means Crow still owns her money pit in Tennessee.

Another celebrity sitting between a rock and a real estate hard place is comedian Chris Tucker who, like Nic Cage, found himself in a whole mess of tax problems in 2010. In June of 2007, Tucker shelled out a whopping $6 million for a 9,000-square-foot Monteverde, FL mansion. The heat from the IRS is probably one of the reasons Tucker opted to list the waterfront property in the summer of 2010 at a shocking short sale asking price of $2 million. As of mid-December the property appears to have been taken off the market, but, according to property records, is still owned by the cash strapped Tucker.

Back in Los Angeles, where the rich and famous famously buy and sell houses at an alarming rate, many were caught with their real estate pants down as a result of the continuing economic turmoil. Quirky multi-Grammy winning musician Beck took it on the real estate chin not once but twice in 2010. In January, he and his wife Marissa Ribisi sold a single story house in the Point Dume area of Malibu at a painful $400,000 loss. A few months later the unlucky in real estate couple sold a fully renovated Hancock Park area mansion for $5.6 million to "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" writer/producer Shonda Rimes. The sale price reflected a heart stopping $1.15 million loss on the $6.75 million they paid for the 6 bedroom and 9 bath mansion just three years earlier.

With the economy still limping, unemployment disastrously high and the real estate markets, for the most part, still hobbling around on crutches, it's highly likely that, just like not-famous folks all over the country, even more celebrities will find themselves faced with some difficult real estate choices in 2011.

For more on celebrity homes, don't miss:
- Ryan Phillipe Selling His Home
- Gwyneth Paltrow Loves This Furniture Designer
- Is Oprah Moving?

Where the Celebrities Call Home: Hancock Park

Mark David — 2010-12-13T10:05:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes, Cool Homes

Hancock Park is an idyllic neighborhood with turn of the century estates, a lively village and plenty of charm. It's also one of the most star-studded areas of Los Angeles.

Long before Beverly Hills was 'Beverly Hills', there was Hancock Park, one of the oldest, most affluent, architecturally well-preserved and star-studded neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Just 5 miles west of downtown, the neighborhood bloomed in the 1920s when prominent Angelenos with notable names like Doheny, Chandler and Ahmanson hired accomplished architects such as Wallace Neff and Paul Williams to design large and elegant mansions on the oversized, mostly flat lots.

Photos: Getty Images Map: Wikipedia Commons.

The commercial hub of Hancock Park is tree-lined Larchmont Village, a Main Street USA style strip of upscale boutiques, hardware stores, a bookstore or two, and oodles of restaurants that spill out onto outdoor dining areas that line the sidewalks. It's not unusual in Larchmont Village to see Hollywood power players going about their daily business with little fanfare and, more often than not, no pesky paparazzi.

Big name residents of Hancock Park have included Muhammad Ali and legendary actor John Barrymore Sr., Drew Barrymore's grandfather. But the neighborhood and its eclectic mix of Mediterranean, Tudor and Colonial Revival style homes fell into real estate disfavor in the 1970s and 80s when rich and famous folks gravitated towards some of Tinseltown's glitzier zip codes.

Larchmont Village, Los Angeles. Photo: larchmontchronicle.com

Since the turn of the last century, the tidy and dignified neighborhood, which wraps around the Wilshire Country Club, has been on an upswing with home prices that now rival those in Beverly Hills. While there are homes in Hancock Park priced under a million bucks, most of the neighborhood's mansions sell for between two and eight million dollars.

Today, a person can't swing a cat without hitting a famous person in Hancock Park, and a list of the owners of the well-preserved mansions in the 'hood reads like a who's who of Hollywood. Although Jason Alexander ("Seinfeld") lived in Hancock Park long before them, Spanish film star Antonio Banderas and his bubble-lipped actress wife Melanie Griffith are often credited with being some of the early celebrity pioneers of the Hancock Park real estate revival. In 1999, the comely couple paid $4.2 million for a 15,000-square-foot beast of a house built in 1929 with 13 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. The following year the couple scooped up the house next door, which they proceeded to knock down to make way for a soccer pitch sized lawn.

Soon to follow Banderas and Griffith were David Schwimmer from "Friends" who shelled out $5.5 million in June of 2001 for an 11,300-square-foot Mediterranean-style mansion in Hancock Park with 8 bedrooms, 15-foot ceilings in the living room, media room, separate guest house, swimming pool and tennis court.

Hancock Park, Los Angeles. Photo: wikipedia.org

"Will & Grace" alum Sean Hayes bought a 1930 Tudor style pile in Hancock Park in late 2001 for $1.65 million. He put the fully renovated 5,800-square-foot residence on the market in early 2008 with a hefty asking price of $8.95 million, but, alas, the house didn't sell. Although a Hancock Park source whispered to ShelterPop that Hayes no longer lives in the house, property records none-the-less show he still owns the 4 bedroom and 5 bathroom mansion.

Über-successful sit-com actress Patricia Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond" and "The Middle") and her actor-director-producer husband David Hunt have been in Hancock Park since the fall of 2001 when they forked over $4.85 million for their double-lot corner spread surrounded by a thick and dramatic bougainvillea hedge. The Heaton/Hunt house, a spectacular 8,400-square-foot Mediterranean mansion, was built in 1923 with 5 bedrooms and 7 baths. The couple meticulously restored, renovated and decorated the residence, which was photographed for Architectural Digest in late 2009.

Photo: John Shearer, Wireimage

Other famous residents of Hancock Park include Kathy Bates whose house backs up to the Wilshire Country Club golf course, "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" writer and producer Shonda Rimes who recently dropped $5.6 million to purchase a 6 bedroom and 9 bathroom mansion from quirky musician Beck, and celebrity gossip queen Janet Charlton who lives in a mid-century modern house filled to the rafters with mid-century modern furniture that she unsuccessfully tried to sell in 2007.

Even more stars who call Hancock Park home are Partricia Arquette and Thomas Jane, "Reno 911" actor Tom Lennon who bought actress Maura Tierney's house for $2.195 million in mid-2009, and French fashion designer Christian Audigier, the man responsible for foisting the Ed Hardy label onto the world and whose house is on the market for $8.299 million.

While many celebrities can be capricious in their real estate choices, buying and selling houses like regular people buy groceries, it seems that the recent revival of Hancock Park as a neighborhood popular with Tinseltown types is here to stay for a long time.

For more on celebrity homes, don't miss:
- Ryan Phillipe Selling His Home
- Gwyneth Paltrow Loves This Furniture Designer
- Is Oprah Moving?

Is Oprah Getting a New House For the Holiday?

Mark David — 2010-11-19T10:07:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes, Cool Homes

Now that the superstar host is leaving prime time to run her own network, she needs a place in the New York area to call home -- or does she? Wait until you see this mega house.

Photo: AP

While many are out hunting for the perfect holiday gift, billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey has been out house hunting. Even though Winfrey owns half a dozen or more swank residences - including a waterfront compound on Antigua, a palatial penthouse in Chicago and a $50 million spread in Montecito, California - it's been reported that she recently had a look-see at a couple of high-priced homes in some of the über-upscale suburbs outside New York City.

In addition to a checking out a house in chock full o' celebrities Sneden's Landing, New York, a caravan of cars with dark windows reportedly pulled into the hoity-toity and star-studded enclave of Alpine, New Jersey. Here, Winfrey and her entourage took a tour of a recently finished mega-mansion on the market at a bone shattering $68 million. Forbes magazine consistently ranks Alpine among the top three most expensive zip codes in the country.

The English manor style mansion, built and owned by real estate magnate Richard Kurtz, measures in at a boutique hotel sized 30,000+ square feet with a total of 12 bedrooms and 15 full and 4 half baths. One would think that it would be perfect for Oprah, her long-time man-friend Steadman and gal-pal Gail. (If she hasn't toured it, she apparently should.)

The lavish interiors include ballroom sized formal living and dining rooms, an actual ballroom, library, conservatory, wine cellar, movie theater and massage room. There's even an indoor basketball court. Six fireplaces warm the residence and besides the double height entry with its dramatic staircase there are three additional stair halls and an elevator. Smart House technology allows the heating, cooling and security systems as well as the lights and curtains to be operated from anywhere in the world by remote via an iPhone app.

Photo: Prominent Properties / Sotheby's International Realty

The gated and sprawling grounds, carved out of the famous Frick estate, offer security and privacy, a carriage house, saline swimming pool and spa, pool house, tennis court, vast swathes of lawn, 300-year old trees and formal gardens. A 250-foot long heated driveway means Oprah would not ever have ask one of her live-in staff to shovel the drive.

If the retiring high-priestess of daytime talk shows opts to bite the real estate bullet and buy the decadent digs in Jersey, she'll count among her neighbors rich and famous folks like comedian Chris Rock, music tycoon Sean Combs, tweenage singing sensations The Jonas Brothers, music icon Stevie Wonder and that wacky Lil' Kim.

[Update: Curbed National broke the news that this may not be true at all. This morning, Oprah tweeted: "No truth to me looking for a house in Jersey. No idea who started that rumor. Been in Chicago all week working."

Darn! Because we're sort of in awe of the house.]

For more on celebrity homes, don't miss:
-Fashion Designers Open Up Their Homes
-Julia Roberts Buys Second Manhattan Apartment

Keller Williams Studio City

Demi Lovato House Watch: Did She Trade Up?

Mark David — 2010-11-12T11:41:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes

The 18-year-old star recently bought a new house for her and her family. But is the new Sherman Oaks house an improvement from her last home in Toluca Lake? Take a look at the photos and tell us what you think!

Disney darling Demi Lovato has had a rough time lately. Not only did she endure a very public break up with squeaky-clean Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, but the teenage actor and singer recently and surprisingly checked into rehab.

Early reports revealed that her stint in rehab has to do with longstanding emotional and physical issues that include self-mutilation and an eating disorder. More recent reports allege that fresh-faced Lovato may also have some troubles -- or at least familiarity -- with alcohol and cocaine.

The good news for Lovato is that she's a very successful and professionally in-demand young woman with the enviable financial power to buy her family a multi-million dollar compound in the suburban Los Angeles community of Sherman Oaks. Hopefully the new house (shown above), purchased by the 18-year-old for the very grown up sum of $2,250,000, will provide some much needed peace, quiet and privacy from her currently topsy-turvy life.

Redfin

For the last few years the Lovato clan has been shacked up in a six bedroom Mediterranean-style mini mansion (shown above) in Toluca Lake, an upscale Los Angeles enclave where a disproportionate number of tweenage Disney stars live or have lived including Hilary Duff, Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus. Property records indicate the boxy and formal residence stood at over 5,000 square feet on a tight lot with not much in the way of a backyard. It was leased, rather than owned, by Lovato and her parents, and it's currently on the market with an asking price of $1,799,000.

Property records show that Lovato's new crib, a Spanish-style compound from 1928 with a tussled, lived-in look and thick, lush and somewhat wild landscaping, occupies a private hillside lot. The back of the property tumbles down the hillside with numerous terraces, a heated swimming pool and spa, sport court and a couple patches of grass. A detached guesthouse that sits atop a three-car garage works perfectly as Miss Lovato's private quarters.

Now, not every 18-year-old has the buying power to move their family from one house to the next, so we had to have some fun with this one. Use the slider tool to compare the rooms in Lovato's old home to the new one -- the photos you see below are from her old home, but as you pull the blue slider to the right, you'll see her new digs!

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While the old living room lacked in charm, it made up for it with gracious proportions, pristine hardwood floors and a warm fireplace. The new living room has a Spanish authenticity with worn hardwood floors, a fireplace with antique tile surround and hearth, an arched window with city lights view and a vaulted ceiling with exposed trusses. Who wins here, old or new? It's a toss up.

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The new dining room has heavy rustic beams that run across the high ceiling and a scenic view of a brightly tiled fountain in the slim courtyard in front of the house. The old dining room was a much more old-fashioned affair with low ceilings and a traditional crystal chandelier. We definitely prefer the new dining room!

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Even though the kitchen at Lovato's new house is significantly smaller, both are equipped with loads of cabinets and professional-grade stainless steel appliances. But the winner is the new home, thanks to the clean look of the white tile.

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The family room at Lovato's old house has a fireplace, hardwood floors, double-height ceilings and sliding glass doors that open into the petite backyard. The new family room is a more cozy affair with a corner fireplace and Saltillo tile floors. And just out of the photo: a very 1970s-style sunken wet bar, even though Lovato is not old enough to drink liquor legally. We prefer the old family room here -- sorry, Lovato! It could just be the décor choices, which she'll surely overhaul soon enough.

Which home would you prefer? Tell us what you think in the comments!

Take a tour of more celebrity homes:
- Julia Roberts Buys Second NYC Apartment
- How We'd Redecorate Val Kilmer's Ranch
- Kelly Wearstler Puts Her House on the Market

Kelly Wearstler's Maximalist Mansion on the Market

Mark David — 2010-10-26T10:02:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes, Cool Homes

The Los Angeles designer puts another one of her wildly glamorous homes on the market. If you have $46 million and love animal prints, this one's for you.

Donato Sardella/WireImage.com; Everett Fenton Gidley for Westside Estate Agency.

Nobody could ever convince white-hot decorating daredevil Kelly Wearstler that there's even a shred of truth to the minimalist mantra, "Less is more." For Wearstler, a plucky and gorgeous gal almost as famous for her fearlessly outlandish fashion choices as her kooky but always carefully conceived decorating style, more is always better.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in her own home, a legendary Beverly Hills, California mansion that she and her smashingly successful property developer/hotelier husband Brad Korzen bought five years ago for $25 million. They renovated, decorated and now they're ready to sell -- for a vertigo-inducing $46 million.

The design-oriented duo hired Los Angeles architect Brian Tichenor to work over their über deluxe new digs in a manner that preserved much of the mansion's original architectural details.

Naturally, the lady of the house did up the interiors with the sort of audaciously maximalist décor that has become her signature stock in trade and has made her both revered and reviled by the notoriously difficult-to-please interior design world.

At the entrance, electronic gates swing open to a long celebrity style driveway. The drive swoops dramatically up the gentle slope to a motor court, which stretches out in front of the sprawling and architecturally dignified 11,000+ square foot Georgian-meets-Hollywood-Regency style mansion.

The mansion's main entrance, marked by a cluster of potted topiary balls, gives nary a hint to the extreme decorative fantasia that lies beyond.

Passing through the front door into the octagonal sky lit foyer feels a little like Alice going through the looking glass. Here is a world of bold architectural details, dizzying patterns and surreal tableau, where a cheeky glass topped table with a gilded base of arms and hands (by Mexican artist Pedro Friedeberg) and four Mackintosh-style ladder back chairs. The room speaks a decorative language that perhaps only Wearstler can comprehend.

A surprisingly muted palette prevails in the paneled formal living room where charcoal-colored wide plank wood floors stand in delicious contrast to the grayish-taupe colored paneling that covers the walls and ceiling. Upholstered arm chairs and a tufted black leather sofa form a seating area in front of the fireplace. On the coffee table is a suggestively lurid sculpture of a nude woman. A paneled alcove off the living room juxtaposes the pale black, white, beige and brass color scheme with the vibrant and lush foliage seen through the multi-paned window that stretches from floor to ceiling.

The dining room is daring in its decor but contains little more than a dining room table covered in a dense assemblage of busts and other sculptural bits and pieces. One would be hard pressed to find a square inch on which to set a champagne flute, let alone an entire place setting.

The room opens out onto an interior courtyard dotted with carefully trimmed boxwood balls.

In the paneled and pilastered den, there's a cacophonous but clear-headed mélange of 1970s decor: large-scale herring bone hardwood floors, a ceiling painted to look like a game of Pick-up Sticks, a glitzy antique crystal chandelier, and a black and white checked slab coffee table on top of which sits a shockingly large bronze bust. It's all wrong for a thousand reasons and yet, somehow, Wearstler makes it work.

No design stone was left unturned at the jaw dropping Wearstler/Korzen crib, not even in the dazzling and colossal cook's kitchen. It's kitted out with a glitzy combination of stainless steel and high-gloss black cabinetry, brass accents, marble counter tops and every high-grade and high-cost appliance money can buy.

An office/library, wrapped in custom wallpaper with a paint spatter pattern, has ebonized wood floors, a tiger-striped rug on top of which sit a pair of bizarre chairs shaped like bowing three-legged swans, and a handful of free-standing book shelves.

The room seems to have little use beyond looking picture perfect given that the flamboyant black lacquer and gilded Louis XV style desk has been rendered entirely unusable due to the spectacular throng of statues, vases, objet and stacks of books that cover every inch of its flat surface.

Angular contemporary artworks and animal prints in the sexed-up second floor master suite play against the classic paneling that wraps the room. A pair of doorways topped with matching pediments that repeat the shell motif found over the home's front door lead into a window-lined sitting room. In addition to the master suite, there are four family bedrooms plus two more for staff.

The expansive and lavishly maintained grounds include rolling lawns, rows of meticulously trimmed boxwood hedges and topiary, majestic mature shade trees, various fountains, a lighted tennis court and several outbuildings with a screening room and home gym. Sitting below the house, a quintessentially Old Hollywood-style swimming pool has an adjacent pool house/guest house with three bedrooms for overflow guests.

This isn't the only home Kelly's put on the market -- check out the Malibu Beach House she listed for $21.9 million.

For more on celebrity real estate, don't miss:

- Julia Roberts Buys Second Manhattan Apartment
- Inside Nicole Kidman's NYC Digs

And girls, ready your checkbooks, Kevin Jonas put his Texas house on the market.

Nicole Kidman's NYC Penthouse

Mark David — 2010-09-17T13:21:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, Celebrity Homes

Among the perks in Nicole Kidman's new New York City apartment: Views of the Hudson River and New Jersey skyline...and a sky garage!

Gabriel Bouys, AFP/Getty Images

Nicole Kidman's already robust real estate portfolio just got a little fatter. For many years, the alabaster-skinned Oscar-winning actress leased a series of swank New York City apartments, including the SoHo penthouse that Lenny Kravitz just sold to Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz. Now with a toddler in tow she and her country crooning superstar husband Keith Urban have opted to set down some expensive roots on the isle of Manhattan. According to rumors and reports the Kidman-Urban clan recently signed contracts to purchase a duplex penthouse apartment at a newly built and much ballyhooed building on the far western edge of the arty-farty and upscale Chelsea neighborhood.

200 Eleventh Avenue through Celebrity Home Photos

The stainless steel and terra cotta tile-clad building was designed by starchitect Annabelle Selldorf and its most famous feature is, without question, the private "sky garages." These garages are accessed by driving into a large elevator that lifts the car and its occupants up to a private single car garage space located on the same level as the car owner's deluxe digs. Fancy, right?

200 Eleventh Avenue through Celebrity Home Photos

Property records do not yet reflect a sale price, but according to a listing seen on StreetEasy, the two-floor unit measures 3,248 square feet with three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms -- and was last listed with an asking price of $12.5M. Each of the posh penthouse's rooms has unobstructed views of the Hudson River and the New Jersey skyline.

200 Eleventh Avenue through Celebrity Home Photos

The Kidman-Urban condo's primary entry is through a private elevator landing on the top floor that includes a formal living room and an über modern eat-in kitchen that can be concealed or revealed by opening or closing folding teak panels. In addition to a bedroom/study with walk-in closet and private bath, the top level of the duplex has a powder room and two large city view loggias.

A staircase descends to the lower floor where a dramatic double-height great room with two walls of floor to ceiling windows is flanked by a guest bedroom and bath on one side and the master suite on the other. (In the master suite: River views and a wall of custom-fitted closets and dressing area.) The lavish bathroom is fitted with custom-designed teak cabinetry, imported glazed lava stone counter tops from France, a separate shower and freestanding honed granite soaking tub.

Kidman and Urban, no strangers to luxe living, also own a major manse in Nashville, TN, a large contemporary crib in the same Beverly Hills neighborhood as Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz and a 110-acre country getaway about an hour and half outside of Sydney, Australia. (They also recently acquired a penthouse apartment in the Darling Point neighborhood overlooking the scenic Sydney Harbor.)

200 Eleventh Avenue through Celebrity Home Photos

Obama's Hawaii House

Mark David — 2010-09-09T14:38:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, House Tours, Celebrity Homes

Take a look inside the "Winter White House" -- the Obama family's cold weather getaway!

For the last two years President Barack Obama and the first family spent their winter holidays away from the icy chill and rough-and-tumble political environment of Washington, D.C. They packed their bathing suits, boarded Air Force One and headed to the scenic, sunny and serene eastern shore of Oahu, about 20 minutes outside of the hustle and bustle of Honolulu, HI.

Marco Garcia, AP

Rather than a Five Star resort, the first family opted to lease The Plantation Estate at Paradise Point, a casual but luxurious five-bedroom, 3 1/2-bathroom private home perfectly situated on the sands of low key Kailua Bay where, as it turns out, the president used to swim with his grandfather as a child. The walled and gated getaway sits on 4 1/2 ocean-front acres in an upscale, gated community and offers the Obama family the utmost in comfort, privacy and security. While online rental listings for the property show that the secluded and comfortably luxurious estate goes for anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 per night, we've got a peek inside that we're offering for free.

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Obamas Hawaii House

The house is guarded by seven-feet-tall lava rock walls and an electronically controlled gate, which slides open to a large motor court (Perfect for private comings and goings by the first family). A vine-covered pergola marks the entry from the motor court into a lushly landscaped and paparazzi-proof inner courtyard, where the first family can enjoy some peace and quiet: Hawaiian style.

The estate includes almost 5,000 square feet of interior space and another 2,000 square feet of covered lanais. The main living area is a gigantic great room with soaring peaked ceiling with exposed beams and trusses, sand colored marble floors, and walls of windows on two sides that open the room to the interior courtyard and the ocean views at the back of the house.

Just off the great room's dining area is a colossal kitchen where a private chef whipped up meals for the Obamas. The kitchen includes all the bells and whistles expected in a multi-million dollar vacation getaway including top-grade stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, a huge work island, a massive walk-in pantry and a large "L" shaped breakfast counter where Sasha and Malia probably ate their morning cereal.

A state-of-the-art media room has plenty of seating for all the Obamas -- plus a few Secret Service agents -- and a built-in entertainment center, complete with a 60-inch flat-screen television with speakers hidden behind laser-carved wooden mahogany leaves.

The master suite includes a large bedroom and sitting area with a wall of windows that slide open to the backyard and ocean view. There's also a large walk-in closet and a spa-style bathroom with a separate shower, twin vanities and a huge spa tub that sits on a raised platform. The view from the large window beside it? A direct look out onto Kailua Beach, one of Oahu's premiere stretches of sand.

There are two additional bedroom suites, each with private bath. One of which opens into the covered porch that wraps around the interior courtyard, the other has a private lanai surrounded by a tall lava rock wall and planted with thick tropical foliage for perfect privacy. Previous reports reveal that Sasha and Malia share one of these bedrooms. Wonder which one they chose...

The first lady's favorite spot for reading is reported to be the deep covered lanai off of the living/dining room. It's fitted with a built-in wet bar and television, neither of which compare to the views of the wide rolling lawn that stretches out towards the Kailua Bay, the Mokulua Islands and the Ko'olau Mountain Range.

All beaches in Hawaii are considered public lands by state law, so when the Obamas want a little pap-free time at the beach, they hop in their blacked-out SUVs and head down to a nearby Marine base where a private beach ensures that no photos of them in their bathing suits will make it into the tabloids, papers or on the evening news.

And when the family doesn't feel like schlepping to the Marine base beach, there's a lagoon-style swimming pool in the villa's very private inner courtyard with rock-scaping, resort-style landscaping and eight water falls including one that spills dramatically into the spa.

A couple of covered lanais and an outdoor dining pavilion surround the swimming pool and encourage the easy breezy indoor-outdoor lifestyle Hawaii is famous for.

For more information on renting the Winter White House, check out The Plantation Estate at Paradise Point.

Brad and Angelina Say, 'Ciao Italia!'

Mark David — 2010-09-09T10:22:00 00:00

Filed under: Famous Homes, News & Trends, Celebrity Homes

Watch out Italy, the Brangelina brood is headed your way. The power-duo reportedly dropped $40 million on an Italian villa.

Steve Granitz, Wireimage.com

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have added yet another historic and insanely high priced European estate to their already bulging property portfolio. In 2008 the perpetually peripatetic ex-pats picked up a 1,000-acre estate in the South of France known as 'Chateau Miraval' and recent reports reveal that the comely couple dropped some big bucks on a rustic retreat in the scenic northeastern Italian countryside.

Splash News

It all started in the spring of 2010 when the Jolie-Pitt clan decamped to Italy for a few months while Jolie filmed scenes for her upcoming thriller 'The Tourist.' It wasn't long before the real estate crazy couple became smitten with the rolling countryside in the Valpolicello region just outside of Verona. So they did what people with mountains of money sometimes do when taken with a locale: They went house hunting. Their search led them to the itty-bitty Italian town of San Pietro in Cariano and the 'Villa Costanza.'

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The undeniably aristocratic but somewhat down on it's heels 'Villa Costanza' -- also known as Villa Saibante-Mongo' -- dates back to the early decades of the 17th century and was listed for sale with an A-listers only asking price of $32 million euros. Most reports say the couple coughed up somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 million for the fixer upper.

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According to the official website of the Comune di San Pietro in Cariano, the U-shaped villa wraps around a central courtyard guarded by two carved stone lions. A colonnade runs around the interior of the courtyard that includes mythological statues, a well that dates back to 1623 and a lot of overgrown bushes.

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With 18,000 sq. ft. there's more than enough room for the always expanding Jolie-Pitt crew at the 'Villa Costanza,' which the couple reportedly plans to use as a vacation home. In addition to the 15 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms in the Palladian-style villa, there are at least two gigantic and regal reception rooms that feature antique tile floors, coffered ceilings and walls covered with 17th-century frescos and panels painted with portraits of historically notable people.

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The 'Villa Constanza' includes 2 swimming pools, several spas, waterfalls, a cinema, gym, and stables. There's even a vineyard, which makes sense since the Valpolicello region is one of the centers of Italy's viticultural industry. Perhaps the Jolie-Pitts will start producing their own wine that they can sell and donate the proceeds to one of the many charities they support.

Steve Dennett, Splash News

Although there is some speculation that the Pitt-Jolies have leased rather than purchased both the 'Chateau Miraval' and the 'Villa Costanza,' the couple do own a number of other swank homes including an historic mansion in New Orleans, a 5+ acre compound in Los Angeles' Los Feliz neighborhood, a sleek house perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, another ocean front compound just north of Santa Barbara, and close to 150,000 acres of Cambodian jungle with a traditional house on stilts that Jolie picked up prior to hooking up with Pitt and just after adopting her oldest child Maddox.

See more on the Brangelina Villa over at Real Estalker.

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