10 celebrities you had no idea were into interior design
Stars with style and their gorgeous decor
They are some of the world's best-known actors, musicians and models but these super stylish celebrities have got another string to their bow. From Drew Barrymore's eclectic decor to Ellen DeGeneres' huge property portfolio, discover the stars that are secret gurus of interior design...
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Kanye West
He might best known for his outrageous tweets and unlikely relationship with President Trump but the rapper Kanye West has recently started venturing into the world of interior design and architecture. As is evident from his fashion label, Yeezy, West is a fan of elegant minimalism and has recently been working alongside Belgian interior designer, Axel Vervoordt.
Collaborating
In April 2018, West tweeted a series of photos from the Hidden Hills home in California that he currently shares with his three young children and wife, Kim Kardashian. It seems the rapper couldn't wait to share with the world what he had been working on. Chalky, pale and weirdly austere, Kanye's vision for a modern home isn't for everybody...
Elegant minimalism
The secretive family have so far refused to let cameras into their home, so this sneak peek gave fans a great insight. Using mainly polished concrete, the washed out colour palette fits in within the typical minimalistic style of Axel Vervoordt, who Kanye collaborated with on the project.
Yeezy home
Yet again using social media, Kanye announced the creation of a new architecture branch called 'Yeezy Home'. Less than a month later, West and collaborators Jalil Peraza, Petra Kustrin, Nejc Skufca and Vadik Marmelado unveiled renderings for a flat-pack home, or as they put it, a 'prefabricated affordable housing prototype'.
Concrete design
The slick images show a concrete panelled apartment with a courtyard and sun-lit kitchen that many bloggers called out as 'prison chic'. Kanye, as you would expect, has no doubts about the project's success. “I’m going to be one of the biggest real estate developers of all time,” West said recently. “Like what Howard Hughes was to aircrafts and what Henry Ford was to cars.”
Shutterstock / Sotheby’s Real Estate
Drew Barrymore
She might be best known for starring in everything from Charlie’s Angels to Never Been Kissed, but it turns out that Drew Barrymore has many more talents than just acting. She has her own line of make-up, her own range of sunglasses, and she’s even crafted her own varieties of wine using grapes from her native California. But it’s at home where Barrymore really likes to get creative. This picture was taken at her house in Santa Barbara where she took on interior designing duties.
1950s charm
It looks like Drew may have sought some inspiration from the 1950s for her designs. This room oozes style from that era and looks like it’s straight from the set of a John Drew Barrymore movie, her notorious film director father.
Country house-chic
Barrymore’s house might be in the middle of California, but this baby room has all the features of a quintessentially English country manor. From the chalky green colour that looks suspiciously like Farrow & Ball to the floral curtains complete with a pelmet, the decor in Drew's house is something of a surprise.
An eclectic dining room
The quirky spin on traditional styling continues with Barrymore’s oversized dining room – it has a touch of the classic Martha Stewart lived-in look that’s become so popular but is dotted with sheepskin rugs and painted in a vivid chartreuse colour to add a twist.
Psychedelic sofa
The cosy yet retro vibe develops further in this adventurous living room with a brightly patterned sofa and a kitsch ceramic dog statuette. “I’m happiest when my home is filled with family and friends – and I want it to be comfortable and inviting for them,” she told People in 2016. “There’s nothing more awkward then walking into someone’s house, looking around and not being sure where it’s safe to sit.”
A step on the property ladder
The Santa Barbara house is set on two acres, with the building taking up 6,000 square feet. After Barrymore oversaw the refurbishment of its interiors she eventually resold the property a number of years later.
Getty Images for Shutterfly
Drew's homewares
Did we mention that Barrymore has her own line in home decor as well? The mother of two teamed up with Shutterfly in 2016 to make a range of boho-inspired designs that feature on things like kitchenware and shower curtains. “As I started throwing ideas around with the designers, I was also redoing my own bedroom," she said. "I found this piece of fabric that ended up setting the entire tone for my room and I was able to tweak it to design something that’s hopefully attractive and fun.”
Brad Pitt
After starring in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt took delivery of a custom-made desk. But it wasn't any old bespoke bureau, because it was designed by super-high-end furniture maker, Frank Pollaro. The designer decided to deliver the desk in person and the two struck up a friendship. Now, more than ten years later, they’ve collaborated on a collection of super high-end furniture that includes retro beds, patent-leather chairs and 9ft tables.
Global Green USA / Flickr
Brad the builder
It turns out Pitt also builds sustainable and affordable houses. The actor set up his Make It Right foundation in 2006 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina after seeing the devastation wreaked by flooding on the Lower 9th Ward neighbourhood of New Orleans, where he lives part-time. So far he and his team have built more than 100 homes to rehouse the people displaced by the disaster. Each of the properties comes with solar panels to reduce utility bills by 75 per cent. Well done, Brad.
Pitt's home project
All of the Make It Right homes are elevated to protect them from flooding and the project has been so successful that its become a tourist attraction. No wonder Pitt is feeling proud of his achievement: “The message of Make It Right was to take this spot that was emblematic of such human failure and to make it a human success story on how we can build in the future, how we can build for families, how we can build with quality, and how we can build with the community under their guidelines.”
PA Images / Sotheby's Realty
Ellen DeGeneres
This beautifully pared-back property in Santa Barbara, California, Is just one of many homes the chat show host has renovated over the years. She has a big passion for all things design – so much so that she loves nothing more than moving house. This penchant for upping sticks might make her a something of a glutton for punishment, but it’s actually led to a whole new side-career in interior design.
An ambitious designer
The minimalist and modern chef’s kitchen is a hallmark of the Ellen DeGeneres look. The marble worktops and stainless steel fixtures compliment the rustic exposed ceiling beams and stripped-back stone walls perfectly. And judging by that oversized cooker hood, it looks like some serious cooking has happened here.
Ellen the property mogul
A lot of thought has clearly gone into this aesthetic. The entranceway of the 1930s Tuscan-style villa features everything from a baroque side table to a statement light fitting by French designer, Serge Mouille. The self-proclaimed design buff is showing her interior design expertise here – and proving why she has her own TV show on the subject, Ellen’s Design Challenge, and her own lifestyle brand called ED, by Ellen.
So good she wrote the book
The master bedroom features a set of doors that lead out onto a stone terrace, where you’ll find a Roman pool and spa with views looking out over olive groves and the Pacific Ocean. DeGeneres has revealed her interior design secrets in a book she released in 2015 – Ellen DeGeneres Home (Grand Central Publishing) – which features the behind-the-scenes stories of seven homes she’s refurbished.
Lionel Richie
We know Lionel Richie for making some of the biggest mega-hits of the 1980s, but now you can say Hello to his range of interior design goods too – introducing Lionel Richie Home…
'Truly' magnificent dinnerware
Lionel Richie Home was launched in 2016 and includes everything from dinnerware and bar goods to entertaining accessories.
Grand designs
Some of it is pretty flamboyant, and rightly so – this is the kind of stuff that should get your party guests Dancing On The Ceiling.
Richie's worldly home
"What I'm trying to do here is show travel," said Richie of how he approached the interior design of the property that overlooks the Los Angeles Country Club. “Finally I've found a place where I can apply everything I see in other countries. I call the rooms in my house 'destinations'. If I want to be in a suite in Paris, I go upstairs to the bedroom and close the door. Italy? I walk outside to the stone path bordering the property and look back to see the cardinal's house."
Sampling the merchandise
Richie loves his new line so much that he’s replaced everything in his Beverly Hills house with items from Lionel Richie Home. “The biggest compliment you can give me is to walk into any of these rooms and say, ‘I can stay here for a while,’” said Richie. “I feel about my home the way I feel about my music – you have to take chances."
Christie Brinkley
The American actress and supermodel clearly has classic tastes when it comes to choosing a style and period of property – such as this lavish Greek Revival Hamptons house that was built in 1843. But step inside and you’ll find she likes to impose her adventurous personality on the interior of her home.
It's a sign
Behind the imposing columns and grand facades it’s all about sumptuous homely furnishings with a retro-kitsch feel extending to the kitchen, which features a some cool vintage signage we like the look of.
Fun and friendly living space
Brinkley played a big role in the refurbishments of this five-bedroom, six-bathroom house that stretches over 5,500 square feet. The open-plan living space works well here, with Brinkley’s fun approach to the décor and incidental furniture making for some standout features which complement the property’s period features nicely.
Space to breathe
This place is massive! It stretches over 4.44 acres of land that includes a wooded area, garden and beach, so it's pretty impressive that Brinkley managed to make the interiors of the oversized properly appear so homely.
Victoria and David Beckham
You’d think an A-List power couple like the Beckhams wouldn’t have the time to think about interior design, but it turns out Victoria takes a keen interest in the finer details of each and every property where she and David have lived. Take a look at this opulent mansion in the South of France, for example: Victoria personally oversaw the renovations of the 19th-century villa that comes with 6,500 square feet of living space.
Pared back and perfect
Victoria didn’t work alone, however. She enlisted the expertise of Chelsea-based designer, Rose Uniacke, who helped her pare things back and create a new look for her family’s latest abode. There’s no more ostentatious furnishings from the Beckingham Palace days in Hertfordshire (1999-2015) and instead there’s understated class for a new way of life in the discreet ambiance of Provence. We love the neat combination shiny kitchen units with stainless steel worktops and polished concrete walls.
A romantic bedroom
The minimalist style of the furnishings certainly lets the character of the Provence property shine through. This bedroom, with its blank walls and hushed tones, is serene yet welcoming, which is a difficult balance to strike. But we can't work out if the ceiling here has some kind of Trompe-l'œil effect applied to it or if those blotches are actually damp patches – surely not...
A provincial dining room
The dining area still has a few flourishes, though, with just enough going on to complement those beautiful exposed beams. Those long and flowing drapes add a modern touch too.
Diane Keaton
It’s hard to think of a celebrity who’s more closely associated with interior design than Diane Keaton. The Annie Hall star has been passionate about architecture and home furnishings for as long as she can remember – and she released a book about her favourite style of properties in her home state of California. Spread across more than 300 pages, California Romantica focuses on Spanish Colonial and Mission-style properties, featuring the work of architects like Lilian Rice and Wallace Neff.
Art In Fine Forms / Flickr
History repeating
This photograph was taken at Keaton’s home in Beverly Hills. It’s a 1920s Mission-style property she furnished herself, drawing inspiration from Spanish and Dutch colonial styles with statement Monterey pieces, such as this beautiful bed and chunky storage chest.
Pinspiration
It turns out that Keaton gets all of her ideas on Pinterest. Her third book about interior design is called The House That Pinterest Built and reveals how she found inspiration for her distinct style. "The more I pinned, the more I let myself fantasize,” she says of the website that encourages you to pin your favourite things. “If you steal enough ideas from as many sources as possible you usually come up with something unexpected.”
Reese Witherspoon
Here’s another Hollywood heroine who’s big into property but instead of taking inspiration from the hills above Los Angeles, Reece Witherspoon has looked to the famous Southern hospitality of New Orleans, where she was born. The Walk The Line star has her own lifestyle brand that’s full of bright and breezy looks for the home.
Playing shop
Witherspoon grew up in Nashville, which is where she’s debuted her Draper James store which sells everything from entertaining accessories to clothes. It’s been so successful that she’s opened up four more stores across Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia.
Reese's shelfie
"When our customers walk in the door, I hope they will feel warm and welcome, just as if they were invited into my home for a glass of sweet tea," said Witherspoon of her shop. And judging by the alluring look of the Dallas branch of Draper James, it seems that she’s done exactly that.
Living the brand
She clearly practises what she preaches when it comes to furnishing her homes. This is her stunning house in Bel-Air, one of many properties owned by Reese Witherspoon. It might have a modest four bedrooms, but it takes up a whopping 8,772 square feet! We love the way she's chosen deep-hued wooden furniture to complement those amazing ceiling beams which span right across the church-like roof.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Celebrity property moguls
Still hungry for more? The Kardashian-Jenner family aren't just reality TV stars – this super-savvy clan has amassed an incredible collection of homes in California. Take a look at their roster of luxury properties in our Keeping Up With The Kardashians gallery.