Celebrity Home of the Week: Donna Karan's Island Retreat

After yesterday's post about a famous hip-hop mogul's home, we figured we'd give you something nice to look at today.  Fortunately, the latest issue of Architectural Digest (December 2009) offers plenty of choices. We just got ours in the mail this week and we were delighted to see that the entire issue is devoted to celebrity homes. And we loved almost every home we saw!

We especially loved the British West Indies family retreat of celebrated fashion designer Donna Karan (shown above on the left, with her daughter Gabrielle).  It's earthy and gorgeous!

SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS RETREAT AFTER THE JUMP BELOW
Donna's family retreat consists of a series of pavilions -- including separate guest, spa and yoga pavilions-- ranging from 4,000 to 7,000 square feet each.  All are located on Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands.  It reminds us of film-maker Rob Cohen's Bali retreat.

The main house pavillion (top photo and below) is casually open, with ocean views and numerous spots for lounging.

In contrast, the guesthouse living room, filled with beautiful African Art, looks wonderfully secluded:

And imagine waking up bathed in the morning sunlight in this master bedroom in the spa pavilion:

 We would never leave!  That's why, it's our Celebrity Home of the Week!  Ciao!

To see more of this fabulous home and read the story of how it came to exist, go here.  Photos by Durston Saylor.

Celebrity Home of the Week: Sigrid Olsen's Home

Sorry for the late posting.  Today is such a terrible news day. One day after the mass shooting at Fort Hood, we now have another mass shooting, this time in Orlando. It's the kind of day to make us question why we do what we do.

FIND OUT WHO THIS WOMAN IS and SEE WHY HER HOME INSPIRES US>>

In searching for something to put it all in perspective, we ran across a slideshow from the New York Times about the home of well-known fashion designer Sigrid Olsen.  Until last year, Sigrid designed clothes under her own label for Liz Claiborne.  She has since traded in her spacious home for a tiny bungalow in the Rocky Neck art colony of Gloucaster, MA.

What you don't learn from the slideshow is that Sigrid battled breast cancer a few years ago, which ultimately led her to back to her earlier love of painting. 

She now sells her artwork from her 1,200 square foot bungalow, which houses her combined living, work, and gallery spaces.  The dining room table (above) serves as her work space and her husband (below)manages the gallery from the living room. 

The garage provides additional studio space for Sigrid as well as her 90-year old father (below), who is also a painter.

In short, we are inspired by Sigrid and we love her home.  It is our Celebrity Home of the Week. 

The recent shootings remind us how fragile life can be.  We believe the choices we make about where to live and how to live should reinforce what is really important to us.  In Sigrid's case, it isn't a spacious mansion or a lot of high end furniture that brings her joy.  It's a small home in a lovely little community where she can pursue her passion for art and spend time with her family.

So, to answer our own question:  We examine the homes of celebrities to find inspiration and at the same time learn more about what's important to them and ourselves. 

Tell us, does your home inspire you?  Does it reinforce what is really important to you?

Photos by Jodi Hilton for the NY Times.  To learn more about Sigrid's Art, visit http://www.sigridolsenart.com/.

What's Inside the Home of Top Design Judge & Elle Decor Editor-in-Chief Margaret Russell?

Today, we end our week-long coverage of the homes of the main cast of Bravo's Top Design show with a "look" at the home of Margaret Russell.  As many of you know, Margaret is the editor-in-chief of Elle Decor magazine and served as a judge on Top Design.  What you may not know is that Margaret is very private and never lets anyone photograph the inside of her home. 

Fortunately for us, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article last year by Anh-Minh Le detailing her interview with Margaret.  In the article, we found many clues as to what the inside of her home looks like and the design style that most resembles hers.

In the article, Margaret describes her Manhattan apartment as "very white - white walls, white furniture." She also has an art collection that apparently keeps her apartment from looking too stark.  Says Margaret: "My style is more pared down than what's in the magazine. I'm bombarded by pattern and color in the office. It's so crazy there that I wanted something more peaceful at home."

In 2007, she wrote a book, So Chic: Glamorous Lives, Stylish Spaces, in which she chronicled many of her favorite homes that have been featured in Elle Decor: 

In talking with Anh-Minh, Margaret singles out the home of Ralph Lauren in Montauk, NY, as being most closely aligned with her style.  That thrills us to no end because we LOVE Ralph Lauren as an interior designer!  (His clothes are fab too!)

It took some effort, but we found photos of Ralph's house on the website of Pieter Estersohn, the amazing photographer used for the feature.  Here are a few shots of the living room and den:

Margaret also appreciates the design approach in Sarah Jessica Parker's weekend home (also featured in the book) in Bridgehampton, NY:

Margaret particularly liked Sarah's ability to mix high and low items, including tables from IKEA in her living room (above).

We've always liked Sarah's quirky dining room (above) and now we can't help but notice the stark white walls that must appeal to Margaret!

Well, Margaret, at least we feel like we know you a teensy bit better now!
 
Photos of Sarah Jessica Parker's house and So Chic cover photo by William Waldron.

Lofty Living with Top Design Host & Mentor Todd Oldham

This week we're featuring the homes of the judges and hosts of Bravo's Top Design show, which is possibly returning in January of next year.  Today, we look at Todd Oldham--a jack of all trades in the design world--who is probably better suited behind the camera.  Seriously!  Among other things, he works as a photographer and graphic artist.

Like Kelly Wearstler, Todd does a lot of hotel interior design work.  His big thing is colorful retro graphic prints mixed with a bit zen.  And as with Kelly, we're fortunate enough to get a 2-for-1 on Todd's home design.

A few years ago, Metropolitan Home visited Todd at his loft (above) in New York's Financial District.  He definitely has a way with graphics.  The striped walls in his living room below are a nice backdrop for his art collection. 

What we like about Todd is that he believes in accessible design.  His place is a real apartment, not a designer showplace.  It has sleek mid-century modern looking furnishings, some designed by Todd himself.  The room-dividing shelving units are a necessity that those living in small spaces can really appreciate.

Todd also has a weekend home in Pennsylvania:  Another loft!   But it's not the same kind of loft.  It's this treehouse:

We're starting to wonder, though, if Todd is a one-trick pony.  Like his New York apartment, this one has striped walls and is filled mid-century style pieces. 

Here, the walls are covered in colorful Charles Harper prints.

Incidently, did we tell you that Todd is a writer too? He just wrote about Harper.

We told you Todd was a man of many talents!
 
Photos compiled from various sources, including Metropolitan Home and New York magazine.

At Home With Top Design Judge Kelly Wearstler: Love Her or Hate Her?

By now you know that we're featuring the homes of the main cast of Bravo's Top Design reality show, which looks like a no-show this season.  Too bad because one of our favorite celebrity interior designers, Kelly Wearstler, was quite entertaining as one of the judges--even if only for those wild clothes she wore!

Love her or hate her, Kelly's the only interior designer who truly gets what was fabulous about 1980's design.  If you're old enough to remember watching "Miami Vice" and "Dynasty," then all you probably want to do is forget that era.  But Kelly will make you reconsider, as she has almost single-handedly changed the way boutique hotels look today.  Thanks to her, the tired zen look is out and the snazzy no-two-rooms-are-alike look is definitely in.

Lucky for us, we have a 2-for-1 on Kelly's "home" work today.  Vogue just featured her Beverly Hills home in its October issue and Metropolitan Home currently features her glam Malibu beach house in its November issue.

Up first, the Malibu beach house:

We love everything about the living room, above, from the marble walls and bleached walnut floors to the modern Soriano sofa paired with vintage chairs.  Did you notice the fireplace?  Or the abstract cabinet behind the sofa?

We even love the dining room, below, with its stone pedestal table and vintage bucket chairs:

 

This bedroom is a mix of old and new pieces:

The hand-painted wallpaper and side tables are designed by Kelly.  Everything else:  pure vintage.

Not exactly a beach-y look, but we don't care! It's totally fab!

But what about Kelly's Beverly Hills house?

Well, we're not exactly digging the foyer's hand-painted wallpaper custom designed by her.  It looks like her kids took a paint brush to the walls!  And she has the same gold Pedro Friedeberg "Hand" chair that we saw in Jonathan Adler's apartment. 

Gosh, she even has Friedeberg's "Hands" table in the entrance hall (below):

In the photo of her drawing room below, she boldly combines a vintage leather sofa with a marble checkerboard coffee table.  There's also a glamorous 19th century chandelier coupled with a ceiling covered in a paper similar to the one on the bedroom walls of her beach house.

Okay, so maybe it's all a little too much--even for us!  But we still love Kelly's style!  And her confidence too!

All photos by Francois Halard.   Be sure to check out the articles and slideshows about Kelly's beach house here and her Beverly Hills house here.

Top Design Host India Hicks & Her Island Hideaway

This week we're featuring the homes of the main cast of Bravo's possibly-defunct Top Design reality show.  Today, we'll take a look at the island home of the show's host for Season Two, India Hicks.

Bravo has a successful formula for choosing the hosts for their hit reality shows:  beauty + knowledge of the industry.  For Project Runway and Top Chef, Bravo chose gorgeous former models Heidi Klum and Padma Lakshmi as hosts respectively.  Heidi had a clear connection to fashion as she was a supermodel, doing runway shows for many major clothing designers in the industry.  Padma already had a food connection, as she has written cookbooks in the past and previously hosted a show on the Food Network.

So when it came to Top Design, India seemed like a natural choice.  She's an attractive former model, the daughter of celebrated British interior designer David Hicks, and a fairly decent interior designer herself.   She is also the second cousin and god-daughter of HRH Prince Charles (on her mum's side).

India lives on Harbour Island in the Bahamas with her partner David Flint Wood (a former ad executive) and their four children.  They have a main house along with two guesthouses and a pavillion (shown above and below) that they sometimes rent out.   And as you can see, she's got the "British West Indies Meets Shabby Chic Beach House" style down pat:

  

In looking at the rooms above and the den and bedrooms below, we'd say she's an amateur designer at best--which is a bit surprising considering who her dad is.  It's all nice, but there's nothing to WOW you.

As for her gig on Top Design, we still think one problem was a lack of personality on India's part.  In fact, her home isn't exactly chock full of it either.  We also wonder whether her British aristocracy makes her a bit "aloof without mystery" such that the audience can't relate to her. 

But who are we kidding?  She must live a really beautiful life on that island.  After all, we'd happily take in this view every day:

Wish we were there!

Photos from India's book Island Life and her website, www.hibiscushillharbourisland.com.  For more photos, there's a nice slideshow on the website for Cookie magazine.  It's another great magazine that bit the dust recently, so be sure to check it out before the website goes down. 

Top Design Judge Jonathan Adler's Happy Chic Home

This week we're featuring the homes of the main cast of Bravo's Top Design reality show.  First up is the Palm Beach, Florida home of Jonathan Adler, a renowned interior designer, furniture designer, potter, and one of the judges on the show. 

We've always loved Jonathan's work--sort of pop art meets Palm Beach preppy. He describes his approach as "Happy Chic" and we agree!

Fortunately for us, Jonathan's oceanfront apartment was featured in the November issue of Elle Decor last year, allowing us to see how he and his partner Simon Doonan (writer & creative director for Barney's)actually live.  Their living room below was featured on the cover:

While we loved it--especially the Warren Platner chair in the rear corner--we actually liked this seating area in the other part of the living room even better:

No offense Jonathan, but we bet these chairs are a bit more comfy than those Pedro Friedeberg "Hand" chairs in the living room! 

What else makes this place so fab?  How about Simon's writing desk (designed by Adler!) above and its Atlantic Ocean view?  Or the dining room below?

We still can't get over how this place is bursting with color, even though all the walls are painted white.  We also love that although they were working with only 1600 square feet, they managed to make their home feel large and airy. 

The only room that we're still on the fence about is the master bedroom: 

We love the individual elements, particularly that vintage mirrored  four-poster bed and the suzani fabric bed covering.  They're both to-die-for!

But we don't think this room completely works.  For one thing, the bed floats in the middle of the space.  This is a layout that is extremely difficult to get right, and we don't think they did.  We would think it's hard to feel grounded with the random items behind what is presumably the head of the bed.

Then again, who knows?  Maybe there IS no head and they can just sleep any which way they want!

We think we have our first contender for our Celebrity Home of the Week!

All photos by Colleen Duffley.  For more info, check out the article and slideshow.

Badgley-Mischka at Home in Kentucky

After Elle Decor's September issue featured John Mayer's condo, with an interior designed by Georgio Armani, we commented that clothing designers should avoid delving into interior design. We must admit, however, that we had not flipped through all the pages of this issue.

Turns out that this is one of the best issues ever--and it features nothing but home interiors by clothing and jewelry designers!

Have a look at this gorgeous weekend home of celebrated clothing designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka, the design team of Badgley-Mischka who are also partners in real life.

A dutch colonial happens to be one of our favorite architectural styles (second only to mid-century modern). So it comes as no surprise that we were already prepared to love it.

We were surprised, though, at how much we liked the heavy use of black throughout the house. The library above is dark and cozy.

Granted, their master bedroom is a little too reminiscent of Ralph Lauren's "horse country" look, but Kentucky IS horse country and this IS a real horse farm.

So there you have it. Badgley and Mishka's home offers clear proof that clothing designers CAN do interior design well. We stand corrected!

Checkout the slideshow for many, many more photos of this lovely home. Better yet, pick up a copy of the September issue of Elle Decor. It's a keeper for sure.

Photos: Roger Davies

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