Celebrity Homes

Thursday, 27 June 2013

Page's Restaurant and Coffee Shop in Northridge Postcard

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Megan Hess - Fashion House

This week over at Our Little Place I've had a chat to Illustrator Megan Hess

in the People Behind The Book series.

Megan has collected her beautiful illustrations for her book aptly titled Fashion House

and it is the perfect fit for the Our Little Place book shop.

Megan is such a beautiful lady and her work is gorgeous so I wondered

(like most interior obsessed people) what Megan's home would be like.

So after a little investigation I came across this ...

Megan's home is a converted church in Melbourne where she lives with

her architect husband and two young children.

It gets even better as we go into her closet ...

Please pop over and read about Megan in People Behind The Book.

If you'd like to shop for Fashion House, pop over here to the Our Little Place Book Shop.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

images via interiorsaddict, adoremagazine, akitecture

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

SELLER: Bill and Melinda Gates
LOCATION: Hobe Sound, FL
PRICE: $6,600,000
SIZE: 9,458 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 7 full and 2 half bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It was South Florida-based celebrity and society gossip Jose Lambiet who first let the real estate cat out of the bag about zillionaire software super-mogul Bill Gates and his wife Melinda shelling out $8.7 million for an equestrian estate in a gated enclave in the horsey community of Wellington, FL.

Well, children, turns out the horsey spread in Wellington isn't the only Sunshine State property that Mister and Missus Gates currently own. At least not according to a well-connected snitch we'll call Wendy Whistleblower who whispered to Your Mama via covert communique that in August 2009 the Washington State-based couple quietly coughed up $5,000,000 for well-maintained mini-mansion in sleepy but swanky Hobe Sound, FL.

Lo and behold, using an address supplied by Miz Whistleblower, Your Mama almost immediately discovered the Hobe Sound residence in question, the one Miz Whistleblower says is owned by Bill and Melinda Gates,* is actually for sale on the open market—and has been since January 2012—with an asking price of $6,600,000.

Current listing details describe the single story mini-mansion as a "Spectacular European villa" that sits on 5.24 mostly mangroved acres with 200 feet of direct frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway. Listing details go on to indicate the mansard-roofed manse was built in 2003 with four bedrooms and seven full and two half bathrooms in 9,458 square feet of recently refreshed interior space replete with sand and terra-cotta-colored checkered marble floors, high ceilings with thick crown molding, and an impressive amount of custom cabinetry and mill work **

A center hall foyer flanked by a wood-paneled library and a formal dining room stretches deep into the house where it opens in to an immense, stone tile floored formal living room with a weirdly wee fireplace. Three sets of wood-framed glass doors open to the outdoors and another set opens in to an airy, window-ringed room with a soaring wood plank lined ceiling and a dark-bottomed indoor swimming pool. Terraces, patios and loggias that line the rear of the residence give way to a flat patch of grass sliced by a brick path that leads to a raised wooden walkway that becomes a permanent dock as it extends out over the shimmering Intracoastal. Other notable features include an expensively equipped center island kitchen, a spacious laundry room with dual washers and dryers, and a water view master suite with dual bathrooms.

Some of the children may recall that, as of yesterday, Your Mama was only aware of two private homes owned by Mister and Missus Gates: the newly purchased horse place in Wellington and their 50,000 square foot lake front super-compound in Medina (WA). Since then it's come to our attention that Mister and Missus Gates maintain a healthy handful of high-maintenance luxury properties.

The couple has been widely reported to belong to the Yellowstone Club, a frightfully expensive,*** members only golf and ski community in Big Sky, MT where other members include the likes of politicos Dan Quayle and Bill Frist, Beverly Hills businessman Burt Sugarman and his celebrity gossip journalist wife Mary Hart, parking lot mogul and much-maligned former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, three time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, and media, entertainment, and tech world power player Peter Chernin, to name but a few.

Since the summer of 1999 the the Gates have also owned a sprawling 13,573 square foot residence on 1.33 acres that backs up to a Tom Fazio-designed golf course at the guard-gated and ultra-posh Vintage Club in Indian Wells, CA. Property records and other online resources indicate they paid $12.5 million for their deluxe desert digs through a trust that familiarly links back to Mister Gate's father's law offices in Kirkland (WA). According to property records and other online resources, some of the other big-rich home owners at The Vintage Club include: influential businessman Kent Kresa; Texas-based beer and banking tycoon Bud Dillard's widow, Kay; Louisiana energy mogul William Doré; bajillionaire industrialist and conservative political activist Charles Koch; French paper pasha Jacques Lejeune; the late Austrian industrialist Friedrich Flick's multi-billionaire widow Ingrid; agro-industrialist Cargil MacMillan's multi-billionaire widow Donna; and Las Vegas casino owner Faye Johnson.

*For the record, Your Mama can't link Mister or Missus Gates specifically to the Hobe Sound estate in question but a perusal of property records reveals the posh pad is indeed owned through a corporate concern that, like many of Mister and Missus Gates' real estate holdings, links directly back to Mister Gates' father's law offices in Kirkland, WA. The same corporate entity, as it turns out, also owns a whole mess of ranch land—several hundred acres, at least—north of Denver along the Front Range Urban Corridor in and around the communities of Berthoud and Loveland.

**For the record, the Martin County Tax Man shows the house has five bedrooms and six bathrooms in 7,278 square feet.

***The New York Times reported in June 2009 that members cough up a minimum of a quarter million dollars to join the club, spend another $5-35 million to buy and/or build a house, and are saddled with what otherwise sounds quite reasonable $20,000 in annual dues.

listing photos: Waterfront Properties and Club Communities

Battlestar Galactica on Backlot Tour at Universal Studios Postcard

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Celeb R.E.: Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond Moves From Hancock Park to Toluca Lake

Images courtesy Coldwell Banker

I am a couple months late on this one but wanted to make sure it still got posted. Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond purchased a Toluca Lake mansion for $5.4 million on March 7, 2013 according to the fine folks at Trulia Luxe Living.

The home measures 5 Beds/7 Baths on 7,649 sqft on a total lot size of 0.75 acres built in 1998 which was designed by renowned architect Kevin Clark. The listing description states:

A prime example of how a quality home should be built. This spectacular Tuscan Villa was designed by renowned architect Kevin Clark and was carefully thought out and built by its currents owners without compromise One of the most important estates to ever come on the market in Toluca Lake, a community known for its proximity to all the major studios yet its small town feel. Rarely will you find the combination of a home like this with an ideal floor plan on 32,491 square feet of park-like private grounds. Please visit our website to get a real sense of this magnificent estate in this treasured location. See private remarks for website address

Prior to this home, Heaton was living in an Elmer Gray designed Hancock mansion (shown below) that was purchased for $4,850,000 on October 18, 2001 and most recently sold for $8,000,000 on May 7, 2013 representing a massive gain of $3,150,000 before taxes, commissions, any renovations, and any carrying costs.

Images courtesy Coldwell Banker

Also, Heaton had previously owned a West Hollywood condo (shown below) measuring 2 Beds/1.75 Baths on 1,640 sqft built in 2004 that was purchased for $1,145,000 on March 16, 2007 and sold at a $280K loss on October 30, 2012 for $865,000 before taxes, commissions, any renovation costs, and any carrying costs.

Image courtesy Hilton & Hyland

Heaton may have also lived in Van Nuys at one point but dont quote me as that is pure speculation so take with a fine grain of salt.

Toluca Lake is home to many celebrities partially due to its close proximity to the studios and Hollywood. The following list are celebrity homes in the Toluca Lake area discussed on this blog:

The Office star Steve Carell Sells One of His Toluca Lake Homes for $5.1 million on March 2103.
The Estate of the Late Roy Disney Sells for $3.1 million in January 2013.
Scott Baio sold the family home for $3,150,000 on December 26, 2012.
The Estate of the late Bob Hope which will be listed soon.
Former Bing Crosby estate which sold on December 20, 2011 for $4.020 million.
Former Hillary Duff mansion which sold on July 18, 2012 for $4,651,500.
Jason Priestly who tried to sell his home for $2.1 million and has been off the market at this time.
Erin Daniels (L Word) who recently purchased in June 2012 for $1.5 million.
Jennifer Love Hewitt who recently listed a property for sale and one for lease in August 2012.
Former Alan Thicke home who sold for $3,525,000 on November 20, 2012.
Haylie Duff (sister of Hilary Duff) which recently listed on October 9, 2012 for $1,799,000.
Miley Cyrus clan lives in this area.
Other residents include Ashley Tisdale, Kiefer Sutherland, Andy Garcia, Dweezil Zappa, valley native George Lopez, Brooke Burns, Lindsay Price, Jonathan Antin, Jennie Garth, David Leisure, Nile Niami, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Kirk Fogg, Markie Post, and the Jonas Brothers to name a few.

You can check out more SFV Celebrity Real Estate here.

904 Williamson-Digging the footers

Hello my friends, Renovation Crash is in full affect assuming the weather stays beautiful and nice. Should I say "Yea for dry land" and hoping for more good weather coming soon because as a basic rule digging should happen in good weather conditions. Well my friends digging the footers can finally move forward. Let's all do the dry happy dance the footer for the addition is about to move ahead.