Home interior design photos

Home interior design shows your Personal style & the way you want to live. Freedom of expression are driving forces in today’s home interior design. Self-expressive homes are wonderful. Home interior designers have a growing responsibility to create healthy, accessible, and environmentally sensitive spaces. Home design is a pretty broad category. When designing a room, there are many things to think about like flooring, Space planning, furniture, lighting, door & window treatments. The design refers to different kinds of patterns of design, include format design, contemporary design, modern design, etc.

Texan Barn in Parker, Texas

Check out this awesome barn I stumbled upon in Parker, Texas right off US75 in Collin County.  The sprawling country estate features a large main home, gated property, and 2 barns.  The larger barn's roof is painted in Texas' finest colors, red white and blue, and creates a Texas flag.  How cool!  Quite a nice house as well.

Thanks for reading,

John

72,000 Sq. Foot Mega Mansion Dubbed "Pensmore" in Missouri - Will It Spark a New Wave of Homebuilding?

The incredibly energy sufficient and environmentally friendly 72,000 (!!) sq. foot mega mansion "Pensmore" under construction near Branson has stolen the real estate spotlight.  The behemoth home features a long list of draw dropping amenities, but the most interesting is its building style: concrete.  This isn't your normal stucco or brick home.  

As I mentioned in a post last May, one particular home builder in north Texas has even started what the builders of Pensmore are in the process of doing: building homes with concrete.  It makes a great deal of sense.  Nearly disaster proof, concrete homes are much less likely to catch fire with its nonexistence of wood in the construction.  Don't forget high winds and tornadoes, as well - these homes can withstand highs higher than 200 miles per hour!  Ah, it's also earthquake proof.  With Pensmore's Tornado Alley location, it will be interesting when Spring comes around and tests its sustainability - my bet is that Pensmore will win.

Will Pensmore be the "foundation" (no pun intended) of the rise of concrete made homes?  Do you think the Tornado Alley, hurricane, and earthquake regions of the US should adopt such constructions to help prevent deathly scenarios?  You be the judge - tell me what you think in the comments below.  

Thanks for reading,

John

Mayor Bloomberg Buys Big Ol' Bedsit in Hamptons

BUYER: Mayor Michael Bloomberg
LOCATION: Southampton, NY
PRICE: $22,500,000 (list)
SIZE: 22,000 square feet, 11 bedrooms, 8.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: All the New York City and Hamptons real estate gossips are hog wild over the news that three-time New York City mayor and mega-billionaire Michael Bloomberg is in contract to dump twenty million clams on a significant and substantial estate in hoity-toity Southampton, NY.

Listing information for the almost 35-acre spread shows the stately ivy-covered Georgian-style pile at the tail end of the winding half mile long drive was designed by F. Burall Hoffman and built in 1910 for Charles Blair MacDonald, the man who reportedly built the first 18-hole golf course in the country.

Mister Bloomberg, one of New York City's most eligible billionaire bachelors with a net worth estimated by the folks at Forbes to exceed eighteen billion bucks, isn't really known as a real estate size queen by all us celebrity real estate flibbertigibbets, particularly when compared to others with similar net worth. However, the mayor opted to blow it out in the Hamptons with a massive and well-maintained but decoratively out-dated 22,000 square foot mansion that includes 11 bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms.

The grounds include acres of rolling lawns and pastures, mature shade trees, various riding rings, equestrian facilities–one of his adult daughters is a horsey sort of gal–tennis court, swimming pool and English gardens.

Like all good mega-billionaires Bloomie owns a number of significant properties in his property portfolio. His in town residence is a discrete 7,000-plus square foot bow-fronted townhouse on East 79th Street all did up and done over by nice, gay decorator Jamie Drake. When the communications tycoon became mayor in 2002 he declined to occupy the mayor's official residence, the grand Gracie Mansion, preferring to stay put on East 79th Street. In classic billionaire-only style Mayor Bloomberg reportedly spent $86,000,000 several years ago to acquire a pair of nearby buildings to house his personal offices and non-profit foundation.

The Mayor has long maintained a country residence as well, a pond-pocked estate with a groovy star-shaped mansion in Westchester County's semi-rural/quasi-suburban North Salem community and reportedly also owns an ocean view estate in in Bermuda's Tucker's Town, a ski condo in Vail and a 3,600 square foot triplex apartment on London's swanky Cadogan Square.

listing photos: Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Patricia Heaton Re-Lists West Hollywood Condo

SELLER: Patricia Heaton and David Hunt
LOCATION: West Hollywood, CA
PRICE: $1,050,000
SIZE: 1,640 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Though she may play frumpy, frazzled and flippant hausfraus on successful prime time sitcoms, in real life two-time Emmy winning tee-vee star Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond, The Middle) and her actor/producer/director hubby David Hunt live a luxe life of a-list affluence in the upscale Hancock Park 'hood of Los Angeles, CA. Property records show that in October 2001 the conservative family values couple paid $4,850,000 for an expansive corner property with a stunning 1920s Elmer-Grey designed mansion. They thoughtfully and expensively renovated and restored the approximately 8,400 square foot mansion and then had it photographed in all it's exquisite glory for the glossy pages of Architectural Digest's December 2009 issue.

In addition to their main manse in Hancock Park, Mister Hunt and Miz Heaton also own a West Hollywood condo they bought in March 2007 for $1,145,000. Your Mama read or heard–we can't recall where–that the Tinseltown dynamos use (or used) the contemporary loft-style condo to house their film and television production company FourBoys Films. However, since FourBoys official address is at the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank we really can't be sure if it's the Heaton-Hunt's production company who operates out of here or some other one.

The Heaton-Hunts first (unsuccessfully) attempted to sell the West Hollywood condo in the summer of 2009 with an asking price of $1,195,000. The 1,640 square foot condo-crib was de-listed, re-listed and de-listed again before week it reappeared on the open market this week with a reduced asking price of $1,050,000. A few quick flicks of the well-worn beads on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows the current listing price represents a $95,000 loss not counting carrying costs or real estate fees.

A few minutes research on the interweb tells Your Mama that Miz Heaton and Mister Hunt may need to have a come to Jesus meeting about the price tag they currently have hanging on their condo. Not long after Miz Heaton and Mister Hunt acquired the West Hollywood condo newly slender comedy heavyweight Jonah Hill coughed up $1,050,00 to buy a slightly smaller unit in the same newly-built complex. Young Mister Hill sold his 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom condo in August 2009 for $835,000, a pocketbook pelting $215,000 loss. Making matters even more difficult for the Heaton-Hunts and their Real Estate, perhaps, is the also slightly smaller 2 bedroom and 2 crapper condo with private roof top terrace located in the same complex and currently listed with a significantly lower asking price of $719,000.

Listing information for the Heaton-Hunt's live-work loft condo–a mix and match of clean-lined contemporary finishes, tall walls of glass, painted cinder block walls, concrete floors, and exposed duct work–includes two live/work areas. On the ground floor a soaring space offers double-height ceiling, a library/office nook, and a tall wall of windows with paned-glass garage door that when open turns the entire room into a dee-luxe if not particularly private covered porch. A mezzanine level with glass and steel railing overlooks the double-height has a long glass work surface with multiple computer stations.

An upper level second living room also has double height ceiling and is open to the center island kitchen and breakfast bar with white and gray-veined marble counter tops, smooth walnut-colored cabinetry and medium-grade stainless steel appliances. Your Mama can get down with exposed duct work in quasi-industrial loft-like spaces but that bit of flexi-tube that runs horizontally above the cabinetry and vents the stove looks downright cheap and tawdry. Surely someone could have come up with a still low-cost but more elegant solution than that.

The aforementioned and operable glass-panel garage door opens the ground floor interior area like a gaping maw to the building's pubic courtyard but a picayune patio on the ground floor, corridor-like space lined with high hedges is, as per the listing, the only private outdoor space available to the condo's occupants.

listing photos: Hilton & Hyland

Robert DeNiro Lists New York City Townhouse

SELLER: Robert DeNiro / Diahne Abbott
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: $14,000,000
SIZE: 4,158 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Yesterday Your Mama received a covert communique from an informant we call The Rolling Stone who told us about a New York City townhouse long owned by iconic actor Robert DeNiro had arrived on the market with an asking price of $14,000,000. Not surprisingly, the fine folks at The Real Deal beat us to this celebrity real estate punch.

Listing information states this is the "first time in over 30 years" that the 4-floor (plus basement) townhouse has been on the market. Property records reveal that it has actually been almost 36 years since Mister DeNiro acquired the townhouse in October of 1975 for–are y'all sitting down for this–$190,000. No, bunnies, we did not leave out a zero, Mister DeNiro actually paid, according to property records, $190,000 for the the house that's now listed at almost 75 times that amount.

As best as we can tell from the property records the house is owned by Mister DeNiro but occupied by his first wife Diahnne Abbott, the proud momma of New York City über-agent Raphel DeNiro who–natch–holds the listing the pretty West Village pad that overlooks James J. Walker Park where a scene of Raging Bull was shot and where young children scream with delight all day every day as they clamor around on the jungle gyms and swing sets. The New York City Tax Man shows the house measures 4,158 square feet and current listing information shows it's an impressive 22-feet wide, has voluminous 12-foot ceilings on the parlor floor and includes 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.

The Real Deal notes the brick-built house sits just a few doors down from the Huxtable's house on The Cosby Show and a few more doors down from the house where Audrey Hepburn's character lived in Wait Until Dark.

Once upon a time, Your Mama presumes, the main entry was up a stoop on the parlor floor but floor plans included with listing information show that the main entrance is now on the garden level where there is a den/office/bedroom with private pooper and a 32-foot long eat-in kitchen that opens out to a "secluded private garden." The finished basement level has oodles of storage and a room at the back that looks like it might be used as a fitness room with adjoining sauna and stall shower.

The parlor floor has a somewhat awkward but not unworkable plan that consists of a tight but elegant stair hall that leads to a small library/chamber and larger living room with fireplace and a trio of windows that looks down into the rear gardens. A short hall with powder pooper and a pair of coat closets connects the library/chamber to the impractically located dining room.

The master suite occupies the entire third floor and is comprised of large bedroom, substantial private terrace and a bathroom larger than at least two of the townhouse's other bedrooms. An additional room on the third floor–marked as a bedroom on the floor plan–would make an ideal dressing room and Your Mama would be shocked if it were not being used as such by the current resident.

Two large bedrooms and and two tiny bedrooms on the top floor share a single compartmentalized bathroom. Iffin this were our house–and it will never be our house–we'd convert each of the two tiny bedrooms on the fourth floor into fitted dressing rooms for the two larger bedrooms. A discrete door opens into a claustrophobic closet-sized space where a spiral stair winds up to the roof.

In addition to the West Village townhouse, Mister DeNiro's property portfolio also includes an ocean front residence in Montauk, NY, on the same stretch of precious sand as fashion tycoon Ralph Lauren, publishing poobah Jann Wenner, and real estate magnate Steve Roth who in 2008 famously paid $9,400,000 to acquire the beach front house of fallen (an imprisoned) financier Bernie Madoff.

In October 2006 Mister DeNiro and his second wife Grace Hightower paid $20,090,000 to acquire a spectacular 15 room duplex at The Brentwood on Central Park West that they bought from Miramax mogul Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife Eve. Listing information from the time of the purchase shows the low-floor duplex had 5 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms and living room that converted to a state-0f-the-art 35mm screening room.

NOTE: The above photograph shows an out of control vine of some sort cleaving to the front façade. The image is from, according to the Property Shark website, 2005. The choking vine has since been removed as per the single tiny photograph of the exterior presented with the online listing.

photo: Kate Lenova / Property Shark
floor plan: Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Your Mama Hears...

...that 22-year old Formula One racing heiress Petra Ecclestone, the proud new owner of showbiz widda Candy Spelling's puffed-up palace The Manor in Los Angeles, CA, not only spent an astonishing $85,000,000 to purchase the approximately 55,000 square foot mega-mansion in the Holmby Hills area but apparently plans to spend many millions more on an interior renovation of the distended multi-winged residence.

In fact, according to an informant we'll call Anita Tellyouathingortwo, there are as Your Mama types our fat fingers to the nubbins "20 truck loads + of Spelling tile, carpet and other finishes are on their way to the landfill." That's right, dollies, the ink is barely dry on the deed's dotted line and Miss Ecclestone has already brought in the demolition man tear out at least some of the interior spaces of massive high-maintenance mansion.

It is both paralyzing and–let's be honest butter beans–not such a shock at all that sassy and brassy Miss Ecclestone would not want to keep Miz Spelling's opulent but matronly day-core. Your Mama, who has never been withing five miles of Miss Ecclestone, imagines she might prefer something more authentically English–all mis-matched chintz, chipped Chippendale tea sets and ruffles a-go-go–or something more contempo that befits a barely legal parvenu with an obvious thing for unrestrained real estate consumption.

In addition to her wee landing pad in Los Angeles, Miss Ecclestone also, according to multiple previous reports an discussions, owns a huge and historic mansion in London that she bought last year for somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000,000, unquestionably with dough-re-mi provided by her diminutive billionaire big-daddy Bernie Ecclestone.

Your Mama could work our way through a case of gin and 50 pounds of candy and still come up plum loco trying to figure out why a 22-year woman would want or feel she needs a 123-room house that she will likely not even occupy full time but if Your Mama has said it once we've said it 917 times too many that there's nothing but futility in attempting to figure out the wacky ways of filthy rich and/or famous folks.

photo: Pacific Coast News

Leeza Gibbons Flips Out in Beverly Hills

SELLER: Leeza Gibbons
LOCATION: Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $6,895,000
SIZE: 6,333 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It was only just over a year ago that cougarlicious celebrity gossip, make-up purveyor and philanthropist Leeza Gibbons spent $6,600,000 to buy a Beverly Hills, CA mansion where she reportedly lived in unmarried bliss with her younger man-friend Steven Fenten, the former president of the Bev Hills Unified School Disctrict Board of Education who is sometimes described as a talent manager and sometimes as the "head of a private career management company."

A few months ago, during an intimate roof top ceremony officiated by two of her three children from two previous marriages and covered by the gossip programs and scuttlebutting blogs everywhere, Mister Fenten become Miz Gibbons' fourth husband. As is often the case with rich and famous types–even those who opt to live in sin before getting hitched–a new marriage means a new house.

Your Mama is entirely ignerrent about what Mister Fenten and Miz Gibbons' real estate plan is once they pack up and move on but thanks to real estate buddy-pal Brenda Blabsitall, it's come to Your Mama's attention that the newlyweds recently flipped their 2007-built mock Med mansion on the market with an asking price of $6,895,000.

Listing information for the mansion, located just around the corner from the La-la Land estate of The Soccer Player and The Spice Girl, does not indicate square footage but does show a count of 6 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. The L.A. County Tax Man shows the two-story residence measures 6,333 square feet and includes 8 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms, which makes Your Mama's pea brain think The Tax Man's number may (or may not) reflect the stats of whatever house stood on the property before it was knocked down to make way for this–ahem–bulky bee-yew-tee.

Listing information also shows the walled and gated two-story tile-roofed pile, separated from the street bya narrow strip of terraced and landscaped front yard, has a 3-car side-facing garage plus off-street parking for "at least 4 additional cars," 4 fireplaces, 2 main floor "bonus rooms," and 1 screening room with built-in wide screen. Lowerd Jeezis in heaven we just hate that term "bonus room" almost as much as we loathe "great room," an over-worked, generic and just plain awful real estate descriptive that always makes Your Mama want to vomit with ennui.

Anyhoo, interior spaces include a slim but airy double-height center entrance hall with walnut floors and a curving staircase with authentic-looking Spanish tile risers. A formal living room has a gently arched French doors on two opposite ends of the room, stone fireplace, walnut floors and dark wood beams that we'd bet our long-bodied bitches Linda and Beverly are faux. We don't mean fake wood but rather we think that the beams have zero to do with the structural framework of the house. There's also a formal dining room, a library, an exercise room, office, and a sizable center-island kitchen outfitted with top-grade everything and done up to look like that quasi-Tuscan "style" seen almost exclusively in recently erected American mcmansions and almost never in Tuscany or any other region of the Mediterranean.

The well-equipped kitchen opens into breakfast area and large family room with more walnut floors and yucky, half-assed (and possibly faux) wood beams. Dark wood French doors with gracefully arched tops open the room to a covered outdoor lounge with fireplace that overlooks the skinny swimming pool and raised spa. The terraced backyard, really more of a cozy courtyard than a typically vast Beverly Hills back yard of rolling lawns and formal gardens, also includes a couple of Yorkie-sized pee-patches of grees and an open-air bar cabana with bar and grilling station.

Although Miz Gibbons' crib in Beverly Hills is nearly new and lacks the sort of authentic patina one pines for in a "Mediterranean" style residence, it is surrounded by scads of Hollywood historic mansions and estates previously owned by some of early Tinseltown's greatest movers and shakers including Danny Kaye, Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh, Loretta Young, Harold Lloyd and Jack Warner. Nestled right in amongst the stars, the former house of often outrageously chapeau-ed ur-gossip Hedda Hopper.

Previous to buying in Bev Hills in 2010, Miz Gibbons and her third hubby, architect/actor/artist/Parabounce inventor Stephen Meadows, owned a West Hollywood, CA compound once owned by Mommie Dearest's Joan Crawford. The erstwhile couple parted ways in 2005 but still co-owned their once happy home in West Hollywood in December 2006 when it was on the market with an asking price of $7,995,000. They had a devil of a time selling the historic spread but finally unloaded their white elephant in June 2010 for $4,795,000 to–according to a Little Birdie we know–Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and his accomplished and much-published architect wife Linda Brettler.

listing photos: Keller Williams Realty / Beverly Hills

Newly Listed European Castle on a Heavily Wooded 2 Acres in Fairview, TX - 941 Circle in the Woods

Wow, check out this new listing by David Perry-Miller, 941 Circle in the Woods.  Nestled within a sea of mature trees and greenery sits this 9,591 sq. foot European castle in Fairview, Texas near McKinney.  Overlooking 600 acres of countryside, the 4 level main home includes 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms.  More interior amenities include an exercise room, several great rooms, wine cellar, game room, home theater, sauna, and much more.  Landscaping as well as a wooded back lot encompass the swimming pool, outdoor lounge area, and courtyard.  A circle driveway, 5 car garage, and 3 fireplaces are also included in this incredible estate. It's generously listed for $1,995,000.

Here's The Listing

Thanks for reading,

John

Billionaire Ron Burkle Buys Ennis House

In case any of the children missed it on Curbed (and elsewhere), supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle coughed up "just under $4.5 million" to purchase Frank Lloyd Wrights sublime but somewhat bedraggled Ennis House in Los Angeles, CA.

The Mayan-inspired house, built in 1924 for Mabel and Charles Ennis, a retailer with architectural chutzpah, came to be owned by an entity called the Ennis House Foundation who first put it on the market in the summer of 2009 with an optimistic asking price of $15,000,000. The price subsequently plunged dramatically to $5,999,000 before Mister Burkle stepped in to save the real estate day with his close-to $4,500,000 purchase. A press release issued by the Ennis House Foundation stated that Mister Burkle plans to continue a restoration that Your Mama would bet our long-bodied bitches Linda and Beverly will undoubtedly cost the new owner many millions to do correctly.

Listing information for the multi-level concrete block-built mansion shows it measures around 6,000 square feet and includes a total of 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, five exceptionally detailed fireplaces, a window- and column-lined loggia that makes Your Mama dizzy with delight. The loggia frames a capacious courtyard on the street side of the house that includes a swimming pool and on the other side of the windows and terraces offer unimpeded canyon, city and distant ocean views.

A conservation easement held by the Los Angeles Conservancy states Mister Burkle must allow public access to the historic house at least 12 days a year which means that all us architectural looky-loos will get to gape at the stunning structure once its meticulous restoration is complete. Where do we get in line for a ticket?

photo: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Goldie Hawn Bailing on Broad Beach

SELLERS: Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell
LOCATION: Malibu, CA
PRICE: $14,749,000
SIZE: 4,195 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: For at least as long as Your Mama has been getting dirty in the celebrity real estate sandbox Oscar-winning comedian and actress Goldie Hawn and her long-time man-mate Kurt Russell have put their Malibu, CA beach house on the summer rental market with an asking price of $95,000 per month. This year the Hawn-Russells not only lowered their monthly asking price to $80,000 per month they also hoisted their 1970s contemporary meets Bali beachfront digs on the market with an asking price of $14,749,000.

Miz Hawn started up her ladder of fame and fortune in the late 1960s and early 1970s as an amazingly ditsy dingle berry blond on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. She went on to star in iconic if sometimes silly cinematic gems that include but are far from limited to Cactus Flower, Private Benjamin, The First Wives Club and Overboard. Along the way she married twice and made a couple of babies (Kate and Oliver Hudson), both of whom have gone on to nepotistic showbiz success.

In the mid 1980s the bubbly and bubble-headed Miz Hawn–far more intelligent than her dizzy hair-brained image might suggest–hooked up with beau-hunky actor Kurt Russell (Used Cars, Silkwood, Tango & Cash, Backdraft). Almost 30 years later they remain coupled but have not hitched their wagons in the eyes of God and government. They did produce one child (Wyatt Russell) who looks a lot like his lantern-jawed daddy and who dabbles in the entertainment industry but primarily plays semi-professional ice hockey in Canada or Europe or somewhere.

The Hawn-Hudson-Russell family bunked in uppity Pacific Palisades community of Los Angeles starting sometime in the 1980s. Miz Hawn and Mister Russell still maintain a residence in the upscale enclave–as does daughter Kate Hudson–and property records indicate that sometime in the late 1980s Miz Hawn and Mister Russell acquired a beach house in the Bu for an undisclosed amount of money.

Current listing information for the Hawn-Russell residence, located along celebrity-lined Broad Beach, shows it was redesigned and renovated in 2005, measures around 4,300 square feet–the L.A. County Tax Man shows it's 4,195 square feet–and includes a total of 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms plus additional living space above the detached three car garage that stands between the street and the main house.

A small courtyard abloom in tropical flora creates a serene buffer between the hustle and bustle of the Pacific Coast Highway and the Zen extravaganza Miz Hawn has fashioned from a 1970s contemporary crib. A double height entry with flagstone floor makes a grand statement and sets the decorative stage for what Your Mama think of as the very epitome of west coast entertainment industry bigwig meets the Dalai Lama meets Calcutta brahmin style of day-core.

Far be it from Your Mama to cast aspersions, throw shade or otherwise dis the needy souls of others but there seems to be something about the ugly and grueling Bizness of Show that creates a gaping need in the souls of so many who toil in The Industry to seek out alternative religions and eastern philosophies. Never in our long and boozy life have we seen so many mandalas, altars, images of Shiva and statuettes of Buddha as in the showbiz-washed confines of the Los Angeles real estate whirligig.

Just like an epic mansion appearing in the pages of Architectural Digest sometimes signals that it will soon hit the market, a Buddha statue in the entrance hall or by the pool is a strong signal that a home is owned by a celebrity or someone else involved in the entertainment and glamour-puss professions. Anyhoodles poodles, getting back to the matter at hand...

The Hawn-Russell's spacious double-height entry, with its phalanx of Chinoserie this and thats and Buddhist knick-knacks makes a dramatic decorative statement that only catches on fire in the main living area of the house that includes a living room with soaring ceiling and fireplace with massive stone chimney breast and a dining room with frameless glass doors–the type usually seen installed at an office building or department store–that open the room to a large flagstone seaside terrace.

Adjoining the more traditional living area a low carved wood table with mis-matched pillow cushion seats aligns with another set of frameless glass doors that open to a pocket garden/shrine where a Buddha statue—or some other eastern god–sits atop a small fountain that spills into a carved stone lotus flower basin and evokes aural images of atonal chanting. Just a quick crawl from the low table a sizable and well-stocked wet bar with fabric tented ceiling treatment makes Your Mama pee with glee. It's not that we love the tented ceiling treatment–meh!–it's all the top shelf booze they got up in there. Plus we j'adore that absolutely asinine table lamp with the cast bronze pedestal and the shade painted with a giant camel standing stock still in a sunset desert scene.

The dining room is open to the large but cozy center island country kitchen with dark Shaker-style cabinets, heavily veined granite counter tops, commercial-style stainless steel appliances and an over-sized porcelain farmhouse sink. Just off the entry a small but state of the art media room has silky- and velvety-looking sofas, a giant tufted ottoman and scads of decorative pillows covered in what looks like fabrics purchased in The East. A wide-screen built into a wall of cabinetry is flanked by bookshelves with carved wood Islamic arches and fretwork.

The celebrity-sized second floor master bedroom has a pitched wood ceiling with exposed beams, clerestory windows, stone fireplace and a private ocean-side terrace with stunning view across the grassy backyard to the hot sand and glittering ocean beyond. There's a large walk-in closet, according to listing information, and a sky-lit Chinese onyx bathroom with dressing table, double sinks and separate shower. Louvered panels behind the soaking tub slide open to allow those who like to sit in a vat of hot water boiling like a potato to peer across the upper part of the living room/lounge/bar area below and out a tall wall of glass towards the ocean.

Above the garage Miz Hawn–both Jewish and a long-time practicing Buddhist–has a compact but well-equipped fitness room with mirrored walls and wood floors. An adjacent meditation room with vibrant orange walls looks to Your Mama like it probably has drawers full of finger cymbals and reeks of Nag Champa incense.

The back wall of the house, a towering wall of smoked glass, looks out and opens to a large ocean side entertainment and dining terrace protected from the prying eyes of paps and beach goers by rolling sand dunes. One side of the terrace is anchored by a built-in grilling station and the other by a carved wood pergola probably antique and probably imported from a shrine of some sort in Bombay or Jakarta. Thickets of tropical foliage frame the postcard perfect view past the picket fence and over the sand dunes towards the melodramatic magnificence of the Pacific Ocean.

Unfortunately for its multi-millionaire residents and their multi-million dollar residences, Broad Beach has a serious erosion problem and last year homeowners agreed to fund a 4,000 foot long and 8-foot high rock revetment meant to protect the homes on the sand from being destroyed by the relentless tides. A few of the other high-profile peeps who own ocean front homes along Broad Beach include Steven Spielberg, Jami Gertz, Ray Romano, Pierce Brosnan, Mike Ovitz, Danny Devito and Rhea Pearlman, Dustin Hoffman, Marvel Studios magnate Avi Arad, tool and die tycoon Eric Smidt and money manager Mark Attanasio.

Miz Hawn and Mister Russell own, according to property records and The Bizzy Boys at Celebrity Real Estate Aerial, a number of other residences including a 5,057 square foot house in Pacific Palisades (CA) bought in August 2004 for $4,124,591. The Tinseltown couple purchased the property just a few months after they sold a much larger house 7 bedroom and 12 pooper house directly across the street to comedian Adam Sandler for $12,000,000.

Miz Hawn's daughter Kate Hudson–Mister Russell's step-daughter–has owned a Pac Pal residence just a few blocks away from her parents since 2003 and in March 2011–at that time preggers with musician Matt Bellamy's baby–she dropped $5,300,000 on the 5 bedroom and 6.5 bathroom mansion next door. We're not sure what Miss Hudson and Mister Bellamy's plans for the second residence are but we do know that they've already knocked down the fence between the two backyards.

Just outside of Snowmass (CO) Miz Hawn and Mister Russell own a 70-plus acre spread with at least two residences and several barns, up in Canada they have a substantial waterfront estate north of Toronto on Lake Rousseau and on they own a 3,549 square foot penthouse pad on the west side of Midtown Manhattan acquired in the summer of 1998 for an unknown amount of money.

listing photos: Coldwell Banker / Malibu Colony

Ashlee Simpson Sells and Leases

WHO: Ashlee Simpson
LOCATION: Beverly Hills (Post Office), CA
PRICE: Don't know
SIZE: 4,193 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Almost as soon as "singer" and "actress" Ashlee Simpson's nepotistic fame turned into fortune she developed a mad appetite for an a-lister sized mansion.

In June 2005 Miss Simpson threw down a very grown up $4,500,000 for a substantial gated estate in Encino, CA with a 9,000-plus square foot contemporary crib. Reports from the time show the vast house included a meditation room, a gym with skylights and ballet barre, a sauna and a 2,200 square master suite with a 700-square foot closet. She was just 21 years old.

The young and fickle Miss Simpson only owned the huge house in Encino until October 2006 when she sold the 4 bedroom and 7 pooper pad for $5,700,000 to a Hawaiian businessman who earned a fortune from convalescent homes. That's right, pets, beehawtcha Simpson walked away with a million two in profits (before costs and fees). Not bad for a lip synching sensation with no prior real estate experience. Miss Simpson's real estate luck was, however, about to run bone dry.

The following year, in January 2007, Miss Simpson plunked down $4,500,000 for a somewhat smaller but still gigantic 7,100 square foot mock-Med on star-studded Oak Pass Road in the Beverly Hills Post Office. The house, built in 1992, had once been owned by comedienne Rita Rudner.

In January 2010, amid rumors that she and musician hubby Pete Wentz were looking to buy or build a new house, she put her Oak Pass Road residence on the market. We can't exactly recall but we think it was listed for just under five million clams, but don't nobody quote Your Mama on that figure. By April 2011 price tag had plummeted to $3,699,000 and her short marriage to Mister Wentz had done swirled down the Tinseltown Terlit of Love. The Simpson-Wentz's mock-Med manse was sold in June 2011 for, according to Redfin, $3,475,000. A few quick flicks of the well-worn beads on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows that poor Miss Simpson, a gal whose once electric career has been on a serious down slope the last few years, lost a pocketbook punishing $1,025,000 on her real estate change of heart, not counting carrying costs, renovations, day-core and the fat real estate commissions she paid upon the sale.

Miss Simpson seems to Your Mama all but irrelevant on the celebrity scene anymore–we aren't being cruel, we're just being honest–but we have none-the-less been shocked and surprised by how many queries we've received about where Little Miss Simpson decamped.

In May there were rumors that ran through the gossip rags that Miss Simpson was peeping at properties in the Beverly Hills area, properties far more modest in size and cost than her previous residences including a Spanish stucco cottage on North Beverly Drive with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and an asking price of $1,395,000. She did not, according to property records buy that house.

In fact, according to two of Your Mama's sources, Miss Simpson didn't buy a house at all but rather leased gated house in the Beverly Hills Post Office that hangs over famed Mulholland Drive and has a history of Tinseltown residents. In the late 1990s the house was acquired for $1,625,000 by actress Maria Bello (ER, Coyote Ugly, Thank Your for Smoking, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) and her then man-friend and entertainment industry executive baby daddy Dan McDermott.

Property records show Miss Bello and Mister McDermott sold the house in September 2004 to Emmy nominated writer/director/producer Danny Cannon (CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Dark Blue, Nikita) and his actress wife Nicole Cannon (CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Dark Blue). At some point–we're not sure when–the Cannon's put the property on the market for both sale and lease. Despite that Redfin shows the property was put into escrow in April 2011 none of Your Mama does not at this point find any records of a property transfer indicating that Miss Simpson leases the property rather than owns.

Listing information for the ridge top residence that Your Mama teased out of the interweb shows the house was built in the 1930s as a hunting lodge and has since been updated and upgraded. Listing information shows it measures 4,193 square feet and includes a total of 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.

The capacious living room has a steeply pitched wood ceiling with exposed wood beams, shiny oak floors, wood trimmed doorways and windows, a two-sided fireplace with carved wood and mirror mantel, a pass-through wet bar that opens into the adjacent kitchen, and a giant 25-pane window with long views over the San Fernando Valley all the way to the mountains that form the far northern limits of the Los Angeles suburbs. Other rooms include a formal dining area, office, family room, and an intimately-scaled library paneled in knotty pine and lined with wood bookshelves.

The large eat-in kitchen has knotty pine tongue-and-groove paneling, exposed wood ceiling, hardwood floors–that are, sadly, not the same oak style as in the rest of the house–a built-in banquette breakfast table, a wet bar with green tiled counter tops, and French doors that open to the rear terrace, swimming pool and valley views. The kitchen cooker itself has sand-colored granite counter tops, honey-colored wood cabinetry, green tile back splash and high-grade commercial-style stainless steel appliances. A fireplace with green and black mosaic tile surround is a nice homey touch to the Arts & Crafts-y but sophisticated space.

Listing information shows that one of the four bedrooms is on the main level while the second floor contains two family/guest rooms plus an expansive master suite a large bedroom/sitting room with oak floors, dressing area with built-in mirrored wardrobes, and private terrace with city lights view. The pleasantly large bathroom features a vaulted ceiling with exposed beams and mixes the country comfort of a claw-footed tub with modern amenities such as double sinks, glass and tile steam shower and terlit cubby. A glittery crystal chandelier gives the bathroom a punch of glitz and glam.

The grounds include a gated motor court, grassy pad perfect for a celebrity-style jungle gym, swimming pool, spa and dining and lounging terraces with direct and unimpeded views over the valley.

Apparently Miss Simpson is hard at work on a new album–whoo-pee!–and plans to launch a tween fashion line with her pop star turned turned reality tee-vee star turned fashion mogul sister Jessica.

listing photos: Michael Andrew McNamara Photography for Sotheby's International Realty

UPDATE: Candy Spelling

It's official!

The sale of showbiz widda Candy Spelling's steroidal Los Angeles, CA mansion is a done deal. According to a press release issued earlier today the 55,000 square foot mega-mansion in the Holmby Hills 'hood was sold for an astonishing $85,000,000 to 22-year old Formula One racing heiress Petra Eccelstone, just as was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

We're not sure why we heard so much rumor and brouhaha about The Manor being sold to a Indian mega-billionaire Mukesh Ambani but that's what happened.

Mazel Tov Miss Ecclestone! Enjoy rambling and rattling around your gigantic new house.

Any of the children interested in having a look see at the official press release can read it here.

As noted first by the cool kids at Curbed, über-wealthy divorcée Suzanne Saperstein's palatial pile–the 12 bedroom and 15 bathroom Holmby Hills edifice known as Fleur de Lys–came back on to the open market today, the very same day Candy's crib closing was announced to the press. Miz Saperstein, a couture collector of the highest order, opted not drop her previous price and the property still has a $125,000,000 price tag.

California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom Sells in The City

SELLER: Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Siebel Newsom
LOCATION: San Francisco, CA
PRICE: $2,750,000
SIZE: 3,051 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: This may be old news to all the Bay Area real estate crazies but those who don't regularly peruse the San Francisco, CA property blogs may not already know that Gavin Newsom, the slick former mayor of San Fran and current Lieutenant Governor of California, has done sold his house in the Ashbury Heights 'hood and decamped to Marin County where he and the missus–actress Jennifer Siebel–have temporarily moved into her wealthy parents' mansion in the leafy and upscale community of Ross.

Young, rich and extraordinarily well-connected Mister Newsom–his family is all knotted up with the oil rich and scandal-plagued Getty family–was a millionaire vintner, restaurateur and hotelier before 2004 when he ascended with great fanfare and social media buzz to the mayorship of San Francisco. Much to the chagrin of the seven social conservatives in San Francisco, Mister Newsom single-handedly launched gay marriage into the national mainstream media in 2004 when he legalized gay marriage within the city limits. That gay party didn't last long thanks to various legal actions and Proposition 8 and neither did Mister Newsom's first marriage to boob-toob hostess Kimberly Guilfoyle. That toothy pair went kaput in 2006 amid rumors (and later revelations) of an extra-marital affair with the wife of a close associate.

He went to rehab and, in early 2006, Mister Newsom coughed up $2,350,000 for a 1 bedroom and 1.5 pooper penthouse bachelor pad at the Bellair Tower, a swank and soo-blime 1930s Art Deco-style building on Russian Hill. A little over two years later he hitched his romantic wagon to actress Jennifer Siebel's love train and together they settled into the Mister Newsom's Bellair Tower penthouse. Seven months later the missus turned up with a bun in an oven and in April 2009 they couple put their baby-unfriendly 1 bedroom aerie on the market with a price tag of $2,995,000. According to the peeps at Property Shark the lucky Newsoms sold the penthouse four short weeks later for $2,935,000.

It was also about this time that Mister Newsom announced his bid to be Governor of California, a candidacy endorsed by fellow philanderer Bill Clinton. He bailed out of that race in the fall of 2009–later won by old-school lefty-lib Jerry Brown–but succeeded in his subsequent run for his current job as Lieutenant Governor.

Property records show that Mister and Missus Newsom purchased their house in the Ashbury Heights neighborhood in June 2009 for $2,738,000. Shortly after that he put another shorty in his lady-wife's belly and they decided their Ashbury Heights home was not longer suitable for their growing family. When we chit-chatted with out S.F.-based b.f.f. Fiona Trambeau about Mister Newsom's house she hissed and cooed and stomped her Lucite-heeled feet about how close it is to Buena Vista Park, one of San Francisco's most notorious gay cruising parks. You should have heard her go on. Your Mama had to hang up the damn phone on that madwoman from Chaillot. (No matter what Fiona says–and beehawtcha says plenty–Your Mama is not making any implications of any kind about Mister Newsom's naughty bizness proclivities.) Anyhoo, the completely renovated but child unfriendly residence appeared on the open market on the 7th of July (2011) for $2,750,000. Four days later the property went into escrow and, according to the good folks at Redfin, the house sold on July 13 for its full asking price.

Listing information shows the fully detached residence measures 3,051 square feet over three floors and includes a total of 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. The residence, originally built in 1915, has a new-fangled and pukey stucco exterior but the some of the Edwardian architectural elements such as the bowed window make Your Mama think this house might have once been much more attractive in its original state.

A stone staircase to the right of the front-facing two-car attached garage (with desirable direct entry to the house) climbs to a small front porch where the front door opens into the entrance hall with old-timey architectural details smoothed out with gleaming white paint, blond herringbone patterned wood floors and built-in built-in bock cases filled mostly with the sort of stuffy leather-bound books that nobody actually reads. The main staircase winds around to the second floor with an aggressive, eye poking star burst-pattern wrought iron banister that Your Mama rather likes for its overt but pretty anger.
The formal living room, dining room and kitchen all pinwheel around the entrance hall that includes, as per the floor plan included with marketing materials (above), a windowed powder pooper tucked up under the stairs. The living room, done up with a Hollywood Regency sort of glam, includes a carved wood fireplace flanked by a pair of funky hooded bergeres and a bowed bay with four sets of French doors that lead to a small planted terrace. The recently remodeled and light-flooded kitchen–a little too open to the entrance hall for our particular taste–has bone colored granite counter tops, high-grade stainless steel appliances–natch–a center work island/snack counter, and dark gray cabinetry that reaches blessedly all the way to the ceiling and includes a bank of wonderfully tall glass fronted cabinets perfect for displaying kitchenware and booze bottles.

A staircase descends from the kitchen to the lower level where two potential bedrooms share an awkwardly split bathroom that has the sink and terlit on one side of the hall and a shower cubby on the other. We gleaned from listing photos that Mister and Missus Newsom used one room for guests and the other as a family room area that includes a double-sided gas fireplace flanked by French doors that open the room to a partially covered terrace.

The uppermost floor contains two craftily laid out bedroom suites, each with private facility, that share a small sitting/sun room. The smaller suite at the front of the house has a entrance hall with closets, luxe bathroom with lots of windows and a pair of French doors to open to a small semi-circular terrace. The master suite also has a proper foyer–how much do we l.o.v.e. a bedroom with a foyer?–two terraces, a pair of walk-in closets and a bathroom with a shower room that could easily accommodate 3 or 4 people.

While in the heart of the city, the property has surprisingly generous outdoor space. In addition to the five terraces and patios there's a fenced patch of grass that runs alongside the house. Perhaps it's only just large enough to accommodate the sort of jungle gym multi-millionaires buys for their off-spring, there's certainly plenty of room for a couple of long-bodied bitches to scramble around and do their dirty business.

Some of the home's top-notch systems include dual on-demand water heaters, seismic upgrades, wiring for surround sound and a security system that includes closed-circuit cameras mounted around the house.

Mister and Missus Newsom, it seems, have some serious real estate good luck when it comes to selling their homes pronto.

Although it's not clear why Mister and Missus Newsom moved to Marin–into her parents' house no less–and didn't just lease or buy a larger home in the city. Perhaps they don't care to raise their kids in the city. Or maybe, as suggested by at least one Bay Area gossip, he plans to vie for the congressional seat that Marin County Rep. Lynn Woolsey may (or may not) soon relinquish. Whatever the reason(s) Your Mama highly doubts it has a damn thing to do with their finances so all you people who want to speculate he moved in with his in-laws because he can't make his mortgage will most certainly be barking up the wrong tree. Nor do we see the family packing their bags for Sacramento. If we were the betting type–and we're not–we'd wager half a donkey and two scoops of beans that the Siedel-Newsom clan will settle down in a big house with a big yard in a fancy community not too far from her parents residence in Ross. Just a hunch. We shall see.

listing photos: McGuire Real Estate

The Really Rich of North Texas: Kelcy Warren

Energy pioneer Kelcy Warren is in love with mega real estate deals.  Back in 2009, Warren bought the grandiose Preston Hollow estate at 5323 Park Lane formerly owned by Larry Lacerte.  The 26,260 sq. foot estate features its own baseball field - that's legit.  The deal, finalized for around $30 million, was one of the largest, if not the largest, real estate deals in Texas of 2009.  After settling into his Dallas beauty, Warren then bought the famous Bootjack Ranch as a second home/vacation spot.  Bootjack Ranch is a 3,500 acre Colorado ranch listed back in 2008 for $88 million.  Kelcy "stole" the 13,800 sq. foot main home and acreage for $46.5 million.  Within a year and a half, Warren had purchased 2 amazing properties that combined totaled nearly $80 million dollars.  I think Kelcy Warren values his real estate deals.  And I bet he owns all the mineral rights for the properties as well!

Kelcy's Dallas home

The scenic and picturesque, Bootjack Ranch

Thanks for reading,

John