What do Kanye West, Blake Lively, and Reese Witherspoon have in common?
Aside from being A-listers in the Music Industry and Tinseltown, they are celebrities who share a passion for interior design.
Yes, these multi-millionaires are known for their songs (for Kanye) and their movies (for the two lovely ladies). What their fans and other people don’t realize is that they also have a talent for dressing up homes and offices.
Reese Witherspoon, best known for her starring role in the romantic comedy film Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama, has partnered with Crate & Barrel to design several Southern-style items ranging from patterned plates to farm-feel table runners. Ever-proud of her Southern heritage, she surely knows the right designs for kitchen cabinets with rustic wooden floors. Seeing these country kitchens are enough to make one think of squash, corn, and deep-pit barbecue—good food enjoyed from Arkansas to Texas to West Virginia.
Blake Lively, famous for her tv series Gossip Girl and the thriller The Shallows, also has a knack for interior decorating. In an interview for Architecturaldigest.com two years ago, the now-32-year-old actor confided that she has a love for fabrics and color swatches, a seemingly compulsive drive that matches well with the craft of designing home interiors.
The pleasant surprise was sprung by rap mogul Kanye West who revealed that he once planned to put up an architecture school. His love for interiors also complemented his talent for designing sneakers.
But wait, here’s more:
Comedian and tv host Ellen Degeneres has also caught the ‘home design bug’ and even published a book about grandiose real estate properties. She has told the media that she wanted to become an interior designer, but showbusiness had other plans for her. Her magnificently designed kitchen featuring painted cabinetry and green tile accents had been featured in many celebrity kitchen articles.
Hollywood demigod Brad Pitt is also known for his deep love for architecture and home design. It has also been reported that Pitt even studied computer-aided design, a useful skill in his passion. In 2006, in the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina, the actor-philanthropist built more than 150 homes for displaced families in New Orleans. He is said to have been involved in every detail of the roof, porch, floors, kitchen cabinets, bedrooms, and bathrooms. These homes were designed to be safe and energy-efficient, using not only functional designs but sustainable construction materials. Some of the units he built had three bedrooms; some are single bedroom homes. He and his team also installed solar panels on the canopies, hoping to make these home projects a model of green home technology and sustainable living.
Veteran actor Diane Keaton, remembered for her role in The Godfather and many Woody Allen flicks, has the right eye for home decor. Her 1920s-renovated Spanish style house in Bel Air is full of colorful second-hand tiles; each one grabbed from a community swap-meet. This creative practice of rummaging through swap items only adds to the story of her beautiful home, once featured on Architectural Digest.
For celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay, it can be surmised that quality interior design for them starts right at the heart of the home—the kitchen. Ramsay, being a Lord of the Kitchen that he is, can be expected to have high standards in countertops as well as cabinets. These countertops are where all the food is stashed, sliced, cooked, and bowled for serving. Cabinets are also crucial for chefs since these are the storage areas for various kinds of pots, pans, cooking utensils, herbs, spices, and all the secret ingredients that make their food creations simply superb.
While these celebrities differ in styles when it comes to architecture and interior design, they all agree that homes should be beautiful, functional, and sustainable.
With their fame and fortune, no good thing is beyond their reach, especially when it comes to the inside of their homes. Their houses represent more than their ability to afford the luxury. These dwelling places are, for them, essential spaces where they can just be themselves far away from the blinding spotlight of film-making. Inside their intricately designed mansions, they find the privacy they long for even as paparazzi await outside their gated communities and elite neighborhoods.
Most of all, perhaps, these beautifully designed homes signify a part of their artistry. Each wooden cabinet, fabric chair, tiled roof, granite counter, and just about every part of their house is a reflection of their creativity, past and present lives, their dreams, and accomplishments as movie and music legends.
