Architectural Digest’s Celebrity Homes Series

Featuring Patrick Dempsey & his infinite firewood supply

As you can probably tell with the title of this article, my latest YouTube rabbit hole to fuel the procrastination of school work has been provided by American interior design magazine Architectural Digest. Half the reason for watching ten minute videos of people walking through their homes is the people. While I am not “pop-cultured” at all, lacking any knowledge that it is on par with those that religiously follow the lives of celebrities, for some reason its weirdly interesting to get a glimpse into the lives of “famous” people. That is probably what makes them famous. This is all compounded by my amateur interest in interior design and an undying appreciation for the HGTV channel (arguably the most pure program that exists on television) that is now accompanied by the discovery of Architectural Digest’s Celebrity Homes series. While liking these specific celebrities’ homes is entirely based on individual preferences with design, I am going to include some of their most popular tours that racked up a few million views.

1. “Patrick Dempsey’s Malibu House Designed by Frank Gentry”

Designed in the 1960s by renown architect Frank Gentry, Patrick Dempsey and his family came across the combined studio and residence located in Malibu, California looking for “a little land and space, and a house with some architectural significance.” When Gentry’s architectural masterpiece was discovered by the Grey’s Anatomy star, Dempsey described how the interior felt “expansive and calming,” while also attracted to the “exterior’s simplicity.” The tin house is surrounded by olive trees, with a Pinterest worthy garden and chicken coop in the back. Below is the living room provisioned with an abundance of firewood to prepare for California’s winter climate???

2. “Inside Cara and Poppy Delevingne‘s Jungle Themed Home”

You might watch this just to listen to the beauty of a British accent. The supermodel/actress sisters provide a very entertaining and light hearted exploration of their Los Angeles, 1950s dwelling. Architect Nicolò Bini of L.A.-based Line Architecture worked closely with the duo, wanting “to create a true L.A. moment for them, with nods to California midcentury modern, Laurel Canyon bohemia, Beverly Hills swank, surfing culture, and a little Mexico,” Bini continues. “Then we tied all that in with Cara and Poppy’s Englishness to give the house another layer of Delevingne charm.” A must-watch for sure.

3. “Inside NBA Star Devin Booker’s Stylish Desert Oasis”

The Phoenix Suns guard, or maybe better known as Kendall Jenner’s boyfriend, gives a glimpse into his secluded yet domestic abode outside of Phoenix, Arizona, boasting dramatic views of the nearby Phoenix Mountains Reserve. Booker, a NBA Three-Point Contest Champion (2018), was influenced in designing the home by the fact he is “surrounded by people with great style. Whenever I walk into my friends’ homes, I’m like a sponge, asking questions and absorbing what I see.” Working within the existing structure, designer Tommy Clements and her team, in collaboration with L.A.-based Karan Brady Interiors, created a space that could accommodate bodies pushing seven feet tall. “Devin loves to entertain, to be around his family and friends. It just so happens his friends are NBA players,” Clements says. That meant customizing 12-foot-long sofas and a custom poker table suitable for his teammates, as well as finding furnishings that complement Booker’s art collection. “Devin is very sophisticated when it comes to design,” Clements adds. “He has an incredible way of combining older items that look lived-in with objects that are very contemporary.” Below is Booker and his vintage car collection.

4. “Step Inside Seth Meyer‘s Manhattan Duplex”

American comedian and host of the Late Night Show with Seth Meyers moved in with his family to an eight room duplex, located in Greenwich Village, New York, in 2016. The renovation work lasted about three months withe the guidance of Ashe Leandro. As Architectural Digest describes it, “the overall vibe is pared-down without being severe, tailored without being uptight.” They go on to explain how light was a big emphasis of the design, and important to the designers as well. Leandro, who grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, amid tropical modernism, in which rigorous design flows from a Spanish Colonial tradition. Ashe grew up in Placitas, New Mexico, land of adobe and sun. “We both have this very earthy, informed-by-nature background,” Leandro says.

5. “Set Foot onto Lenny Kravitz‘s Otherworldly Brazilian Farm Compound”

I absolutely love this home. As in, in some house design utopia, where I happen to have a whopping $3 million in my pocket, I would break the bank to go in on this thing. Also, Lenny Kravitz is just super cool. As a Grammy Award winning musician and designer, he embodies a unique artistic visionary, exhibit A being with his home. Since founding Kravitz Design 16 years ago, he has developed a variety of products and spaces. One of his most intriguing personal projects has been the ongoing reimagining of an 18th-century Brazilian coffee plantation outside Rio de Janeiro. While on tour in Brazil about a decade ago, he found there was “something incredibly powerful and majestic about [the country].” The 1,000 acre farm he describes as a “place to unplug, reset your life, and take the time to be quiet and actually hear yourself… nestled in a valley, surrounded by mountains, with waterfalls, cows, horses, monkeys, fruit groves, and vegetable fields—the whole panoply of nature,” he continues.

6. “Inside John Mellencamp‘s Remote Montecito Home”

The former ranch is positioned on one of the peaks of Santa Barbara’s Toro Canyon, a perch which yields views all the way out to the Pacific Ocean. The home purchase was inspired by a 1961 western starring Marlon Brando. Filled with art, he explains how “all my houses are art projects.” He also happens to own a home in South Carolina as well.

7. “Step Inside Dakota Johnson’s Midcentury-Modern Home”

“It’s like a tree house, on a boat,” the actress claims. Dakota Johnson was “immediately drawn to how it was clean but also cozy… I thought, I’ll never want to sell this place.” As a child, with divorced parents, she moved around frequently. Johnson purchased the home because she “thought it would be healthy to have a base. With my job and the velocity at which my schedule can change, it’s important for me to have a place to go to and it be mine,” she says. “Psychologically, I’m moored somewhere. This place is my anchor.” It appears to be, at least in a material sense, an excellent place to be anchored.