Jennifer Lopez New House and New Job

As I�m sure you�ve heard by now, Jennifer Lopez was chosen to be one of the judges on the new season of �American Idol� that starts tonight.  Hard to imagine the show without Simon, and I�m still surprised by the decision to put Steven Tyler in the mix, but it�ll be interesting to see how the new lineup works out.

Not only does Jennifer have the �AI� gig�she�s got a new house in California, too, which was redecorated for her by designer Michelle Workman. It�s featured in the current issue of Verandamagazine, so let�s take a look!

�Jennifer and I wanted elegance, but we didn�t want it to look stuffy or conservative or serious,� says Workman. �We wanted it to be graceful, with just enough sparkle.�

The kitchen is probably my favorite room of the house. I love the gray-blue cabinets:

Designer Michelle Workman says, �There are all these tones of gray, and we played with that�using a bit more of a gray-taupe here, a bit more of a gray-blue there. It�s almost like a black-and-white film from the forties.�

Maybe that�s why I like it. I�ve always wanted to live in a black-and-white �40s movie (with Cary Grant as my love interest, please).

The guest room is painted a pastel peach color, and the headboard is from Williams-Sonoma Home:

Workman says she had almost finished decorating the house in a ch�teau-inspiredstyle when her famous client changed her mind about the whole thing and pulled the plug. She wanted to go in an entirely different direction.

(Can you imagine? After all that work? I�d love to see the photos of how it was looking before they changed it around.)

�Jennifer wanted to go modern and streamlined but retain the sophistication and stylishness,� says Workman. She didn�t want to be locked into a classically French look.

According to Veranda writer Degen Pener, �In less than three months, the designer re-imagined the new house�s living room, kitchen, family room, bedrooms and baths.� Wow. That�s fast work!

What do you think of her place? Do you like her style?

Read the story and see the photos in the February issue of Veranda. �American Idol� photo via Billboard, which has more information about the upcoming season here.