Star Stylist Rachel Zoe�s Hollywood Home

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

Uh-oh. I just got sucked into another addictive reality show. Have you seen �The Rachel Zoe Project� on Bravo? It follows stylist-to-the-stars Rachel Zoe and her assistants Taylor and Brad as they stress out about finding the right clothes for their celebrity clients (Cameron Diaz, Liv Tyler, and Eva Mendes, to name a few).

It�s fun to see how they chose different gowns that we saw on the Red Carpet for the Oscars and the Golden Globes earlier this year. For example, remember this Armani Priv� gown Anne Hathaway wore to the Academy Awards?

Well, you wouldn�t believe all the drama that went on behind the scenes to get it!

I just discovered the lovely blog Welcome Home, where Amanda Talbot interviewed Rachel Zoe (pronounced �zoh�) and posted lots of fab photos of her home in Hollywood. Here are a few of them:

Zoe likes to keep things minimal, simple, and uncluttered. She says her life is so chaotic that she needs her home to be a refuge of peace and calm.

This fur bedspread looks like something Zoe would toss over her shoulders and wear out the door:

Zoe�s home office:

This is how glam I look when I�m walking around my house, too:

You can read the interesting interview with Zoe and see the rest of the photos at Welcome Home.

One of the things that fascinates me about Rachel Zoe is how she went from looking like this in 2006 (when her former client Nicole Richie infamously dubbed her �Raisin Face� after their falling-out):

To looking like this three years later on her show:

Now that�s some Hollywood magic!

The other amazing transformation has been the relationship between her assistants Brad and Taylor, who went from hating each other last season (at one point, Taylor gave Rachel an ultimatum: �It�s Brad or me!�) to the best of BFFs. You can read all about them in the interview they gave the LA Times.

The Rachel Zoe Project airs on Monday nights on Bravo. Is anyone else watching?

2011 UPDATE: Wow, a lot has changed in the past 2 years. Taylor was fired, Brad quit, Jeremiah was hired, and Rachel and her husband Rodger now have a baby boy named Skyler. They sold that mid-century modern house shown above for $2.5 million and leased the one-bedroom apartment that is frequently shown on the show:

When Rachel was pregnant, they began leasing a 7,000 square-foot mansionthat was formerly on the market for $8.2 million. On the show they mention that the rent is $20,000 a month.

* 10/11 UPDATE* I posted more photos of their new house, Skyler�s nursery, and how Jeremiah decorated it here.

�Flipping Out:� Jeff Lewis Puts Valley Oak House on Market

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on AUGUST 31, 2010

Are you watching Bravo�s popular reality series Flipping Out? The show is now in its 4th season, and I�ve been watching since the beginning. For me it brings backnightmares memories of working as an assistant to a brilliant but demanding designer myself. Jeff Lewis has definitely mellowed out on the show over the years, though. (Makes me wonder if my designer has, too? For the sake of whoever is working for her now, let�s hope!)

Jeff lives and works from a beautiful house he renovated in Los Angeles called �Valley Oak.� He�s been trying to sell it off and on since the reno was finished, and it�s back on the market for $2.495 million. Let�s take a look!

House Beautiful�s Kitchen of the Year was designed by Lewis. You can see the photos of ithere.

Jeff�s Office:

Jeff says he hasn�t seen former BFF and business partner Ryan Brown since the Fall of �09 when they had a very ugly and public falling out on the show. I took a poll at the time to see who you were siding with in the feud, and you can see the (surprising to me) resultshere.

Oh, and you can see photos of Ryan Brown�s house, too�I posted them here.

House Beautiful�s Kitchen of the Year by Jeff Lewis

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on OCTOBER 14, 2010

Jeff Lewis from the Bravo TV series �Flipping Out� was chosen to design House Beautiful�s Kitchen of the Year 2010, and if you�ve been watching his show, then you followed along as he worked on it from start to finish. I was sweating right along with him when he had that impromptu meeting in front of about 50 executives and had to explain his vision for it.

The season finale was Tuesday night and they had the Big Kitchen Reveal at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.

Jeff calls the style of the kitchen California Modern. �It has a tremendous amount of glass and natural light. We put in as many doors and windows as possible.� He was a little worried about how it would be received because it�s much more contemporary than usual for an HB Kitchen of the Year.

The kitchen has open shelving, a CaesarStone island, and a table made from wood that, Jeff says, was �salvaged from the old Vanderbilt polo barn.�

It was definitely in the Jeff-Lewis-Style we�ve all come to know and expect from him. Sometimes I wish there were a few more surprises, though.

The kitchen was open to the public in July. Did any of you get to see it in person?

I�m a fan, but I was a little bored by this season of �Flipping Out.� I did enjoy seeing how all of his design projects turned out in the season finale, though. I love a goodbefore and after. If you like his Valley Oak house, you can see photos of it here.

The �kitchen nook� has plenty of storage in the wall divider for all of the bottled water you could ever possibly need. That seemed a little silly to me, but it maybe it�s part of �California Modern� thing�in case of earthquake, you�re prepared. Maybe you can keep your canned foods and First-Aid Kit somewhere on the wall, too.

What do you think of the Kitchen of the Year? Were you more excited about it than I was?

You can see all of the photos and read more about it at House Beautiful, or take this video tour of it with Jeff and his team:

Jeff�s Valley Oak House is on the Market Just Sold: Photos & Info.

�Flipping Out:� Jeff Lewis�s New House on Gramercy in L.A.

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Did you catch the season finale of Bravo�s popular reality series �Flipping Out�? It was a good one. Jeff Lewis found out that his old house on Gramercy Place�which he sold in 2006�was back on the market. He had never forgotten the house that �felt like my soul mate,� so he bought it back.

I can see why he was reluctant to sell it in the first place. It�s a beautiful Wallace Neff-designed house on a hill overlooking downtown LA and the ocean. I tracked down some photos. Want to see?

Looking up at the Gramercy property from the street below:

He sold this house before he began shooting �Flipping Out,� so it isn�t one of the properties we�ve seen during the 5 seasons it�s been on.

When he heard that the house had been foreclosed on and was sitting empty, he wanted to see it again.

If that�s the front entry, it seems a little awkward with the steps right there. Love this dining room with the curved walls:

Jeff, his long-suffering assistant Jenni Pulos, and his real estate agent (who also happens to be his sister-in-law) try out the big windowseat in the living room while touring the house:

Jeff realized he still loved the house and that �It needs me,� so made an offer.

This living room looks huge. And it probably is. The house is about 3,700 square feet.

Based on the previews I�ve seen for tonight�s reunion show, it looks like it was taped in Gramercy:

It�ll be interesting to see how Jeff decorated it. It�s a much more traditional house than you usually associate with him.

The kitchen, which Jeff remodeled himself 6 years ago:

The kitchen set-up looks a little strange from this angle. That column is in a bad spot if you want a table or bar stools or something on the other side of the island.
What did you think of this season of the show? Seemed like he was either firing someone or threatening to fire someone in every episode, even though he had more design work than he could handle by himself.

Thank goodness he didn�t fire Zoila, at least. Love her. I need a Zoila in my life.

Upon seeing this blue room, Jeff remarked that they would need to do some repainting, �Obviously.�

The house has 3 bedrooms and 3 baths.

And there�s a pool in back:

Jeff sold the house on Gramercy for about $2.7 million back in 2006. He says it was an offer he couldn�t refuse. He reportedly bought it back for about $1.6�a pretty sweet deal for him, even though it had been neglected and needed some work. Now I�m holding out hope for a Season 6 of �Flipping Out� so we can see this house come back to life!

Kelly Wearstler�s Malibu Beach House

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on NOVEMBER 18, 2009

After hearing the sad news that Metropolitan Home would be the latest in a long string of shuttered shelter mags, I checked out the latest issue, which features �Kelly Wearstler�s Ultra-Glam Beach House.� Kelly Wearstler is a well-known designer and one of the judges on Bravo TV�s Top Design.

You know I love looking at beach houses�heck, I have an entire blog dedicated to them atBeach Cottage Love! But this one left me cold, so I thought I�d see what you think about it.

That funky French chandelier is made with �splayed copper branches that suggest seaweed.� (If you say so!) There�s one in the dining room, too:

According to the magazine, the wallpaper in the bedroom is hand-painted �with lines as jagged as shattered slate.�  The vintage headboard is bracketed with gilded spirals. On either side of the bed are pyramid-shaped lamps and vintage chairs that are �all about comfort.�

All I could think about was the time that Hildi glued pieces of straw to a poor homeowner�s walls on an episode of Trading Spaces.

Photos by Fran�ois Halard. You can see the entire gallery of photos in Metropolitan Home. Head over to The Skirted Roundtable to hear an interesting podcast about the alarming number of decor-mag closures.

What do you think of Kelly Wearstler's beach house?

• Love it!
   1%
• I like it, but it's not really my style.
   6%
• It leaves me cold.
   92%

Closed

Total Votes: 528

poll by twiigs.com