Clearly, I underestimated your knowledge of pop-culture trivia! You guys guessed it. The “mystery kitchen” I showed you yesterday does indeed belong to none other than Madonna!
The clues were:
1. Madonna’s new album is called “Hard Candy.” (It’s “sweet.”)
2. She collects paintings by Frida Kahlo and campaigned hard to play the Mexican artist in a movie about her. She wanted Marlon Brando, of all people, to play Diego Rivera. Salma Hayek got the green light to film her version and play the lead instead.
3. Madonna’s $5 million contract with Pepsi came to an abrupt end after her “Like a Prayer” video freaked everybody out in 1984. Her two-minute long Pepsi commercial aired only once, during an episode of “The Cosby Show.”
Her Manhattan apartment was decorated by her brother, Christopher Ciccone, and it was featured in Architectural Digest. Gossip columnist Janet Charlton tells us Christopher Ciccone’s tell-all book about Madonna, coming out soon, is gonna be a doozy!
Take a look around and see what you think!
(more…)
July 3, 2008
Okay, boys and girls. It’s time to play “Can You Guess Who Lives Here?”
Believe it or not, this unassuming kitchen belongs to a big-time celeb whose life is much more colorful than this bland decor would suggest. Can you guess who cooks here? (Or whose personal chef does?)
Here are your 3 clues:
1. You could say her most recent album was “sweet.”
2. She wanted to play the role of Frida Kahlo, but it went to Salma Hayek instead.
3. She was paid $5 million for a commercial that aired only once.
Is that too easy? If you’re a fan, this is probably a no-brainer for you. Take a guess in the comments!
Then be sure to come back tomorrow (Thursday) to see the answer, along with the rest of the photos from this Very Famous Person’s place!
July 2, 2008
Fashion designer Betsey Johnson is one of a kind, and so is her NYC penthouse. For one thing, it’s pink. Very, very pink.
According to the MLS, it has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and is on the market for about $2.5 million:
This stylish Gold Coast penthouse duplex loft is the New York residence of a famed fashion designer whose underlying respect for classics always has an irreverent edge and sense of fun… A lavishly presented confection of fifties Hollywood glamour trimmed in lace, velvet, and gold tassels, beneath the signature pink paint and fabulously frou-frou furnishings is a home with unique character and great bones.
This is the kind of place you have to see to believe. And that’s what makes it so much fun! Take a look!
(more…)
June 19, 2008
Christina Aguilera has won five Grammy awards and sold over 37 million records worldwide, but she’s a mom now, too. The pop songstress and husband Jordan Bratman welcomed Max Liron into their family on January 12.
In their Mediterranean-style home in L.A., they decorated Max’s nursery with an eclectic mix of Paddington Bears, Nintendo characters, and an 11-foot moon that had been onstage during Aguilera’s Back to Basics tour. Christina says putting it in the room was Jordan’s idea.
Take a look and see what you think!
(more…)
June 10, 2008
Remember when I showed you that traditional white house that I saw on the Walk and Gawk tour of North Avondale, Ohio, earlier this month, and I said it reminded me of the house in “Father of the Bride“?
Lindsay over at Iamnotastalker found the original home used for the movie and posted it on her blog. Now we can compare the two side by side and see how good my memory is of a movie I haven’t seen in at least five years.
(more…)
June 5, 2008
It looks like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have decided to give birth in France this time around (the twins are due this summer). At the Cannes Film Festival, Jolie told reporters, “We are certainly thinking of France.”
According to French newspaper Nice Matin, the dynamic duo just signed a 3-year lease on a $70 million chateau on the French Riviera.
The pre-Roman estate sits on nearly 1,000 acres in the South of France and is called Chateau Miraval. Let’s just say it ain’t shabby. It has 35 bedrooms and boasts a vineyard, lake, moat, forest, and 20 fountains. There are both indoor and outdoor pools, his-and-hers gyms, and an enormous banquet hall. The driveway alone is three miles long.
You know it’s big when they need to take aerial views to show it all. Take a look!
(more…)
May 30, 2008
Country crooner Kenny Rogers is selling his 9,000 square-foot mansion in Atlanta, Georgia, for $7.95 million. (Should I try to make a joke here about how, when it comes to real estate, Rogers knows when to hold ‘em. . .and he knows when to fold ‘em? Um, probably not, if I want you to stick around.)
Rogers told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Every wall, every ceiling, every floor is different” from when he bought the house in 2006. “I touched every inch of this house.” He purchased the home in 2006 for $2.8 million and spent $3 million on the renovation.
He’s moving to a 150-acre ranch near Athens, where a new home is under construction. Take a look at the place he’s leaving behind:
(more…)
May 28, 2008
Celebrity couple Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany have put their limestone mansion on the market for $8.5 million. According to Sotheby’s International Realty, their Brooklyn, New York home has 9 bedrooms and 3.5 baths:
Here is an opportunity to own one of the all time great houses of New York built at the turn of the century. Located on a corner lot directly across from Prospect Park, sunlight fills the grandly proportioned rooms all day long through oversized windows.
All of the original wood carving surrounding the windows and mantels as well as the elaborate plaster work on the ceilings remains in tact and in perfect condition.There are fireplaces in all of the public rooms (living, dining and kitchen) as well as in 3 of the 4 master bedrooms.
There is a full servant’s quarters on the top floor consisting of 4 small bedrooms, a full bath and a large storage room.The original stained and leaded windows exist in the baths and in the large skylight at the top of the grand staircase.Central air-conditioning has been added and there is a large, fully landscaped garden at the rear of the house which is gated and private. This property is simply outstanding in every way.
Take a look!
(more…)
May 19, 2008
Okay, tell me I’m not the only one who watches “The Bachelor” on ABC. I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I tune in every week to see host Chris Harrison announce, “Coming up: our most shocking. Rose ceremony. Ever.”
Whenever a new season begins, I swear I’m giving it up. But then I have to take a quick look to see who the resident crazies in the mansion are this time around, and before I know it, I’ve been sucked in again.
I’ve been watching since the very first season, with Alex as the first (smarmy) bachelor. He tossed Trista Rehn aside at the last minute and broke her heart, so producers cleverly brought her back as the first Bachelorette. Right up until the end, I was sure she was going to pick the other guy. But I always guess them wrong. At the final rose ceremony, Trista chose Ryan Sutter, the sweet and handsome Colorado firefighter who wrote poetry for her.
Trista and Ryan are one of the only happy endings that have lasted long beyond the final credits of the show. I was one of the 20 million viewers who tuned in to watch their pink wedding on TV in 2003. The couple now lives in Vail, Colorado. Last July they had their first baby, a son named Maxwell Alston.
To see his nursery, click “more” below:
(more…)
May 1, 2008
Star Wars princess Natalie Portman is selling her modest, 7-room Long Island home for $2.2 million. She has lived on Long Island since she was a child, and in this home for the past five years. I love when celeb houses hit the market because then we all get to peek inside and see how they live!
(more…)
April 30, 2008
Country music star Kenny Chesney purchased a Mediterranean-style compound in Malibu, California, for $7.4 million in February. And now, according to reports, he has already put it back on the market for $7.5. I wonder why he changed his mind? It looks like a great place to hang your hat!
According to the MLS listing, it has 5 bedrooms and 5 baths, but upon closer inspection it appears that only 2 of those bedrooms are in the main house. There are also two guest houses on the property.
Here’s the agent’s description of the home:
“Spectacular Mediterranean compound, private and gated, panoramic views of Santa Monica Bay, Catalina Island, and Malibu Point. Voluminous main house and two detached guest houses, enormous flat grassy yard, beautiful fruit trees and gardens, tiled pool, outdoor oven and barbecue. La Costa Beach rights and tennis membership included.”
I love that the main house is “voluminous.” I’ve never heard real estate described that way, have you? Berg Properties reports that in this case, voluminous means 3,723 square feet, to be exact.
(more…)
April 24, 2008
Billy Joel released his first hit single, “The Piano Man,” in 1973. He has since become a six-time Grammy winner with 33 top 40 hits and more than 150 million records sold worldwide. Joel announced that he was “retiring” from pop music in 1993 but has continued to tour, sometimes with Elton John.
Today he is married to cookbook author Katie Lee Joel, and the couple owns an $18.75 million hideaway in the Hamptons.
(more…)
April 17, 2008
Perennial bachelor Matthew Perry (aka Chandler Bing on “Friends“) just bought a 4,100 square-foot bachelor pad in L.A. for $4.5 million.
According to Sotheby’s International Realty, it’s a “spectacular modern home with soaring mountain, city, and ocean views. Located at the end of a quiet, hilltop cul-de-sac, this one-of-a-kind gated estate flows effortlessly, lives graciously, and speaks lifestyle.”
(more…)
April 12, 2008
Reese Witherspoon just purchased a new $6.9 million love nest country house in Ojai, California. According to the MLS listing, it’s a Wallace Neff architectural masterpiece that includes an equestrian compound: “The perfect 6+ acre hideaway is nestled in fabulous Ojai Valley, a short drive to one of LA’s most sought after vacation spots. Fabulous new master suite. Incredible privacy.”
(more…)
April 10, 2008
Michael J. Fox, Tracy Pollan, and their four children are moving into this gorgeous Gambrel shingle-style, traditional home in Quogue, an incorporated village inside Southampton, New York. According to Newsday’s Real LI blog, they paid $6.3 million for the 6 bedroom, 7.5 bath home (it had been on the market for $7.25 million, so they got a deal).
(more…)
April 1, 2008
-
The new People magazine issue is on newsstands now, featuring Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s twins Max and Emme. You’ve got to check it out, if only to get a look at that nursery. Wow. It’s like Versailles in there with crystal chandeliers and everything.
(more…)
March 30, 2008
-
“I still close my eyes and go home–I can always draw from that.” -Dolly Parton
I just got home from our Spring Break vacation in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and thought you’d like to see the souvenir I brought back for you. You didn’t think I’d come back empty handed, did you?
We went to Dollywood yesterday, and one of my favorite things in the park was the replica of Dolly Parton’s childhood home constructed by her mother and brother. I was amazed to see how Dolly and her 10 brothers and sisters lived in this tiny, one-room cabin in the Smoky Mountains. She has always described her family as “dirt poor,” and that’s no exaggeration. It’s all the more remarkable when you think about how far she’s come since then.
(more…)
March 28, 2008
-
Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger’s mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut is now on the market for $27.9 million. I found the MLS listing for it and had to share it with you. It’s always fun to look at famous peoples’ homes to see how they live.
“Stone Hill” is a 20,000 square foot estate, with 7 bedrooms, 9 baths, 8 fireplaces, and 4 garages, decorated with “an artfully eclectic mix of Georgian moldings, vintage marble/stone fireplaces, cashmere/exotic leather wall treatments and heated marble floors.”
The property boasts over 4 acres with an infinity pool and tennis court. If the weather isn’t accommodating, there’s an indoor basketball and squash court, gym, sauna, and spa treatment room. Oh, and don’t forget the “wine cellar and grotto.”
(more…)
March 26, 2008
-
Vera Wang’s historic oceanfront villa is on the market in Palm Beach for $19 million. The mansion was designed in 1923 by famed society architect Addison Mizner, and the town of Palm Beach has declared it a local landmark.
The sprawling estate has 11 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, as well as 9 additional bedrooms in separate servants’ quarters. It boasts many original details, such as hand-painted coffered ceilings.
“I’ve always been fascinated by Mizner,” Wang told the Palm Beach Daily News. “To me, he did ‘Spanish lite.’ His whimsical style was never as heavy as the castles in Spain. He always adapted that sense of romance.”
(more…)
March 11, 2008
