Monday, March 27, 2017
Beverly Hills Renovation
Beverly Hills Renovation
A few months ago I showed Yolanda Foster’s gorgeous Malibu house – that is currently for sale. HERE. Yolanda is famous for her role on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on Bravo TV.
OK. OK. Bravo TV is such a guilty pleasure for me! I’ve shown a few of the Housewives’ houses lately because some of their houses are better than the show itself. One Bravo TV house I showed was in Architectural Digest a month or so later. HERE. But, just judging by their 90210 zip code alone, the houses of the Beverly Hills Housewives are the crème of the Bravo network. Naturally.
The Beverly Hills Housewives – Lisa Vanderpump is 4th from the left. Yolanda Foster is 5th from the left.
I’ve wanted to show this particular Housewife’s house for a few years now, but always held off because the décor is not really my aesthetic – it’s more like Barbie on speed with Rhinestones and Sequins. Still, there is something about the house that grabs my attention each time it is shown on an episode. It belongs to Lisa Vanderpump, a veteran Beverly Hills Housewife.
Vanderpump is a younger Barbara Cartland, the Queen of English romance authors. Lisa’s nickname, after all, is Pinkie - because there isn’t a shade of pink that she doesn’t love. Well, she IS an English Rose, born and bred, and pink does look best against Lisa’s peaches and cream (helped by oodles of plastic surgery) complexion. Besides pink, there isn’t a crystal or diamond or sparkly bit of bling that Lisa doesn’t love.
Lisa in her sequins and diamonds and tiara and pinks and flowers. The only thing missing is her little dog Giggy.
And famous English romance writer Barbara Cartland surrounded by her roses and pink and jewelry and dog. Uncanny, I know.
In case you never heard of her – Lisa Vanderpump and her husband Ken Todd - moved to L.A. after making millions in the restaurant, club, and bar business in Europe. Currently they own several establishments in L.A. – Villa Blanca, Sur, and their newest venture PUMP. Judging by the number of her Hermes Birkin bags alone, they seem to have made a fortune selling liquor and food. Who knew it was so lucrative?
The English Pink Rose at her wedding in 1982. Does the dress look familiar? Of course Lisa would be a total Diana follower – after all her step grandmother was Barbara Cartland! Being the complete Anglophile that Lisa is – she completely copied Princess Diana’s dress, down to the row of ruffles.
Diana wed just a year before Lisa, and the two dresses are very similar, which is no surprise knowing Lisa. Today, Lisa, the 54 year old mother of two, would probably choose a sleeveless sheath style dress covered in sequins and crystals.
When Real Housewives of Beverly Hills started filming – Lisa and Ken lived here, in a gated community, in this 17,000 sq. ft. mansion. It was on 2 acres, but the house and tennis court took up the majority of the space.
Here is the façade – a total goop of every Frenchifried cliché there is – and this is just the front of the building.
And, the back. Lisa’s daughter was married there in a profusion of pink roses – it was the last event filmed for Bravo at their large house. My favorite part of the house is the garage – which is reached by driving through an arched opening to a motor court. On the other side of the courtyard it opens to the back yard.
Pandora’s wedding ceremony took place in a secret garden in Lisa’s back yard.
After Pandora’s wedding, the Frenchifried house was listed by Mauricio, the husband of yet another Beverly Hill’s housewife and uncle to Paris Hilton, for around $29,000,000.
A year later, while being remodeled, the Frenchifried house caught on fire and was torn down to the cement foundation.
An aerial view of all that is left – the driveway and the trimmed bushes that surrounded the property.
After the house sold, the fun begins. At first, it wasn’t totally obvious that Lisa had moved to a new house. She used all the same furniture and thus, the interiors had a very similar look in tight shots. But – it became apparent there was a new house being used for the show when guests arrived to the house. Suddenly, Lisa lived in a house surrounded by a beautiful moat. In fact, her entire front yard was a large fountain which forced guests to cross over it using a blue wood bridge.
The effect was stunning, and totally Lisa flamboyant. Looking up the real estate listing for the new house produced photos that were totally different than the house Lisa now lived in. Obviously, they had spent months and mounds of money turning a contemporary house into the eclectic mix of antique and romantic modern that the house now is.
The original house was quite a stunner. So much so that it was published in a book. It was designed by the famed architectural firm Abramson Teiger of Culver City, California whose projects have been published numerous times in prestigious architectural publications and books. First rate for sure, the firm has been awarded many AIA mentions. Nothing about this particular house was faux Frenchifried or Anglophiled. The house was elegantly contemporary – and nothing less.
Designed for an interior decorator, it is set on a gorgeous lot that overlooks a largely empty canyon. It’s as if the house is located in the country and not a major city. The road to the property is gated and private.
The finest of elements were used such as walnut hardwood floors and Yorkstone tiles imported from England, along with French polished Ebony wood paneling and steel windows. The lot is two acres and has a swimming pool, a swan pond, and a separate guest house.
Here is the house as it was designed originally – seen at dusk.
And during the day. As you can see, the front yard is a large parking area – stark with not much landscaping. It looks almost like a commercial building, not a home. The house is so contemporary, it seems impossible to imagine the Queen of Pink lives here. What possessed her to buy it?
I mean, this is a woman who doesn’t leave home without her alopecia inflicted dog, Giggy, dressed up in a matching outfit. The new house just doesn’t look like her at all.
Some of Giggy’s outfits. Since her dog has alopecia, he has to keep his skin covered. Actually, Giggy has quite a following and has raised a lot of money for alopecia!!
Not Giggy of course because this dog has lots of fur – but obviously it’s another one of Lisa’s numerous dogs. This one was dyed her favorite color – pink!
I mean – this is a woman whose rollers are pink!!!
BEFORE: Here is an aerial view of the house with the gate at the end of the drive. Behind the house – is the large yard that slopes down to stairs that lead to a large pool.
BEFORE: Here is the original floorplan. The two story center room is shown as a dining room, but actually it is a library. Lisa used the front room at the left as her dining room.
The biggest change was the addition – Lisa added a two story addition on the right side of the house – from the existing house to the driveway. It became a new breakfast room and pool table room – downstairs, and an extra large bedroom suite and new closet and bathroom for Lisa, upstairs.
And the upper floor – before. Lisa totally reconfigured the master bedroom/bathroom – of course! Where the addition is on the right side of the house – she added on a room for just their bed, and enlarged the closet and bathroom for herself. Ken got the old closet and bathroom.
The concrete parking lot front yard.
So – let’s start the comparison, room by room. First – the award winning house designed by famed architects Abramson Teiger vs. the house today, as renovated by Lisa Vanderpump. I don’t know who the architect for the additions are.
BEFORE: At the beginning of the driveway, the architects designed a contemporary - Shoji screen gate in white. And below is how the gate looks today:
Here are the new wood and iron gates that Lisa designed and had built. Being from England, Lisa always names her houses. This house is called – yes, Villa Rosa.
The winding road ready for the Pink Carpet arrival for a dinner party.
BEFORE: The façade as it looked when the house was bought by Lisa and Ken. Starkly contemporary.
TODAY: The concrete was totally removed. A large fountain was created that leads up to the front of the façade. Inside the fountain – two islands were created and two eucalyptus trees were planted there, along with flowers. A blue painted wood bridge carries visitors to the front door.
The fountain has to be the most romantic thing ever! Lisa also painted the steel windows a soft blue which reflects the color of the fountain.
Here – you can see where the addition is. The window on the second floor at the very right is new construction.
At the left side of the fountain – the water flows through the two large terracotta vessels placed on their sides.
Besides the fountain – the second biggest change was the addition of a glass enclosed foyer that was built outside the front door. You can see the foyer here – with its one story roof. All plate glass, the foyer adds a contemporary touch to the façade which has been considerably softened by the addition of the fountain and landscaping.
A closer view of the glass enclosed foyer – this is my favorite part of the renovation, after the fountain.
At dusk, the fountain lights are turned on for more atmosphere – and to allow the fountain to be seen, even in the dark.
Two large vases flanking the bridge hold even more flowers.
The terracotta pots from which the water flows. The dining room overlooks this part of the fountain – and makes for a beautiful view from the inside.
Lisa comes out of the glass foyer to greet visitors.
Notice where the front door key goes – instead of a key though, it’s a card placed in the chrome stand at the right. More branding – “Villa Rosa” signs on each side of the glass foyer.
Of course there are swans – Lisa feeds Hanky and Panky.
The view from inside the glass foyer – looking out.
&n
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