Gwyneth Paltrow in the Goop lab
(Picture: Netflix)Hollywood star and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow has opened the doors to the spectacular Montecito mansion she calls home.
“I cannot believe that this is our house and we live here,” Paltrow told Architectural Digest in a 12-minute video tour of the dream house that has been six years in the making.
The project is a collaboration between New York architecture firm Roman and Williams, who worked on the star’s old Tribeca district apartment, Paltrow’s long-time friend interior designer Brigette Romanek and artists like Lindsey Adelman.
The interiors are a blend of antique furnishings — think reclaimed one-off pieces like a black marble sink in a downstairs bathroom and chequerboard stone floor tiles in the entrance hall — and contemporary, sculptural pieces.
Lighting designer and artist Adelman was sent drawings of the main living room by Paltrow and given license to “do whatever she wanted.” The result is a spectacular ceiling lighting installation with handblown glass globes on jewellery-like chains — not dissimilar to the bangles Paltrow wears in the video. Now part of the artist’s Paradise collection, the chandelier costs $45,500 (£33,560).
Many of the interiors ideas came from Paltrow’s own research, from the fluted plaster fireplace in the kitchen to the freestanding onyx bar in the living space.
While Paltrow hoped she’d be able to furnish the home herself she soon realised she needed help and called her long-time friend designer Brigette Romanek.
Romanek’s contemporary, sculptural contributions to the home design include a spectacular Sapele wood and white ‘pearl’ globe chandelier over the dining table (priced $32,000 or £24,000) that Paltrow said she was initially unsure about but has “grown to really love”, hand-painted wallpapers and brass lighting in the kitchen.
A hammock by Jim Zivic for Ralph Pucci, thought to be priced around $62,000 (£45,500), acts like a floating bed beside one of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows in the main living space. It’s one of two Paltrow has had in her homes over the years although the original was sadly lost in a fire, she revealed in the AD interview.
The most spectacular feature seen on the home tour is undoubtedly the full-size home spa with pool, hot tub, steam room and sauna that Paltrow said was designed to mimic Les Bains de la Marais in Paris.
“I use it all the time, and whenever I’m in here I’m like, pinch me,” said Paltrow. “It’s so fun.”
“It’s like an ancient bathhouse unexpectedly sheathed in these beautiful pale-geen tiles with an Arts and Crafts vibe,” Roman and Williams’ Robin Standefer told AD. “We love investigating the tension and voltage between things you don’t normally see combined.”
Paltrow first saw the property on a trip to Montecito, California, in 2015. Then, it had a rundown house that needed total renovation – or demolition as it turned out – but the land and the views were what really sealed the deal for the wellness guru.
The popular celebrity enclave, a cluster of streets around 90 minutes’ drive from Los Angeles, has been making headlines in recent days with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly planning to sell their $14.95 million (£11 million) home there.
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has listed her $13.9 million (£10.2 million) home for sale this week, having purchased it for $12 million just four months ago. DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi are thought to have carried out a full renovation of the one-storey property, and stand to make a profit of nearly $2 million should it sell for the asking price.
Ariana Grande also owns a home in Montecito, buying a historic English home from DeGeneres and de Rossi for £5.3 million in 2020.
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey’s mansion known as Promised Land — and recognisable for being where the Sussexes and Adele gave their bombshell TV interviews — is also in Montecito. Winfrey is thought to have paid $50 million (£36.7 million) for the home over 20 years ago.
