Through Gwynnie’s Gooptastic keyhole
From a £45,000 hammock to £23,000 taps ...Ikea it ain’t!
THE A-list residents of Montecito, 80 miles up the Pacific coast from Los Angeles, boast one of the most enviable postcodes in America. Theirs is an understated community of white stucco mansions and quiet enclaves, where multi-millionaires including Oprah Winfrey and Harry and Meghan can enjoy their sumptuous homes away from prying eyes.
Unless you’re new arrival Gwyneth Paltrow, that is, who threw caution and her custom-made, pewter-finished bronze doors to the wind this week as she opened up her home to the world.
The Hollywood actress turned wellness guru granted an interview to interiors bible Architectural Digest to show off her 14,000 sq ft home, which she built from scratch after buying the plot of land for £3.6 million in 2016.
And, as you might expect from a woman with an estimated £100 million fortune, thanks to her Goop empire, a staggering volume of cash has been splashed on curiosities that include a £33,000 chandelier, £23,000 brass taps and a £45,000 indoor hammock.
Here, we give you an inside tour of the mansion that Goop built.
MAJESTIC MONOCHROME INSPIRED BY ENGLAND
VISITORS are greeted by an expanse of monochrome tiles from Chateau Domingue, believed to cost around £20 per square foot. The decor was inspired by Gwyneth’s time in London, where she shared an £7 million mansion in Belsize Park with first husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin.
A fireplace with an 18th-century mantel was installed, while in the centre of the hall, on a polished marble table, is a spherical vase from Roman And Williams Guild — estimated cost £1,800.
LITTLEST ROOM WITH GRAND DESIGNS
VENTURE along what Architectural Digest describes as ‘the long, lean monolithic structure, laid out largely on one floor, with a shingled roof and stone walls that approximate the irregular rhythms and timeworn texture of drystack construction’ — a corridor — and you’ll reach the downstairs loo.
Midnight blue and gold, its £3,800 reclaimed antique marble sink is from Flemish company Stone Objects, with brass taps, thought to cost around £1,300, from French firm THG.
The antique mirror and hand-painted floral wallpaper are from LA firm MJ Atelier, while the Cirque Wall Column light fixture by Italian and English team Giopato & Coombes costs from £1,290.
£33,560 CHANDELIER AND UNUSED BAR
THE living room’s unorthodox tone is set with the installation of a £33,560 Lindsey Adelman chandelier, featuring handblown glass globes linked by a rope criss-crossing the ceiling. A hammock by Jim Zivic for Ralph Pucci has an estimated price tag of £45,500.
What we might describe as cream felt squiggles are actually 1970s Etcetera lounge chairs by Swedish designer Jan Ekselius, costing £2,000. Gwyneth’s favourite place to sit seems to be an enormous Charles Zana sofa — a similar version is priced from £36,606 online.
And she hasn’t scrimped on paintings. The work above the sofa is by minimalist artist Ed Ruscha, whose 1964 creation Hurting The Word Radio #2 sold at Christie’s for £40 million in 2019, while a painting by the late contemporary American artist John Baldessari hangs above the fireplace.
Trailing from the ceiling by the window is a £23,900 wire sculpture by artist D’Lisa Creager.
Along one side of the room is a freestanding marble bar, designed by Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch. Gwyneth is foregoing her favourite Japanese whisky. ‘Unfortunately, I’m not drinking very much this year so I’m having mostly mocktails or sparkling water,’ she says. Any soft drink will be served in style. The Waterworks bar tap is a whopping £1,854.
£23,000 BRASS TAPS AND A PARISIAN SPA
THE enormous spa, with hot tub, cold plunge pool, steam room and sauna, is inspired by the marbled Parisian spa Les Bain du Marais.
Pots by the late Swiss designer Willy Guhl, worth £1,500 each,
sport greenery in one corner. The unlacquered brass taps by R.W. Atlas cost £23,000 alone.
STAR TREK CHANDELIER FOR CELEBRITY GUESTS
The dining room chandelier, by Thomas Newman Studio, costs an estimated £18,000. ‘It’s a little futuristic for me,’ says Gwyneth, describing the white modernist construction as ‘a bit Star Trek’.
her white Martin Massé dining table, thought to cost £32,000, and space-age black GamFratesi chairs, which start at £800 each, are perfect for entertaining.
KITCHEN WITH £6.5K CROCKERY WALL
The wood-burning fire in the kitchen is ‘a luxury’ that reminds Gwyneth of living in Britain
An entire wall has been devoted to a giant rack filled with hermes China Bleus D’Ailleurs crockery. The old range spotted on eBay with four dinner plates costs £671.
Given there appear to be around 50 on display, that makes for a wall worth in the region of £6,500.
Gwyneth says a ‘fight’ broke out between her architect and contractor over whether the ladder that rolls along a golden rail from one end of the room to the other, allowing the star to reach the highest Roman And Williams cabinets above the sink, ‘would actually be usable’. It’s estimated to cost upwards of £3,000.