Sorry for the late posting.  Today is such a terrible news day. One day after the mass shooting at Fort Hood, we now have another mass shooting, this time in Orlando. It’s the kind of day to make us question why we do what we do.

FIND OUT WHO THIS WOMAN IS and SEE WHY HER HOME INSPIRES US>>

In searching for something to put it all in perspective, we ran across a slideshow from the New York Times about the home of well-known fashion designer Sigrid Olsen.  Until last year, Sigrid designed clothes under her own label for Liz Claiborne.  She has since traded in her spacious home for a tiny bungalow in the Rocky Neck art colony of Gloucaster, MA.

She now sells her artwork from her 1,200 square foot bungalow, which houses her combined living, work, and gallery spaces.  The dining room table (above) serves as her work space and her husband (below)manages the gallery from the living room. 

The garage provides additional studio space for Sigrid as well as her 90-year old father (below), who is also a painter.

In short, we are inspired by Sigrid and we love her home.  It is our Celebrity Home of the Week. 

The recent shootings remind us how fragile life can be.  We believe the choices we make about where to live and how to live should reinforce what is really important to us.  In Sigrid’s case, it isn’t a spacious mansion or a lot of high end furniture that brings her joy.  It’s a small home in a lovely little community where she can pursue her passion for art and spend time with her family.

So, to answer our own question:  We examine the homes of celebrities to find inspiration and at the same time learn more about what’s important to them and ourselves. 

Tell us, does your home inspire you?  Does it reinforce what is really important to you?

Photos by Jodi Hilton for the NY Times.  To learn more about Sigrid’s Art, visit http://www.sigridolsenart.com/.

Ciao!

Listen up, all you James Franco-philes out there!  The sexy star seen in Milk, Pineapple Express, and the Spider-Man flicks has placed his gorgeous chateau on the Sunset Strip up for sale.  This right-sized 3BR/3.5BA house has 4,000 sq. ft. and comes with city views.  The asking price for this Hollywood beauty (No, not him!) is $3,695,000.

Ciao!

First up, John Mayer . . .

and his SoHo digs:

Pros
*He’s cute, so we don’t give a crap about what his place looks like.
*He thought enough to hire a big name designer (Georgio Armani) to design his digs.

Cons
*Georgio Armani doesn’t know d*ck about interior design!
*John couldn’t “man up” enough to fire Armani midway through the project.

Next up, John Legend . . .
and his East Village Digs:

and his SoHo digs:

Candidate #1: Shia LaBeouf’s Cool Sherman Oaks Home

PROS
* Gorgeous mid-century house. Hollywood style and glamour.
* Shia’s a Hollywood Hottie!

CONS
* Shia is at about minute 12 of his 15 minutes of fame.
* The house is so fab, we’re just plain jealous! Yes, we reserve the right to ‘playa hate.’


Candidate #2: The “Ferris Beuller” House of Glass

PROS
* Another mid-century beauty (albeit probably freezing cold during those Chicago winters).
* Nice period furniture pieces inside.
* It’s for sale. So you can own a piece of movie history . . . if you’ve got $2.3M.

CONS
* Infamous Ferrari is not included in the sales price.
* It’s not really a celebrity’s house. This actually disqualifies it from winning.
* It’s not even the movie house of the movie’s only celebrity–to the extent that we’re still calling Matthew Broderick a celeb. Remember, it was his friend Cameron’s house.

(Cameron was played by Alan Ruck, in case anyone cares and we know no one does.)

Candidate #3: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s Overpriced New York Home

PROS
* It’s a normal person’s house. (Of course, Geithner may be a psycho.)
* It’s the first house to garner its own segment on The Daily Show.
* It’s possibly still for sale on the down low + at a greatly reduced price after that segment.

CONS
* That now infamous royal blue tile in the bathroom could get on our nerves.
* That aqua blue and salmon pink bedroom could make us commit hari-kari!
* It’s overpriced, Geithner, you dumba$$! No wonder folks want you fired!

Candidate #4: Whoopi Goldberg’s Eccentric SoHo Co-op

PROS
* It’s a cool and quirky SoHo loft that happens to be for sale.
* AOL thought enough of it to put it on full blast to its subscribers yesterday.
* Despite our observations, a lot of people seemed to really dig her place.

CONS
* It’s a little too quirky for us.
* It’s a little too Shabby Chic-y for us.
* Did she ever f*ck Ted Danson there? Ewww!

So after weighing all the pros and cons, we have to call it a three-way tie this week. Congratulations Shia, Tim, and Whoopi. All of you have the Celebrity Homes of the Week!

Ciao!

1. Debi’s Digs. Her home is very livable and stylish. But she probably could have used a designer to pull together her dining room a little. Still, you can’t beat that cool chandelier.

2. Biz’s Digs. His home is ultra cool. It’s also located in a hip, funky town full of intellectuals. Perfect spot for a creative tech genius type. But at 800sf it was a little on the small side. Plus, that decor certainly was uninspiring–staged or not.

3. Rob’s Digs. His vacation home is unbelievably beautiful–pure fantasy. We really dig the seclusion offered by the separate bedroom pavilions. And it’s eco-friendly to boot. But Bali sure is a long way away. And what happens when that volcano erupts?

We have to declare Debi Mazar’s digs the winner this week! We could actually picture ourselves living in her house. Makes us wonder why she’s put it up for sale . . . .

Ah well, congratulations Debi! You have the Celebrity Home of the Week (CHOW)!

CIAO!

Before we go, we have to identify our first CHOW–Celebrity Home of the Week: