Miranda Kerr loves textures and fabrics — take a look at her beautiful Malibu home!
By Home & Decor Team -
Miranda Kerr — street-style star, devoted mother, in-demand model, and Instagram phenom — and her five-year-old son, Flynn, live in this charming 1960s ranch home on the northern end of Malibu beach. She bought the property in 2014, when she and her former husband and Flynn’s father, Orlando Bloom, were deciding how best to raise their son. The house, which was built in 1960, has a modern beach-cottage feel, with exposed beams and large windows. Kerr remodeled the interior but kept the original footprint intact. The walls are covered with Flynn’s drawings, family photos, and paintings Kerr has collected over the years.
“I knew this house was it at first sight. It felt so right. In some ways it feels like a tree house. That’s another thing that I loved. It’s all open, and the view of the ocean makes it feel more spacious.” Kerr’s top priority for the house was to make it a “sacred space,” a calm refuge from her hectic schedule that was filled with small reminders of a happy childhood in Australia. To achieve that, she started with a neutral background of pale grass-cloth wallpaper, white walls, and cream-coloured upholstered pieces, then added layers and layers of textiles. I like to experiment with texture and fabric more than colour,” she explains. “I’m a tactile person, so there are so many different types of fabrics around the house, like layered curtains and fluffy rugs, throws and pillows, and just a few pops of colour.”
Brightly patterned pillows, fashioned from Hermès scarves, offset the custom-made ivory velvet sofas. There may be a large-scale Damien Hirst painting of a heart in the living room, but the wall space is mostly occupied by photos and sketches by her son and her extended family. A baby grand piano cleverly made of clear acrylic by Crystal Music Company (Kerr has played since she was a girl) ensures that the main living space stays light and airy, and that the view of the cool blue Pacific from a wall of windows is the focal point. “When I was a child, I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house,” she says. “People were coming in and out. She was always in the kitchen making something. There was always food and snacks. She would play the piano, and we would sing and dance. So those were my two priorities. I wanted to have a piano and a great kitchen, which is always the heart of the home.”
“Orlando and I were living in New York, and we loved it there,” she says. “But we were considering what the best options were for our son. Orlando owned a place in Malibu, and he was saying that he wanted to move here. We thought it would be a better lifestyle for Flynn. He could be outside playing year-round, playing in the sand. We could have a garden. I started looking for houses because we wanted to be close as a family.” Kerr had Raindance Trading Co. install many large crystals throughout the property, including this ring of rose quartz around a tree.
She installed an infrared sauna in the one-bedroom guesthouse at the bottom of the hill, which doubles as a meditation room. A small gym in the pool house is stocked with state-of-the-art Pilates equipment. To create a peaceful sanctuary at night, Kerr had an electrician wire the property specifically so she can turn off devices that emit disruptive electromagnetic radiation (as well as the lights and Wi-Fi) with a flick of a switch by her nightstand. But the most impressive enviro upgrade was a gift from Spiegel, a machine made by Island Sky called the Skywater 300, which draws moisture from the humidity in the air and produces enough water for the entire house, including showers, drinking water, irrigation, and a waterfall that cascades into a koi pond.
(All photos: Douglas Friedman)
Adapted from Harper's Bazaar