Facing the Pacific in Malibu, Kelly Wearstler reinvents his explosive style in the earthy shades of the beach where he sits his summer retreat. Sophistication without brilliance, natural and unrefined.
“The ocean and the sand were the inspiration, I used its colors and textures calm, almost silent, to feel in harmony with the environment.” The Pacific is a powerful force! “The decorator Kelly Wearstler speaks from her mansion far from the mundane noise anchored by the warm waters of Malibu, Calif. And here is the aphorism of the decorators who states that a project can only be as good as the client for which it is realized: when it works for itself, the result is dynamite.
Kelly is the star of the American decor. The daughter of a South Carolina decorator, she moved to Hollywood and was a Playboy girl in 1994. She married hotel entrepreneur Brad Korzen and has two children. Her style is retro-scenic, she is considered a scholar of color and graphic prints, is the author of Beverly Hills film and music executive houses and hotels that recall the exuberance of old Hollywood, from Tony Duquette to Dorothy Draper. She is also the best dressed according to Vogue and author of bibles of the art of decorating as Domicilium Decoratus or Hue, a book with all her work – of which this house is part.
Like many things in life, he stumbled upon this place by chance. A friend gave him the clue: a property in the privileged Californian coast with the poster for sale. “It was a nonsense house from the early 1990s, lined with white stucco,” says Kelly, “but the location caught me. Waves, surf, bike, family games and dolce far niente! So I completely rebuilt it. ” On the main floor, the ocean is contemplated from all rooms, and from the six bedrooms, three overlook the beach and three to the garden.
“The palette of materials and colors has the ranges you can find in the sand. Washed wood, furniture covered with stone sheets, handmade wallpapers in soft tones of metallic gold, lamps reminiscent of algae and carpets inspired by the tones and drawings of the shells. The atmosphere is organic, untreated, natural, with many textures. And besides, all the furniture is low so that the eye is always at the level of the ocean. “
Kelly, queen of the warm and feminine color (her work is full of yellow, gold, pink, green and orange), has used here crude shades and the coast. “It’s an evolution of my style. But I still love the color! In this project I have given more importance to textures and touch “. The sand and its declinations (“biscuit, alabaster, almond, cream, beige, shell …”, Kelly enumerates) come alive with meticulous trips of chocolate, jet and onyx.
In the materials, a dramatic cipolino marble covers the chimney, a floor of whitened walnut covers the floors and the furniture exhibits sober finishes in bent oak, fir Douglas and rosewood. Minerals are Kelly’s decorative amulet and here are luxury side alabaster appliqués, onyx and selenite decorative objects and petrified wood coffe-tables. In the furniture, good vintage selected with eye in antiquarians of Los Angeles and Miami. Kelly admires the designers of the ’70s who dressed for Hollywood’s luxury residences. Like Karl Springer, author of the bed of steel bars and upholstery in his bedroom, Tobia Scarpa, who signs the voluptuous sofas in the living room, or Paul Evans, a metal devotee who contributes a champignon leather chair with raised aluminum. There are unique designs of walnut and rosewood, and many shocking rarities, from a folk sculpture of trunk work of the first settlers to op-art paintings of the 60 and 70 dusted in antiquarians and the Kelly touch: a geometric paper and craftsman on the wall of a bedroom. “It was a lot of fun! He says goodbye. These quiet tones were a way I needed to explore. “