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January 14th, 2023 
Awake Goy 
Nothing gets our engine purring quite like the words, “Babe, do you wanna turn on the sunset lamp and roll the YouTube playlist of Architectural Digest celebrity home tours again?” Few things are as aspirational, serotonin-inducing, and healing as snorting all 139 (!!) of the videos of rich, hot people that we’ve formed totally healthy, parasocial relationships with, and we find ourselves returning to the cream of the crop as we zhuzh our homes for 2023.
How on Earth can one whittle down the best AD home tours? It’s like making us pick between Maldon salt and our Truly Bar. Honorable mentions must be made for Shonda Rhimes’ swaggy m’lady-core digs; knees must be bent into “Soak Up the Sun” position and placed upon the pews of Sheryl Crow’s folk art chapel; kisses must be blown to our she-elf muse Liv Tyler, and the sword from The Lord of the Rings hiding in her West Village attic. As for everyone else? We’ll let you dive into the aforementioned playlist/bible yourself, and bestow you with a cheat sheet to the best furniture and decor from our personal favorite AD open door tours, from unanimous bangers [*cough* Troye Sivan] to deeper cuts.
Grease up that Amex, and let’s get baby a few treats.
Viola Davis found the couch of our dreams
The video tour of Viola Davis’ Los Angeles home is hot off the press, and it’s genuinely heartwarming to watch her and partner Julius Tennon give you a tour of their family home, which feels like a very liveable, breathable contemporary space. We would watch the supremely talented Viola Davis burn worms if she asked us to, but we’re happy she introduced us to her zebra (??) print sectional. Lucky us: Lovesac has an über comfy zebra sofa that is just begging for a cuddle puddle and a rewatch of Zoolander.
Troye Sivan has a herd of Noguchi lamps
The singer’s refurbished Victorian Era home in Melbourne, Australia is warm and breezy, with an open-concept, multi-level floorplan that harkens back to the shag pads of the 1970s with lots of wood paneling, plants, and ambient Isamu Noguchi lamps. An OG Akari light by the late designer and artist will cost you around $2,500, but we found a doppelgänger floor lamp on Amazon for around $150.
Does Lenny Kravitz have a… commune?
… Sadly, no. The music legend and XXL slanket trendsetter just has a really sick compound/farm/estate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We might not be able to foot the bill for the same plexiglass piano (that used to belong to Ingrid Bergman??), but we can cop a similar leather sectional and vibe-equivalent for his vintage Zanini de Zanine chairs; most pieces by the designer can set you back over $10K, but this chair from Wayfair has a similar Brazil-in-1971 energy without costing a year-ish paycheck of rent.
“Couches are hard to find” – David Harbour
Forget the fact that the first 16 seconds of the actor’s New York loft tour are ASMR bliss; forget the scroll-as-a-notepad on the wall, or Harbour’s sick Masters of the Universe poster. We were most entranced by the Stranger Things zaddy’s floor-to-ceiling bookcase, which we will be recreating with these dupes for the floating Vitsœ shelves, and by finding a plush, copper sectional. Harbour’s was custom made, and has a low-slung, MCM silhouette and deep-set cushions. “Couches are hard to find,” he says, “A good couch that you enjoy sitting on has always been the bane of my existence.” Wayfair’s Orlowski sofa is a highly-rated, highly affordable dupe at $700.
Kirsten Dunst should be an antiques dealer
The scream we scrumpt when we saw Dunst’s crystal ship lantern. The actress’ Hollywood home is filled with romantic, weathered antiques and unique pieces from her travels and films [*cough* Marie Antoinette’], and is narrated alongside her BFF-interior designer of roughly 20 years, so you know she’s a ride-or-die decorator fiend. Dunst has some beautiful vintage gilded mirrors that open up her space and bring in more light, and while a whopper of a gilded mirror can cost over $500, we found an expensive-looking one on Wayfair for around $300. Pair it with some ferns and a velvet sofa (or a contrasting Postmodern couch, if that’s your vibe).
Someone put Dita Von Teese on money already
The burlesque queen’s storybook Los Angeles house is the future liberals want, from the pub-themed pool house filled with Toby jugs and Alice in Wonderland stained glass to the “woman cave” adorned with fabulous pictures of herself. Unlike so many celebs these days [rips Lucky Strike cig], Von Teese has very clearly, and very personally curated her home into an evolving extension of her burlesque brand. And while we may not be as worldly, we do theoretically have the power to throw down for a taxidermied bird and a French-inspired, cottagecore patio dining set.
Kacey Musgraves = trend mage
Musgraves’ Nashville house is what we thought our apartment would look (it doesn’t) that time we spray-foamed a bunch of mirrors and spent our tax return on a pottery class. The singer’s home is the perfect example of how to curate a sense of personal style with objects that are trending, timeless, and personal, seamlessly blending elements of Wabi Sabi, Postmodern design, and crystal-girl energy. There’s even a touch of India Mahdavi whimsy in there (what with her dusty rose—or, as Musgraves says, “dead salmon” sitting room) and some cozy white bouclé furniture. Get the same vibe with West Elm’s bouclé chair by Mara Hoffman, or with this highly rated budget pick from Amazon.
Sienna Miller’s cottagecore life
Do you think Sienna Miller ever catches The Holiday on cable TV, and thinks, “I have a better cottage than these losers”? (No shade to Jude Law.) Miller’s centuries-old English cottage is some real Beatrix Potter behavior, from the thatched roof to the low ceilings, and its cozy-rustic decor is on-point with the rising popularity of the Middle Ages Modern/Enyacore aesthetic. Be like Miller, and get a sturdy wood farmhouse table that will last forever, and can be mix-and-matched with eclectic chairs.
Can Emma Chamberlain adopt us?
Y’all. Emma Chamberlain is a mere 21 years old, and her Los Angeles digs are already so delicious that we’ve written a detailed VICE guide to shopping dupes and alternatives for Postmodern seating, corn stools, dog art, and, most memorably, the orange Lucite step ladder that proved just how sexy/non-boring step ladders can actually be. Standards = raised.
Gwenyth Paltrow’s Euro-Cali aesthetic
Regardless of how you feel about the Goop laird (or the term Euro-Cali; sorry Mom, sorry God), Paltrow’s Montecito, California home masterfully blends her love of the the UK (where, as she will remind you several times, she used to live) and its antique fireplaces and rustic flooring with a contemporary, bougie-coastal-mommy aesthetic. We love it. And we, too, want to sit at her kitchen island while she makes pasta. There are loads of beautiful, slightly decrepit (in a Venetian way; not a gross way) reclaimed fireplace facades on Etsy, and, yes, you can just buy them and turn your apartment into a European palazzo like Paltrow. Recreating her entire at-home sauna will take some time/a zaddy budget, but you can tap into her homey kitchen by copping the same Staub cast iron cookware cocotte set.
Kendall Jenner’s artsy flex
She may not be able to cut a cucumber, but she’ll be damned if Drake beats her to a James Turrell. The model and reality TV star has a beautiful, classically SoCal home—from the lemon trees to the terracotta roof—but the hypnotic light piece by the celeb-loved artist is a major flex. Given that even a James Turrell print is in 1stDibs’ price upon request category, we will be copping a sunset lamp and blasting that baby on magenta. Trust us: your serotonin levels will thank you.
Cara Delevigne’s horny home decor
If you’re a maximalist who really likes cocktail bars with palm frond powder rooms and neon signs, you probably loved Cara Delevigne’s Los Angeles home tour. We’ve penned an entire VICE guide to shopping the best dupes of her decor, but suffice to say the Leo went heavy on the brass and gold hardware, sex furniture, palm frond wallpaper, and Tiki bar energy. Cop this brassy bar cart yourself while it’s 64% off, and start to live a little.
Dakota Johnson, patron saint of ‘AD’ tours
The dollop of Daisy atop our chimichanga, the peak of AD home video tours—Dakota Johnson’s mid-century modern Los Angeles home might not be the biggest or flashiest house in the magazine’s tour holster, but it fundamentally changed our DNA several times over (see: “this is my grandmother’s pet lion”; the table fashioned out of Winston Churchill's boat) and made us buy two dozen limes just because Mommy said so. We would give our pinky toes for a chance to spin the records at this primo nepo bb house, but for now, we’ll just gEt tHe LOoK fOr LesS with a sub for her vintage Harvey Probber coffee table, which 1) sells for $9,500 and 2) had a cameo in The Godfather Part II. Achieve a similar look/intimidating intellectual person vibe with a Noguchi-esque coffee table from Amazon.
Good boy [tosses lime].
The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.
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