Luxe Living

Mindy Kaling, the hilarious actress who played Kelly Kapoor on the NBC sitcom, The Office and created and currently stars in the Fox sitcom The Mindy Project, has just purchased a fixer-upper estate in the Hollywood Hills that needs some serious TLC.

Nestled into the in the highly sought after enclave “the Bird Streets,” Kaling’s new home has stunning, unobstructed head-on city and ocean views – a must-have for a high-priced Los Angeles property. Not yet ready for it’s close-up, the home isn’t much to ogle in the listing photos, but according to the listing, the property is an ‘exceptional opportunity to develop or renovate and create your dream home with significant upside potential.’ Purchased on May 10, 2013 for $1,695,000, the home as it stands has 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and 1,599 square feet.

Nestled amongst significantly higher-valued estates and hundreds of super star neighbors, Kaling’s new home is the perfect blank canvas for the actress to put her monetary success to work and build something incredible.

Kaling won’t be living in a construction zone while she updates this home – she owns another home just down the street in the Hollywood Hills that she paid $1,575,000 for in 2007.

Images via the MLS.

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has just dropped almost $5 million on an incredible mansion for his 27-year-old wife Crystal Harris. The 87-year-old Hefner is setting his young bride up for life, should he go to party in the big grotto in the sky in the near future.

The home in the Hollywood Hills closed on April 18, 2013 for $4,995,000. Sleek and gorgeous, the home has 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and is 5,917 square feet. While it’s no sprawling Playboy Mansion, Harris’ future home is a gated architectural home on an exclusive cul-de-sac. Inside, all the finest materials were used to craft a high tech smart home with an open, contemporary feel.

Outside, a white glass infinity pool and spa and stone walls create a serene escape in the middle of the Hollywood Hills.

According to TMZ, the couple is happily living at the Playboy Mansion, and they have no plans to move.  In fact, Hef and Harris are actually renters! Hugh doesn’t personally own the Playboy Mansion … it’s owned by Playboy Enterprises.

Now, the duo have an escape from the constant madness that is the day-to-day at the Playboy Mansion and Harris has a place to call home forever.

Images via the MLS.

The Biggest Loser‘s breakout star and ‘America’s Toughest Trainer,’ Jillian Michaels, is selling her gated home in the Hollywood Hills! Purchased by the trainer-to-the-stars on February 15, 2008 for $1,565,000, the 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 2,701 square foot home has just been pushed onto the market with a $2,450,000 price tag.

The home has a great open kitchen, and the floor plan and open dining and living rooms make it perfect for entertaining. Necessary for any Hollywood Hills home, incredible city views can be seen from the downstairs as well as the master bedroom. The large master bedroom suite features a walk-in closet, bath with separate tub and steam shower. Michael’s home also has two additional bedroom suites, one of which Michaels currently used as an office. Move-in ready for any other celebrity, the home also features a pool, security system with cameras and pre-wired sound system.

Michaels has certainly built herself into a household name over the past few years through her work on “The Biggest Loser” and other endorsement deals. On the personal front, she and her partner Heidi Rhodes have two young children, one they adopted from Haiti and one biological child.

Eccentric actor Joaquin Phoenix has purchased his next door neighbor’s home on March 29, 2013 for $1,390,700, as indicated by property records. The 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2,511 square-foot home sits directly next to his existing property on top of the Hollywood Hills at Mulholland and Laurel Canyon. His existing home was purchased on November 7, 2006 for $4,835,000.

Phoenix’s longtime property is rather ordinary by Hollywood standards, and can been seen extensively in scenes from Phoenix’s “mock-umentary,” “I’m Still Here,” in which he famously duped his peers and the public into thinking he was quitting acting to become a famous rapper.

No telling why he needs his next door neighbors digs too, but perhaps it’s because he’s following the trend among celebrities of creating a compound comprised of multiple high-priced properties.

As it stands, Phoenix’s new addition to his Los Angeles property portfolio is a “a very special charmer re-done to perfection.” The gated property features a living and dining room that open to peaceful, beautifully landscaped grassy yard with custom outdoor fireplace and stone waterfall. An eat-in kitchen with huge center island and high-end appliances opens to a family room and additional large patio with canyon and city views. The Master suite has built-ins, a huge closet and re-done bath. Also included on the property is a bonus room with new bath and its own entrance, which would make a perfect office, gym or maids quarters.

Images via the MLS.

SNL alum Chris Parnell, who is also known for his role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC‘s Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock and his co-starring gig as Fred Shay on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory, has just purchased new home in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Property records show the actor/comedian closed on the deal on March 15, 2013 and paid $1,700,000 for a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 2,482 square foot home.

Common for the neighborhood, Parnell’s home is a 1920′s Spanish Revival home that got a modern day makeover. Prior to Parnell’s purchase, the home was majorly overhauled. The integrity of the basic structure and character of the house was maintained while the interior was expanded and reconfigured to incorporate the prior owner’s extensive library and art collection. The resulting floor plan organized all the rooms around a new central atrium with a large oculus and surround by an arcade of book shelves.

Outside, a drought tolerant California native landscape was designed using the existing mature trees on the property. Inside, features include: custom lighting with graphic eye controls, whole house filtration system, wood and limestone floors, kitchen and bathroom fixtures from Waterworks, Viking appliances and a 14 panel photovolactic solar system.

This isn’t the first home Parnell has purchased in this hip and happening Los Angeles neighborhood. He also owns another property on Silver Lake Blvd that he purchased on November 20, 2007 for $620,000. That 1,360 square-foot home has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. With this new Parnell purchase, it’s likely we’ll see his older, smaller home pop up on the open market soon!

Ryan Phillipe is more than a million dollars poorer after the sale of his Hollywood Hills home! Property records show that the former Mr. Reese Witherspoon sold the home on March 15, 2013 for $6,000,000. That’s $1,175,000 LESS than what he paid for the place when he purchased it on May 30, 2008 for $7,175,000.

Phillipe’s former home has 5 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, 7,600 square feet, and was marketed as an “utterly secure and private Zen modern retreat is nestled in the hills just above the Sunset Strip.”

The gated property is located on more than a half-acre with killer city views. Characterized by spacious, bright, open spaces, the home is impressively large, but apparently not large enough to warrant a full-price offer. The home comes complete with a 2-story entry hall, which Ryan converted to a gym, as well a home theater, cook’s kitchen, a swimmer’s pool with underwater speakers and spa, several outdoor entertaining spaces, outdoor kitchen, sauna and phenomenal indoor-outdoor flow.

Ryan gave this home sale his best shot, originally listing it multiple times for about $7,450,000. With no buyers at that sky-high price, Phillipe could put a stop to his loss, and finally parted with his retreat at a rather ‘Cruel’ sum.

Jesse Metcalfe, the former young Hollywood playboy, is becoming more of the domestic type lately with the purchase of a brand new home. Engaged for over a year to his love, actress Cara Santana, Metcalfe has just bought a Spanish-style house in the Hollywood Hills, according to property records. Property records show that Metcalfe snagged the stunning home for $1,432,500 and the deal closed on February 28, 2012. The home, built in 1925, has all the original nooks and crannies, but has been lovingly and beautifully restored!

The home has a newly renovated kitchen and bathrooms, bringing them up-to-date without eliminating their original charm.  The house is 2,362 square feet, which includes 5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. The master suite is stunning, with a beautiful new custom bath. This very special home in a wonderful location!Hardwood floors throughout, the home has a grand fireplace in living room, great movement throughout, city views and a spacious Spanish courtyard with fabulous tile wall fountain.

Jesse recently sold his home in the Beverly Hills Post Office area for $2,000,000.

Funny lady Tracey Ullman has just taken on a brand new mortgage when she bought a seriously beautiful home in Los Angeles for $2,566,000! Ullman, who has been entertaining the world since the early 1980′s, gained major notoriety for roles in shows like her namesakes, “The Tracey Ullman Show” and “Tracey Takes On…,” as well as “Ally McBeal” and innumerable others.

Her stunning new retreat is just minutes from the famed Sunset Strip and behind a walled gated entry. The estate is a private and unassuming ‘post and beam’ architectural that comes alive through the courtyard entry. Dramatic and modern style with warm wood tones keep it cozy and inviting, yet, the two story glass windows in the living room have sweeping views from the Getty, canyons, mountains and city below – making it an undeniable showstopper estate. There are three bedrooms, including a great master with an indoor/outdoor bathroom.

Additionally, there is is a large great room off the kitchen, a formal dining room and a TV room and fire pit. Living spaces all flow to outdoor spaces including a huge patio. Ullman’s new house has been published in both the LA Times and California interiors and was refurbished by celebrity and White House designer Michael Smith as his personal residence.

While her new place is rather impressive, Ullman still owns a prime Palisades Riviera home that she bought on September 8, 1988 for $1,800,000. That home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and 5,574 square feet. Three years ago, she briefly put that home up for sale for over $5 million before quickly taking it off the market.

Armand Marciano, co-creator of the Guess? Jeans empire, has put his Beverly Crest-area estate back on the market for $54.5 million. That’s quite a chop from the $63 million he was asking for the estate two years ago.

Built in 2001 and set on nearly 20 acres overlooking the city, the Mediterranean-style mansion clocks in at 30,000 square feet of space that spans three stories. It features seven bedrooms, 13 full bathrooms and nine-and-a-half baths and includes an elevator, nine fireplaces, a wine cellar, and parking for 27 cars.

Standard for an estate of this size, the home has staff quarters with three bedrooms and a separate full kitchen.

The interiors have been designed for modern lifestyles, yet pay homage to timeless European elegance, which include a formal living room, dining room, library, commercial-grade gourmet kitchen, breakfast nook, family room, gym, game room, projection screening room and wine cellar.

According to the listing, “the grounds inspire the kind of serenity found in the world’s most secluded villas, with immaculate lawns and gardens, orchards, fountains, a mosaic-tiled swimming pool, outdoor pavilion, pool house with kitchen and pizza oven, tennis court and pavilion, walking paths and a view to envy.”

 Joyce Rey of Coldwell Banker holds the listing.

Think you can work your magic on a high-priced fixer-upper? Then “Hocus Pocus” actress Kathy Najimy‘s Studio City estate might be for you! Listed for $1,875,000, the for-sale property is underwhelming at first glance, but the location, size and scale of the property make this one a ‘must-see.’

The location and site are phenomenal. Najimy’s home is a one-story, gated and private custom property located just off Mulholland Drive with easy access to many entertainment studios. The home is set way back of the street with the potential to park 10 cars. The property is extremely private, with explosive city light views from most rooms of the house, including from the grassy backyard area, pool and spa. Inside, the home has great ceiling height in the public rooms, with head-on city views.

Great for entertaining with indoor/outdoor flow, this home can be lived in and enjoyed as-is, or taken up to the next level and made your own. The home has four bedrooms, with one of the bedrooms currently being used as a great office with built-ins. Garage is being used for additional creative space with additional recording room area for Najimy’s husband, Dan Finnerty, creator and lead singer of the cult hit group, The Dan Band.

Najimy and Finnerty originally purchased the home on September 30, 1994 for $550,000.