My Favorite Room: In Cortney Novogratz’s ‘castle,’ the design aesthetic is egalitarian
Cortney Novogratz reigns over a design empire, has seven kids and still found time to oversee an eight-month renovation of her family’s Hollywood Hills “castle.”
Novogratz and her husband, Robert, are popularly known as design duo The Novogratz. They began by flipping real estate in Manhattan before switching to residential and commercial interior design; along the way, they and their brood have been featured on reality television shows on Bravo and HGTV.
The family relocated to Los Angeles from New York four years ago and moved into a 7,700-square-foot Hollywood Hills “castle” — a name bestowed by the original owner.
“You can only live in a castle once in your life, and the kids were pretty excited,” Novogratz, 46, said.
The master bedroom features a unique conglomeration of art. There are expensive pieces, such as the Rene Ricard painting above the bed, $20 flea market finds and rare collectibles. Novogratz loves bold combos, such as the cubed bedside tables paired with the four-poster Indonesian bed.
“Most designers would say that doesn’t match, but I like a mix of everything,” she said.
Why is your bedroom your favorite room?
Even though we’re right above Sunset and I can see the urban life below, I find myself at peace and at ease here with the hundred-year-old eucalyptus trees around. I can really refresh my mind in here, retreat from everybody and hide out a little bit when I need to recharge.
How would you describe your design style?
Everything in here is kind of eclectic. We have no particular style; we just know things we love.
Where do you get most of your inspiration from?
From traveling. My husband, Robert, and I have been together 25 years, and we’ve always used our real estate to be able to see the world.
What specific destinations influenced this room?
Our drapes, which we designed for the Shade Store, were inspired by traveling in Bahia, Brazil. And the big piece across from the bed is by the Mexican artist Francisco Larios Osuna. I wanted to wake up to it every day.
As a vintage lover, what design eras resonate with you most?
Moving to California, we definitely got a little more midcentury modern because there are great flea markets and vintage stores here where you’ll find a lot of that stuff.
How did Robert feel about the pink paint choice?
The funny thing was, when we were painting in here, the painter was, like, “Are you sure your husband’s going to be OK with pink?” I was, like, “Actually, he chose the color — he’s a designer, too.” The painter couldn’t believe we were painting our master bedroom pink. It’s so light, most people don’t realize that it’s pink.
Where do you like to shop?
I go to Big Daddy’s Antiques for inspiration and the Long Beach flea market — it’s amazing. Pasadena Antique Center has a couple of floors and different booths with some dealers that have one-of-a-kind pillows, end tables and mirrors.
As a mother of seven, what advice do you offer for creating aesthetically pleasing spaces for kids?
Some of our most expensive art is in our kids’ rooms, because I believe that every room is open to the whole family and there are no rooms off-limits. Bring in cool pieces of art for the kids, maybe an oversized photo, or take their art and blow it up really big and do something cool with it to celebrate them.
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