My Favorite Room: Jesse Tyler Ferguson and guests retire to the library
During a memorable “Modern Family” episode, Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s character, Mitchell Pritchett, and his partner vigilantly guard their brand-new, all-white sofa from red wine, their daughter and unruly houseguests.
In real life, Ferguson, 40, is a lot less high-maintenance about the Spanish Colonial home in Los Feliz that he and husband Justin Mikita bought three years ago. Instead of a prized white couch, the actor favors a green plaid settee that he had custom-made — and you’re allowed to sit on it.
Ferguson recently starred in “Fully Committed,” a one-man Broadway show in which he brought more than 40 characters to life; it ended a limited engagement in July. “Modern Family,” meanwhile, began its eighth season on ABC on Wednesday.
What is your favorite room in your house?
The library. It’s a small room right off the entryway when you walk in the front door. It has a lot of the original Spanish features. It has stained-glass windows that are original to the home, a stained-glass skylight and iron gates to close off the room that are original to the house as well. It’s a small room that has windows on all three sides. It’s a perfect square.
What makes this room special?
It’s unlike any other room in the house. It’s dark and yet there’s still a lot of light that comes into it. And at night, it has a whole other feel. We had the walls painted a deep avocado green. They are this deep, almost bluish green that I love.
It sounds cozy.
There are several different places to sit, and they’re all fun-looking chairs. We have a great mustard-yellow chesterfield chair and these cute little club chairs and the settee. It’s a welcoming room that asks for people to come in and sit and relax.
Other than reading, what else do you use the room for?
We like to go there after dinner parties if people want to have a drink. We have cigars that we bought back from Cuba in the room. So it’s a great place to have one. It’s just a great room, and I find myself gravitating toward it more than any other room in the house.
How does your home compare with Mitchell’s duplex in “Modern Family”?
They actually share a lot of similar tastes, and they both like eclectic art. A lot of the color schemes are the same. My home on “Modern Family” has a lot of greens and browns, and my home in Los Angeles also shares that same color palette.
Of the three homes featured regularly on the show — Jay’s, Claire’s and Mitchell’s — which is your favorite?
I like them all for such different reasons. I think Claire and Phil’s home is the coziest. It’s very traditional. It just looks like the ideal home that you picture with the banister and the photos going up the staircase and the cozy furniture in the living room.
What is the funniest thing that’s happened in your library?
We had a Santa Claus come by one year and sit in a chair in the library and got people to take photographs around him. It’s always funny to watch drunk adults get excited about Santa.
