apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

there's always been something about kelly I disliked...I feel like she is over the top just for the sake of being over the top...I feel like there's no authenticity to it. More of just a need to stand out and get attention....but what do I know?

Totally wacky and weird and definitely over the top. Can't say I'm a fan.

this woman needs to disappear, i do not believe anyone would miss her.

i don't see anything homey, inviting or restful about the place. it's just hard to imagine a family is living there. (at least, not most of the time). even that bedroom is cold and too big.

I have the same sentiment as abc123, and this house does nothing to improve the situation.

Her interior design matches her personal fashion.

HORRID

After years of hating post modernism, she changed my mind. I would love to see her do set design for a remake of Peewee's playhouse.

I just read about her in the New Yorker. Her maximalist design is overly ostentatious. These photos show her $28 million dollar house plus however many million more she put into its flamboyant, would-have-been-great-in-the-80s interior decoration.

I actually love her stuff - I wouldn't do it (undiluted) in my own home, but I would have that hallway wallpaper, and I would take 10 or so items out of one of her rooms and put them against a plainer background.

I value design that's really out there to expand the limits of what I can imagine and make me think. She's not copying everyone else out there, and by her own standards she's very successful - you can't deny her work provokes emotional reactions and sets a strong mood! I think it also makes a difference that most of her designs are for commercial environments, not homes.

I do hope she has some good earthquake safety fittings though!

Rarely do I see a house that doesn't have something in it that I like. There are a few gems buried in here too. But it is overwhelmed by the decoration for decoration sake style. What good is a dining table completely covered by "stuff?"

But, what do I know? She's rich and world famous, and I nobody knows who I am and I can't even afford a good sofa. Eat sh*t, and 5 billion flies can't be wrong...

Well she obviously has a fascination with decapitated heads.

Don't know why she's made it... I think Helen Keller would do a MUCH better job than this other woman.

I will take her work anytime over the works of the purist and modernist snobs

She must be ahead of future trends...I know, let's all get together and become super rich too by putting the 90s back into fashion...!


Hello?



Anyone...?

i'm not a fan, but i admire her self confidence

Lawnmower

I agree that purists and modernist snobs are no better...but I don't think that justifies overpriced pseudo-irreverence.

Egad. My corneas are still recovering.

Granted, most of us wouldn't want to live in that, but, hey, it's interesting to look at.

Love it. Not for me but I love it. And I love her strange and often questionable fashion sense. You can't help but look and pick it apart, but honestly, she's doing something right.
She is excessive. her house is controlled chaos with a lot of wonderful 3-D surrealism/Beetlejuice elements. It's playful and honestly if I were a kid in that house I'd feel like I was in a funhouse - not that it looks like they actually live there. From a design/artistic standpoint, I think it's interesting and bizarre! The whole house is a conversation starter. What bothers me most is that there is no calm area in that house save for the pool and patio. The two images I kept going back to...
I also like that her style provokes strong feelings and emotions from those that view her work. If it didn't it wouldn't be at all interesting or wothwhile. She pushes the envelop and pushes buttons at the same time, yet certain design elements you see in her work make into the mainstream not too long after.
It seems there is a certain sense of humor in her work as well which is great. I think sometimes home design has gotten too serious and understated. We dress up ourselves, why not our homes? I have a thing for dress forms, shoe lasts, hat forms, glove forms, etc so her fascination with sculptural heads and forms interests me, but I don't think they do anything for the DR table.

Regarding the earthquake comment above - I agree. Given her knowledge and experience, I would think she has already invested in a good deal of quake wax for sure - at least I hope so!

jo4936, you are fiercely mistaken.

I don't find it interesting to look at. There's too much going on. I get being high energy...but don't you want to be able to relax at some point? I can't see myself, at least, relaxing there.

She's usually draped over or around something - and most of the time 'scantilly clad'. Yep, she is just re-doing or should I say over-doing all that has been done before.
Kelly - just become a model, I think that's really what you enjoy -- your self.

I have no idea why this woman is so in demand. There's nothing difficult about lacking restraint (or taste). Her home looks like it's being used for storage by soap opera set designers.

yuck. the decor is so atrocious that i actually feel sorry for the house!

I think she's got an interesting aesthetic, and who knows what it really looks like on a daily basis.

I have been to The Viceroy and Maison 140 (she decorated both) and been in complete awe of the style... I love her use of color and crisp symmetry. If you look through her book Modern Glamour, I'm sure you'll find many things that you like. It's not all busy, some is just old school, pure 70's and 80's glam.

kevoncubine: I hope by extension you don't mean to say that Gary Panter's set for Pee-Wee's Playhouse was anything but perfect. His genius far surpasses hers.

I love this. She is so much fun.

Intriguing. What goes on here? Hearst Castle meets weird Chanel No. 5 advertisements. The shot of the pool is very Hearst Castle (the one thing I liked at Hearst Castle was the outdoor pool) as are the outsize items, heavy mouldings, and the accumulation of things like bulbous busts. I like the floors -- chess like, with an Alice in Wonderland slant. Interesting plastering effect of the paint in the stairwell -- as if to hide children's markings. The mysterious, mazelike boxwood garden reminds me of The Shining.

I like her unique style. She is expressing herself freely in her home. I do that too!

It's like a McMansion, only with money. Seriously, rococo and baroque moldings in a Palm Springs style flat roof "mansion" ? WTF?

I realize sometimes we sacrifice comfort for style, but I can't imagine having to clear off 150# of heads and torsos just to eat at the dining table.

That's one seriously deluded designer.

I'd actually never heard of her before reading the New Yorker article but definitely wanted to see more of her work. I agree that her use of materials is over the top and not at all sustainable, but I like the fact that's she's original and isn't scared of bold patterns and colors. I also love how she plays with scale.

Definitely wouldn't want to live in that house but very happy to know that it exists and to use it as inspiration. I mean how fabulous is that graffiti type wallpaper in the hallway!

Hate would be too strong a word, but not on this occasion!!!

well...it's her home, so as long as she like it...

No strong reaction here, over-stimulation causes me to faze out

Love the "I don't care what you think about my awesome house" attitude.

It photographs well and is visually interesting. It is not a home, though, and is virtually impossible to live in as pictured. You can't dine on that dining room table and you can't write on that desk. And those beds that you have to deconstruct before getting in them always bug me.

I want to call it "hideous chic."

Why does she always put so much crap on the tables??!! So tacky and cluttered. There's a difference between well executed extravagance and tacky, tasteless garbage. Getting strong reactions out of people does not equal good design.

Seriously...that "study" makes me want to cry. It is just so, so terribly ugly. Granted, she does have some nice pieces among all the crap but they are few and far between AND mixed in with so much animal print...my eyes hurt.

Tobyacts, I couldn't have said it better myself

@abc123 = yes

I'm not a huge fan of KW, but I do think she's fearless and original. And there are a lot of things here to like. Love that living room ceiling! And that entry (?) with the topiary-esque sculptures flanking the sofa.

The dining room is fabulous -- and most certainly styled just for the shoot. Or maybe she re-purposed the dining room table as a permanent vignette. Very cool. (She probably has staff to clear it when needed, and several indoor/outdoor dining sites on the premises...)

OH GOD...spare me.

How is it that Hollywood can ruin anything. I think Kelly's trying a little to hard to get that NY, Paris look, sorry Kelly...your just not good enough or Gay enough.

PS. Just stick to doing your husbands hotels and Hollywood stars with no taste.

Where do they eat with a table like that? I bet there's a cozy family room somewhere where they spend all their time.

The world will be a better place
when those who have taste get money
and those who have money get taste.

If Perez Hilton were to turn into a house, it would look something like this. 8^O

Alright--I made a comment earlier that was a tad harsh. I looked at some of her commercial design work and realized that I've been in a few of the spaces. Pretty cool. She does have a talent for commercial work. It just seems that her aesthetic doesn't translate too well into residential design:(

I fell in love with Kelly's work when I stayed at the Hotel Viceroy in Santa Monica. It is flawless, and just this side of tongue-in-cheek. But everything else I have seen of hers I have absolutely hated--including this.

There are not enough adjectives in the english language to describe the level of awful going on here, but everyone else above me pretty much said it. Stop trying so hard Kelly...cause it aint workin for ya.

Everything I've seen of hers looks like the waiting office of an incredibly rich and possibly insane dentist. The '80s pastel colour scheme she seems to love does nothing for me. And that blue ribby sofa is a crime against humanity.

I will admit those gryphon chairs in the office are kind of boss - but not TWO of them in an office already full of gilt and orange wood and animal print. Gaah.

I will say this, that was an assault on my senses.

It's a study in chaos and not controlled chaos.

I could not live in a home like that. Thank goodness I don't have to.

Are you sure you can say she has no taste rather than it is not your taste?

Amazing ...

Nice evolution of her design aesthetic. She has moved beyond HR. Looking good.

What is a 'design icon'? Being a European I'd never heard of her. I don't know whether her taste is good or bad but she is obviously missing the 'select' gene. Too much.

Love the garden and the pool - it ends there.

Do you think that she is just famous because of her money or looks? or what has propelled her into the spotlight for no good reason?

I need a nerve pill ...

she has become tony duquette. she has done some wonderful groundbreaking work in the past, but she looks like she lost her mind---and not in the good way.

her hand painted foyer walls and the black marked ceiling make me think that she was influenced by my former co-worker nathan egan's fabulous painted fabric chair on top design.

there are pieces i like here and there, but on the whole--noooooo, and interior design is about the sum of the parts, not being a furniture showroom.

I love her style. Its not unlike a toned down version of my own ( i dream of having the Wearstler bank account to not have to do it on a budget).

I think to understand design you should be able to be objective without instant dismissal.

Her use of colour is interesting.

Respect where its due.

Not your everyday design for sure, it has a showroom feeling, like to many expensive things put together in a dining table... (i do like her marble floors!)

I don't get it. It's too much.

Hate the heads.

Detest the enormous items all over every-single-damn-surface. As a collection, it makes me woozy.

LOVE the wallpaper.

I am a fan. I think of this home as something similar to the controlled chaos of a Jackson Pollock painting.

Well, I was feeling that something was wrong with me because I detest her style. Happy to know I am not alone. I agree with the view that she "over" designs and that it has the feeling of fake quirkiness If I were a child in this house I would be afraid to walk around in the dark. I get surrealism, but she is extreme. On Top Design some of her outfits made me cringe. She just feels contrived. I have seen better from everyday homeowners on AT; homes that seem overstuffed, but when you look closely they reek of personality.

people here must really hate her/her work...i didn't even know who she was. that said, i wouldn't live in that house as it would give me a headache. very overwhelming and its too many textures/prints/colors etc for me. But i'm also sure she doesn't eat on that table with the millions of things on it. she probably has another eating area....or it was staged for vogue. that brings me to another point, this is in vogue magazine, a publication where spending $8k on a dress is normal and the shoes start at 4 inch heels. i remember they had a deals feature where everything was under $500 like socks and bangles and tee shirts. in that context, its probably not ridiculous that her house looks like this or costs whatever amount.

You all need to get you Orla Kiely/Scandinavian lovin' heads out of your rear ends.

There is more to life than Marimekko and owls.

Boy was this a fascinating thread. I actually read all of it. I'm glad I'm not alone. I've always wondered what was wrong with me, why don't I like Kelly's style?

Lately, my decor tastes are heading more over-the-top than ever. That said, this is overdone. Design needs to be tempered, or balanced. It must take into account negative space, or it is just an explosion of competing items all screaming for attention.

Lack of restraint bores me. I prefer design that is economical, smart, sustainable. Good design is a solution to a problem, it is resourceful.

The best example we have seen of this lately, is Morgan at the Brick House. Her pipe shelving is astounding and cost only $200.00. Ironically, Kelly could learn from Morgan.

Yuk!