After her mom, comedian Joan Rivers, died in 2014, Melissa Rivers decided she needed to start fresh and move out of the Pacific Palisades, California, home she had lived in for nearly 25 years — often with her mother, when she was in town.
“It was a great home, but it was time to take a step forward and create a new environment for myself and my son,” the actress and producer told archdigest.com, showing off the home she has since settled into in nearby Santa Monica.
She shares the 7,048-square-foot Mediterranean-style house with her son Edgar, 19, whom she shares with her ex-husband, horse trainer John Endicott.
Melissa worked with interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard — who counts Cher, the Osbourne family and several Kardashians among his clients — to ensure that her mother’s memory would be represented in her new house. Pieces from the late comedian's extensive art and antique furniture collection are represented throughout. The painting above the fireplace in the living room, for example, used to hang in Joan's New York apartment, where Melissa once lived.
“I never realized how much living with art represented home to me,” Melissa said, sharing that Bullard helped her decorate with her mother’s things while still keeping the space livable and modern. After two years of remodeling, Melissa and Bullard are both thrilled with the outcome.
“Melissa needed a new beginning,” said Bullard. “She lived in this very pretty house, but it was very kind of traditional. It was filled with lots of antiques and things she had inherited from Joan that were antique-y. Joan’s style was very ornate, everything going on.”
Bullard continued: “Melissa wanted to create something light and bright with positive energy, something that could be just the right backdrop for some of these extraordinary things, including Fabergé eggs and Han dynasty pottery.”
Through opening up the floor plan and mixing the old with the new, Bullard created somewhere Melissa feels comfortable and at peace, while still being able to reminisce on time spent with her mom.
“As formal as some of the areas are in this home, it never feels overwhelming,” she said. “There’s a warmth and light, a happiness. It’s definitely a happy home.”
Read the full feature and see more photos of Melissa Rivers's home on archdigest.com.
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