Chrissy Teigen and John Legend have grown accustomed to moving homes. “We’re used to it by now. We’re always open to a new house, or to changing the house we’re in,” says Teigen, the effervescent model, television personality, and home-cooking guru. “When she says we, she means she,” interjects Legend, her megastar musician husband, who lists no less than 12 Grammy Awards and an Oscar for best original song on his stellar résumé (as well as an Emmy and a Tony to round out the set). “But it’s true. We’re not afraid of switching things up,” he adds.
The couple’s propensity for serial home buying is not simply a matter of caprice. “Every house we’ve ever had reflects the moment we were in in our lives, like chapters in a book,” Teigen avers. “Our last house was darker and more cloistered, like a sanctuary,” Legend continues. “We were attracted to this place because of its lightness and airiness. We love how open it feels, and how it’s so connected to the outdoors. We wanted to create something magical, especially for the kids,” he says, referring to seven-year-old Luna, five-year-old Miles, 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 Esti, and their newly arrived son Wren, whose delivery via surrogate in June was heralded on Teigen’s Instagram to the delight of legions of fans.
Enter AD100 talent Jake Arnold, the duo’s design collaborator, who tackled the renovation and reimagining of their new home in Beverly Hills after working on Legend’s recording studio and an office space for Cravings by Chrissy Teigen, the model’s food and cookware enterprise. “We hired Jake because we love his taste, although if it were up to him there’d probably be more earth tones,” Legend says, hinting at the designer’s penchant for warm, neutral palettes animated by strong, sculptural forms and luxurious textures. “We like bright pops of color. We wanted to crazy it up a bit, to add a little funk,” Teigen offers.
Arnold freely admits that his clients spurred him to expand his aesthetic lexicon into somewhat unfamiliar territory. “They like elements with a little glam and fun, and they’re drawn to work by bold, contemporary artisans, which is not my usual thing,” he confesses. “But Chrissy and John are the most welcoming, supportive people, and they trusted me. My challenge was to take this very contemporary, shiny new house and apply my philosophy to it—to make it inviting and livable, a version of what I do that speaks directly to their personalities.”
Arnold replaced the existing staircase—a sharp, angular construction of glass and steel—with a sinuous, floating plaster staircase detailed with an illuminated, incised brass rail. “I wanted to do lots of rounded silhouettes to offset the rectilinear architecture,” the designer explains. “They use every room in the house, and no place is off-limits to the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren, so it all had to be casual and comfortable.” The stairway’s voluptuous curves are echoed in a broad array of furnishings and built-ins within the conjoined living, dining, and kitchen sweep: a signature Nacho Carbonell freestanding light sculpture; a Jeff Zimmerman light branch that hangs above a gently rounded Joseph Dirand dining table; a crescent-shaped Pierre Yovanovitch oak sofa that rests on a plush, biomorphic mohair rug; and a radiused marble island and plaster hood that anchor the entirely transformed kitchen.
Rounded forms reappear in the lounge adjacent to the living room—in the serpentine lines of the multitiered custom bar of marble, plaster, and brass; the gilded de Gournay wallpaper that wraps the space; and, of course, Legend’s grand piano. A nearby powder room, sheathed almost entirely in rose-hued marble, is animated with Murano sconces covered in sparkly glass florets and a shapely, domed pendant light. “John’s taste can lean feminine,” Teigen says of her husband’s predilection for unapologetically pretty lighting fixtures. “It’s true. I think every chandelier should be curvy and feminine. I’m also open to pinks,” the musician affirms.
In the primary bedroom, Arnold initially created a retreat as light and airy as the rooms on the first floor. After it was completed, however, Teigen and Legend had one of their trademark changes of heart. “For the second iteration we went for something much more quiet and moody, with rich, deep plaster walls, walnut-framed seagrass behind the bed, and a patinated-brass hood over the fireplace,” Arnold notes. Instead of using the existing separate bathrooms and closets, Teigen and Legend opted to reorganize the floor plan and share the amenities. “We like to be together, so the his-and-hers thing seemed wasteful,” Legend explains. His wife puts a finer point on the subject: “We’re not an old-school Victorian couple that needs to dress separately and then present ourselves all done up.”
Arnold’s imagination kicks into high gear in the design of the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren’s bedrooms. Luna’s refuge is a fantasy in lavender—replete with a tented ceiling and a ball pit stocked with pearlescent orbs—while Miles’s boy cave is tricked out with a climbing wall, a custom Jeep-like bed parked on artificial turf, and curtains of camouflage netting. “We know the rooms will evolve as the kids grow up, but they’re perfect for right now. They’re like little dreamworlds,” the designer avows.
Wicker chairs from Radnor and planters and plantings from The Tropics Inc. line a terrace.