Actor Emma Roberts’ Hollywood Hills home is perfect for curling up with a good book — or several — with warm tones, cozy couches, and antique curiosities in every room (plus a lagoon-style pool in the backyard for summer reads). In contrast, many celebrity homes appear less than lived-in, ranging from spotless minimal to ostentatiously palatial.
The actress, Roberts, who has established a solid career in romantic comedies and campy horror (the latter, most recently, with recurring roles in the anthology series “American Horror Story”), purchased the house in 2022 and enlisted the services of Pierce & Ward, a design firm, to completely renovate its interior. Rhodes, her three-year-old son, lives with her. The outcome of such transformation is revealed by her in the Architectural Digest edition from May.
Roberts clarified that because she moved about a lot as a youngster, having a place that feels like home is especially important to her. She therefore asked if she might buy the property instead after she viewed it on Instagram, where it was reportedly once owned by Minnie Driver and was available for rent.
“By the time I was 15, I think I had lived in ten houses, so now that I have a son, I wanted a place that felt really ours,” she said to AD. I’ve got a photo from the day we moved in. All I can recall is that we seem to be right where we should be.
The designers, Louisa Pierce and Emily Ward, with whom Roberts had previously worked, are known for down-to-earth spaces that mix bohemian, mid-century modern and rustic styles. Their clients have included Roberts’ “Madame Web” co-star Dakota Johnson as well as Kate Hudson and Leonardo DiCaprio.
“We want a house to look like it’s been there for 50 years,” Pierce told AD in the cover story. “We never want a home to look new.”
In that spirit, much of Roberts’ furniture, art and decor is repurposed or reupholstered. In the living room, beneath a disco ball-like globe light, paperbacks are enclosed in living room cabinets while rarer books are openly displayed. Framed photographs of Debbie Harry and Joni Mitchell rest on wooden cabinets; elsewhere, one of Roberts’ most treasured artworks — a Julian Wasser portrait of Joan Didion in front of a Corvette — hangs on the wall.
Though many pieces are courtesy of design studios or antique finds, Pierce and Ward don’t look down on more accessible commercial brands. Roberts recalled when she asked if her new kitchen island was custom-made, they laughed and said it was from Urban Outfitters.
As for a room for Rhodes, who is starting his own book collection, Roberts opted for a soothing wallpaper scene of flying ducks on the ceiling, above a lush forest-themed upholstered bed.
“I remember as a kid, whatever’s on your wall and your ceiling is seared into your brain for the rest of your life,” Roberts explained. “So I wanted to make it extra cozy and fun, but not too overwhelming.”