Friday, May 25, 2007

Please Buy Rachel Hunter's Hideaway

SELLER: Rachel Hunter
LOCATION: N. Crescent Heights Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $2,995,000
SIZE: 4,078 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Built in the early 1930s. Abundance of charming character details everywhere you look. A gorgeous new oversized master bath w/ steam shower was recently added to the master suite which also has a loggia balcony with city views. Stunning open kitchen, mud room, 4 fireplaces, pool & gated on a mostly flat usable 12k+ lot. Finish big basement/media room w/storage. New dual zone heat/air + new systems. Move in.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Okay lovelies, Your Mama is going out on a limb with this one. We have a long list of celebrity homes to bring you but we must be feeling daring today because we have a property here where for months we have been unable to sort out the ownership. We asked one of our contacts who often knows what's what in celebrity real estate, let's call her Rita the Meter Maid, and she tells us that this house belongs to Miz Rachel Hunter...Sports Illustrated swim suit model mommy and ex-wifey of aging rock star Rod Stewart who keeps pumping out babies even though he's old enough to be Your Mama's grandpa.

Here's the thing...somewhere in the far and dark recessess of our failing memory, Your Mama recalls watching this blond and healthy looking gal on MTV's show Cribs. Although our powers of recollection are not always good we do remember thinking it was odd because Cribs usually shows the cribs of famous people with fleets of tricked out automobiles in front of big suburban houses outside Atlanta and places like that. But we also dimly recall that Rachel Hunter lived up in the hills of Los Angeles in a Spanish style house with a dog house she had built to look like a miniature version of the people house. Does anyone else remember that?

Anyhoo, this dwelling, purchased in April of 2004 for an undisclosed sum of money, is owned by a trust connected to the very same trust that is named on the property records for Mister Stewart's gargantuan yellow mansion up in Beverly Park, where he lives with his current wifey and any number of children including daughter Kimberly (who we will never forget falling over on that motorcyle on the red carpet), and prolly Sean, the son who, quite frankly, humiliated himself recently on the reality show Sons of Hollywood. Now there's a kid to be proud of. Jeezis, puh-leeze! Your Mama hopes he was "acting" on the show.

Sorry babies, we digress yet again. It is on the wisdom and information of Rita the Meter Maid that we say this house is owned and occupied by Rachel Hunter. Now, we might be wrong on this one. We are seldom incorrect, but we will publicly stand corrected and endure the 40 lashes if we lead you astray on this one.

Poor Rachel hasn't had an easy time finding a buyer for her pretty house. First put on the market sometime last fall, the price was recently reduced to it's current ask price of $2,999,000 from it's original ask price of $3,600,000. Looks like someone is getting serious about selling. Does this reduction reflect the state of the market in Los Angeles? Or was someone just a little too optimistic in the pricing? The house is also being put out for lease at $12,000 per month so you know Miz Hunter has either already moved or wants to move quick.

Behind the high hedges and super secure electronic gates sits a 1930s Tudor style house that has recently undergone a renovation the included upgrading and updating the services including adding dual zone heat and air. Which is lovely, but we might have considered a few more zones including one exclusively for the master suite.

The house has been decorated with romantic chandeliers and white sofas and silk covered headboards. It's all a little soft and girly for Your Mama's own tastes, but we are none the less quite impressed with the light and bright scheme.

We're not so into the French Country style cabinetry but we all really liking the soft green glass tiles behind the big Viking range. We also like this set up in the kitchen with the white slip covered chairs and the heavy wood table.

Your Mama can easily imagine curling up on that beige velvet sofa in the family room watching Shear Genius on the big flat screen while the fire crackles and our bitches Linda and Beverly cozy up next to us. Again, the decor here isn't what we'd chose for our own home, but it's really quite lovely. Simple. Elegant. Comfortable. And most impressive of all, it's not trying to be a room that screams "I cost a lot of money!"

The backyard pool area is nice and we appreciate a swimming pool on the smallish side. Because unless you're going to swim laps like Mark Spitz, than who needs an Olympic length pool like the one at Jamie Foxx's recently purchased spread up in Hidden Valley? Does anyone really think Mister Foxx is going to slide himself into a speedo and swim laps? No, we don't either.

But even better than the wee pool with the covered sitting area with the Balinese looking furniture including a big chaise lounge for napping in the shade. Nice touch Hunter.

We prefer not to spend a lot of energy on functional rooms such as the laundry, but we do appreciate that this one has been dressed up with a chandelier. That's right, no need to wash and fold in a dark, dank, and unattractive space. It just so happens that Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter have the very same wash and dry machines as Miz Hunter, although ours are the platinum color.

This house really does look like a nice house. Modest for a big celeb, but we like that. And it's conveniently located up in the hills above the Chateau Marmont and Sunset Boulevard. Another big bonus to the celebrity set. Your Mama sincerely wishes Miz Hunter all the best in getting this house sold.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rachel Hunter lives in Brentwood!

Anonymous said...

Random question here: With these super expensive homes, does the furniture come with it? Some furnishings look as if they would not work at a new location. Do they just sell them in consignment stores?

BTW: love the chandelier in the laundry room. Nice touch to accent the Tide bottle.

Anonymous said...

I have bad news for you but this isn't wouldn't be considered a "super expensive home" by any stretch of the imagination. It's a very modest price for the area.

Anonymous said...

I love the laundry room and the brick patio. Gonna get my husband working on that pronto!

Amber Cargile said...

I'm certain this is Rachel's house. I have an old magazine article featuring her previous L.A. home in my style file...The house she lived in right after her divorce from Rod, and some of the furnishings are the same ones seen in the photos of this listing!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Nanc'
I'm sure that this is the home that Rachel was photo-storied in for Hello magazine (or similar) post-Rod split.
She had Balanese-type furniture too in a "meditation room".

Derek said...

This is the house featured on Cribs

luke220 said...

I think that the interiors of the house are quite charming. The MLS pics show that the pool is separated from the house by a garden and a curved walkway, so not as bad as the feature pic indicates. It looks like a house one would find in Outpost Estates.

It looks lived in and not fussy. My only objection is the big tv over the fireplace.

Anonymous said...

This is not the house featured on "Cribs." That house was on Sumac Drive in Sherman Oaks.

Anonymous said...

I am trying to find photos or video of her Cribs home....apparently that epidsode is too old to view online now. Anyone know where I can find it?