Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Mid-Week Mash Up: Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent

Famously peripatetic, prodigiously entrepreneurial, and seriously media savvy designer/decorator Nate Berkus has, it seems, officially decamped The Big Apple for the City of Angels where he's settled in domestic bliss with his furniture making designer/decorator fiancée, Jeremiah Brent—of The Rachel Zoe Project semi-fame, into a petite, Hollywood Regency style residence that's tucked up into the tail end of a quiet cul de sac in the Hollywood Hills with a long history of high-profile residents.

The house, designed in 1939 by the legendary John Elgin Woolf, measures in at about 2,150 square feet, according to property records, and has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a pavilion flanked plunge pool that nests perfectly into a sexy, curved glass wall in the living room.

Immediately upon securing the keys to the crib the couple did what well-connected and deep pocketed nice-gay decorators always do...They decorated! Because it's a rental* they had to work with a number of features they could not change, i.e. marble inlaid parquet floors and a flawless mint green range from the 1950s. They slapped some paint around—the jet black walls in the master bedroom are of particular note—and filled the house with multi-textured, mixy-matchy/high-low melange of masculine furniture and day-core. Then, because they can, they called up the venerable fashion rag Harper's Bazaar who sent over the fab (and fantastically mustachioed) photographer Douglas Friedman to take some pictures of the couple lounging around in designer suits amid in their gussied up love nest that adheres to a fairly strict and sophisticated palette of "black, white, saddle, and bourbon."**

*Some reports that indicate the couple purchased the house but Your Mama is pretty dang sure they rented the residence. Not only do property records not reflect a recent transfer of ownership we dug up loads of digital evidence the house was recently listed for lease at $7,900 per month.

**Let's be honest. We have no idea if the Misters Berkus and/or Brent called Harper's Bazaar. For all Your Mama knows, H.P. came a knocking all on their own accord, right? Anyways...

photo: Douglas Friedman for Harper's Bazaar

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

"with a long history of high-profile residents." ... I'd really love to know who, please? :-)

Anonymous said...

Jeremiah wins social climber of year award!

Anonymous said...

Sue Mengers' and Robert Evans' houses are designed by Woolf and both Mengers and Evans are legendary for the connections they maintained through the use of their houses. I'd guess Misters Berkus and Brent have a specific marketing plan in mind for themselves and are following it to a tee.

The Swan said...

That is parquet floor not marble, and that MAGIC CHEF is swoon worthy - Jean Howard had one in her kitchen on Coldwater Canyon which by the way, John Woolf made alterations with Billy Haines interiors and later Tony Duquette touches with Beegle Duquette murals.

This sweet Pavilion is evocative of an 18thC folly gone Modern ala Hollywood Regency, the REAL HOLLYWOOD REGENCY!

Anonymous said...

Uh. Ok, I know a little bit of what's going on here.

I'm not telling tales out of school to say that Nate has in fact moved out of the apartment on 9th St. that he bought several years ago, and in the cover story for Architectural Digest claimed was the true home he had finally found -- blah, blah, blah. That lasted about a year and a half.

Now, according to their various twitter communiques. there is a new "penthouse" that supposedly Jeremiah has just "finished" for them. . .

However, the 9th St. apartment doesn't appear to have been put on the market so who knows what's going on there.

He also has some pictures and writings about his LA pool, specifically, on his blog.

He has also written that on first meeting Jeremiah he knew that this was the man he would marry, or something to that effect. . .

So, onward it is. If you want another cover you need a new house.

Anonymous said...

By the way, if you go to Nate Berkus's blog/.com, and scroll to the post about the pool party he had at his new house in LA, there's a picture of a pool and house and it's not the same one as in the picture here. . .

Anonymous said...

It's kinda bachelor pad ish. Imagine if LaWearstler got her cray cray hands on this!

Foodie said...

You need to get better connected in NYC, cause you missed a big one. Mr B and his boytoy just had a board interview for a 'PH' (not really, but if it makes Nate feel better), on Lower Fifth Avenue in NYC. I know for a fact cause I live there, and saw our boy Nate in the lobby anxiously awaiting his board interview. The place needs a taste overhall. We'll all get to see it when it's done, and published...that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

I like Nate but fear he is going to get too big for his britches. He has every right to buy what he wants, but when he develops an English accent and ascot like Martin Bullard (0r whatever his name is), you will know hes gone too gay hoity toity.

Anonymous said...

Please tell me why Nate Berkus gets an ounce of attention (other than superficial good looks and Oprah)? His work belongs in mediocre local publications. He is not a legendary designer. History will forget him. When the new editor of Architectural Digest put him on the cover, it signaled the death knell of the magazine - cheap celebrity, previews prior to real estate sales, and general bad taste. Where are the great ones?

Anonymous said...

Then why don't you (7:48 am) provide some leads so that Mama can break the story about where the two of them have set up their east coast house.

Would they be renting this penthouse (yes, sometimes you have to interview for that), or did they supposedly buy it?

His duplex was never listed for sale, although that doesn't mean he didn't sell it. But I can't imagine that he would have bought another apartment if he still owns that one.

He also had a much smaller apartment in the Village for sale recently, which may or may not have sold.

Anonymous said...

His boytoy is sure purty. Seems like a dumbass but his looks make it okay.

Foodie said...

The 'PH' was for sale for 5.4 mil and he was buying.

Anonymous said...

1. Put your fangs away 4:20, Jeremiah is not a "social climber". He is a very nice young man who happened to fall in love with a pretty well-off man. I work with him and I find the notion that being with a well-off man = "social climbing'.

2. They didn't de camp anything. As far as I know, they are going to live equality bicoastal. Here in LA and NYC. The apartments Nate owns will go on the market soon and they're buying a bigger apartment.

3. So much bitterness in the comment section. Why? Sorry you're a failure and envy success.

Anonymous said...

"The first time interior designer Nate Berkus and his fiancé, Jeremiah Brent, walked through the black lacquered double doors of their Hollywood Hills home, Brent burst into tears."

M A R Y !!!!

Rosco Mare said...

I like the house a lot, maybe because it's similar to mine. The day-core is fine, but a little too dramatic in my meaningless opinion.

Has anyone, including me, cried upon walking through my front door for the first time? As our Mama dearest would say, "No. Puleeeze, no!"

Anonymous said...

I always figured that the bf's were the tops and he was the bottom, but maybe I was wrong. . .

But he also seemed to be drawn to dark latin types, and this guy is definitely not that.

They may be buying a bigger apartment but it's not because the apartment he had wasn't big enough for the two of them. Maybe Jeremy doesn't like stairs. There were a lot of them.

Does anyone know if he ever sold his apartment in Chicago?

Anonymous said...

Btw, thank you 7:48 am for that additional info.

Looks like it may well be 39 5th Ave. PH B. Listed at your number (5.4M), and, at least on Trulia, saying "contract signed." It's pretty nice.

Have you seen him in the building since -- meaning they've closed and are in or are renovating?

Anonymous said...

I agree with 3:48 about Nates fiancée. He seemed like a hard working guy with an easy going personality on TV...you would have to be to deal with that Hag he worked for. And re the top bottom comment as my mother once said about Tupperware after thanksgiving.."there are always too many bottoms and not enough tops". So Nates fiancée is a catch!

Anonymous said...

Jeremiah is definitely a social climber. He didn't even have enough substance to last as the gay bestie on Rachel Zoe. Jeremiah is from LA and was only in NYC to land a rich husband.

Anonymous said...

There sure are a lot of bitter queens that follow Mama's daily drunken diary entries. Y'all wish you could live in this stylish little house with a pretty social climbing BF. But you're too busy commenting on other people's lives when the biggest news of your day is buying a moderately priced bottle of wine at Gelson's. ciao ---

Carla Ridge said...

Anon JULY 17, 2013 AT 3:56 PM --

Let's start with David Hockney and leave it at that. this area off Woodrow Wilson Drive near Nichos Canyon is lousy with celebs.