While many celebrity homes look less than lived-in, ranging from spotless minimal to ostentatiously palatial, actor Emma Roberts’ Hollywood Hills home is made for curling up with a good book — or several — with warm tones, comfortable couches, and antique curiosities in each room (also, a lagoon-style pool in the backyard for summer reads).
Roberts, an actor who has become a mainstay of rom-coms and campy horror — the latter, most recently with recurring roles in the anthology series “American Horror Story” — bought the home, which she shares with her three-year-old son Rhodes, in 2022 and hired the design firm Pierce & Ward to overhaul its interiors. In the May issue of Architectural Digest, she reveals the results of that makeover.
For Roberts, having a space that feels like home is a particular priority, she explained, as she moved often as a child. So when she saw the property listed as a rental on Instagram (it has been reported as a former residence of Minnie Driver), she inquired if she could purchase it instead.
“I think I lived in 10 houses by the time I was 15 — so for me now, having a son, I wanted a place that felt really ours.” she told AD. “I have a picture of the day we moved in… I just remember feeling like we are exactly where we need to 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.”
