Vogue
March 2012
Supermodel Carolyn Murphy brings French-farmhouse living to Los Angeles.
"It all started with the lavender garden around the Jacuzzi," says Carolyn Murphy, standing barefoot in her French farmhouse-style kitchen and looking out at her modest Provence-by-the-Pacific backyard in a quiet Los Angeles neighborhood fifteen minutes from the beach. Near verdant lemon trees, chicken pace their coop while Murphy's chocolate Labrador retriever, Rupert, sniffs the vegetable patch where her rabbit has been enjoying the kale. The herbal hot tub is tucked in the back. "Gentle urban living -- that's what I call it," she says.
Gentle thanks to the care bestowed upon the grounds by the supermodel with a gift for creating beautiful living spaces. "Working on home is a little bit of a passion," says the 38-year-old, who over the last six months has transformed this 1920s Spanish colonial into a sanctuary for herself and her eleven-year-old daughter, Dylan. Its easy elegance is informed as much by Murphy's background -- her U.S. Air Force sergeant father taught her to invest and then "I incorporated that into my life."
Fifteen years later, she's done so with a house that is not lavish, especially compared with neighboring Real Housewives-style estates. And her nineteenth - and early-twentieth century French and American antiques, an eclectic mix of pieces she's collected over time and items unearthed by interior designer Schuyler Samperton, are in artful disrepair. The horsehair cushion of two French needlepoint-backed chairs from Los Angeles furniture dealer JF Chen are literally bursting apart at the burnt-orange linen seams. It all adds up to a delightful contradiction: a perfect-looking person living among imperfect-looking things.
...to continue reading, please download the PDF.
"It all started with the lavender garden around the Jacuzzi," says Carolyn Murphy, standing barefoot in her French farmhouse-style kitchen and looking out at her modest Provence-by-the-Pacific backyard in a quiet Los Angeles neighborhood fifteen minutes from the beach. Near verdant lemon trees, chicken pace their coop while Murphy's chocolate Labrador retriever, Rupert, sniffs the vegetable patch where her rabbit has been enjoying the kale. The herbal hot tub is tucked in the back. "Gentle urban living -- that's what I call it," she says.
Gentle thanks to the care bestowed upon the grounds by the supermodel with a gift for creating beautiful living spaces. "Working on home is a little bit of a passion," says the 38-year-old, who over the last six months has transformed this 1920s Spanish colonial into a sanctuary for herself and her eleven-year-old daughter, Dylan. Its easy elegance is informed as much by Murphy's background -- her U.S. Air Force sergeant father taught her to invest and then "I incorporated that into my life."
Fifteen years later, she's done so with a house that is not lavish, especially compared with neighboring Real Housewives-style estates. And her nineteenth - and early-twentieth century French and American antiques, an eclectic mix of pieces she's collected over time and items unearthed by interior designer Schuyler Samperton, are in artful disrepair. The horsehair cushion of two French needlepoint-backed chairs from Los Angeles furniture dealer JF Chen are literally bursting apart at the burnt-orange linen seams. It all adds up to a delightful contradiction: a perfect-looking person living among imperfect-looking things.
...to continue reading, please download the PDF.
