It says that your house is a reflection of your personality and who you are as a person, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s $60 million LA Mansion is a reflection of their futuristic thinking and foresighted personality.
The dynamic couple purchased their California mansion in 2013 for $20 million and transformed the entire structure and architecture of the place as a part of the extensive renovation which took four years to complete before the Wests’ could move in into the place in 2017.
Wests’ Oasis, “minimal monastery,” in Kim’s words has been a subject of people’s intrigue, fascination, and scrutiny. The couple had a rule of keeping their home away from media galore till they opened the door for Vogue and recently to Architectural Digest, to have a look around the house as the couple narrates the story behind their style of renovation and futuristic approach that they have undertaken.
Picture: Architectural Digest
The illustrious monastery which boats of minimalism has been brought to life by the accomplished Belgian designer and tastemaker Axel Vervoordt along with other renowned international interior designers with the complete participation of Kanye and involvement of Kim. The mansion is designed keeping the needs of their four children in mind who are only toddlers now, North, 6, son Saint, 4, daughter Chicago, 2, and eight-month-old son Psalm, despite the minimalistic interior.
Talking about their house hunting, Kim revealed that they were in the neighbourhood looking for a property when they laid eyes on the house, while Kim was immediately blown away by the property, thinking it to be “perfection,” Kayne wasn’t much enthusiastic about it, he just found it “workable.”
In a conversation with Architectural digest, Vervoordt said that the West couple and he share common values in life, important human values, like respect for the beauty and spirituality of art, and that paved the way for the unlikely association between the three.
Picture: Architectural Digest
Their “search for cosmic values of peace and positive energy,” and the profound conversations that followed about the “space of the mind and the importance of silence,” created a path for them to share their ideas and re-imagine the house into creating what it is now.
The designer explained that Kim and Kanye wanted something new so, the house hasn’t been designed with a thought of decoration, but with a philosophy of living life today and how will it be in the future. In his words, the house was changed by purifying it and the trio kept pushing it to its purer form.
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) February 3, 2020
Talking about coming up with the landscaping design alongside landscaper Peter Wertz, Kayne shared that it was his kids. Explaining his thought, he said that in the backyard there were all these stairs but he and Kim wanted their kids to be able to ride their skateboards around, so he took out the stairs from as many places as he could.
Picture: Architectural Digest
In a surprising fact, Kim revealed that she has never used the pool of the house which supposedly alone costs $50,000 to the couple. They ripped off the two already existing pools in the garden area and got one large pool created instead which serves as a huge hot tub for the family who doesn’t have any hot tub in the bathrooms.
In an AD quiz taken by them, Kim said that their kids love to swim in a Jacuzzi. So, Kayne penned the idea of changing the whole pool into a Jacuzzi, make it warm the whole time.
The pair’s home is in all shades of white and other subdued colours to evoke a feeling of calmness and peace. It boasts a hallway swathed in off-white plaster and a living room with matching off-white seating surrounding a limestone cocktail table. Their kitchen boasts a spacious island and their bathrooms don’t have basins. Removing the sinks, they rather have a channel opening created in the counter-top for the drainage of water.
Picture: Architectural Digest
Explaining more about bringing up four small kids in such subtle coloured house, Kim and Kayne pointed out that the kids ride their scooters down the hallways and jump around on top of the low Axel tables, which gets used like a stage. they further clarified that the house may be a case study, but their vision for it was built around their family.
Picture: Instagram
Although the house is a product of Vervoordt’s brain along with some extensive ideas from the West couple did most of the work, other designers too had their share behind the monastery which includes Claudio Silvestrin, who designed the master bath, Vincent Van Duysen, who helped furnish the living room and the children’s bedrooms, and Peter Wirtz, under whose the design of the gardens were brought alive.