Cheryl Ladd carves out a wine-country retreat
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SANTA YNEZ, Calif. - Although her neoclassical Italian-style home is
just a two-hour drive from the hustle of Hollywood, Cheryl Ladd feels a
million miles away whenever she strolls the grounds of her sprawling
wine-country estate.
"It's like a spa," says Ladd, 55, who has lived in the
7,300-square-foot hideaway for the past 15 years. Her 22-acre property,
which she shares with her husband, Brian Russell, is perched high on a
hill with a 360-degree view of the region's picturesque vineyards.
"I walk the half-mile of driveway twice a day. It's great exercise. I
call it Butt Hill."
Lavender, geraniums, oaks and rosemary dot the ivy-entwined patio,
where friends frequently gather to watch meteor showers on cozy wool
blankets.
"We came here because we wanted to get out of the city," says Ladd, who
shot to fame in the '70s on Charlie's Angels and now stars in NBC's Las
Vegas. She's also a national spokeswoman for knowmenopause.com, a
public-service campaign to educate women about midlife health issues.
When she's not relaxing in her four-bedroom, six-bath "dream home,"
Ladd can be found commuting to the set in Los Angeles. "I always stay
at a wonderful hotel and spoil myself rotten," she says. "But the
minute I come (back), a peacefulness comes over me."
The alfresco terrace is a favorite spot for hosting intimate barbecues
for friends and family. (The couple's daughters, Jordan and Lindsay,
are grown.) She and Russell, a film producer, recently traded the
courtyard's original Spanish tile for Arizona flagstone to create a
more "organic feel" and reupholstered the 20-year-old lounge chairs in
terra-cotta canvas to match their home's exterior.
"Do you know how difficult it is not to get it too yellow or too brown
or too fleshy or too pink?" Ladd says of choosing the right paint
color. "I picked up all the stones that were in terra-cotta colors,
ground them together, and said, 'That's it!' So it really comes from
the earth."
Sunlight floods through the floor-to-ceiling windows flanking either
side of a stone fireplace in a cozy den, with a tall archway leading
into a farmhouse-style dining room with high ceilings and
chocolate-hued wood beams.
She pads barefoot across hardwood floors, and her eyes twinkle as she
points out a beloved birthday gift: a bronze statue by Pat Roberts. "We
have this bull in our valley," she says with a grin. "He gets every one
of the cows pregnant, and no one has ever seen him do it."
Her own North Americow painting hangs above the fireplace in her family
room. "My husband said, 'Don't you sometimes see maps when you look at
black-and-white cows?' " She points to the spots. "It's a map of
America."
Perhaps her most prized artwork, though, is a Chris Lloyd oil portrait
of her dogs Marley, a 10-year-old standard poodle, and Oliver, her
Yorkshire terrier who died last year at 15. "You're signing yourself up
for heartbreak because you outlive them," says Ladd, rubbing Marley's
ears, "but they ask so little and give you so much."
The den's main attraction is a red boxing glove, autographed by
Muhammad Ali ("I'm a huge fan"). There's also an antique iron-and-pine
armoire and a pair of distressed dark brown leather club chairs from
Restoration Hardware. "It's hard to stay awake in those chairs," Ladd
says. "I feel like (Laugh-In's) Edith Ann when I sit there. There's
something about leather and feather that really works."
So how do the empty-nesters make their combination of old and new blend
so seamlessly?
"Brian is kind of spatial and volume, and I'm balance and color, so we
work really well together. He likes big and oversized. And I'm not into
flowers and lace and fluff.
Some people unwind in front of the TV after a long day. Others, like
Cheryl Ladd, prefer to relax with a good book.
Luckily, the self-confessed bookworm has an extensive collection of
hundreds to choose from. "We're avid readers, my husband (Brian) and
I," says the actress, whose wroughtiron coffee table is piled high with
memoirs, Bibles and mysteries. "We always have a book going."
Her favorite genre is historical novels, but "I read anything."
The master bedroom was designed to accommodate her reading obsession.
In the couple's last house, "there were stacks of books, and we
couldn't get to the bathroom."
Her solution? "When we built this house," Ladd insisted upon built-ins.
"Now our bedroom has a 12-foot floor-to-ceiling library."
"Our house is quite eclectic, yet it has a kind of balance," she says.
"I swear it's like Shangri-La."
f5
<PUSSS...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1161356306....@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
> By Dana Meltzer, Special for USA TODAY
> SANTA YNEZ, Calif. - Although her neoclassical Italian-style home is
> just a two-hour drive from the hustle of Hollywood, Cheryl Ladd
> feels a
> million miles away whenever she strolls the grounds of her sprawling
> wine-country estate.
>
> "It's like a spa," says Ladd, 55, who has lived in the
> 7,300-square-foot hideaway for the past 15 years. Her 22-acre
> property,
> which she shares with her husband, Brian Russell, is perched high on
> a
> hill with a 360-degree view of the region's picturesque vineyards.
>
(snip)
Good lord, that is the most boring story I've read in awhile. It's
right out of Hello magazine!
For some reason, it reminds me of the Absolutely Fabulous episode when
Patsy decides to get a chemical peel and face lift just before her
interview with Hello.