Of the many story lines that converge in the marvellously idiosyncratic Los Angeles home of Kirsten Dunst, one of the most compelling is the enduring relationship between the actor and interior designer Jane Hallworth. The two met just over 20 years ago, when Dunst was only 18 years old and Hallworth, having recently alighted in California from university in England, was assisting her sisters, Dunst’s longtime stylists Nina and Clare Hallworth. A few years later, as Hallworth was beginning to establish herself as a player in the world of interiors, Dunst turned to her friend for help in designing the star’s first proper L.A. home, a kind of reimagined Scandinavian lake house tucked in the Hollywood Hills.
The living room is outfitted with a Frits Henningsen wingback chair from Denmark 50, a monumental chandelier from Blackman Cruz, a pair of Erik Karlström club chairs from Lief, a Philip Arctander clam chair from JF Chen, and a custom sofa in a linen from Thomas Lavin. The painting above the fireplace is by Elizabeth Peyton.
Photo: Laure Joliet
“I wasn’t particularly interested in clothes and cars, but I was excited about my home,” Dunst recalls. “Jane really educated me about furniture and design. I was her student in that realm.”
No teacher could ask for a more inquisitive, appreciative pupil. “Kirsten has worked with some of the world’s best costume and set designers, so she has an amazing eye. She gets inspired by beautiful things. She can see the poetry in them. For her, it’s not about style or pedigree per se, but that sweet, lovely call of home,” Hallworth says. “For that first house, I didn’t lead her to trivial pieces. We didn’t buy much, but what we did buy was the best.
Indeed, many of the objets de vertu acquired during that initial collaboration—like a set of steel Gio Ponti chairs with teal leather upholstery, and a Baguès ship-form crystal chandelier—have made their way, nearly two decades later, into Dunst’s current abode, a 1930s ranch house in the San Fernando Valley, where she lives with her fiancé, fellow actor Jesse Plemons, and their two sons, three-year-old Ennis and baby James. “I’m really a Valley girl. It’s just more peaceful here than the other side of the hill,” Dunst says matter-of-factly, pooh-poohing the antiquated snobbery of the L.A. real estate market.
After tackling the less sexy, albeit crucial, aspects of the renovation, such as structural reinforcement and the installation of new period-sensitive windows, Dunst and Hallworth outfitted the home with a broad array of furnishings and objects tied to specific milestones in the actor’s life and career. “That was a Spider-Man purchase,” Dunst says, gesturing toward a shapely, seductive Frits Henningsen wingback chair. “The Elizabeth Peyton portrait of Marie Antoinette was, predictably, from my Marie Antoinette days,” she continues, referring to her star turn in director Sofia Coppola’s toothsome 2006 biopic.
Many of the more eccentric heirlooms and curiosities in the home are connected to Dunst’s family. The antique ship models that adorn the living and dining rooms, for example, were fabricated by her grandfather, while an antique mourning wreath of white feathers in the family room was crafted by Dunst’s great-aunt on her Minnesota farm. The latest addition to the collection of family treasures is a piece of scrap wood painted by young Ennis, which Hallworth suggested mounting as an art object above the living room sofa. Perched atop the ready-made sculpture is a small wooden bird gifted to Dunst by Jane Campion, the director of the upcoming film The Power of the Dog, a tale of love and cruelty set in 1920s Montana, in which Dunst stars alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Plemons.
In the family room, a Victorian leather settee and chair from JF Chen are joined by a Victor DiNovi cocktail table and a Severin Hansen floor lamp from Rewire. The photograph on the far wall is by Hunter S. Thompson.
Photo: Laure Joliet
Although Dunst admits she takes the lead in interior design—“Jesse was a bachelor dude, so I brought decorating into his life,” she says, laughing—Plemons’s presence is unmistakable. Every room in the house contains bits of Texiana, or Texidermy, or whatever one calls objects redolent of the Lone Star State, where Plemons was born. An abundance of guitars, two pianos—a Steinway and a beloved Wurlitzer—and an antique parlor organ said to have belonged to the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson point to the actor’s passion for music.
In the main bedroom, a rustic bench from Nickey Kehoe and a Kaare Klint wingback chair rest on a Sultanabad carpet from Woven. The cabinet is by BDDW, and the 1930s crystal chandelier is from Blackman Cruz. Tibor curtain fabric through Thomas Lavin.
Photo: Laure Joliet
“There’s a dash of Jesse’s cowboy aesthetic mixed in with Kirsten’s more glamorous things. We had to shake it all up into just the right cocktail,” Hallworth notes. That peculiar olio comes to life in the comfy living room, where a broad copper chandelier reminiscent of a boot spur presides over an assemblage of refined furnishings by the likes of Philip Arctander and Jacques Adnet. Even in the extraordinary kitchen—a deeply soulful composition bathed in tones of aubergine and russet—the pattern on the antique Majolica tiles that line the backsplash call to mind the flourishes of a cowboy’s bandana.
“I like the combination of girly and masculine. I like things that have age and patina—really anything that sparks an emotional connection,” Dunst says of her decorative predilections. “Our home is the gathering spot where everyone comes to eat, drink, swim, make music. The bar is always in full swing. We want people to have a good time, so as much as we value pretty, nothing is too precious,” she adds. Asked whether she and Plemons have any future renovation plans for their delightfully cozy casa, Dunst demurs: “Not really…but I’m sure Jane does.”
Photography: Laure Joliet
Styling: Colin King
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Photo: Laure Joliet
