Kelis, who became famous for 2003’s “Milkshake,” is now hoping to bring all the buyers to the yard. The music artist—now, a Le Cordon Bleu–educated chef with a book (My Life on a Plate) and a sauce brand (Bounty & Full)—has decided to sell her Spanish-style home in Glendale, California.
The 3,850-square-foot residence is on the market for $1.885 million, listed with Jennifer Winston, and James Harris, and David Parnes, directors at Beverly Hills–based real estate firm The Agency, who are featured on Bravo TV’s Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles. The five-bedroom property boasts a heated saltwater pool and two fireplaces inside. Harris enthuses, “You don’t always have to sell a $20- or $30-million property for it to be a very special home. This 1920s classic house is in an area where you don’t typically see this type of house with this type of design. It’s a warm, cozy, gorgeous, original family home and there are just not many of those that exist in L.A. anymore.”
When she first purchased the property, in 2012, Kelis was attracted to the classic 1920s architecture and entertainment areas. “The architecture inside the house was amazing, and it had a very dramatic, old Hollywood feel," she remembers. "The backyard was so glamorous, and really, for me, that felt great. It was so nice for entertaining, and I pictured all the things I could do back there.”
She has since restored the residence to its 1920s-era greatness with the astuteness of an Architectural Digest reader (which, she notes, she is): For example, decorative arches were constructed on the third floor (which was added in the 1980s) to continue the aesthetic of the other floors, and the wood features were restained to match.
But it has been modernized, too. Unsurprisingly, Kelis has focused on the food-preparation spaces: There are two kitchens with attractive fixtures and new amenities (one inside and one outside). The indoor kitchen has been enhanced with Italian marble and an old wheel (which she sourced from the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, California) that functions as a pot rack. “We smoke meat, so we have a BBQ smoker. We can do great grilled vegetables and steaks and sit outside with a glass of wine. It’s so nice," she shares.
One of the most unique features is the exclusive, Roberto Cavalli–designed wallpaper in the entrance: a bold-colored, flamingo print that was created for the costumes in her Jerk Ribs music video. Kelis, a world traveler, has also outfitted the house with custom cabinets from Morocco and a gold-accented bathtub from Indonesia. “I live in the bath," she says.
So, why has this renaissance woman decided to move? She explains, “Now that I’ve got these two boys, I want to control a little bit more how we eat. We’re buying a farm, so that’s why we’re moving: so that we can grow everything and sustain everything that way.”
