Reese Witherspoon opens up her Ojai Home for Elle Decor’s September 2020 issue. Five years ago, the beautiful actress bought a historic Wallace Neff ranch in Ojai, a village in the foothills north of Los Angeles. The property sits on seven acres that include a swimming pool, a barn, a horse paddock, and guest cottages. “It reminds me of growing up in Tennessee, where we spent all day outside,” she told the magazine. “I wanted my children to have that experience, to get muddy and hang out with the animals.”
For the interiors, Witherspoon wanted something traditional with a modern edge. Therefore, she turned to her friend Kristen Buckingham, a designer with experience decorating Spanish-style homes who looked for European antiques, rustic accessories, animal-themed art, ikat pillows, and overlapping Turkish rugs, and managed to beautifully transform the home. “It feels fresh and youthful even though it’s traditional,” says the designer. Well, just have a nosey at these images!
The great room seems to perfectly express Witherspoon’s style. There is a simple country kitchen that opens onto a dining area with a long table and a mix of Swedish chairs, tufted leather benches, and his-and-hers linen wing chairs. “We had 20 people here for Thanksgiving last year,” the lovely actress told Elle Decor, “so there has to be plenty of places to sit.”
On spending time with family and friends, on a typical weekend, Reese says that the grown-ups gather outside and watch their kids run around, or they play rummy indoors. “Everyone congregates around the stone fireplace in the great room. It’s cozy and warm,” Witherspoon says. “In the summer, it’s the coolest room, because of the stone.”
To Reese Witherspoon, the house is more than aesthetics and decor. It is more than just a beautiful home. It’s a place where you can relax. “It’s meditative and restorative,” she explained in the interview with the magazine’s September 2020 issue. “As soon as I drive through the gate, I relax. The air is fresh, the phone isn’t ringing, you can’t access e-mail. Time slows down. Within an hour I’m lying on that couch taking a big fat nap. It’s like having a little bit of Tennessee in California,” the actress added.
Read Reese Witherpoon’s complete interview in the September 2020 issue of Elle Decor.
Photos courtesy of Elle Decor
