'ET' Host Kevin Frazier Transformed His Joshua Tree Home Into a Desert Oasis — See Inside [Exclusive]
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“It’s like its own little world,” Frazier tells PEOPLE of the newly-renovated getaway, which is now a vacation rental
Kevin Frazier is opening the doors to his personal desert retreat!
The Entertainment Tonight host, 58, had a vision to create a dreamy getaway in the Joshua Tree, Calif. area — and for the past two years, he did just that. Alongside his good friend Broderick Johnson, a film producer who's worked on movies like Blade Runner 2049 and The Blind Side, Frazier transformed a three-bedroom desert home into a luxury short-term vacation rental called the Black Star Oasis.
The duo originally came across the 15-acre property, located in Twentynine Palms, Calif., while on a road trip to Arizona during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We stumbled upon this house that was perfect. It's like its own little world," Frazier tells PEOPLE of the newly renovated space. "We want people to come and enjoy this. We had these hopes and dreams about this place and it turned out awesome."
He adds that the house originally started out as a space that he could share with his wife Yazmin and their two teenage sons, along with Johnson's family, but it eventually turned into "our place that we're sharing with the world."
The home also tells an important story: the name "Black Star Oasis" pays tribute to the often overlooked historical figures that made the region what it is today, he says.
"Because one in every three cowboys was a person of color, you will see pictures of Nat Love, Stagecoach Mary and some of the local native tribesmen who were there," Frazier explains of the home's decor. "It's paying tribute to the people who actually helped settle the West."
Along with the photography, another unique touch Frazier and Johnson added to the space was a special kind of plaster that originated in Morocco, called tadelakt. The business partners teamed up with a tadelakt expert and artisan named Nicholas Holmes to incorporate the stone-like feature all throughout the kitchen.
"It is a little desert chic," he adds of the home's design style. "There's a beautiful microwave or something that's very new and cool, but it's also set against the old."
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While all the finishing touches came together in the end, the renovation did come with its fair share of challenges. What Frazier and his business partner thought would take four months ended up snowballing into a two-year project.
"It should have been called 'Desert Impossible,'" he jokes. "We didn't realize that because it's three hours away from Los Angeles, it's really hard to get the workers you need, the materials you need, and then to schedule it all to make it work on a regular basis."
He reveals they were close to abandoning the remodel altogether if not for the help of Johnson's sister, Taren Robinson, who made frequent trips from her home base in Arkansas where she works on her own renovation projects.
"Broderick's sister said, 'Listen, I'm going to come in and help you guys,' and from there everything took off," he explains.
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Despite its challengers, Frazier says the finished home was well worth all the effort.
He's especially proud of the changes they made in the living room, noting that they put in folding glass doors to highlight the stunning views and tore down the walls to make one open space between the kitchen, dining room and living area.
"The living room — when you open the doors, you can go out and sit on the deck and in the morning the sunrise is spectacular," he explains of his favorite space. "At night, you can sit on that deck and watch a movie."
Perhaps the only better place to kick back is in the pool, where they installed a glass wall so guests can take a dip and take in the desert scenery stretching out for miles around.
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