Chelsea Handler’s Bel Air Estate Is as Engaging as Its Owner

Ariel Foxman

Don’t get the wrong idea. Chelsea Handler absolutely loves her Bel Air, Los Angeles, home. And those recent for-sale listings? “I always keep my house on the market,” the comedian, writer, and activist explains. “Just in case something great comes up or I find a house that’s great. That’s just an ongoing rotation I have going.”

Handler—whose longtime TV sidekick, Chuy Bravo, sadly died over the weekend at age 63—has lived in her house for a decade, and it’s no wonder she’s more than content to stay on indefinitely. The six-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bath, 5,572-square-foot estate is an oasis: an open-plan glass jewel box, wrapped in swaths of greenery, that affords her plenty of privacy. The home is the perfect refuge for the peripatetic performer who loves to hunker down here when she’s not away on tour or off on a far-flung vacation adventure with family and friends.

“This is my mainstay,” says Handler of her master bedroom. “I spend most of my time here, either in my bed or on those two purple chairs. I meditate in here. I sleep in here. I am eating breakfast right now doing this interview in here. I watch MSNBC here. A lot goes down in this room.” Handler had removed a fireplace and added windows that open out to a balcony, reorienting the bed so that she could better enjoy the indoor-outdoor nature of the home. The abstract work on the wall is an Andy Warhol piece from his “Camouflage” series, a reproduction Handler found through an online auction.

“I had out offers on four or five houses, and I had lost all my bids,” says Handler, noting that this was far from a case of love at first sight. “Finally, I found this house. It wasn’t what I wanted, but it was the right size and in the right part of town for me. So I just committed to putting a lot of work into it.”

Chelsea Handler’s Bel Air Estate Is as Engaging as Its Owner

Handler has two dogs, Bert and Bernice. “They are a brother-sister combo platter,” says Chelsea Handler in her contemporary home in Bel Air, California. “They came together as a family unit, and they came with those names. His full name is Bertram, and her full name is Bernice. When I heard that, I thought I had died and gone to heaven, because that’s obviously what I would have named them if they hadn’t already been named that.” The dogs are chow chow mixes. “I was surprised to learn that they are part rottweiler when I had their DNA tested,” says Handler, wearing a look by Raquel Allegra. “But obviously my love is not conditional.”
The living room is where most nights begin when Handler is entertaining large groups of people. “I want people to feel a cozy, warm vibe—not like they are walking into something stiff,” Handler says. She recently replaced a dark rug with a lighter one that has brightened up the entire room. “I spend double the time there now just because of that rug,” she adds. The central piece of art in the living room is a gift from a friend of Handler’s relatives. “They heard I was buying a house [10 years ago] and sent it over. I thought, well, I guess I have to have this up there, but it works with the room,” she says. “I always say to myself, I am going to replace it, but I haven’t gotten around to it. An incredible endorsement for that art!” The two leather Delaunay arm chairs are from Minotti. The couch is from Prestigio Custom Furniture. The rug is an Haute Bohemian from Mehraban rug designed by Gary Christensen and made in Afghanistan.
The dining room tabletop is made from wood reclaimed from piers in Venice, Italy. “This was a special piece for me,” says Handler. “There are about 11 or 12 tables like that in the world.” Not wanting to obscure the view of the table’s sculptural base, Handler worked hard to find just the right chairs to place on either side. “You can’t really put chairs on either end,” she says. “You’d miss that beautiful complement to the table.” The kitchen’s cabinetry came as is, all white. “At first I walked in and was like, no, this looks medicinal,” says Handler. “But they ended up working as the right complement to the purple and red agate in the island countertop.” Adds Handler, “It’s nice to be able to use some of the stuff that was already in the house, for it to have a little bit more history.” The chandelier is one of a few in storage that Handler likes to rotate in and out. “I went on a chandelier frenzy for about two years,” she says. “Between the chandelier in the little den and the chandelier over the dining room table, they have both been switched out a bunch of times. But I'm happy with everything as it is now.”
Poolside Gossip by Slim Aarons anchors this sitting room. (“A gift from a friend,” Handler notes.) The walls are filled with photos, mainly of friends and family, largely from travels: “From India to Chile, just all over the world, all my adventures—whether work or personal.” The room features two vintage chairs purchased at auction, as well as an arcade video system that boasts 18 games including Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. Adds Handler, “My friends’ kids love it. Also, sometimes I will get really stoned and play Super Mario Bros. late at night, so that works out well for everybody.”
“This is my mainstay,” says Handler of her master bedroom. “I spend most of my time here, either in my bed or on those two purple chairs. I meditate in here. I sleep in here. I am eating breakfast right now doing this interview in here. I watch MSNBC here. A lot goes down in this room.” Handler had removed a fireplace and added windows that open out to a balcony, reorienting the bed so that she could better enjoy the indoor-outdoor nature of the home. The abstract work on the wall is an Andy Warhol piece from his “Camouflage” series, a reproduction Handler found through an online auction.
Handler’s closet has mirrors on either end so it looks like a never-ending corridor. “It’s just this big misshapen room,” says Handler. “Like a circular driveway.” While she’s not precious about maintaining her meticulous closet space—“I don’t care about any of that”—she is fond of curating personal photos, including those showcased here. “One is of my dog, Chunk. Another is of me and my cousin Molly when we were white-water rafting in Valparaiso, Chile,” she explains. “One is of my brother and cousin and me in Martha’s Vineyard. And one of my dad, who is no longer here. And then one is of me and my friend Johnny Kansas, in the Bahamas on a Jet Ski. Everything I do is geared toward getting in the ocean, so I like reminders of that during the day.” A favorite Saint Laurent bag takes center stage.
“I am not a huge bath person,” says Handler. “I am not British so I don’t have an affinity [for it] the same way others do, but because of this tub I have taken more baths than I probably ever would. It’s nice to be able to sit up in a tub.” The master suite bathroom also includes an infrared sauna the comedian had installed. “I used to have a remote one, but now I have this one, with a bench in it. I like to lie down or read a book.” Vintage Playboy covers decorate the walls and the window looks out on to treetops. “It’s like being in a solarium,” Handler says. “There’s only greenery surrounding my house, which is a lot like [my experience] growing up in [Livingston] New Jersey.” The room also features a two-person shower.
Handler had a custom bunk bed installed in her guest-room suite. There is a full bed on the bottom and a twin on top, accommodating three people. “It’s a nod to my childhood,” Handler explains. “I always loved bunk beds. There were six kids in my family, including me. There was always a bunk-bed situation. Sometimes I sleep in here for a week, if I am feeling fragile.” The carpet is an antique Persian flat weave from Mehraban.
When Handler moved into the home, she quickly replaced all of the doors with large glass windowpanes to create an indoor-outdoor vibe. “Not theoretically,” she says, “but functionally.” Handler also removed a parapet that sat around the perimeter of the roof. “I’m fine with a big white box, but I wanted to modernize it,” she adds. The outdoor area also features a fireplace, a barbecue area with a pizza oven, and a 50-foot-long swimming pool and spa.
The shelves above a living area credenza showcase some of Handler’s most beloved items. “My ex-boyfriend bought me those two dolls at Art Basel one year,” she explains. “He said they were creepy and reminded him of me.” The urn at top right contains the ashes of Tammy, her dog. “My old dogs,” she says. “I had them cremated, and now they are in different little urns throughout the house.”

“It ended up being a great learning experience,” she says. “We tore the house apart, inside and out, while keeping the main frame. I had to move out a couple of times, and I did a lot of construction—but I just really wanted it to have that indoor-outdoor California vibe. Soft, contemporary, and really clean.”

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And while Handler wanted to brighten the interior to make it crisp, she also set out to make the exterior warmer and more welcoming. “We put in that hillside,” she says. “I wanted to have some sort of moving carpet. I wanted it to just be a place where, if my friends come over and do mushrooms, we have something to look at.”

Watch Now: Inside Chelsea Handler's Lively Home With An Outdoor Pizza Oven

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest