Emma Roberts’ Living Room Uses Stripes in the Most Unexpected Place

There’s something so satisfying about seeing celebrity house tours or snippets of their spaces on social media. Even just a mundane, at-home Instagram photo feels like the next best thing to getting invited over by the likes of Dolly Parton or Reese Witherspoon. Plus, it opens up more glimpses of A-lister’s style choices beyond the red carpet. I also love keeping my eyes peeled for unique celeb decorating ideas that anyone can re-create, and Emma Roberts has one that stopped me in my tracks.

Architectural Digest just covered the actress’s Los Angeles home, designed in partnership with Pierce & Ward. Described as a “grown-up dollhouse,” the entire house looks cozy, warm, and quirky. Her living room specifically, though, immediately captured my attention. In the video tour below, Roberts explains that she originally loved the space’s fireplace, which had a “mirrored, kind of foggy” aesthetic, until someone told her it actually wasn’t as chic as she thought (which, rude!). To switch up the look, she decorated the fireplace with stripes to match a nearby upholstered accent chair.

Roberts’ living room already had a white and maroon striped chair directly in front of the fireplace, so she transferred that same color palette and design to the mantel surround. The finished product feels cohesive and curated — without going overboard on stripes — but a colorful throw pillow and intricate rug help balance things out. Although, as Roberts adds in the video, “I feel like there can never be enough stripes.”

Stripes remain a timeless decor choice, but the motif has become especially popular recently across pillows, bedding, and even DIY lamp shades. That said, I’ve yet to see anyone make over their fireplace with a striped design, and it’s an ingenious customization project you’ve probably never thought of before.

Depending on your fireplace construction, you can paint a two-tone design to complement your own space — either super high contrast like Roberts’ or using more similar, muted hues. You can choose any thickness, but measure out the strips with painter’s tape beforehand for consistent sizing.

No fireplace in your home at all? No problem. You can create your own nonfunctioning setup by browsing Facebook Marketplace for a discarded fireplace surround, then deck it out with stripes and prop against a blank wall. Either way, this celebrity-approved hack allows you to creatively personalize an otherwise plain or dated architectural built-in. Best of all, it’s easy to paint over the stripes with a solid color, if you want to mix up the look later.