Today, Architectural Digest presents summer-ready celebrity yards and outdoor spaces. From Diplo’s infinity pool overlooking the Jamaican jungle to Benny Blanco’s impressive vegetable garden, these outdoor spaces are sure to get you excited for the summer sun.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I think I like my house,
00:01because most of the areas are my favorite areas.
00:03This is my actual, actual favorite part of the house.
00:06When there's guests over,
00:07this is inevitably where we always end up
00:09hanging out by the fire.
00:10Let's go for a swim.
00:11You ready?
00:28We're outside.
00:29I feel like I've said this a hundred times.
00:31I think I like my house,
00:32because most of the areas are my favorite areas.
00:34This is one of my favorite areas.
00:35I stay in this pool for minimum six hours
00:40at a time on the weekend.
00:41You know when you went into a baby pool
00:43where like it was just filled with piss?
00:45That's exactly the temperature I like to keep this at.
00:48We always have parties.
00:49We're barbecuing, we're grilling.
00:50We're constantly in a flow of like pool, jacuzzi, sauna,
00:57cold plunge.
00:58If you're not scared, I'm scared a lot.
01:00Everybody's all into the cold plunge now.
01:02You're not a professional athlete.
01:04Like getting in a cold plunge for like six minutes a day,
01:08like isn't gonna help you write like 12 emails faster.
01:11Like relax.
01:12It's freezing.
01:13Nobody likes it.
01:14I get in every once in a while if I'm really hung over.
01:17Over there, that's like my personal oasis.
01:21That's where I like to have all my meals.
01:23Even if there's not enough seats
01:25and we have like 15 people,
01:26we're all crowded around there.
01:28We're eating.
01:29My favorite place though, besides that to eat,
01:31is I usually feed everyone while they're in the pool,
01:33and everyone like lines up on this area,
01:36but we're trying to be a little bit civilized.
01:38We go over there.
01:39This is where it goes down, guys.
01:42We have a pizza oven.
01:43We love making pizza.
01:45We love doing like Middle Eastern nights.
01:47We're making like pitas
01:49and also like Indian nights with naan,
01:51and everyone will gather around here
01:52and we'll all put the pizzas in together, take them out.
01:55Honestly, it's just different places in my house
01:58for people to gather around and eat.
02:00Isn't that what life's all about?
02:06Basically a few years ago,
02:08my friend Scott and I started putting together a garden.
02:11I wanted to eat like what I grew.
02:13And in the time that we did that,
02:16we're always giving back and finding ways to do cool things
02:19with interesting charities.
02:20And my friend Maggie Baird has a charity called Support and Feed.
02:24We linked up and we basically deliver
02:27all the vegetables from my gardens
02:29to different food deserts in the LA area.
02:31We do it every single week
02:33and we get to feed people who are less fortunate
02:36and don't have access to like incredible,
02:39healthy, fresh vegetables.
02:46So here we are in the backyard
02:48and this is kind of the most special part of our house
02:50and also the part that needed the most work.
02:53When we found this house, we fell in love with everything.
02:56This place is perfect.
02:57And then we walked through into the backyard
02:58and it was not great.
03:00This whole piece back here was just sort of this very rough concrete.
03:03It just was like, so not as beautiful.
03:06It made us think twice about maybe doing this.
03:09Eventually we said, let's go.
03:11But we knew that this was going to be like the bulk of the work
03:14that we wanted to do.
03:15And there was one man, Sean Femwright,
03:17him and his team came in and just completely transformed this.
03:21He gave us this incredible fire pit and seating area.
03:24But most importantly, what he gave us were these two olive trees.
03:28He told us that he really felt that we needed like more shape to the garden
03:32and he needed these trees back here.
03:34But we didn't understand how he was going to get them up here.
03:36And he told us that he was going to crane them in.
03:38I've never heard of craning a tree, but he organized the whole thing.
03:42And we're really happy that we invested in it.
03:44During the day, we get some good shade.
03:46And at night, it just creates this like, it's like you're in a cove back here.
03:50We've got these beautiful lights in the tree.
03:51I want this garden to look like great expectations.
03:54I want like Miss Havisham vibes.
03:55I want everything overgrown and just like above you plants coming in.
03:59I want you to have to like duck to get through the plants.
04:01And he brought in all of these different ivies.
04:04And he just told us that the longer we stayed in the house,
04:07the longer we loved the house, the more this ivy would grow and grow and grow.
04:10And in spring and summer, that just becomes all green.
04:13And it's my favorite part of the house.
04:15It's really beautiful.
04:15So here we are at the pool.
04:21This is the furthest back part of the house, highest up in the backyard.
04:25This was the most recent addition.
04:27I think it was in like 1972.
04:29And so there's a part of it that also doesn't feel quite like the rest of the house.
04:33And everything that we've done here is trying to make sure that we update it,
04:37but also feels like a part of the original house.
04:39We struggled to figure out what to do specifically with what's behind you.
04:45When we bought the house, there was just this very rickety structure
04:49that was basically the same shape as this, but it didn't go as far as it would.
04:52Yeah.
04:53So it was to like turn this into a really formal lounge space
04:58so that the pool days felt like you had a place to come in out of the sun.
05:02We love this light.
05:03This is an important part of it, original Moroccan piece.
05:05It creates the most beautiful pattern up here.
05:08This area is exactly what we wanted it to be.
05:11We wanted people to come up here, kids to be able to swim in the pool,
05:15and for you to just spend the whole day out here.
05:18And it really does from like sun up to sun down.
05:21I like that feeling when our friends come over and they feel like our house is a vacation for them.
05:30We wanted the back garden area to have space for people and parties and pool
05:37and possibly even do shows.
05:39You know, if we put a little slab up over the jacuzzi, we could have chairs out here and have a show up there
05:46or project a movie up there.
05:48It's all about being able to stay in one place and enjoy where we are.
05:54Also, if you see at the very top of this hill, there is a structure where you could do yoga or meditate
06:02or just welcome the sunshine with a cup of coffee.
06:06Really comfortable, not fussy, easy breezy.
06:10But it's also pretty decadent.
06:11It's very Pompeii.
06:16When there's guests over, this is inevitably where we always end up hanging out by the fire.
06:20Gorgeous view of Hollywood.
06:21The Hollywood sign is like right over there.
06:23The design is a tree house.
06:24I love how much greenery there is, all the vines and, you know, the olive trees.
06:29At night, it is so stunning with the fire going and like the lights in the houses on the hills.
06:35Very, very beautiful.
06:36The beautiful thing is that this wraps around the entire house, this kind of patio.
06:40So we like to have fun little dinners out here, get candles out here.
06:45I love this cactus.
06:46This is the barbecue or as in South Africa, I would call it the braai.
06:55We oftentimes will have big barbecues here, eat out here, end up at the fire pit.
07:01Y'all should come.
07:01It's a fun time.
07:02It's a nice time to hang out here.
07:04So this is one of my favorite aspects of the house.
07:06What really sold it for me was this amazing winding sort of, I mean,
07:10it almost feels tropical back here.
07:12There's so much lush greenery and plant life back here.
07:15I was just obsessed with it the second I saw it.
07:17So this is the first little platform up here.
07:19When we've had big parties and big functions, inevitably, everyone starts wandering through
07:23the garden, end up sitting around here, hanging out.
07:26There's this very old timey stove here.
07:28So if you want to like, I don't know, cook beans in a can and like,
07:32you can do that over here if you want.
07:34I have a little hammock right here.
07:36For those that don't know what a hammock is, it's the thing you sit in like this.
07:39So you can just relax in here, look up at the giant Strelitzia.
07:49And if you really want to like, you know, disappear.
07:55I'm sort of known for covering my face.
07:56So, you know, whatever.
07:57This is sort of the little adventure over here.
08:00These trails go all the way around.
08:01So we got Jade over here.
08:03This is a guava tree, which is yet to fruit, but I'm hoping.
08:08And it takes you all the way back around to the other side of the house.
08:12And then obviously it's kind of cute because you can like see into the studio,
08:16wave to people.
08:17I live alone.
08:18So if I was waving to someone, I'd probably be worried.
08:20I spend quite a lot of time out here on a nice day.
08:23If it's cool enough, I'll throw on some Birkenstocks and come back here and do like a lot of gardening.
08:28And I like to prune and trim.
08:29I mean, I have gardeners as well, but I like to do a lot of it myself.
08:32Cause obviously it's just a hobby of mine.
08:38This is the interior courtyard.
08:39It's pure magic.
08:41I absolutely love this internal courtyard because it connects our entire home.
08:46And you got to check out this olive tree because this olive tree in the center of this courtyard
08:52is what really sold me on this house.
08:54There's this incredible little lounge area.
08:56And we first visited the home.
08:58It was set up as a dining area.
09:00And about a week later, I saw this 20 piece sectional with this carved wood inside,
09:09fell in love and look at the way it fits in there.
09:14I didn't even know that's where it was going to go, but it fit there like it was meant to be.
09:19And I got to take you down to visit one more spot.
09:24Let's go for a swim.
09:25You ready?
09:31Welcome to our pool area.
09:34We redid this entire area.
09:36It was already beautiful, but we just wanted to put our spin on it.
09:39We put in traditional Spanish tile because there was originally Spanish tile here.
09:44Unfortunately, we couldn't salvage it.
09:45So we added something that had a very similar feeling.
09:48And then we decked out this area with a lot of fun drought tolerant plants.
09:53And there are quite a few pieces out here that are from some of my different lines.
09:58Again, mixing high and low and just creating a very vibrant, fun, colorful atmosphere.
10:03This is where summer is upon us.
10:04And if you're looking for me, this is where you'll find me.
10:13Welcome to Jamaica.
10:15This is my place right here.
10:16This is the farm, but the house is up on top of the hill.
10:19Let's go check it out.
10:20We got a bunch of horses on the, on the property.
10:22This one's called Rockabye.
10:23It was our first horse.
10:24Plus Jamaica has a really, really deep horse culture.
10:27A lot of polo riders here.
10:29A lot of horse racing here.
10:30And a lot of, a lot of horses ride on the beach.
10:35We grow a lot of bananas here.
10:37A lot of pineapples.
10:39A lot of sweet potatoes, sorrel, jackfruit.
10:41We have another horse named Lil Wes.
10:43And his dad is here.
10:45His name is Megan Thee Stallion.
10:53This is our main dining table.
10:55This is where we all eat.
10:56Everything is open air.
10:58That's what I love about Jamaica.
10:59And this pool, this infinity pool just kind of like hovers over the jungle.
11:03Like when you get in the pool, you just have a view of this amazing little valley right here at my farm.
11:08And it really is like the heart of the whole house.
11:10Where everybody can meet, they can eat, they can party, they can swim, they can relax.
11:14And all the bedrooms kind of flow into this area and I love that.
11:19Do a little backflip for you guys.
11:21I didn't die.
11:32Oh, I forgot my phone's in my pocket.
11:34I'm joking.
11:45Follow me to the cannon.
11:45I want to show you something special.
11:47When we were first constructing this property excavating, we found this old cannon
11:51from the British empire.
11:54So we just dug it up and positioned it right here.
11:57There's a real cannon right here.
11:58Not many people have one of these.
12:06This is my backyard.
12:07And what I love about my backyard is it's still so colorful.
12:12You've got the yellow umbrellas.
12:14You've got really cool seating areas.
12:16You have the bar and grill.
12:20But I think my favorite part of the backyard is actually my squirrels that I feed.
12:26And they're right here.
12:28That's Teddy.
12:30And that's also Teddy.
12:31I named them all Teddy because I can't tell the difference.
12:35They'll actually come up to me and eat out of my hand.
12:38This is my in-ground trampoline.
12:41I love jumping on the trampoline.
12:44And I wanted one in my backyard, but I didn't want the netting to look tacky.
12:51So I put it in the ground.
12:52I would jump on the trampoline, but I'm not wearing a bra.
12:54So that's not happening.
13:01This is my actual, actual favorite part of the house.
13:05I think this is the reason why I fell in love with it in the first place.
13:07You can fold away these doors and then there's this courtyard.
13:11That's just like actual heaven to me.
13:14Again, you can see like the LA, California influence.
13:17But then we've also got like a lot of Japanese stuff.
13:19This is called the swamp cypress.
13:21There's little fishies in here somewhere.
13:24I don't know if you can see them.
13:25And then we've got like native Australian, like doesn't get much more Australian than this.
13:29Or like the big eucalyptus tree.
13:31It's just like paradise for me.
13:33I spent a lot of time out here watering the garden, looking after the plants.
13:37So because we took the toilet out of the kitchen,
13:39we needed another toilet downstairs.
13:41And so I was like,
13:41what if we create this like fantasy, like outdoor toilet situation?
13:49So this used to be a wine cellar and now it's this.
13:57I went in one of those bathrooms where,
13:58you know when you go to a restaurant and people are like,
14:00oh, have you been to the toilet?
14:01You have to go to the toilet.
14:02Just kind of lent into the fantasy and lent into like a little bit of surrealism.
14:07The walls are all curved.
14:08So it's kind of like a cave.
14:10I think the color is called oxblood.
14:12Yeah, I'm just obsessed with it.
14:13It smells really good.
14:14The sonos is tucked away.
14:16Sometimes I make it feel like a rave in here.
14:17Like if it's all quiet in the house or whatever,
14:19and you come in and it's like,
14:20do do do do do do do do do do do do.
14:21While you're peeing.
14:22Obsessed.
14:23I think it's so dramatic and extra and I love it.
14:28One more thing I want to show you.
14:29I'm getting my phone so that I don't this up.
14:31Basically, the history of this house was in 1874.
14:36This was a handball court.
14:38So 146 years ago, this was a handball court.
14:40And then it was turned into a brick factory
14:42throughout all of the multiple renovations that this place has been through.
14:45One thing remained.
14:46If you look really close, you can see
14:50two handsome men playing handball in a court.
14:53And then there's this like weird sort of spear thing on the side.
14:57And then you walk over here and
15:03it's the same buddy spear.
15:06I really love the idea that this house has had so many lives
15:09and been through kind of just so much and seen so much.
15:13I'm only 25 and this house is like 146 years old.
15:16So I'm really, really, really proud and super,
15:19super, super grateful to be able to live here and call it home.
15:22This is my little slice of heaven.
15:28I designed this half moon fireplace because I wanted to sit around here
15:33and just look at the view.
15:35The view in the summer is amazing.
15:37There's cattle that comes down and they walk into the river
15:40and drink water and it's beautiful.
15:42I love having just a casual dinner here.
15:45We sit, we use it as a table and just look at this magnificent view.
15:49I built a house in Mexico for my children years, 20 years ago.
15:53But I had done these beautiful carpets in stone.
15:56So I wanted to recreate this here.
15:58As you see, it's a stone carpet with little flowers.
16:02And that's the stuff I love to do.
16:04I just sat here with my knees on a pillow and just laid these little rocks.
16:08And that's the creative part of building a house that I really love is I'm hands-on.
16:13I've been on the job site every day building this house,
16:16working with my incredible crew from Texas.
16:19And it was a beautiful experience.
16:25We are on our outside patio.
16:28This is the anchor to the house.
16:30It's like another living space.
16:31Yes.
16:32So, you know, when we moved here,
16:34we didn't have this beautiful pergola that's above us.
16:37And so we put this pergola in.
16:40I wanted to create a space very much like the secret garden.
16:43That was a book I think I read dozens of times when I was a kid.
16:47And it was a place that for me was just otherworldly.
16:52The whole landscaping and greenery thing came about
16:55because when we first moved here, we needed to have more privacy.
16:59And we love the pergola because we love Italy.
17:02Of course, that's another one of our favorite places.
17:04And we love the vines growing down the columns.
17:08We have a water feature right there because just the sound of water.
17:13I'm very much aromatherapy, sound therapy person.
17:17And it's conducive to relaxation.
17:19And you see the big television.
17:21So my husband can watch his football games back here.
17:24I always have a place to go to.
17:28Even in the secret garden.
17:30This is where we entertain.
17:32I know we say we entertain in the kitchen, the living room.
17:35We're entertainers.
17:35It's everywhere.
17:36But outside.
17:36That's the great thing about the house.
17:38You have a lot of different places where we can entertain.
17:41We have a fireplace over here with heat.
17:43So you can literally stay out here at night when it's cool and still be, you know, kind of cozy.
17:49No matter where you're sitting.
17:50Near the pool, jacuzzi, our favorite place.
17:53Yeah.
17:54We live in the jacuzzi.
17:55We're in that jacuzzi first thing in the morning.
17:58And last thing at night.
17:59When it comes to the pool and jacuzzi, we're more jacuzzi.
18:03Yes.
18:03And Genesis will pull us into the pool.
18:06Yes.
18:07Because she loves the pool.
18:08She coaxes us into the pool.
18:09Yes.