Tour Dita Von Teese's Eclectic Home

Dita Von Teese is known for being an over-the-top but elegant exotic dancer who borrows from the Vargas-style pin-up girls of the 1940s. It's retro meets romantic with a touch of sizzle. And her Tudor Revival–style home in Los Angeles – which is 3,200 square feet with four bedrooms — is a reflection of her performance style. Every square inch of the property is covered in intrigue, making for a visual delight. 

She bought the property in 2015 but needed to spruce it up before she called it home because the walls were all white, something she is not too fond of, the star told Architectural Digest during her home tour. Von Teese added her unique touch of "maximalism," as she calls it. The dancer decorated the large rooms with wood beam ceilings with plenty of jewel tones — think emerald, sapphire, and tourmaline — and she added accents everywhere, like exotic feathers, taxidermy animals, and unusual antiques that excite the eye. And the paintings of glamorous women can be found in just about every room. "I've collected a lot of this art over the years that inspired my pin-up career," she shared. It's hard to look away from what she has put together because so many items are rich in history, like the letter signed by 1950s model Bettie Paige. Take a look at the beauty's hideaway that is so fascinating; it deserves more than a quick glance.

Most kitchens these days are either white or pale gray. It's very uncommon to see any color used. But then again, Dita Von Teese is not interested in being common. One of the selling points of the home was that the kitchen lacked renovations, and she wanted it to be as original as possible, she told Architectural Digest. She went with a British racing green theme. There are green accents everywhere in this room, like the green tiles on the floor, the green wallpaper, green in her floral-themed chandelier, and green glass on the cabinets. Even the oven is green. 

But there are plenty of other colors too, like the copper ceiling that matches the faucet and the air vent over the oven. Interior designer Kathryn Greely has said that copper is perfect for creating a cozy kitchen. "I love the warmth of a copper collection in a kitchen. To me, this says ... it's fall, now time to come inside and cook up lots of comfort food!" she shared on her website. "And nothing says 'French kitchen' like a beautiful copper collection with lots of patina from years of use!" And on her site, she shows that one of the easiest ways to incorporate copper in a kitchen is to hang copper pots from the walls or ceiling. She ends her post with a photo of celebrity chef Julia Childs with her copper pots behind her as she says, "And if you desire to 'be like Julia' start a copper collection immediately!"

An explosion of color is the only way to describe this dining room that harks back to Hollywood's Golden Age. There is a long dining room table with an antique, painted glass top. But the eyes first go to the wood Chinese-style red chairs that have floral print-covered seats. Von Teese explained to Architectural Digest that she'd discovered the dining room set at a flea market and tracked down a favorite fabric she'd once seen at the Jacques Garcia Hotel in Paris, and reupholstered the chairs.

Designer Sarah Jacquelyn has shared that redoing chairs can be very satisfying if the wood is still in good shape. And if done right, it can keep the "beautiful antique quality" while adding a modern touch. The walls are also full of fun as they are Tiffany blue with white and gray ornate designs. One of the most intriguing things is a mirror on the wall with a gold tube of lipstick attached to a chain so that Von Teese can touch up her lips in the middle of a dinner party without having to run to the bathroom. A green, black, and gold credenza is to the side of the room with a mirror above to make the room look bigger. And that's not all! There is also a balcony that has a café table and chairs.

There is a nice treat in her backyard. Dita Von Teese has turned her pool house into an old-fashioned-looking pub complete with old wooden chairs, a red leather cushioned sofa, Toby Jugs, and a bar. Since pubs are a typical feature of English Tudor homes, Von Teese figured she should have one and even had the stained glass put in the windows. "It has little things that I like in there; there's a swan, there's a feather, a rose, a glass of champagne, and a magic mushroom." There is a red leather banquette that doubles as a storage unit to hold pool toys. And she also said the pub was just one more place to collect stuff, including Toby Jugs. 

Though the room is small, it looked like it could fit six people comfortably during those warm summer nights. Though pubs are frequently believed to have been invented in the United Kingdom, they really first became popular in ancient Rome, according to The Brew Enthusiast. When the Romans started building roads to the West, they added a tavern every 20 miles so their armies could freshen up. And later, villages popped up around these taverns, which evolved into bistros in France and pubs in England. They became meeting places where locals could share advice and talk politics.

The shoe closet is quite the room with rows and rows of orange-red shelves filled with kicks arranged by color. There are rows of black, silver, gold, pink, and purple heels. And she also has ballet flats on the bottom. Dita Von Teese noted to Architectural Digest that she has a shoe designer friend and owns many of their shoes. One pair stands out from the rest. "These are embroidered from a house called Lessage, and they also have these little Marie Antoinettes on them, and they have my name on it, it says 'These are Dita's, with love from Christian [Louboutin],'" she shared. 

In the same room is her vintage hat collection that looks like they are from the 1940s. One even has a fake parrot attached on the side. And on one wall features her brooch collection inside scarlet frames. "I love collecting big, fancy broaches. Everybody needs a rhinestone praying mantis," she joked. Creating a shoe closet is not that challenging as long as you have an extra room in your house. Closet Factory suggests buying matching shelves and lining them in rows or against the walls. And the latest trend is to make the shoe closet look like a library with floor-to-ceiling shelves, LED backlighting, and even a rolling ladder to get the shoes on top. And don't forget a library chair like a wingback, so you have somewhere to sit when trying on those heels.

This Tudor house is exceptional because it offers at least two small balconies off other rooms. One patio space that is just off the master bedroom has a metal sofa with a green and white striped cushion and floral print pillows with a chair to the side and a small glass coffee table. Mature trees where hummingbirds flock can be seen in the background; they also provide some shade. This space is where Dita Von Teese unwinds with her cat Allister. 

There is another patio off the dining room, where she told Architectural Digest she likes to watch the hummingbirds fight over the feeder while enjoying her cup of tea. And she planted red geraniums for a very personal reason: "I'm obsessed with [geraniums] because I'm from Michigan and I used to go to this place called the Grand Hotel, and so people from Michigan will know about this, but it's just the longest porch in the world, and it's just tons of boxes of red geraniums, so it's one of those childhood obsessions that has spilled over into my life." 

When decorating a patio, think about the sun. Interior designer Kelly Wearstler talked to MasterClass about checking out the light before buying pieces: "When I start a project... I love to go to the site and sit in the space," Kelly explained. "I look at every elevation, north, south, east, and west, and see: Where's the sun rising? Where is the sun setting?"

Collecting antiques was a natural for Dita Von Teese. "I started wearing vintage clothes because I couldn't afford all the cool designer jeans my friends had, and then that kind of spilled over into collecting vintage and antique things for my home," the star told Architectural Digest during her home tour. And collect she has! There are stunning pieces in every room of the home that look like they could date back 100 years. 

One of the most prized items is a pink and pale wood phonograph — which is an early incarnation of the record player — in her living room. And this item may be more than 100 years old as Thomas Edison debuted the phonograph in 1877, according to Smithsonian magazine. There is also a wood stand-alone grandfather clock that looks like it belongs to a museum. And she has a thing for vintage feathers too, which she stores in a China cabinet. "I have a lot of collections of my vintage feathers from back in the days when ladies used to wear big, beautiful feathers in their hats, and you know, they don't make them like this anymore, I promise you," said the dancer during her home tour. According to The Vintage Handbook, flappers in the 1920s loved to wear feathers like peacock feathers on their dresses because they moved well when they danced.

There are several old books in her home. One is called "Josephine," another is about Vogue, and she has "A Pictorial History Of Burlesque," fittingly. And she said during her home tour that her vintage books have helped educate her on her strip tease profession. "These are all my vintage and rare books like this is a fun one, this is a very rare one. It's been a source of truth in burlesque, and when you look at this book, you realize that burlesque was not all Gypsy Rose Lee or like the movie portrayed burlesque, but really it was kind of a glorified strip club ... and this book is the proof," she explained proudly of the book titled "Strip Tease." 

Per Bauman Rare Books, a book collector should choose books that excite them. They also recommend finding a trusty expert to consult with on prices and authenticity as not all books are stamped with their date and edition numbers. Dita Von Teese is far from the only celebrity book collector. According to Atkins Bookshelf, the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld had 300,000 rare books in his library. And Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone has a vast collection of rare books from the 18th and 19th centuries, such as "Complete Writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne" (1900) and "War And Peace" by Leo Tolstoy (1886), but they are no longer in his possession as he sold them at auction in 2017.