welcome to "open house." whether you're buying, selling, redesigning or just dreaming, we've got you covered. today i'm coming to you from a gorgeous neighborhood in manhattan's south side neighborhood. this elegant home is 6,000 square feet on five levels plus a basement and an incredible roof deck. tips of the trade, kathy ireland welcomes us inside her santa monica home. she gives tips on how to infuse your home with french elegance without crossing the pond. >> hello. i'm katherine ireland. i bought an old farmhouse in southern france. it's where i love to relax and hang out with my friends and entertain. today right here at my home in santa monica, i'm going to take you to my backyard and i'm going to give you a little slice of the french country life. americans have always had this fascination with the french country way of life. i think that's really because when you think of france in the summers, you think of these wonderful, long lunches surrounded by sun flowers and friends and laughter. and i think there's an easiness that we all want to be part of. so what i've done here in my garden in santa monica, i've created the same spaces i've done in france. really, what i like to do when i have a group of people is to make small, intimate areas. i think that it really helps people to unwind and relax. floral arrangements to me are incredibly important. they bring any piece of furniture, any table to life. i don't want anyone to have to spend a huge amount of money. what i like to do is i collect bottles and just put one simple bud. a little bit of color adds to the whole outdoor environment. the most important thing for me in decorating is the layering of color and pattern to make things look unpretrentious. i want everything to live very happily side by side. so this the fun part. the food. one of the things i really believe in doing is just laying the food out and have everyone come and help themselves. i think that way people can sit where they want. apart from the food decorating your table, it's very important to choose fabrics that compliment everything that's on the table. i don't want to see any set of anything. i like a mishmash. i like everything to look like a picnic. because picnics to me say we're on holiday. i hope you've learned some of the ways you can bring summers in france to your home. >> before we break, here is a sneak peek at what's coming up on "open house." >> this magnificent entrance, with its exquisite detail is inspired by versailles itself. the pool and gardens are reminiscent of the hearst castle. >> this is a philip jeffreys granite was that. this is actually paper but it looks like stone and it really anchors the room. >> this is so much work to do in one day so i'm going to stop talking and get to work. welcome back to "open house." your look at the country's most luxurious homes and design. now on squ >> hello and welcome to 464 ridge road in beautiful lake forest, illinois. my name is ann lyon and i'm delighted to take you on a tour of this amazing home. from the entry hall into the living room, you'll notice many beautiful details such as the coffered ceiling. many of the furnishings are from old hollywood. my clients wanted to blend old with new. one of my favorite things about this home is the way my clients were able to achieve uniting the interior and exterior. through a series of french doors, you'll notice how they lead out to this covered patio, the terrace and saltwater pool. the gardens are magnificent and add views from every window in this home. we are now entering the award winning kitchen. you'll notice the beautiful statuary countertops, from the beam ceiling to the cove lighting, no detail was overlooked in this kitchen. the garden room unites these rooms. note the beautiful limestone fireplace. the 12 foot ceilings and an abundance of natural light flooding in from a series of french doors. best of all on a beautiful sunny day you can enjoy dining outside under this beautiful pergula with a limestone table. this elegant yet comfortable master suite features a vaulted ceiling, fireplace, balcony that overlooks the lush grounds. this master bath feels like a spa retreat. it has custom handmade tiles that line the tub and shower area. the elegant chandelier and beautiful wall sconces compliment this space. this concludes the tour of this magnificent estate. i hope you enjoyed it as much as i have. coming up we'll go behind the doors of a $55 million mansion in beverly hills. and three elite designers show us their stunning work in this year's show house. [ banker ] mike and brenda found a house that they really wanted. it was in my sister's neighborhood. i told you it was perfect for you guys. literally across the street from her sister. [ banker ] but someone else bought it before they could get their offer together. we really missed a great opportunity -- dodged a bullet there. [ banker ] so we talked to them about the wells fargo priority buyer preapproval. it lets people know that you are a serious buyer because you've been credit-approved. we got everything in order so that we can move on the next place we found. which was clear on the other side of town. [ male announcer ] wells fargo. with you when you're ready to move. welcome back to "open house." now we go behind the doors of this year's modern life concept house in manhattan. we'll check in with three of designers to see what their inspiration was in creating these dazzling rooms. >> hi, i'm sarah story. welcome to this yeared modern life concept house. this show house features 10 designers to watch. five from last year and five from this year. all the proceeds from the event will go to housing works, which is a wonderful charity whose mission is to end homelessness and aids. feel like men usually have a library or media room. i really wanted to do a woman's salon. i wanted to create a room that is chic and has roots in traditional design but also really current and edgy and now. the first thing i did was venetian plaster the walls and ceiling in the room. what it does is add texture, reflective qualities. in a small space like this, it will really create a larger feeling to the room. but the downfall to plaster is, it's really expensive and it's really time consuminconsuming. what we did in the niche over here is high-gloss paint, which gives the same reflective qualities and makes the room look special but a lot more affordable. because it's a vanity, i thought i'd be a little vain and put a self-portrait of myself above the vanity. >> hi, i'm jesse. >> i'm mara. we're here at the modern life concept house in the room we designed with our partner. modern living was designing a space that was multi-functional. >> without compromising style or design. >> in apartment living there are elements we want to conceal. we took a mirror to conceal in the corner. can you use artwork, plants. if it's near a window you can use your curtain panels as shield. >> new yorkers are afraid they never have enough storage. they eat up too much of their square footage doing built-ins. what's more important is to live with your stuff but live with it in a stylish way. here we've used book shelves where we've stacked boots, contained things in trays, hidden away in bins and boxes. that allows you to keep all the things you use and live with accessible but attractive. >> a room isn't finished until the last piece of artwork has been hung. in this space we've utilized artwork by clustering smaller pieces to make a larger group to offset some negative space in the room. artwork doesn't kneesly need to be expensive. it just needs to be framed properly and hung right to have the effect. >> hi, i'm beth martin. i'm one of the featured designers this year. i'm here to show you my living room, which i think is pretty fantastic. one of the challenges of this space is there's no real entry. so what i did was i put bronze sculpture in the entry so it creates kind of a directional path. then if you walk further you have this great table. behind it is a partition of glass. what that does is creates a space so that you have a proper entry without blocking off the view to the kitchen, because this is an open concept plan. so many other things could create this division, a folding screen, birch branches, use your imagination. here is a neat it is trick. this column behind me actually is the structural part of this room. so what was potentially a challenge in the room i made a feature. this is a philip jeffreys granite was that. this is actually paper but looks like stone, and it really anchors the room. i hope you've enjoyed this year's preview of the concept house. we're hope any weekend between now and june 5th. hope to see you then. >> coming up, we'll see what 36,000 square feet of luxury living in the heart of beverly hills looks like. we'll go from retro to living room revival in just one day with designer libby langdon. [ male announcer ] there's a new ride coming to busch gardens williamsburg -- mach tower. dude, it's like two hundred and... ...forty feet high... ...right in the middle of oktoberfest... ...the seats go, whoooa... ...up to the top, then... ...the music just stops. and the seats totally start shaking. it's insane. but then all of a sudden... [ group ] aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! [ male announcer ] mach tower. heart racing. jaw dropping. coming soon to busch gardens williamsburg. and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ ♪ there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. welcome back to "open house." next we head to beverly hills to tour a french palladian estate. at $55 million this residence is impeccably designed with european detail. it features a two-store grand marble staircase, a gourmet kitchen, salon and 40-foot pool with cabanas. take a look. >> welcome. i'm jade mills. >> and i'm joyce ray. we're the brokers for the exquisite home. >> this elegant palladian estate is on almost two acres in prime beverly hills on sunset boulevard. >> it took the homeowners nearly five years to complete this magnificent estate. the entire exterior is clad in imported hand carved european limestone. this magnificent entrance, with its exquisite detail, is inspired by versailles itself. and the pool and gardens are reminiscent of the hearst castle. >> and across the entry from the library is this very grand dining room that seats 30. with calcutta viola columns and beautiful chandeliers, i can see someone very special dining here. >> i love the breakfast room. it's truly the most romantic room in the house, with its very delicate floral and butterfly moldings, exceptional lattice work and exquisite chandelier. the house is also flanked by wonderful citrus orchards. you can have organic fruit every day as well as beautiful floral gardens, which give the home a sense of color. after receiving your guests from the grand salon, you bring them into this formal living room. again, there are gold guilded rose buds on these walls and beautiful, beautiful chandeliers. you have this mirror over the fireplace. the fireplace is also from europe. in this room you truly feel that you're in france. >> here we are upstairs in the marvelous master suite. there's incredible attention to detail with intricate floral moldings, two custom designed chandeliers, and a flat screen tv that drops right out of the ceiling. outside the veranda overlooks the gardens, the tournament play tennis court, the 50-foot swimming pool, the cabana, and the marvelous grounds. we believe that this house will be truly appreciated by someone who enjoys european elegance and fabulous quality. >> after the break on "open house" -- >> the 1980s called and they want their light fixtures back. oh, my gosh. this is going to need to be fixed. ♪ ♪ oh, won't you be good to yourself? ♪ ♪ and don't you feel like coming home? ♪ ♪ ♪ it'll be like coming home [ male announcer ] some rooms feel like a fish bowl. but in our roomy suites, you can spread out and live a little. with breakfast, dinner, and drinks included, you'll feel right at home. ♪ la la-la-la-la la la la ♪ [ whistle blows ] [ male announcer ] can the network you live on handle the computers, tvs and technology you can't live without? ♪ verizon fios can. get the power and speed of america's largest 100% fiber optic network. verizon fios. a network ahead. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. welcome back to "open house." libby langdon with an amazing living room transformation. watch as she turns this living room from outdated 1980s to retro modern chic all in just one day. >> hi, i'm libby langdon and i'm in the hamptons for what i call a retro day-over. there's fantastic elements in this very large living room. there's tons of sunlight. it's great size and it's got beautiful views. the other thing is these homeowners have fantastic artwork. i'm just going to showcase them in a different way. these are super comfy sofas and they do have a pretty bold pattern happening. the love seat matches the sofa. i can't really get new ones but i'm doing to balance these out and make them work. the 1980s called and they want their light fixtures back. oh, my gosh. this is going to need to be fixed. this fireplace has two things working against it. it's enormous, and it's on the wall farthest from when you enter the room. it's just sort of this black hole off in the distance. what i'm going to do is come up with a way to visually bring the wall to the rest of the living space. you can also see we have a totally funky brady bunch pit here. it's my understanding the grandkids love to hang out here and so does the family dog. we're going to make this work. make it a little more comfortable. this console table is clearly trapped in another era. because of budget, i need to find a way to use it. help. because they have used floor tiles to create the table base for their dining table, it's sort of all blending in together. we need to separate this and make it more of a spot that's special. this is so much work to do in one day, so i'm going to stop talking and get to work. i love this benjamin moore aura paint. it truly is the best paint to work with. we're in a time crunch today and we're going to be able to get this paint up on the walls in two coats or less. that's so important. this is going to be our help to bring this wall into the rest of the room. we're going to paint it a great red color. that's really going to emphasize this tile around the surround of the fireplace. it's going to make a big difference and a dramatic change. so for the dining table, i had a piece of quarter inch plywood cut at a home improve store. i'm not too handy with a saw. i'm putting a nice rich stain on it. that's going to add some contrast. we're going to have the light floor tiles and now a nice dark wood top. from out of style to in style, this dakeover is done. whenever i'm doing a makeover, paint is always the first step for me. in the living room i used a color called revere pewter. i love it because it's a great tan but with a little gray in it. you can see the kick from the red, raspberry truffle. it's great, not too candy apple red but a nice, rich color. this is actual proof if you don't like the base you have under your glass top table, you can definitely give it a rich, modern look. this was so simple to do and really inexpensive. i think the darker stain really adds a little bit of punch here. you still get to see the grain of the wood and it adds great contrast with the sculpture they have. i wanted to highlight it and this was the perfect way to do it. because of budget we couldn't replace the fict turs with all new track lighting. what we could do was replace the track heads. we changed out those big heads with much smaller ones that also have a nice frosted glass case. you can see i broke up these patterned couches with just some simple solid throw pillows. they make a really big difference. i bet you don't know what this is. it's our console table. it's the perfect place to display accessories. we're not having to look at it but it's playing a good supporting role in our room. the best way to make this pit less harsh was add throw pillows. you may notice i put the plant in front of the fireplace. don't be afraid to put something in front of the dead-end fireplace. it's the summertime, it's the hamptons. you're not turning on the fireplace for the next four or five months. so i hope you've gotten some great ideas and tips from our retro dakeover. it's hard to believe we really used the items they already had but could give them a brand-new look. i really had a blast traveling through three decades of decor in just one day. >> that's all for this week's episode of "open house." join us next week for more of america's top properties and design. if you missed something on today's show or you just want to see more of these amazing homes, head to "open house" tv.com. also join our facebook family or head to "open house" tv.com. also join [ man ] i gotfamily or this new citi thankyou card and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ ♪ there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. it works great on wet or dry skin because it's seriously waterproof and ultra sweat-proof. coppertone protects across 100% of the uva/uvb spectrum. coppertone sport. embrace the sun. introducing honey bunches of oats, raisin medley. there's nothing like it! the only cereal with 1, 2, 3 kinds of raisins and crunchy multigrain flakes. you gotta try new honey bunches of oats raisin medley.