Food Network Stars at Home

Marcela in California

Marcela Valladolid, the spirited star of Mexican Made Easy and cohost of The Kitchen, always knew that she wanted to raise her son, Fausto, 10, in an old house. And a year ago, she found it — a 1912 Cape Cod–style home that sits on top of a hill in Chula Vista, CA. "I wanted the place to identify with Mexico without hitting all the stereotypes," she says. So she dreamed up a signature style she calls Euro-Mexican. "No serapes or sombreros. I wanted something more clean, crisp and subtle."

Much of Marcela's furniture, like the wood-backed sofa and tufted ottoman, was custom-made by her interior designer, Kari Arendsen of Intimate Living Interiors. But the house is also filled with thrift-store finds, like a bar cart she scored at the Salvation Army.

The home has no air conditioning, so Marcela leaves the windows open in the hallway between the living and dining rooms.

A portrait of Fausto on the beach hangs in the living room — it was painted by his grandmother.

Marcela's dining room used to be a patio, hence the worn brick floors. She had the table and chairs custom-built. "But I never host a sit-down meal," she says. "I serve buffet or family style and just scatter chairs all over." On the wall: Talavera pottery, made in Puebla, Mexico. The pendant lights are from Pottery Barn.

Ina in the City

We've all seen Ina Garten's East Hampton home on TV, but few fans have seen this private hideaway in Manhattan: The one-bedroom apartment is Ina's escape whenever she has a long day of business meetings in the city. "I wanted it to feel like a refuge — a place for her to curl up and recharge," says architect Daniel Romualdez. To accomplish that, he balanced the high ceilings with a warm, inviting sitting area. You might think the soaring space would call for bigger furniture, Ina says, "but it was the opposite."

The 1925 apartment came with original leaded windows.

Many designers fill big spaces with oversize furniture, but Romualdez kept the chairs low and close together to make the living room feel cozier. He also added warm colors: "A green couch, yellow chairs, orange curtains, a purple ottoman — I never would have guessed it would all work!" Ina says.

Romualdez rearranged Ina's living room into two distinct spaces: the sitting area and an office, separated by a stone fireplace.

Ina found the dining table and chairs at Axel Vervoordt in Antwerp, Belgium.

The bookshelf, from Axel Vervoordt, is one of Ina's favorite pieces.

The walls of her bedroom are covered in ivory fabric. "It feels like a cocoon," Romualdez says. The bed linens are Frette and Pratesi, and the bedside floor lamp is Crate & Barrel.

Buddy Valastro in New Jersey

When Buddy Valastro was a kid, he used to joke with his friends that one day he’d be so successful he’d have a house with a bowling alley in the basement. The Buddy vs. Duff star made that childhood dream a reality when he moved into this nearly 23,000-square-foot Montville, NJ, home with his wife Lisa and kids Sofia, 17, Bartolo, 16, Marco, 14, and Carlo, 10. “We knew this house was the one,” says Buddy. “The bowling alley was a sign.” Buddy is determined to get back to bowling someday — he suffered a serious hand injury last year while fixing the machinery — but between the injury and all the time at home, he has really been able to appreciate this house over the past year. There’s plenty of space for his family, plus a full-fledged movie theater, arcade, wine cellar and tasting room. “There are so many hidden treasures,” Buddy says. “That’s what keeps it exciting.”

Text written by Erica Finamore for Food Network Magazine.

All Photographs by Alison Gootee.

Decorating a space with a 20-foot ceiling is a big design challenge, but Lisa was up for it. She started with the two rhinestone-studded sofas. “I fell in love with these couches, and I ended up working the room around them,” she says. Custom blue-gray velvet drapes give the room a touch of glamour.

“This is where we live 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Lisa says. The room is everyone’s favorite spot, and the kids do their homework here, so ample seating was a must. Lisa chose Restoration Hardware sofas and a custom 5' x 5' ottoman. Of the house’s nine fireplaces, the Valastros use this one the most.

The red Venetian-plastered walls and ceiling steal the show in this room, but the table (where the family hosts Sunday dinners) is equally dramatic, with an intricate wrought-iron design under the glass top. “I wanted every room to have a unique piece that stands out,” Lisa says. In the corner the family keeps a display case of Buddy’s awards and family heirlooms.

After a trip to Napa a few years ago, Buddy was inspired to learn more about wine and start a collection. Before the pandemic, his friends would often join him in this cozy space for card games — and yes, a glass or two.

The retro-style home theater was another major selling point when the Valastros first saw the house. The kids have hosted many movie nights here for their friends.

There’s even a concession stand with full-size candy bars and glass apothecary jars of Starburst and Hershey’s Kisses!

When the family moved in, Buddy had the signage updated to say “Valastro Lanes,” and he filled a room with bowling shoes in all sizes so anyone who visits can play. Before his injury, Buddy and the kids practiced here all the time. He says he’s determined to bowl again as soon as he can.

Valerie Bertinelli in Studio City

When Valerie Bertinelli remodeled her house in Studio City, CA, white walls were not part of the plan: The host of Valerie’s Home Cooking and her husband, Tom, decorated their entire place with bold colors, including a deep-blue dining room, a striking red living room and a red-accented library. Valerie is also big on comfort, so she and Tom created lots of nooks — indoors and out — for lounging, and she furnished the library with oversize chairs where she can cozy up with her five cats and dog, Luna. “I needed a space to sit and read and be with my animals,” she says. “It’s my favorite room in the house after the kitchen — it lets me take care of myself for just a couple minutes a day.”

Valerie wanted the living room to feel traditional but with fun patterns and colors. Her designer, Lars Anderson, found furniture based on pieces she loved in her previous home, then he added patterned crewel pillows and a vintage rug. Valerie decorated the room with family snapshots and vintage art. “I love finding paintings at antiques shops — they have beautiful frames and don’t cost a lot,” she says.

Visitors can see the dining room from the front door, which means everyone catches a glimpse of one of Valerie’s favorite finds: a set of nine pictures of cows by artist Glen Wexler. The mahogany dining table pulls out to twice the size, perfect for when Valerie hosts her book group. She loves dramatic lighting, so she added a chandelier from Restoration Hardware. “It’s supposed to be in a bedroom, but I don’t believe in firm decorating rules,” she says.

After seeing Glen Wexler’s cow pictures at his gallery, Valerie told the artist, “I’m going to build a wall just for your cows” — and she did.

Part of the renovation involved doubling the size of the library. “I always wanted a place that was big enough for all my books so I never had to throw any away,” Valerie says. Her wood shelves are packed with cookbooks, old scripts, yoga guides and photo albums. She designed the room around the red chandelier, which meant reupholstering vintage chairs in red leather and installing red-shaded sconces. Valerie spends mornings here sipping coffee and doing the crossword, and evenings drinking wine and reading.

The house sits on an acre, but only a small section of the land is flat. Valerie put that part to good use with an infinity pool that she can see from her dining room and kitchen.

Valerie also built an outdoor pizza oven and entertaining area that she lovingly calls “the pavilion.”

The hilly areas of her property are planted with grape vines, and she and Tom are working to bottle their second batch of wine. “That’s his baby,” Valerie says.

Ted Allen in Brooklyn

When Ted Allen first stumbled upon this Brooklyn brownstone, the carpet was bright red, the walls were Pepto Bismol pink and the facade was crumbling — and he thought it was perfect. The Chopped host and his husband, interior designer Barry Rice, knew that they had found something special in the 1879 four-story building, a former boarding house. “We were doing a bad job of hiding our excitement,” Ted says. For the next few years the couple overhauled the house from bottom to top. They spent a year and a half renovating the lower floors, took a break for a year, then tackled the top floors. Their goal was to preserve the best of the original features — like ornate molding and a stained-glass skylight. Once that was done, Barry filled the rooms with modern furniture and art, carefully choosing statement pieces for every part of the house. “To put crazy designer furniture from the '60s and '70s in a Victorian house is really fun,” Ted says. “This place has got plenty of quirk.”

Ted and Barry restored the brownstone’s front parlor, including the fireplace and parquet, to its former glory. Then they brought the space to life with a sculptural 1970s Joe Colombo Elda chair and a glam brass and chrome coffee table by Paul Evans: “It looks like something Rod Stewart would have in his apartment,” Ted jokes.

Ted and Barry wanted this space to feel moody, so they chose a dark blue and gold floral wallpaper. The table, inspired by stalagmites, is beloved by Rufus, one of the couple’s Maine Coon cats.

Barry won this glossy midcentury Karl Springer bed at an auction and accented it with a fuzzy Mongolian wool pillow.

Ted and Barry had to rip out most of this space, but they left the claw-foot tub, which has been in the house since 1910! David Hicks’s Groundworks wallpaper and a psychedelic Oliver Hibert painting make the room as memorable as the rest of the house.

This cozy spot on the first floor is where the couple spends most of their time. The watercolor above the fireplace is by the late New York artist and poet John Giorno.

Morimoto's Favorite Spot

Despite appearances, Hawaii is not a vacation destination for Masaharu Morimoto. The Iron Chef has opened two restaurants there in the past few years — Morimoto Waikiki in 2010 and Morimoto Maui in 2013 — and he has been traveling from New York City to Hawaii every two months to check on them. He got tired of staying in hotels, so last year he started looking for an apartment, and he bought the first one he saw — for the view. The apartment has two small balconies that overlook the lush Manoa Valley. "You could have an ocean view, but after 6 p.m. it's nothing," he says. "The mountain view gives you something to look at all the time…Being here makes me happier."

Kelsey Nixon in New York City

Kelsey and Robby collaborated by painting a navy blue statement wall (Robby's idea) and hanging bright graphic prints (her idea).

The open kitchen lets Kelsey keep an eye on Ollie whether he's playing with his toy vacuum in the living room, scrubbing in the dining room (the kid loves to clean) or sitting in one of the indestructible barstools at the counter, drawing rainbows and family portraits. His artwork livens up the mostly white room — and so do accessories like an apple-shaped cutting board that Kelsey rescued from the old set of Kelsey’s Essentials and her aqua spice mill.

The pink-accented Persian rug is one of Kelsey’s favorite things (it took some convincing to get Robby on board with pink). The midcentury dining table was their big splurge; it expands so they can seat everyone for their annual Friendsgiving dinner. The finishing touch is the fiddle-leaf fig tree: "Having plants turns a place into a home," she says.

When the couple found an apartment with a bedroom large enough for a king-size bed, they jumped. They scored a Dwell Studio bed frame on Craigslist and bought white-and-gold bedding to bring out the yellow in the rug. Kelsey’s most-treasured detail is the framed print of a father and son riding a bicycle that they keep on the dresser. "I gave that to Robby for Father’s Day," Kelsey says. "It's him and Ollie."

Kelsey chose pieces Ollie could use for years, like a blue trellis rug, wood-front dresser and modern white rocker. The room’s most-meaningful pieces are the "Be Brave" banner — the family mantra during Leo's life — and a picture of Central Park by Matte Stephens that hangs above Ollie’s crib. It was the first thing Kelsey bought for Ollie's nursery. "Wherever our family ends up, that print will be a reminder of when Ollie was born," she says.

Marc Murphy's Beach House

The Murphys' house has outdoor seating with ocean views on three levels, but Marc and Pam's favorite place to sit is right on the beach.

A lighted pathway leads to a small deck with Adirondack chairs, a perfect spot for relaxing with morning coffee.

The foyer connects the front of the house to the back deck and has ample storage for shoes (though, truth be told, everyone walks around barefoot in the summer).

To add some color to the room, they created a place to hang prints from their Instagram feeds (and maybe a few from Taylor Swift's).

Pam and Marc wanted to make this room a haven for rainy days, with a complete entertainment system. "TVs are an important part of my life," Pam says. She found the marquee-letter lights at Restoration Hardware Baby and Child and spelled out a family mantra.

The Murphys' living room sectional seats a crowd for cocktail hour, but it's also great for lounging with the kids while playing Scrabble on the large coffee table. Throughout the room, Pam added beachy accents, like a shell sculpture, driftwood and ceramic sand dollars.

Every summer the Murphys throw at least one huge party for about 180 people, and they put the rooftop lounge to good use. The sprawling space has a fireplace and a 12-foot dining table.

Marc has a full outdoor kitchen for cooking elaborate meals; he uses his Grillworks gas grill to cook meat, fish, veggies — and, once, a 65-pound whole pig. "It was so big, it practically broke the grill," he says.

The Murphys' outdoor living space has plenty of seating options.

Hanging lounges make it easy for the family to relax outdoors.

Marc and Pam chose Regatta Mesh Chaise Lounge Chairs because the fabric dries quickly — great for a family that's constantly in and out of the pool and ocean.

Marcus Samuelsson’s Harlem Brownstone

Marcus Samuelsson’s journey to his dream home started 20 years ago. The Chopped judge was invited to activist and poet Maya Angelou’s Harlem brownstone and fell in love with the neighborhood. “She said, ‘Boy, you better come up here and open a restaurant,’ and that was the moment I knew I had to live in Harlem,” he says. In 2010 the chef and his wife Maya opened Red Rooster Harlem, and in 2013 they bought this 1890s brownstone — which they now share with son Zion, 4. Everything about the space reflects the couple’s roots — he was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Sweden, and she’s Ethiopian — and their love of intense color and pattern. “The heart and soul of this place really comes from three homes: Ethiopia, Sweden and Harlem,” Marcus says.

— Text written by Erica Finamore for Food Network Magazine; Photograph by Alison Gootee.

Maya and Marcus decorated the living room fireplace (one of three in the house) with gifts that Maya’s family sent from Ethiopia. The walls in the dining room show off some of the family’s art collection, which includes works by Black artists such as Sanford Biggers and Lorna Simpson.

— Text written by Erica Finamore for Food Network Magazine; Photograph by Alison Gootee.

When the couple moved in, Marcus upgraded the appliances by installing a Wolf stove and Sub-Zero refrigerator. He handles breakfast; for dinner Maya often takes over, making favorite Ethiopian dishes. She’ll stop at a butcher or fish shop and spend hours in the kitchen cooking. “She’s very particular — that’s why her food tastes so good,” Marcus says.

— Text written by Erica Finamore for Food Network Magazine; Photograph by Alison Gootee.

The sculptural front doors are original to the building. In fact, many of the brownstone’s century-old features had been kept up by previous owners, including basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You can often spot Zion running around this area. “This is really Zion’s house — Maya and I just happen to live here,” Marcus jokes.

— Text written by Erica Finamore for Food Network Magazine; Photograph by Alison Gootee.

Jonathan Bennett's LA Hangout

Three graphic pillows add a pop of color to the gray sofas in the den.

Jonathan wanted the room to feel relaxed and lived-in, and an extra-deep leather sofa from Restoration Hardware was the perfect fit. He and his roommates chose the carpet based on a highly scientific testing process: "We brought home samples and then we'd lie down on them," he says, laughing. His favorite piece in the room is a coffee table made of wood salvaged from an old ship. "I wanted everything to be a little quirky," he says.

Jonathan had the large table custom-built to accommodate 20-plus guests at his annual Friendsgiving dinner. His friend, Willa Ford, pop singer-turned-interior designer, persuaded him to choose a vivid over-dyed rug to offset the dark wood. His unusual chandelier brings the whole room together: "At first glance it looks like crystal," he says. "But then you look close and see that it's hundreds of test tubes."

A commercial jet print above Jonathan's bed is a tribute to his late father, who was an amateur pilot. The midnight-blue walls (Poppy Seed by Behr) are dark, but natural sunlight streams into the room during the day and brightens it up.

Jonathan lounges around the fire pit in a Maya Swivel Chair that's covered in citrus-hued Sunbrella fabric. The material stands up well to the weather — and his house parties.

Katie Lee's Hamptons Hideaway

When Katie Lee bought her Hamptons house, she was afraid of how much work it needed — not because it was old and dilapidated but because it was brand-new. The 6,700-square-foot shingle-style house in Water Mill, NY, had no decor, and there was virtually no landscaping. “It needed some personality in a bad way,” she recalls. Katie loves antiques but didn’t know how to take this place from blank canvas to homey retreat — until her designer friend Nate Berkus offered his help. They filled her garage with furniture and accessories, “and then we just played,” she says. “It was like putting a puzzle together.” They added character to all those white walls with textured papers and paint in pretty shades of green, Katie’s favorite color. She loves how cozy and inviting the interior is, but the main draw is the backyard: “Entertaining in the Hamptons is all about being outside, so I like that the living room and bar area lead straight out to the porch,” she says. “My friends make a drink and then take it right to the pool. It all just flows.”

Katie loves the round marble table in the foyer because it’s the perfect catchall — and at 1,200 pounds, it’s way too heavy to move elsewhere. She chose pale green paint for the walls, inspired by the Laduree macaron shops in Paris, and a friend made her the (functional) wooden surfboard that Katie displays as art.

Katie grew up in a house where the dining room was never used, so “I wanted to make mine fun — somewhere people can hang out and not feel like the etiquette police are coming,” she says, laughing. She accented the room with kilim and sisal rugs, emerald printed pillows and art deco–inspired wallpaper.

Katie comes out to the house year-round from her apartment in New York City, and the den is her go-to spot for all seasons. “It’s cozy in the summer,” she says, “but it’s also great with a roaring fire.” She painted the walls a deep green, hung velvet curtains, then mixed in brass accents, like her 18th-century coffee table and much newer peacock mirror that Nate persuaded her to hang over the stone fireplace.

Katie knew she’d want to entertain outside, so she made the yard a top priority. She put in lots of wisteria and hydrangeas and set up a large dining area under the pergola. Her favorite addition: an outdoor pizza oven!

Maneet Chauhan's Nashville

Maneet Chauhan loves a pop of color. When you watch her as a judge on Chopped, she’s often wearing vibrant hues and gilded accents — and she dresses her Nashville-area home in the same fashion. Each room has its own palette and always includes something shiny. The living room is cream and copper, the dining room is blue and silver, and the foyer connecting those rooms is teal and gold. Although Maneet is a natural at decorating, the 4,800-square-foot house was a challenge for the former New Yorker. She and her husband, Vivek, joke that “our bedroom is pretty much the size of our first apartment.” After the family (daughter Shagun is 5 and son Karma is 2) moved here in 2015, Maneet took about a year to cover the walls of their new home in textured papers and fill the rooms with beautiful objects she and Vivek collected from around the world. “I wanted a place that’s contemporary but with hints of our Indian heritage,” she says. “India is a land of color, and by putting these accents around the house we were able to incorporate a little of where we are from into our style.”

Maneet and Vivek fell in love with the living room’s soaring ceiling, but decorating all that wall space wasn’t easy. She started from the top with a pair of giant mirrors from Ashley Homestore, then filled the built-in shelves with colorful vases and metallic sculptures. She paired a formal but comfortable pewter velvet chair with a cream roll-arm sofa from Restoration Hardware.

Maneet had a clear vision for the dining room: “Versailles meets modern,” she says, laughing. She started with a powder blue damask wallpaper, then found tufted side chairs with a similar pattern. She offset the traditional look of the large Brazilian wood table with a more contemporary overdyed rug and a bright teal hutch.

The glass cabinet in the dining room is packed with pieces of family history, including 400-year-old etched silver handed down from Vivek’s relatives and some more recent acquisitions, like Maneet’s James Beard Award.

Vivek purchased the giant gold Buddha while working in Indonesia, and the couple found the perfect place for it — at the foot of the stairs — after it had been in storage for 10 years. It serves as the focal point in a room filled with gold, including metallic art and a console table Vivek spray-painted himself.

The couple wanted the patio to be casual, colorful and playful for the kids. “Inside is more peaceful and Zen, but outside is fun,” Vivek says. The synthetic rattan furniture is incredibly low-maintenance. They entertain here frequently and use their collection of garden stools as extra side tables and seats.

Curtis Stone in Hollywood

To take on the cool, airy feel Curtis Stone and his wife, actress Lindsay Price, were after, the house required a little revamping (they painted the walls white and poured concrete floors). Next came the fun part: With the help of stylist Kate Martindale, Curtis and Lindsay (OK, mostly Lindsay, he admits) filled the rooms with a mix of new and old finds. They searched flea markets and antiques shops for pieces to show off inside their massive vintage glass-front cabinets. Lindsay's grandmother's dishes are on display, as well as silver trinkets that Curtis has a habit of picking up. "That's what I want our home to be," he says, "a collection of things that reminds us of our past, present and future."

Curtis and Lindsay love traveling, and their living room shows it. Inspired by a trip to Morocco, the couple bought Berber throw pillows and an octagonal metal side table. The cabinets hold Vista Alegre porcelain from their honeymoon in Portugal, and the subway signs are a nod to Lindsay's time in New York City.

Curtis' office is a bit of a man cave, by design: "I wanted it to feel more masculine than the rest of the house," he says. That meant navy walls, leather chairs and a wall of wine fridges (his favorite wine: Penfolds' Grange, a Shiraz from his native Australia). Curtis jokes that when Hudson stops in, "We do all sorts of wheelin' and dealin'. I'll make him a 'baby-cino,' which is just frothed milk with a dusting of chocolate on top."

"Why did the Realtor bring us here?" That was Curtis' initial reaction to the house. The walls were a muddy yellowish color that clashed with the dark brown ceilings, and the floors were coated in blue epoxy. But then he caught a glimpse of the backyard, with a pool, grilling area and room for a garden, plus a sweeping view of the Hollywood Hills — and he was sold.

The windows and doors leading to the backyard are almost never closed. "It's a good home for entertaining because we can just swing everything open," he says. The kitchen and living room both lead out back, so guests typically wander from the living room to the outdoor kitchen, the pool and — off in a corner of the yard — a dining area with a breathtaking view of the Hollywood Hills.

Tiffani Thiessen in Encino

Tiffani Thiessen and her husband, Brady Smith, didn’t take much time deciding to buy this Encino, CA, house. It’s almost 6,000 square feet and set on an acre of lush tree-lined property, and as soon as they saw it, they were sold. The neighborhood is quiet, and nearly every room in the house overlooks the yard. “The moment you arrive, you don’t feel like you’re in Los Angeles anymore,” says the host of Dinner at Tiffani’s. “I love that.” Despite all the space inside (there are five bedrooms!), Tiffani ends up spending a lot of her free time outdoors. Her kids, Harper, 7, and Holt, 2, and the family’s two dachshund-terrier mixes constantly run around on the grass, and Tiffani raises chickens in the backyard. It’s the perfect respite for someone who has been working in L.A. for most of her life. “We knew this was going to be the home we stayed in for a long time,” she says.

Tiffani and Brady are huge film buffs, so they designed a room just for watching movies — with a projector, a 6' x 8' screen, a custom Moss sofa and tons of extra seating, including a yellow ottoman and small white shearling poufs.

This room is the family’s most recent renovation project. They installed new fireplace tiles and wood ceiling beams, and they bought all new furnishings, including a tufted Anthropologie bed and antique-looking rug. “I wanted a cross between vintage and upscale,” Tiffani says. “I like that it feels French but also very American.”

When the couple bought the house, this room was a grown-up lounge with dark finishes and moody lighting. They converted it to the total opposite: a bright playroom. They used the built-in storage to hold books and toys and resurfaced the fireplace with cheery turquoise Walker Zanger tiles. When the kids aren’t outside, they’re usually in here. Harper draws or plays dress-up, and Holt plays with cars and dinosaur figurines. “This has been one of my favorite rooms that I’ve remodeled because it gets used every day,” Tiffani says.

The patio was a labor of love for Brady. It includes a fireplace made of brick from a neighboring home that had just been torn down. “I bribed my husband to take a wheelbarrow and get it,” Tiffani says, laughing. They added classic rattan furniture, a pergola and lots of plants — an homage to Brady’s and Tiffani’s dads, both of whom are retired landscape architects.

Scott Conant in Scottsdale

Scott Conant and his wife, Meltem, were so eager to leave New York City a few years ago, they bought this 4,000-square-foot house without ever setting foot in it. “I wanted to avoid those New York winters,” the Best Baker in America host says. “I move quick. I make a decision and I’m just like, ‘Let’s get it done.’ ” So the two longtime New Yorkers researched real estate in Arizona (a short flight from Las Vegas, where Scott now runs Masso Osteria) and committed to this Scottsdale home after seeing photos of it online. The couple already had the furniture to fill it: They’d been stockpiling pieces from around the world, waiting for the right house to come along for their family, including girls Ayla, 9, and Karya, 6. “There’s such a peaceful vibe here,” Scott says. “Our friends from New York always want to come visit.”

A heavy wood dining table that the Conants brought from New York anchors the space and serves as a homework spot for Ayla and Karya. A huge window lets in light, which gets amplified by the three-tiered chandelier. The framed art is a necklace Meltem found in Bali.

A mirrored Paul Evans buffet holds some of the family’s favorite photos and travel finds. The wood birdcage is from Thailand, but it reminds Scott of his dad, who passed away a few years ago. “Every time I moved, it broke, and my father would spend lots of time fixing it for me,” Scott says.

This cabinet is topped with some of the Conants’ prized possessions, including a vase of paper flowers their daughters crafted and a stuppah (a Buddhist shrine) that Meltem picked up in China. The painting is by artist Genie Maples.

One of the couple’s go-to spots is a TV area with a fireplace that sits off the master bedroom. It’s where the family watches movies and where Scott packs for trips (he travels about 50 percent of the time). A deep sofa from One Kings Lane sports nailheads that match the couple’s headboard.

To make the room extra comfortable, Scott and Meltem chose an upholstered bed frame from One Kings Lane. They also gave themselves plenty of landing spots, including roomy campaign dressers and a leather X-bench that the interior designer at Scott’s former restaurant Fusco helped find for them.

Jose in the Country

Iron Chef Jose Garces spends most of the week in a modern loft in Philadelphia, overseeing his empire of 18 restaurants. But come Friday, he and his wife, Beatriz, and kids Olivia, 11, and Andres, 7, escape to this 1850 farmhouse on 40 acres in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. "I wanted a real environmental contrast," he says. He hired designer Gretchen Kubiak to get the house move-in ready and gave her access to a veritable goldmine: a warehouse full of furniture that he has collected over the years to outfit his restaurants.

Jose's two dining-room tables were originally a larger piece that his designer cut in half. The leather chairs, from Restoration Hardware, were customized with Ralph Lauren tweed.

A puffy-armed leather club chair from Anthropologie is one of Jose's favorite spots. "I love to sit here and watch football while eating my mother's empanadas," he says.

Another favorite: a 2,000-square-foot deck with a full outdoor kitchen.