I love watching Architectural Digest’s YouTube channel. Some of those crazy expensive houses that they highlight are to die for. I’m absolutely one of those people who loves looking at real estate listings for fun while d-cking around on the Internet during downtime. I really like when AD does the celebrity home tours. I can trace this back all the way to Mariah Carey’s 2002 MTV Cribs tour! That one was so iconic. Remember when she showed off her insane bathroom only to then confess to having only used the shower one time because she couldn’t figure out all of the knobs to turn it off? Absolute diva.
Anyway, Jennifer Garner did an AD tour last week for her custom-designed Los Angeles mansion. It’s absolutely gorgeous and although it’s super fancy, it’s also pretty down-to-earth. The video is around 11 minutes long and shows off a stunning living room with giant doors that open up to extend it out into a giant patio, a crazy “slumber party” room with a bunch of bunk beds for when her kids have friends over, and a Harry Potter-themed reading nook/office for her 12-year-old son, Samuel, which is, appropriately, in a space underneath the staircase.
Jennifer Garner opened up her gorgeous Los Angeles home for an Architectural Digest tour and it did not disappoint. From a Harry Potter-themed office for her son to an unofficial slumber party room, Garner’s home both centered on her children while simultaneously showcasing stunning design.
Garner, who built her home with designers Steve and Brooke Giannetti, walked fans through the modest mansion.
“I’m such a private person about my home and here I’ve just taken you through the entire house, and really it’s for a couple of reasons,” the actor said in the Architectural Digest video.
“I’ve never built anything all by myself before, and I’m so proud of it. I’m filled with gratitude every time I walk into my house, that I get to live here, that I’m so lucky to have my kids here. It’s unlike me, and yet I’m so happy to have shared it with you.”
Garner shares her three kids — Violet, 18, and… Fin, 15, and son Samuel, 12 — with ex-husband Ben Affleck. Throughout the tour, she mentions her kids’ activities in the home.
While showcasing the living room area — which featured an entire back wall of large sliding glass doors that open to create an indoor-outdoor space — Garner jokes that sometimes she has to look away when damp teens come inside from the pool.
“The only problem is, if my kids are having their class pool party here or something, it’s very hard to keep wet kids out of the house,” she jokes. “I have to really just stand guard and say, ‘Get away.’ I’ll look over, and there will be two wet teenagers playing the piano, and I’m just like, ‘OK, don’t look, don’t look.'”
Garner adds that she’s “so happy” with her cozy home, which she said makes you “feel like (you’re) inside a treehouse.”
“You know how you just imagine it, and then some day you have a perfect moment where it actually comes true? That is a, like, (chef’s kiss) kind of moment,” she says.
She showed off several gathering areas inside the home, including a gorgeous blue library/TV room, a study area with a giant fish tank and reading nook as well as a slumber party room with several bunk beds.
Garner also revealed her son’s Harry Potter-themed “office,” which, fittingly, is a small room under the staircase. Noting Garner and her kids are huge fans of the series — which opens on an 11-year-old Potter who lives in “a cupboard under the stairs” — they decided to make the room similarly magical. Painted a dark blue with darks and other fantastical elements, Garner says the room is meant to be a “little spot for him to come in and dream.”
“Mostly he hides from me and eats candy but I can’t blame him,” she jokes. “I’d do the same thing.”
Jen’s house is so nice! It really fits her personality. I love the Harry Potter office nook! That’s so clever. That outdoor deck and pool area is incredible, too. I also love that Jen confesses to keeping her children’s toys from when they were younger easily accessible because once in a while, as “big kids,” they’ll still pull those old toys out and play with them. That is so relatable because it’s so true! You know Jen Garner is that mom who takes Uno or some puzzle out on the weekends for them to do together while talking about life. At the end of the tour, she explains that she’s “so proud” of her house because she’s never built anything by herself before. I’m a big Jen fan going back to her Alias days and I’m really happy that she’s successful and not an a-hole about it.
Here’s Jen’s Architectural Digest home tour if you’re interested in watching it:
Photos are screenshots from YouTube/Architectural Digest
I watched this last week when someone here mentioned it and her house is really gorgeous. i’ve seen her kitchen from her social media but the whole house is stunning – its obviously expensive and top of the line but it also just seems very warm and accessible. Like you feel like a family lives there, as opposed to some celeb homes that seem more like museums or showrooms.
One of the things we looked for in our current home was space to make a reading nook – cupboard under the stairs Harry Potter style.
I think all kids dream of a cozy little space that’s all their own.
Love it and her! I could so live happily in that stunning home…..sigh.
Wow, what a dreamy place.
I usually think celebrity homes are ridiculously over the top, and I can’t imagine the upkeep, but Jennifer Garner’s house is swoon worthy. I loved it all, but that slumber party room and the book nook are my favorites.
I also love that her bedroom is a normal sized room, because, as she says, why does she need a giant cavern just to sleep in? The rest of her house is designed for all of the waking hours, and the indoor/outdoor flow is perfect.
I’m a massive Jennifer Garner fan, so it was nice to see that she’s still basically the same person who showed up and completely won me over on Alias. Those bloopers are still my favorites.
Ha, I was an Alias fan, too! Gah, seems like a million years ago.
I want to live there. Everything looks so cozy and inviting. The outside spaces included. I like that she doesn’t seem precious about anything – the dogs and cat are free to roam.
I watched it last week and thought the same, clearly a wealthy persons home but also comfortable and somewhere you wouldn’t be afraid to sit down. The only “negative” thought I had was the first level, at least the parts shown, make it seem like it doesn’t get a ton of light, even with the big sliding doors (which cost a small fortune…neighbors costed them when having to replace their existing).
I thought the same thing. The house is lovely and very warm feeling, but it seems dark. I think it might be a matter of taste. She has a lot of wood tones and grays instead of white-painted walls or trim. Maybe that’s because when you live in sunny California, you don’t mind having a darker interior because you’re in and out all of the time and get plenty of light that way.
It’s stunning but agreed I like more color. The blue and bluish gray kinda brought me down a bit. Gives me the sads. A comedian from Staten Island I think called Lisa Marie does a bit about watching shows with high end real estate/interior design and sitting on the couch going “na I would have done different fixtures…” meanwhile you have nerve bc you could only dream of living there! Like this is stunning- a slumber part room, a greenhouse…,
Her house is just gorgeous.
Like you, Rosie, I like to look at real estate listings for fun.
The Guardian has a regular column called Fantasy House Hunt, and I often click through from there, and shake my head for the umpteenth time that they Brexited. But sometimes these features introduce me to places I’ve never heard of, and they go into the *planning the next UK vacation* folder.
The AD videos are a nice distraction for glum days, even if it’s only to snark with Mr. N.
But Jen G’s house really looks like it was planned with a (rich) family in mind. It’s different from other rich people’s places *cough* a certain Aubrey’s home in TO that looks like a mall instead of a home *cough*
And I see her *wet teens at the piano* and raise her a wet Goldie jumping onto the piano bench alongside our wet twins after bath time at night when they were small.
Wow, how great is that! So thoughtfully done. Love that it was designed with kids in mind. Really love all the reading nooks.
Yup, same @Rosie – I’ve been Jen’s #1 since Alias days too lol!
She’s just so positive and happy, has so many great charity’s and worthwhile projects, all while staying down to earth & a private mum. The kinda person you’d wish was your best friend 🙂
I wish only good things for JenG.
Gorgeous house
“modest mansion”??!!!
I personally enjoy the Nightmare on Zillow Street listings, but I do appreciate seeing really nicely done houses that look like real homes and not museums. JG’s is very warm and welcoming.
I never really paid much attention to her but she seems like a nice, sweet person – she would have to been to have put up with Ben for as long as she did.
Lovely house.
Oh my!
I’ve watched a few of these over the years and often they look amazing but this may be the first that I could move into tomorrow. It’s amazing. I’m so pleased I took everyone’s advice and finally watched it!
Same, I would happily move in there tomorrow and never move again.
Well worth the watch. I love the custom stained glass & am seriously jealous of her garden/mini farm.
More exposure for the author of Harry Potter. More selective outrage.
A blink & you’ll miss it moment/mention, but I truly admire how she designed the plumbing to filter & reuse the grey water for her yard & gardens — & apparently the fruit trees thrive on it. She’s a good mom & steward of the planet.
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My sister & I talk about this All.The.Time: the wish that private clubs w/ golf courses would be *required* to do the same. They are such a water hog.
This is delightful. I would love a backstage video of how they hide all the normal life detritus!
This has the feels of a single mom (obv with a lot of money single mom) who loves her kids so deeply she provides two parents worth of emotional support bc the other parent just can’t/won’t/didn’t.
The kids might get Jack in the box at Dad’s house, but there’s fruit from the orchard at Mom’s.
The kids might deal with a parade of girlfriends at Dad’s house, but there are safe comfort spaces for recuperation at Mom’s.
The kids might never know which version of Dad they’ll get (sober and sad, drunk and tattooed, workaholic and award-winning, fit and glowed up, etc), but there will be wood and rugs and pianos and childhood memories and every single thing that reinforces stability at mom’s.
I like the house but I really appreciate her as a mom.
Well said. I really laughed at her description of meal times, because I have the same flaw in getting things to come out at the same time. I love to cook, but you’re never going to know what order it is going to appear in front of you.
Lurker25 you articulated this so much better than I ever could. Everything you just said is so spot on! Thank you for this post.
Someone on CB mentioned her house tour on AD last week and being such a big JG fan (I loved Alias as a teen, it’s the show that introduced me to fandom and shipping lol) I immediately went to watch it. It was such a delightful video and all the comments were praising her positivity and bubbliness and absolutely loving her incredibly decorated home. I loved how she started it admitting it’s never this clean ever and will never be this clean again so enjoy it!
I’m so glad we got a post about this! I love her house. I love the reading nooks, with the stained glass. I LOVE her kitchen and eating area. I love her bathroom and how simple her bedroom is. I wouldn’t have gone with some of the wood panelling, but I absolutely would have every Thanksgiving and Christmas gathering in this house.
She was delightful in this video. I cannot see her married to Ben A. Such different personalities.