Inside Zooey Deschanel & Jonathan Scott’s NYC Home

Hey AD. Hey, I'm Jonathan.

I'm Zooey, welcome to our home.

Let us show you around.

[mellow music]

There is nothing more important than a first impression

and we wanted to really welcome our guests

with something interesting and exciting.

And I fell in love with this wallpaper when I saw it.

Young Huh, our co-designer,

who designed with Jonathan brought this to our attention.

I just thought it was like so much fun,

just a great way to wow people

when they get off the elevator.

Can you imagine the ceiling height here

was less than eight feet originally.

It was so low, it was right there

and all of that was just wasted up top.

So we raised it up, we added the crown,

the statement fixture to draw the eye.

The arch is actually my favorite thing.

But this is also just a tease

of what you're gonna see inside.

We loved this printed mural by Iksel.

It's so magical and draws you in.

It's a wonderful start to this apartment we love.

You tell 'em more stuff.

Well, when we first looked at the place,

I had looked at a lot of different units in the building

and many of them felt really tight when you first walk in,

so I thought this was a beautiful way to draw everybody in.

And then of course, raising the eye line

with all the detail work.

These are all reproductions, these lanterns across here,

but we wanted something again

that was gonna make an elegant statement.

All the custom moldings,

everything in here is real plaster,

all hand done by Hyde Park Mouldings.

This place looked absolutely nothing

like the way it does now.

When we first looked at it, it had like great ceilings,

it had high ceilings, but that's about it.

[Jonathan] What was your first reaction when we toured it?

Ew, gross.

It had sat vacant for a very long time,

and it was in need of a lot of love,

but little vision goes a long way.

Yes. [mellow music]

So this is our kitchen, and we love it.

And this is nothing like it looked before.

This was the kitchen before.

That was it like a little tiny closet.

The kitchen is the heart of the home.

And so we needed to have something

where you could actually envision yourself entertaining

and being connected with your guests.

I'm obsessed with the stone.

Yeah, the stone's so beautiful.

And Jonathan collaborated with Young Huh

who's an incredible Designer

and made the space just so special.

One of the things I love about Young,

I love maximalist design

and I love being able to mix a lot of prints

and colors and things together.

It takes a lot of skill,

and that's something she does so well.

And also, Jonathan is incredible at maximizing space.

He looks at a floor plan

and knows where the problem's going to be.

The flow in this kitchen and living room is so wonderful.

I always had a gas range before

and we were switching to induction,

but I wanted something really beautiful

that feels like old fashioned, so we found this ILVE.

ILVEs are design forward.

I love the aesthetic,

but you're also not burning fossil fuels

so you're not affecting the indoor air quality.

I actually custom designed this hood with the finishes

to match the knobs and the accent pieces on the ILVE range.

If you look up,

you notice that there's no recess lights in this place.

That's a swear word in our house.

We were able to just put beautiful lights everywhere

or we have a chandelier or a pendant, a sconce, or a lamp.

The lighting feels magical, and moody, and fun.

This is the side effect of being engaged

to someone whose father is a world class cinematographer.

Lighting is very important.

When everything's put away,

we wanna make sure that it's nice and clean,

so I love panel ready appliances,

and it blends in with the coffee station,

but JennAir does beautiful appliances

And it's like a 100% how it always looks like no labels.

[Jonathan] Just in case somebody films.

I always keep it staged, you know?

Would you like one of these generic?

I would like a glass container with parfait.

Yeah, yeah, in order to maximize the footprint

and get as much storage as you can,

we also get a lot of custom millwork

so that you can also tuck away

when you're using the coffee station

and everything's nice and clean.

We have literally the best millwork shop,

Artie Lang who does all the custom millwork is a genius.

The good thing is you have so many contacts

and you know the best people to do everything.

I'm so lucky because I have you,

You need something?

Call me Don't call him.

[mellow music]

This is entertainment central.

Everyone who comes in,

they immediately wanna sit down and they wanna feel.

Yeah, and you know what?

We love a place that it feels lush and pretty,

but also we want our home to feel lived in,

and not too stark and austere.

It's not like that living room that had plastic on it

at your grandmother's house when you were a kid growing up,

you couldn't touch anything.

You can come in here and it's unique,

but it's also super, super comfortable.

One day, Young came with all these fabrics,

and Jonathan actually wasn't there.

We were putting all these fabrics together,

we went crazy.

But then I knew Young wouldn't steer us wrong.

Young was like, Trust me, it's gonna be amazing.

And she was 100% right.

I couldn't love this living room more.

It's perfection to me.

And there's color through lines that tie it all together

and allow us to have all these different patterns.

And I think the craziest part

was that Zooey didn't look at the price of the fabrics.

[Zooey laughs]

and when I did- Oops, I have good taste.

You do have very good taste.

It's actually bad

because if you show me 15 things, I'll be like,

Ooh, that one's obviously the best, and it's always

the most expensive. Always the most expensive.

The rug here, I had custom made from our collection

to compliment the sofa that we had already had designed,

so this was really pulling everything together

and making a space that everyone,

as soon as they come in here, they just wanna jump

into this area and sit down.

I also don't like to see a TV in a living room.

I've got a lot of real weird pet peeves,

but I don't like seeing TVs,

so Jonathan's like,

It's fine, we'll hide a screen in the ceiling.

Secrets. [Zooey chuckles]

So we're starting with a blank canvas

and we're thinking, how can we make this space perfect?

And one thing is we love to entertain.

And frankly, you're the first person we've invited over

outside of family.

We haven't had anybody here yet,

so our goal is to entertain.

Yeah, exactly, our goal was a space

that we could turn into a great party space when we want to.

I was so happy

when Zooey requested having a grand here as well

because nothing brings me more joy than hearing her play

or just having music around in general.

We also liked the idea of having parties

that were like singalongs.

I grew up playing a Yamaha piano,

so this was a really special addition to this space.

What I think is also a good thing to note

is if you're doing karaoke, don't go immediately

after something this good.

We have a whole karaoke setup, so we can do karaoke.

This is where all the karaoke equipment

and everything is hidden away.

So when we do wanna do a sing along, it's all pro.

I love having antiques and vintage pieces,

that was important to mix in

'cause we're inserting character into a place

that didn't have a lot of character to begin with

or any character to begin with.

So I love this Murano glass chandelier

that actually Young found

and I have a couple of Murano glass chandeliers

that I've been collecting over the years.

She has good taste.

You don't really get a space like this

in most New York apartments.

We love that we have three private terraces.

It just feels like you can get that little slice

of what we have in LA.

[Zooey] Springtime.

Yeah, exactly, and you get it here in New York.

None of this was here.

It was all exposed, no privacy.

It was a lot of work but totally worth it.

And now, you can cut to B-roll of the other two terraces

because each area that faces the back of the property

has its own private terrace.

From the tile that you see on the bottom,

to all of the greenery, the iron work,

everything was custom made we put in.

But we had a lot of discussion

about what our kind of permanent plantings would be.

We have like a lot of trellis.

It has that English garden feel that we really love

and we have in LA, and I wanted to have that here too.

[mellow music]

These are all plaster sconces,

but we handwork them all in to the custom plaster

that are on the pillars

just so that everything feels seamless.

I don't like having gaps, I don't like having things

that look like they don't line up properly,

so having the right-

So Jonathan notices everything,

and if we walk in someone's house

and they've had bad work done, he's like,

Do you want help?

[Jonathan] Oh this is actually a little treat.

This is a 17th century French tapestry.

It's so beautiful.

Don't get drinking by it, okay?

[Zooey and Jonathan laugh]

[mellow music]

This is our family room.

This is a very cozy room.

[Jonathan] I love this area.

Love it too.

When we originally toured this place

and everything was empty, and it was vacant,

this was actually just a brick wall across the back,

There was no fireplace,

and it was just begging for some sort of focal point.

Then when we put the fireplace in,

it really looked nice flanked with the shelves.

We wanted it to look like it matches

some of the other architecture in the space.

We also hid another movie size screen

for great movie nights down here.

We had all of this custom made

to look like it could be a century old fireplace surround,

bringing in the sconces from England,

bringing in that custom stone.

Also, all these chairs were custom made,

but they feel to me like vintage pieces.

Of course, we're like mixing like vintage sconces

and a lot of other antiques in the mix

so that it feels lived in

but we can get exactly what we want

in terms of color, comfort.

Yeah, and this is a Japanese screen

that would normally be on the floor

and we hung it on the wall as art

and it's over 100 years old.

Knowing that there's a story behind it

and it was originally purposed for something else

is kind of special.

I love patterns, I love mixing different colors together.

It does take a lot of skill,

but if you're a little bit nervous about it,

start with a throw pillow,

and just make sure that the colors have through lines

so you have something tying those pieces together.

I'll also say sometimes,

you have to look at something in a space to know.

I remember my dad saying that 'cause my dad's very visual.

He was like, You really don't know until you see it.

It's like, when you have paint chips, get the big ones

or get a little bit of paint

and paint part of the wall so you can really see it

on a bigger space.

Because it also looks different

at different times of the day,

how natural light hits it.

If you have those little band decks,

and you look and you go, Oh, that looks really good.

And it could be like it could look like cream

with a touch of pink.

And then if it's all over your house,

it could look like it's like bright corals.

Listen to her, she knows what she's talking about.

[mellow music]

So this is our bedroom.

Isn't it pretty?

It is very pretty.

You might be saying to yourself,

Who chose the color scheme in here?

We actually both chose it.

We are so collaborative.

I've never had-

We've never had had a problem ever.

Should we have our first fight right now?

Let's have it.

What would it be about?

The thing that's nice is that you're very supportive

of things that I like.

Let's just get one thing straight.

She has better taste than I do.

The embroidered wallpaper

is my favorite. I love this.

It's just really, the dimension just makes it so special.

I wish this was textural television,

where you could actually feel.

Young talked about doing a mural on the front

of the nightstands,

and you'll see as well that it has that cracked finish

that makes it look like it has always been there

as an antique piece of furniture.

It worked so perfectly.

The entire vibe in this room is peaceful.

When we look into the bathroom

and how we pulled the blues into the bathroom,

all of that wall tile was designed by Young,

and from her collection.

Everything we like, she likes, and vice versa,

so it's important, but we wanted to take the details

of all the paneling that you see in here

and we wanted to replicate that in the bathroom with marble,

that's why you see the exquisite tall panels of tile

that really make a statement.

Also, I was excited

because some people might be intimidated

to work with you like another designer

and it's like I'm kind of particular about everything,

but Young got my taste and your taste right away

and just came in to collaborate and had so many great ideas

and was excited.

It was such a fun project for us all to work on together.

I had to have a Scott Living mattress

because they're so comfy.

I'm really not trying

to actually plug your mattress company

'cause I can just be like, I want a mattress

that's like this, this and this and this,

and then he'll just be like, Yeah, done.

Do you think you saw a dating profile for me

that said contractor, designer, makes mattresses,

makes rugs, makes all these things and you're like,

This is the guy.

Yeah. Yeah, okay, good.

I can't even picture the old space,

that's how different it is,

and that's how much of a transformation this was.

[mellow music]

Being in this space for the first time was incredible.

I mean, it was like a present like Christmas present.

What's the grownup moment of when kids go, Ah!

It just felt so nice for it to be done

because it did take a very long time.

Do you remember those Toys R Us commercials

from the '90s where they're like, all the kids are like.

So excited, yeah!

That's what it felt like, but for grownups.

Yeah.

That's what it's like when you get your dream home.

[mellow music]

This is probably my favorite room in the whole house.

It's so cute. I'm obsessed

with this printed mural wallpaper.

I love it so much.

This is the kids' room if you hadn't figured it out,

it's so pretty.

When the kids saw it for the first time, they screamed.

They were so excited.

We did drawers everywhere we possibly could.

This is a Jonathan special, hiding storage.

Even our railings, all the leaves are hand cut.

This was Legacy Millwork that did all of this work here,

and they really did a phenomenal job.

I do think to myself how special it feels

to wake up in a space that feels creative and this exciting,

and the kids just absolutely love it,

and you can't beat a topiary elephant.

That's right, I will say it's also nice

'cause they feel like they have their own space.

Even though they're sharing a room, they're separated,

they have their own little bookshelves,

and they don't have to look at each other

if they're mad at each other.

That never happens. They never fight.

I hope they know how lucky they are to have a contractor

in the family.

[Zooey and Jonathan chuckle]

A little secret that I don't think maybe anybody knows,

every design I have ever done,

I've snuck in an owl and a little bit of tartan.

And in here, this is where I snuck in the owl.

There's a little owl in here.

And here's the little bit of tartan.

And you're the tartan.

There you go.

[mellow music]

So fun. So fun.

Yeah, thanks so much.

I'm gonna go fix all the things you broke.

Thanks AD.

See you next time.

[mellow music continues]