Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger’s Connecticut estate (Image: Getty)
Impressively, British-born Bullard keeps a straight face while saying this, as his fabulous new book, Star Style, displays the
opulent homes he has designed for stars including pop icons Elton John and Cher, fashionista Tommy Hilfiger, supermodels Alessandra Ambrosio and Winnie Harlow, and Kardashian clan members Khloé
and Kourtney, and their model half-sister Kylie Jenner.
Jenner, 26, whose makeup empire has reportedly made her the world’s youngest billionaire, hired Bullard to design her first Los Angeles mansion.
And yes, her home is just like yours – so long as you have dining chairs hand-dyed to match the various pink tones of lipstick in your signature collection, bronze console tables sculpted to look like giant molten gold drops reminiscent of your skincare product packaging, a dedicated handbag room for your hundreds of rare Hermès Birkins, shoe towers crafted in glass, sunglasses stands of suede, and a “glam room” where hair and makeup artists arrive to primp and prep you.
Naturally, your Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol originals add vibrant accents to rooms painted in shades of pink.
“I wanted to go to the next level of fun and colour with this house,” explains Jenner, just like you. Or perhaps your home is more like the Malibu beach mansion Bullard designed for Cher, decorated with the exterior of a Maharajah’s palace brought from Jaipur, an 18th-century Chinese opium den bed, and furnishings unearthed in the flea markets of Paris, Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, and the souks of Cairo.
“I travel the world finding special pieces, or have them made,” says Bullard, 56.
“I once had a custom dining table made by a very famous artist for just over $1million.”
Tommy Hilfiger’s lounge in Miami (Image: Getty)
You might think that money is no object for his clients, but Bullard assures: “There is always a budget, even for the world’s wealthiest people.”
It’s just a budget that is beyond your wildest dreams. But great design doesn’t always come at an outrageous price. “I bought a pair of antique mirrors recently for £1million for a client,” he explains.
“They’re in a room beside two planted pots I bought from Zara Home for £15, because they really go well together. Style is more important than price.”
Though one imagines the pots by themselves might not look quite so glamorous.
Celebrities also have different needs from their homes, Bullard explains. “Most stars can’t just walk to the corner shop to buy a pint of milk without being mobbed, so their home becomes their sanctuary.
“That’s why my clients have glamour rooms where they can do their hair and makeup, and film studios for those, like the Kardashians, who film at home.
“The stars need their home gym and spa, and some add a recording studio.
“Increasingly I’m asked to add a sex room to a house: very sexual, sensual rooms with velvet walls or fur rugs,” says Bullard, though he won’t name names.
“I’ve created designer sex toys for customers who want them to match their home’s colour scheme, or plated in silver or gold.”
Bullard combines zebra prints with geometric patterns, Moorish accents with French antiques and English country house style, often bringing a cacophony of colours and styles together in a way that, against all odds, looks spectacular.
Yet even Bullard has his limits.
WELL-HEELED: Kourtney Kardashian’s LA shoe closet designed by Martyn Bullard (Image: Getty)
“One client asked me to gold-leaf the interior of their garage so that it was like driving into a jewel box,” he says. “I walked away from that: a waste of £200,000. Another
client wanted a giant glass box to house his airplane next to his home – it would have dwarfed the house, and I declined.”
But he has gone ahead with other equally unconventional designs.
“One client wanted his bedroom ceiling made of glass with a swimming pool above, so he could watch beautiful young girls swim overhead while he lay in bed. Very glamorous and sensual.”
For Tommy Hilfiger he added scratch ’n’ sniff banana-scented bathroom wallpaper.
“I don’t have a signature style,” he says. “I simply try to bring out my client’s personality into their home.”
He made an all-white home for Christina Aguilera, a Cuban-style retreat for actress Eva Mendes, and transformed former supermodel Cheryl Tiegs’ Bel Air home into a Balinese pavilion.
He covered Elton John’s bedroom ceiling in silver leaf, bought the Duke of Windsor’s Persian rug for Tommy Hilfiger’s Connecticut estate, and placed 17th-century terracotta statuettes inside Tibetan elephant drums
for Cher.
“Martyn works hand in hand with his clients to make sure their spaces reflect their dreams, crafting beauty that is personal, glamorous, and supremely livable,” says Cher.
“I trust his eye implicitly,” says TV drag queen RuPaul, whose grand ballroom Bullard hung with 26 custom-made glittering disco balls up to 6ft wide.
Bullard created a unique vibe for model Alessandra Ambrosio’s family home (Image: Getty)
ullard smiles: “RuPaul had a seven-bedroom home and it’s now a one-bedroom home with two of the biggest closets you’ve ever seen for his 3,000 gowns.” Winnie Harlow says: “Working with Martyn has been a dream come true. His iconic style blends stunning design choices with an adventure of colours and textures, elevating my space into one that is eclectic, yet sophisticated.”
Says Alessandra Ambrosio: “He knows how to conjure a fantasy.”
Bullard also befriends many of his clients, spending Christmases with Cher and holidaying with Elton John. “Designing a home is a very personal, intimate experience,” he says. “It’s like learning the secret life of the stars.
“Cher is amazing, involved in every element. I’ll be lying in bed with her at 11 at night showing her fabric samples.
“Kylie Jenner is young, sexy and playful, and I designed her home to match. Christina Aguilera also wanted a fun home with bright colours and shapes. I designed a giant circular sofa where she and girlfriends could sit, with a nail salon in the centre.
“Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne have more traditional tastes: they like antiques and English traditional style, though a chandelier has brass bats holding frosted glass balls.”
Bullard, with his own “James Bond-style” 1960s home in Palm Springs, and Andy Warhol’s former home in the Hollywood Hills, was born in Bromley, Kent, the son of an opera singer. At age 12 he rented market stalls in Greenwich and Bermondsey selling bric-a-brac.
“That’s where I learned my trade; I have no formal design training.”
He became an actor and moved to Hollywood, but struggled – “sometimes I went a week without eating” – before a film producer visiting his home loved his style and invited him to design an office. Celebrity clients soon followed, as did TV design shows and Architectural Digest spreads.
Fresh from designing a £165million home, he is currently creating Sylvester Stallone’s “forever home” in Palm Beach, Florida, a new pad for singer Machine Gun Kelly, and has a TV series in development.
And Bullard insists that he rarely encounters stars with terminally bad taste. “If they’re hiring me, they have pretty good taste,” he laughs.
“I don’t follow trends – I make trends.”
So yes, the stars may be making their beds and cooking breakfast in the morning – but they’re doing it in outrageous and expensive style.
Star Style: Interiors of Martyn Lawrence Bullard by Martyn Lawrence Bullard (Vendome Press, £65) is out now
