Lindsay Lohan rents from rehab

The dear little thing has managed to rent a $7100US a month pad in Venice, on the beach in California, according to RealEstalker.  Watch out though - the contemporary glass house doesn't have a handrail on the stairs. Might not be good after a night on the tiles ...

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Pictures: via RealEstalker

Don't know about you

But I find it a bugger when I lose my pants in the kitchen ... especially when frying the bacon. Victoria Beckham doesn't mind, though. This is her in the new Marie Claire.

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Angelina's about to start reading me, for sure

Angelina and Brad have just bought a $40 million mansion in the hills of Valpolicella in northern Italy. It's a renovators delight. And given that it's the couple's third home, joining their LA pad and a $3.5 million New Orleans house, they need to start reading my book and this blog to get the job done. Their European holiday house has its own vineyard, stables, a movie theatre, a gym, two swimming pools, all with 15 bedrooms and seven bathrooms. The couple, who have six children, plan to restore the mansion. She loves having paint in her hair and dust in her eyes, that Angelina.

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Pictures: RealEstalker

Meg Ryan: a clutter buster if ever I saw one

I've always liked Meg Ryan. I admire any woman who can have tousled hair that somehow looks groomed and I rather delight in her penchant for white interiors and neat shelves. Sigh. I aspire to all of these things. Organisation is not my strong suit. I know how to write all about busting clutter - you can see my handy work here on Kidspot - but I can't seem to manage it in my own house. I won't even talk about my hair ...

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Pictures: William Waldron for ElleDecor

Gwyneth in the kitchen

I want her kitchen. Gwyneth gets everything! She even gets to listen to Coldplay without 

having to play them on her iPod. (Wonder if they make her as depressed as they make me.) Read more here.

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Pictures: Vogue

Dannii Minogue has a baby - and buys a house in East Hawthorn

Ah, just like me, Dannii Minogue likes to shop at IKEA (see top picture) then renovate a house to put it all in! Just days before she gave birth to baby Ethan, the younger Minogue was spotted shopping at IKEA, no doubt waiting to fill the rooms in this house she snapped up for $1.77million in Hawthorn East. My sister lives in Lingwell Rd in Hawthorn East, just a hop, skip and a jump from Dannii's new abode. I'm visiting Melbourne next weekend, so I might try to sneak my own glimpse of baby Ethan.

The house comes with its own playroom, a swimming pool and a huge open family room. These are the pics of the house when it was on the market, but Dannii and her partner Kris Smith have been staying at Dannii's mum's house in nearby Surrey Hills waiting for their Hawthorn East house to be ready for them.

So what do you think? IKEA shopping, buying a house and having a baby makes July a big month for Ms Minogue, right?

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Celebrity house: Mae West gave good boudoir

She was bold, buxom and brash, but Mae West knew how to deliver a girly boudoir - even in black and white. Her one-liners were the best:

"A hard man is good to find."

"Cultivate your curves - they may be dangerous but they won't be avoided."

"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before. "

"I used to be Snow White but I drifted."

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Pictures: ArchitecturalDigest

Celebrity house: Heather Mills sells up in London

Heather Mills, the ex-wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney, is selling her London apartment with hopes of achieving 3.75 million pounds. The amputee who famously divorced the musician in a bitter court battle last year has redecorated the apartment and is selling it fully furnished, yet is hoping to pocket 1.4 million pounds in profit while the rest of London’s property market still suffers price declines. Still, some people get lucky!

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Celebrity house: January Jones buys on behalf of Betty Draper

I know that Betty Draper from Mad Men is a fictional character. However, I FEEL her pain. I, too, was married to man I loved who liked to, ahem, share himself around. Anyhoo, the lovely actress January Jones, who plays Betty Draper, has ventured into the real life world of real estate and has bought herself a home in Los Feliz. It's quite cute, isn't it? So much nicer than Betty's Knotty Pine Kitchen on set ...

Here's January Jones at the Emmys - WHAT! She doesn't look like Betty Draper at all ... 

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Celebrity house: Ginger & Smart's Bronte house on market

I interviewed Alex and her designer sister Genevieve a few years ago and were impressed by the red-haired sisters desire to make it in the world of fashion. Alex was about to give birth to her second child, and I've put a link to the interview - which appeared in a women's business magazine - below. Ginger + Smart design to-die-for leisure wear and accessories, and do their best to manufacture in Australia where they can. Alex has just listed her Bronte house for auction on September 26, hoping to move to a larger place where she has room for her three kids. She has hopes of more than $1.9 million for her three-bedroom beach house. Good luck!

 

That's Alex on the right.

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Celebrity house: Richard Roxburgh sells up in Coogee

Richard Roxburgh -- ex-partner of Miranda Otto -- has sold one of the apartments in his Sydney beachside compound in Coogee. It went to auction the weekend before last and sold for $902,500, above the $850,000 reserve. The actor, who starred in Romulus My Father andEast of Everything, is married to Silvia Colloco. Roxburgh used to own all three apartments in the Coogee triplex, but has now sold the ground floor and top floor apartments.

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Pictures: Domain

Celebrity house: Rick Stein goes on a South Coast renovation odyssey

Britain's famous television chef has bought a beachfront house in the NSW town of Mollymook, where he also plans to open a new restaurant.

The 62-year-old famously left his wife of 27 years for Australian Sarah Burns, and the pair will marry next year in London and divide their time between Australia and Britain.

The happy couple have bought an unrenovated oceanfront house on a headland in Mollymook, which the Sydney Morning Herald says they paid $1.12 million for.

The 1960s house is on two titles of land, and comes with a nautically themed kitchen (love the anchors and wheels on the handles) and a funky terrazzo bathroom. The property was once owned by Jack Beale, NSW's first minister for the environment.

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Pictures: Domain

Celebrity renovation: Natalie Portman's New York apartment

Now that Star Wars has become a major focus of my life (thanks to my sons!), I get to see Natalie Portman in a whole new light. Back in the days when I worked on teen magazines, the little poppet was just a gorgeous model breaking into acting. These days, Natalie is not only a Harvard graduate but is also Princess Amadala, mother to Darth Vader (and the Star Wars character I am most likely to role-play when the boys crack out the light sabres in the backyard). My sons will never appreciate this pretty pink frock that Padme Amadala is wearing to the Oscars ... but I thought other people might! I also thought you'd like to take a look at the apartment she sold in Manhattan last year, which is rather unpretentious and sophisticated. What I want to know is ... where does she manage to store her collection of light sabres?

The lounge opens to a terrace - not a bad view from West Village of NYC, hey?
Neat and oh-so-white kitchen

This is my favourite room - so girly yet not overly feminine. All rooms were designed by Richard Meier.

Pictures: BreakingNews and CasaSugar

Celebrity house: Toni Collette

Toni and her husband Dave Galafassi in LA

I love Abba. I love Toni Collette. And while she would probably hate me saying this, I still think Muriel's Wedding was the best movie, like, ever. (Only cos it understood how sing-able Abba was waaaay beforeMamma Mia.) One of the highlights of my house-obsessed life was walking through her hillside retreat on the south coast of Sydney when she was trying to sell it last year. Toni and her muso husband Dave had this great nature retreat up a one-lane dirt track outside the little town of Berry. Surrounded by tall gums and gorgeous birdsong was a sustainably built house crafted from recycled materials. It even had a music studio where Toni and Dave assembled their mates to make nice songs (see links below). The house was as calm and relaxed as I will never be. The woman must be a zen master, with motivational pics of the Dalai Lama taped to the fridge proclaiming: “Never give up, no matter what is going on”. Another Buddhist wall hanging in the living room espoused, “What matters most is How well did you live, How well did you love, How well did you learn to let go.” I confess to becoming anxious around relaxed people. (I couldn't spot the white wine glasses in the sink, or any tabs of Valium lying around, so I just had to believe that Toni really IS a calm, centred being.) I did become slightly worried about those mismatched light fittings ... but a few days of Mummy Wine Time (evening medication that's better than meditation) helped me put my Home Nazi to rest. You likey Toni's house?

The music studio where their CD was born ... it's also called "Dave's Shed" but apparently is one of the best recording studios in Australia (the real estate agent might have been embellishing, though).

The open plan living area is large and airy with clerestory windows to let in the northern light.

There were lots of gorgeous timber sculptures dotted through the house and property, which look better in real life than they do in the pics.

Oh I like a big dining table - especially one that's all timber and gorgeous like that one.

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Gwyneth Paltrow's sexy black kitchen (just not sure about the pants)

I realise I have an unhealthy obsession with Gwyneth Paltrow. HerGoop newsletter just taught me how to make turkey meatballs, steamed peas and garlic bread. How can a fabulous celebrity with a child-named-after-fruit make a meal seem more housewifely and dull than the stuff I serve my own kids? And now I want to tell her that she looks plain silly on the cover of the new UK version of Elle. Or is it just me? Her Hamptons house is still noice, though ...

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Pictures: House Beautiful via StyleFiles and Elle via GirlWithASatchel

GOOP: Gwyneth's newsletter and her renovation style

The internet is a strange place, full of spam, Nigerian money scams and actors telling the world: Take-Me-Seriously-I'm-Not-A-Sham. Yes folks, Gwyneth Paltrow has her own lifestyle website. Seriously.

Take a look here and you too can sign up for her weekly newsletter, which is sometimes good ... I don't mind the recipes ... but occasionally ludicrous. "I am interested in spiritual disciplines within different religions and schools of thought. I thought it would be inspiring to periodically ask a question to a group of thinkers from various traditions on the subjects that often confound me," she writes.

One thing I did discover through Goop is that Gwynnie and I not only have a similar propensity to tearful outbursts at inappropriate moments, but share a love ofAnouska Hempel's hotel designs, pictured above. While Gwynnie no doubt loves London's Blakes Hotels for it's reputation of shooing away the pesky paparazzi, I like it for it's quietly tasteful white rooms, which are a den of peace. What you say? Spending $1134 a night in a fancy hotel like Blakes could nourish my inner spirit in a way that Gwyneth's website probably can't.

Pictures: Gwyneth from US House & Garden via Apartment Therapy, White rooms from Blakes Hotels