Drew Barrymore Reveals Her Cozy Country House She 'Desperately' Needed Outside of N.Y.C. — See Inside!

‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ host shared the property in ‘Rue Magazine’ just days before listing it for sale on March 25 for $5 million

NEED TO KNOW

• Drew Barrymore is unveiling her New York home, which she’s now listing for sale, after years of transforming it into a serene sanctuary
• During the renovation, she prioritized natural light and reimagined furniture from her previous home in L.A. to achieve her unique design vision
• The home served as her escape from N.Y.C. after feeling like she “desperately” needed a place away from the city, where her primary residence is located

Drew Barrymore is sharing a look inside her New York country house after giving it a full renovation! 

The Drew Barrymore Show host, 51, opened the doors to the serene space and recalled the ups and downs of its lengthy renovation for the Spring issue of Rue Magazine. While she's now selling the Harrison, N.Y., abode for $5 million nearly two years after she bought it, per the Wall Street Journal, Barrymore told Rue that her California upbringing and her strong desire to feel connected to nature again was a major reason why she purchased it.

“I had desperately wanted a place outside the city because I had been working for years at this point inside of a studio with no windows,” said Barrymore, whose primary residence is in New York City. “I’m from California and I just had this urge to find nature.”

After scrolling through Zillow one day, she came across an idyllic estate that would not only satisfy her craving for nature, but also her love of unusual layouts and “odd formations,” she told the outlet.

A true homebody, Barrymore quickly set out on the renovation of her new property, keeping in mind everything the space would need in order to become her ideal escape. One especially important feature it had to include was plenty of direct sunlight — something that’s difficult to get in New York City.

“I’ve been studying a lot, for example, about the importance of 20 minutes of sunlight in the morning—which is a big challenge living on an island with tall buildings or working in a windowless studio," she said. "Nature is my healer and my teacher. That’s what I’m in search of, to find how I can balance that through design."

Admitting to having “no idea what I was undertaking” with the renovation, Barrymore told the outlet that it first began with clearing some of the dense, wet forest on the property to let in some of that natural light she was craving. 

In the next year and a half, she found herself focusing on just the house’s infrastructure, from updating the electrical and plumbing systems to adding as many panes of glass to the build as she could.  

She recalled camping out in the home with friends during the renovation, having only a “weird gas stove” working at the time: “I’ve roughed it in the house many times over,” she said. Barrymore later chose to equip her entire kitchen with "attainable luxury" appliances from ZLINE.

The design of the home quickly became her “obsession of a canvas,” with some of the spaces going through many different changes as the renovation progressed, she said. 

The living room, which is her favorite space in the house along with the primary bedroom, was first adorned with an olive green color on the ceiling. However, it eventually felt a little too green to Barrymore once springtime came around. 

“It was like this weird green terrarium,” she joked, adding that she "felt like a lizard in there.”

After painting it a rose color and then deciding to change it again, the 50 First Dates actress explained of the living room: “It just became this play place for me. I ended up with this Gustavian, Finnish, sort of serene space with light gray and painted floors. I really wanted big, bold things, but with a bit of breathing room.”

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She said that while both of her favorite spaces in the home may not have “a ton of color” now, they still “don’t feel like a white box.” She also noted that she bought "very little furniture for this house,” making sure to reimagine many of the pieces from her previous L.A. abode and find a fit for them in the new space. 

As for her design philosophy, the mom of two — her daughters Olive and Frankie's rooms are also featured in the magazine — firmly believes you don’t have to break the bank to make a space feel more high-end than it actually is.

“I really feel like a little bit of trim can elevate and make a room look so much more expensive without spending a lot of money. A little bit of hardware or minimalist accents that catch your eye—those things make it go from feeling manufactured and mass produced, to something that really feels found and elevated,” she explained, noting that spending “a lot of money on things” is not her “style.” 

To read more about Barrymore’s New York home renovation, visit ruemag.com. 

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