We’re sure you’ve heard of Oprah Winfrey, as she’s one of the most famous and successful public figures in modern history. Despite the fact that she has constant media exposure, she has managed to keep her private life to herself. There isn’t much known about the interior of her mansion, in which she stays in most of the time in Southern California. Her privacy is incredibly important to her, which is the reason there isn’t much information about the mansion on the web. However, from reporters that have managed to find out about a few things, we do have a peek at what the spacious and peaceful world that Oprah resides in.
A Look Inside Oprah Winfrey’s Mammoth 90 Million Mansion
The Queen Of The Small Screen
It is a huge understatement if we say that you’re likely to know who Oprah Winfrey is. She is not only one of the most famous people in the media, but also one of the most influential women around. Her net worth is estimated to be $3.1 billion due to the media empire that she built for herself over almost five decades. It’s natural to wonder where someone with that kind of money decided to live. What does her home look like?
The Queen Of The Small Screen
A Gorgeous Oasis
It shouldn’t surprise you that Oprah’s mansion is in one of the wealthiest communities in the United States. Her home is located in Montecito which is just east of the Southern California city, Santa Barbara. It’s also near the Santa Ynez Mountains and the beaches of the Pacific Ocean. Generally, current listings in Montecito run from $1 million all the way up to $85 million. Santa Barbara’s tourism even goes so far as warning visitors not to freak out if they happen to cross paths with an incredibly famous person. How did Oprah decide to move to this exclusive location in the first place?
A Gorgeous Oasis
A Chance Meeting
Oprah’s fortune stems from a combination of her charisma, intelligence, determination, and great career choices. When she came to Montecito, she was on the path to becoming a real estate mogul. However, she had yet to find what would become her dream home. That only happened in 2001 and it was by pure chance. It so happened to be that Oprah was invited to a party in Montecito on the grounds of a stunning mansion. While she admired the place, she fell in love with it. The owners couldn’t have even dreamed of what happened then.
A Chance Meeting
Oprah’s Bid
Immediately, Oprah knew she wanted that mansion for herself. Back then, it was owned by an aeronautical equipment manufacturing giant, Robert Veloz, and his wife Marlene. They were living in the recently-rebuilt gatehouse that was 2,000 square feet. Not only that, but the house wasn’t up for sale. Nonetheless, Oprah wasn’t going to let that get in the way of her purchasing her dream home. She offered the owners a check for $52 million. By doing this, she accomplished one of the biggest sales of a private home in the U.S. What she got in return was just as amazing.
Oprah’s Bid
Perfect For A Queen
First built in 1912, the grounds of the Montecito estate have been changed and renovated multiple times over the past century. The entire complex was built in a Georgian style and it covers about 23,000 square feet. You can enjoy breathtaking views of the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean from the grounds. The current mansion was completed in 1959 and is worth roughly $88 million today. It has 14 bathrooms, 6 bedrooms, and 10 fireplaces. Aside from that, there is an assortment of additional rooms such as a home theater and a wine cellar.
Perfect For A Queen
Home Sweet Home
Bob Veloz and his wife agreed to Oprah’s offer and sold her the mansion. At that point, she had to think about how she would make the property truly her own. She first needed a moniker for the mansion. Oprah strolled across the grounds of her new property with her friend Bob Greene, a fitness guru. She suggested the name Tara II which was inspired by Gone With The Wind. She said the place reminded her of the film. However, Bob didn’t like the name and suggested something more symbolic.
Home Sweet Home
Perspective Is Key
Bob Greene was certain that Tara was the wrong name for the incredible property. He wanted to put things in perspective for Oprah. The fact that an African-American woman who was born in Mississippi to poverty was able to own such a place. Oprah has never been shy about discussing her past and difficult beginning. She was born to a single mother and was raised by her grandmother in Jim Crow-era Mississippi. At one point, her family was so poor that Oprah had to wear potato sacks as dresses. And here she was, with this incredible opportunity.
Perspective Is Key
Looking To Be Inspired
Bob was thinking about what name would suit Oprah’s new mansion. At last, he got a stroke of inspiration and knew she should use the Bible as her muse. He suggested the name the ‘Promised Land’, and Oprah loved it. Now was time for a big project. Oprah had to go through the massive space and personalize it to her style. This was an exciting opportunity to make the place her own. She filled her library with her extensive book collection, but that was only the beginning.
Looking To Be Inspired
Stunning Foyer
The main entrance hall to Oprah’s mansion has an elegant banister of the side of the white main staircase. The walls are painted a creamy yellow. Aside from the gorgeous art and carefully selected furniture, there is one thing that catches the eye when you walk in. The entryway is full of framed pictures of friends and loved ones organized on the tables.
Stunning Foyer
Cooking Galore
Of course, the kitchen in Oprah’s house needs to be well-stocked, neat, and spacious. When Oprah moved into the Promised Land, the state-of-the-art kitchen had its own fireplace! While it sounds like a nice idea, Oprah decided against it. She had it removed due to the fact that when she had guests over, they would go straight to the kitchen. As she renovated the house, she wanted to have more space in the kitchen for her guests.
Cooking Galore
Book Lovers Retreat
Like the rest of the mansion, the reading room had a lot of thought put into its design and layout. The first thing you would notice when walking in is the doll seated on the couch. Since Oprah grew up when kids’ toys didn’t reflect her skin color and since she grew up too poor to have lots of toys as a kid, this doll most likely represents progress. She always talks about how important it is for her fans to stay engaged by reading, which is the reason she began Oprah’s Book Club. Her incredible book collection stretches across the back wall. She has previously mentioned how she would rather her guests admire the books from afar than to mess up the careful order.
Book Lovers Retreat
Welcome To Paradise
It only makes sense that there will be a place for guests to stay in Oprah’s mansion. There is no reason for it to be any less stylish than the rest of the house. If you just so happen to be invited to stay over by Oprah, you can expect that the room you stay in will be magnificent. There are bouquets of fresh flowers placed on shelves around this room, creating a delicate scent. The entire room has been coordinated according to its purple color scheme. There is even a fireplace for the intensely mild California winters.
Welcome To Paradise
Checks On Deck
One of the most unique aspects of Oprah’s house is the drastically different design in each room. In this green checkered room, there is a huge couch to match the walls. However, this couch has been sold along with the pillows. The whole set sold for $3,000 at an auction.
Checks On Deck
Relaxation Room
Another living room, you might have noticed that the space is somewhat crowded. Wherever you look, there are objects, from furniture to pictures, mirrors, and candelabras. Well, Oprah had the same feeling. Since she has so much space to design and make her own, she has plenty of freedom to do whatever she wants with it. In any case, this living room was slated to be renovated.
Relaxation Room
Dinner With Oprah
This dining room might make you think of Beauty and the Beast because of all the candelabras. The design in this room is tasteful and simple. The wood table was clearly polished very carefully to the point where it’s reflective. When Oprah was remodeling the mansion, she sold a lot of her possessions. Among those items was a poster from her 1985 Steven Spielberg-directed film, The Color Purple. This poster sold for $4,000. The collective earnings from the sale amounted to $600,000 and went towards the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation College Fund.
Dinner With Oprah
Who Wants Tea?
Originally, the tearoom served a different purpose. When it was built, it was meant to be the space for the garden staff to cut and arrange flowers. However, Oprah decided to turn it into a relaxing room where she could have some tea. She didn’t want there to be any distractions in the room, so it has no television or digital devices.
Who Wants Tea?
Purple Wisteria
Just outside the tearoom is the entrance into the garden that connects to the grounds surrounding the mansion. There are steps leading down to a small copper fountain. The stairs are adorned with sweet-scented purple wisteria. The whole entrance is surrounded by blooming roses, lilies, dahlias, daffodils, and other flowers. Understandably so, Oprah is very proud of the space she created and the unique touches she gave the mansion.
Purple Wisteria
A Private Tour
If you ever wondered just how expansive Oprah’s closet is, well, here’s your answer. Her personal closet isn’t so much a closet, but an entire room. Naturally, the clothing is color-coded in oak cabinets. The space is so large that it can be decorated just like any other room.
A Private Tour
Pennies Please
It only makes sense that Oprah had help decorating her mansion. Andrew Walker and David Simmons are the designers who decorated much of the mansion. Of course, this part of the guesthouse was designed by them as well. The centerpiece is the huge penny up on the wall. It also serves as the main color of the room. The designers found the unique centerpiece at an antique sale in Waukesha, Wisconsin, not too far from Milwaukee, where Oprah grew up. Another important aspect of the mansion is its exterior. There is plenty of garden space and it needs to be utilized.
Pennies Please
She Calls It Hallelujah Lane
Fitting into the Biblical theme of the Promised Land, Oprah named one of the main pathways in the garden Hallelujah Lane. It has a white Greco-Roman statue that is perfectly polished and is set inside a nook that’s framed by wrought-iron arches. Whatever is around it has an even deeper meaning. Sombreuil roses weave through the arches, and smaller iceberg roses surround the statue itself. Around the entire nook are white hydrangea bushes which are intentionally placed as a tribute to Oprah’s grandmother who raised her for part of her childhood and had similar flowers outside her home in Mississippi.
She Calls It Hallelujah Lane
Four Ladies
Francisco Zúñiga is an artist and sculptor who was born in Costa Rica and made a name for himself in Mexico. This bronze statue was created in 1974 and caught Oprah’s eye. She decided to place it on the grounds of her mansion. The name of this piece is ‘Grupo de cuatro Mujeres de pie,’ meaning a group of four standing women. Naturally, the statue is very symbolic. The four women represent a different stage of life in femininity: the teenage girl, the pregnant woman, a middle-aged woman, and an elderly woman. The statue is surrounded by eucalyptus, palm, and pine trees. The statue was bought at an auction at Christie’s for a whopping $3.1 million.
Four Ladies
No Umbrellas Needed
The California live oak trees represent local vegetation and were planted throughout the garden in Oprah’s mansion. There are twelve of them in total, and the number itself has a specific meaning. The idea of having twelve oaks brings Gone With The Wind to mind, but Oprah sees them with a different meaning. She christened them as her Twelve Apostles. She references them a lot in her Instagram posts as they’re one of her favorite features in her home.
No Umbrellas Needed
Zen-Like Atmosphere
Due to the large size of the property, Oprah says that whenever she’s at Promised Land, she sometimes goes weeks without watching television. There is just so much to look at. Especially now that her show came to an end. Oprah claims she even went a whole summer without watching TV, she just wanted to be present and enjoy her space.
Zen-Like Atmosphere
Seamair Farm
When Oprah moved into her new mansion, she made sure to get to know her neighbors. They became close, and when her neighbor passed away in 2016, their family hoped Oprah would take the property into her own hands. As luck would have it, that’s just what she did. The property was called Seamair Farm and has a different layout than Oprah’s mansion. It cost her $28.9 million to purchase and it became the expansion of the Promised Land.
Seamair Farm
A Fish Haven
Throughout his career, Cliff May, the architect of Seamair Farm, designed around 18,000 of his signature ranches and over 1,000 custom residences. He’s most known for coming up with the concept of the California Dream Home, and now Oprah had another of his creations in her possession. Seamair Farm is a mid-century modern beauty with its ranch design. It has five bedrooms, four baths, and is 4,750 square feet. The entire property covers 23 acres, including a fruit tree orchard, an avocado grove, and a fish pond with Japanese koi. Since the property used to be a farm, it has something Oprah’s mansion didn’t.
A Fish Haven
A True Ranch
The property has previously been used as a horse track so it had its own equestrian area. In addition, it had there are an expertly-trimmed riding course and stables. The entire area was so spacious that even while out on a ride, you wouldn’t see the neighbors. Despite the fact that the house itself was smaller than Oprah’s mansion, it adds to it nonetheless. The new property has two natural wells which would become important.
A True Ranch
Vegetable Garden
Oprah is especially fond of her vegetable garden and enjoys discussing how much she enjoys growing her own produce. There was an overarching problem. Since the environmental conditions in California became direr, there is a water shortage. During the droughts, Oprah was able to use the water from the wells in addition to shipping in her own. She had to halve her water usage.
Vegetable Garden
Here Comes The Mud
When January 2018 rolled around, Montecito was devastated by terrible mudslides. As Oprah recalls, she woke up at around 3:47 AM that night since her dogs kept barking. She woke up her partner Stedman since the sky over the mountains looked like they were on fire. The mud crept onto the grounds, but she ended up being fortunate compared to the rest of the city. Her neighbors’ homes were completely destroyed by the damage. Since the extent of the mudslides surrounded her house and went down Highway 101, she wasn’t able to leave her house. So she called a friend.
Here Comes The Mud
The Sisters Of Montecito
She called Ellen Degeneres. Since Ellen is also a resident of Montecito, Oprah called her via FaceTime during the show to talk to her viewers and give a personal tour of the damage. She also wanted to use the opportunity to give the firefighters and rescue teams the praise they deserved. While the mansion only suffered minimal damage, the gas was shut off as well as the water mains.
The Sisters Of Montecito
Home Is Where The Heart Is
Over the last few decades, Oprah purchased a variety of houses. Aside from her mansion at Promised Land in California, she’s had an apartment in Chicago (listed for $7.75 million), a home in New Jersey (listed for $68 million), a tropical vacation home on the Hawaiian island, Maui, and the Caribbean island, Antigua. To top it off, she has an $8.2 million wood cabin in the rainforest of Orcas Island in Washington state. We feel it’s important to mention how charitable Oprah is as well. Her organization, the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, has donated as much as $40 million.
Home Is Where The Heart Is