Eric Locko. INSET: GETTY.Photo: Eric Locko. INSET: GETTY
Ariana MadixandTom Sandovalagreed on one thing when it came to decorating their Los Angeles home: the wow factor!
TheVanderpump Rulesstars gave PEOPLE an exclusive inside look at their newly completed five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom house, where they managed to incorporate their opposing styles for maximum impact - with a little help
Madix, 35, and Sandoval, 37, teamed up with interior designers Lucinda Pace and Andrew Pancer ofConcept XLand exterior designer Elizabeth Montgomery ofBoxhillto bring their vision for a “serene” yet “eclectic” retreat to life.
“Every room is different because Tom and I both have different individual styles and then we’ve really worked hard to put those two very different ideas together,” Madix tells PEOPLE. “In some rooms, it’s definitely like the both of us and then in other rooms, it’s more me or more him.”
“We both have our own tastes and style, but we also have strong personalities,” says Sandoval.
Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix’s dining room lounge.Eric Locko
In fact, their opposing aesthetics is the one thing they can definitely agree on.
“Sometimes [decorating a home] can stereotypically be like, okay, the girl kind of does all the decor and the guy just is like ‘I just need these two things,'” the Tom Tom co-owner explains. “But it definitely wasn’t like that with us. It was a total collaboration, which is great because I like stuff that’s funkier and a little bit louder and Ariana likes things serene and tranquil. So, bringing those two styles together kind of created our own individual look.”
Their interior designer, Pace, breaks it down: “Tom’s style is a lot swankier and he always looks for the wow factor in everything, while Ariana’s taste is a bit subtler and she gravitates towards an organic but eclectic vibe, so it was all about the decorative fusion, a cohesive tug and pull, to bring all the elements together.”
Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix’s dining room.Eric Locko
TheFancy AF Cocktailsauthors have eye-catching items sprinkled throughout their home - some they mutually love and others they clashed on.
“We have this giantTimothy Oulton mirrorthat has crystals that go all around it on the inside and it’s an infinity mirror. You turn it on, it lights up, and then when you look at it like it will just keep going and going and we love that so much,” Madix shares, with Sandoval adding, “It feels like you’re going into a portal to another dimension.”
The couple also replaced the lackluster light fixture over their dining room table. “Now it looks like a giant piece of chain link!” says Madix.
The Bravo starsalso “fought hard and dug deep” to get the snake curtains in the dining room,Sandovals reveals.
Madix loves the kind of drawings of plants and animals that appear in encyclopedias and felt the curtains embodied that. “This fabric was like a combination of that nature drawing look with almost a Gucci feel,” she says. “It was really hard to get this fabric and then we had to have someone make it into curtains for us. It took forever but there was nothing that compared to it. There was nothing that was as cool as that.”
Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix’s kitchen.Eric Locko
“We’re also really big fans of our breakfast table,” Sandoval says of the oval table from Tov that’s paired with black-and-gold chairs from Bend Goods.
The dining room seating was another story. Madix tells PEOPLE, she and Sandoval went “head to head” on deciding over which dining room table to get, but she ultimately won.
“It’s Restoration Hardware,” she says. “We were going very maximalist with everything else, so I liked the idea of the dining room table almost serving as like a backdrop.”
Sandoval had made a case for “something a little more ridiculous.”
“I think that we went with the right choice,” Madix adds with a laugh. “That was something we definitely went head to head a little bit on.”
The decorative objects in their shelves were another flashpoint for the pair.
“It’s really important to me to not just put stuff up that looks good but then to have like a story or a function,” Sandoval says adding that he chose to display “penis flutes up there with a cannibal fork, an emu egg” and a saber-tooth cat skull that “Ariana was not a big fan.”
“At first, I was like, ‘Tom, it looks like we live in the National Natural History Museum,” Madix jokes.
“I love the Indiana Jones look. I just did not want our shelves to look like aProperty Brothersreveal,” he explains.
Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix’s family room.Eric Locko
But while they bickered over plenty of details, one unexpected item of Sandoval’s drives Madix up the wall more than any other: a painting of the actor James Earl Jones.
“I hate that thing so much. I hate that,” says Madix.
However, their house guest love it, Sandoval says.
Madix quips, “Because they don’t have to live with it.”
Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix’s bedroom.Eric Locko
When asked which of theirVanderpump Rulescastmates they would let buy an item of furniture for them without any guidance, Madix and Sandoval simultaneously say “Katie Maloney.”
“I would sayScheana [Shay], but I feel like she might get something that Tom would love, or I would love. It would be more individual,” Madix explains. “But I think Katie would be able to really nail it for both of us.”
Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix’s front room.Eric Locko
The next step in completing their home involves more plants for Madix and, of course, a bar for Sandoval.
“I’m building a bar that will go behind the bookcase and you’ll pull a book and it’ll open up. Then the bar will feel like you left and went to a different place,” he says. “And then it has an exterior door on the other side where you will be able to go into a lounge-type area just outside the bar.”
Madix adds, “We’re gonna put a water feature out there. I want to make it feel on the outside like loungy. Loungy but also still tranquil because it is on the side of our neighbors house.”
They also plan to get a “lovely gate and exterior entrance door” along with RGB+W lights throughout their backyard, Sandoval shares.
Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix’s backyard lounge.Eric Locko
For Madix, she says, “I’m going to be getting lots more plants as per usual.”
“We’re getting up in the 60s, 70s,” she admits of the growing garden. “And I got bees this year. I finally figured out how to attract them so they are working hard pollinating my pomegranate tree and my clementines. They’re my little friends!” The couple also has a “huge” 15-year-old Meyer lemon tree in the front of their home.
WATCH: Inside Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix’s Los Angeles Home
The couple’s house has been something of a punchline for theirVanderpump Rulescastmates, who joked about them buying the house butnot having furniture, which Madix confirms to PEOPLE they’ve now had “for two years.”
“We’re like the party house now. We are where everyone comes for everything all the time,” she says, adding that her gatherings range from quiet dinner parties with her brother and his girlfriend to ragers.
Madix describes one instance in which her best friend who works at Tom Tom threw a birthday party at their home and it turned “wild.”
“A bunch of theVanderpumpcast was here for that andKyle Chanwas here for that and that was wild,” she tells PEOPLE. “That was a wild one that was an all day, all night, kind of rager. We had a piñata, lights up everywhere. It was a takeover.”
The couple certainly agrees they picked the perfect oasis, especially as they’ve been spending more time at home.
Vanderpump Rules.
“We looked at fixer-uppers but we also looked at places and given the timing of when we moved and how busy [we are] . . . I am so glad that we chose where we chose and we didn’t have to do anything other than the fun stuff,” Madix says of the house-hunting experience. “We would have been screwed, honestly. I’m thrilled at how we chose to do things and everything really worked out for the best.
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As for their favorite part about living together, the stars agree it all boils down to quality time - and Sandoval’s stellar coffee-making skills.
source: people.com
