Inger at Home

If you've read William Patterson's book on Inger, you already know that Inger possessed a flair for decorating and that her hobbies included collecting art and antiques and creating her own artwork and decorative pieces. Just six months before her death, Inger was interviewed about her Hollywood Hills home and provided a tour to journalist Barbara Bradford. The home was on Woodrow Wilson Drive and is where Inger's final moments took place on April 30, 1970. In the article, Inger also mentions making changes to her Malibu beach house, which was where her estranged husband Ike Jones was living—when not traveling—during their separation.

I've decided to transcribe the entire article here instead of merely highlighting sections of it. I place a high a value on any article or captured moment that shows us the real Inger and the aspects of her life that bring her joy. In this, Inger's passion for decorating and her enthusiasm shine through. As we get a detailed description of her home, we also see that Inger seems to be eagerly planning for future projects and embracing the comforts of home in the last six months of her life. It's difficult to accept that this gorgeous, witty and creative being would be gone shortly after this was published. 

(If you'd like a better look at the above photo, I noticed there is currently a reprint of it on eBay. It's better quality and you can see more details. Click here for that listing.)

"Designing Woman: Inger Stevens Uses Original Decorating Ideas" Published December 7, 1969

Take a melange of gentle colors, a unique art collection, hundreds of books, lots of enveloping comfort, then add a dash of witty decorating flair and you have the basic ingredients of Inger Stevens' home.

It nestles in the Hollywood Hills above Los Angeles, in a secluded area surrounded by trees and natural, almost growing-wild countryside. It is here that the movie and TV star finds peace and tranquility after a busy day at the studio—in the charming house that Inger built herself.

"I didn't really build it all myself," she said with a mischievous smile, as she led me into the large living room. "I sort of added on, made structural changes and rearranged rooms to get this final effect. But the nucleus of the house was already built when I moved in."

Even so it does bear the distinctive stamp of her personality, not only in the attractive decorating schemes but in the many architectural changes she has made. In effect, her redesigning has opened up the rooms for a spacious feeling and brought the outdoors inside for a perennial sunny feeling. And certainly this reflects her equally sunny nature.

"I love decorating," she said, as we settled into deep sofas for our chat. "In fact at the moment I am helping a friend decorate her apartment and I am also putting finishing touches to my beach house at Malibu."

Work on this latter project ceased for a while, since Inger has been on location making her latest movie, A Dream of Kings, which will be released later this month. "But now that I am back home I am working hard on the beach house, and it should be finished in the next few weeks."

Her artistic bent and interest in the decorative arts not only shows up in her choice of home furnishings but also in her own paintings which line some of the walls. She also likes to collect antiques, and many electric pieces from her world travels are incorporated into the whole with a great deal of skill and taste.

But she is highly practical in her approach to decorating. "I like beautiful things, but I don't like them to just sit around. As much as possible I try to make them part of the functioning household."

Certainly her house is full of great comfort and convenience, designed to suit her needs, her hobbies and her lifestyle. The rooms are planned for total relaxation and entertaining, with lots of well grouped seating arrangements, balanced scale in tables and good lighting. She also loves to spend time outdoors in the swimming pool, so this area has been designed to function the year round with a heated pool and all the correct furniture. She also has a sauna bath which she built into her home.

At the very core of the house is the living room. It is filled with those soft, almost hazy colors reminiscent of sand dunes and shady forests dappled with sunlight. The golden sand shade starts on the floor in the wall-to-wall carpeting, then sweeps up onto the main back wall covered with sand-vanilla tinted wood paneling. Natural burlap lines the small walls opposite, while the fireplace wall is a soaring raft of white brick which finds color unity with the white beamed ceiling.

Two pale yellow velvet loveseats and a lime velvet sofa form a semicircle of comfort in the center of the room. Their muted tones are perked up with cushions of yellow, green, orange and brick red silk and Mexican fabric. A glass coffee table and two antique end tables holding green marble lamps round out this main seating area.

"This is my favorite painting," Inger told me, indicating the huge painting of three trolls above the lime sofa, which introduces accent colors of green, red and yellow to the wall. She grinned and turned towards the bookcase at the other end of the room. "High up there you can see the three sister trolls," she explained. She has arranged the three tiny figurines under a spotlight, one of her witty decorative touches since it reiterates the mood of the painting.

Inger has given the white fireplace wall depth and dimension through the use of black and white drawings and colorful paintings. By using different sizes, shapes and frames she has introduced visual movement. A bowl of fir cones, a plant and a broom decorate the fireplace. Balancing the fireplace wall are an antique grandfather clock, and an antique desk and chair which creates a writing corner for the actress.

Two of Inger's structural changes add to the living room's spacious look, while providing additional self-contained room for specific activities. An archway has been cut into the wall facing the three sofas, and the room drops down three steps in a garden-like patio room. Once a tiny garden porch, Inger gave it walls and French doors so that it is now part of the actual house and serves as a second sitting room.

The brick floor is flashed with an area rug in acid greens and black, the walls are lined with natural burlap and the draperies are of oatmeal-colored linen. The main furniture grouping is composed of a yellow and white floral sofa and two French chairs upholstered in olive green linen.

To make the dining room an integral part of the living room it adjoins, Inger removed the doors and created an arch of bookshelves. These move up each side from storage cabinets and carry across the width of the wall below the ceiling, facing into the living room.

The dining room beyond is rich and cozy, the mood created by the wine colored fabric on the walls and the dark wood tones of the antiques. The table is an old Spanish piece, reminiscent of a tavern table, and instead of dining chairs the actress has used two long benches.

"These two cabinets are rather interesting," Inger said, as we moved around the dining room, "This is a Dutch cheese cabinet which was used to store cheese in the 16th century and I found it in Los Angeles. The other is a very old cabinet from a church in San Francisco, and I think they add character to the room."

Source:

"Designing Woman: Inger Stevens Uses Original Decorating Ideas." The El Paso Times. December 7, 1969.