Rob Lowe's California Sanctuary

Like a great relationship, a great house is more than the sum of its parts. And so it is with Sheryl and Rob Lowe’s sweeping 20-room Georgian-style home, nestled on four exquisitely landscaped acres near Santa Barbara. “I’ve always been drawn to a historic, East Coast American aesthetic,” says the actor, a Virginia native. “But a house also has to be comfortable, able to withstand the simultaneous traffic of teenagers playing football on the lawn, barbecuing on the patio, me slipping off to write. Our challenge was extrapolating our views on how to live our lives and raise our children into what we need in a home. Working in TV and film, my strengths are composition and sight line, while Sheryl works great spatially. When it comes to design, she’s as good as it gets.”

“Like Rob, I loved the idea of a big lawn rolling up to an understated manor house perfect for mud boots or high heels,” says Sheryl Lowe. “Building from scratch, I could finally have everything we’ve experienced, loved, wanted to have or do under one roof—a meld of our personalities. Besides sleeping,” she laughs, “my husband’s favorite things are reading, writing and music. Who else would have a piano bar? My mantra was that it reflect my nonconformity: a black, white and gray palette, lots of different rooms for the gypsy in me who has traveled the world. And loving entertainment, I wanted a place not so much to entertain friends as ourselves.”

“I always wanted that house where everybody wants to go—full of energy, dogs, music, fun,” says Rob Lowe.

And what a snazzy playground it is, put together with the creative posse of architect Don Nulty, interior designer David Phoenix, landscape architect Mark Rios and feng shui master David Cho. Part chi wrangler, part Freud, Cho looked at everything from furniture arrangements to accessories to determine what he describes as the most propitious “energy patterns to optimize wealth, wellness and charisma” in the couple’s lives.

“The minute I drove onto this land, I said, ‘This is it!’ ” Sheryl recalls. “To understand the integrity of the property, we walked it for three weeks before pouring the foundation”—guaranteeing, adds Rob, “that our house sits in the ground as if it’s always been there.” Mount Vernon, for instance, with its white walls and scarlet roof, is a Lowe favorite. “Part of me wanted to go for a red roof,” he notes, “but that was a no-fly zone—our only argument, since our taste is so in sync,” as it was with their architect. Says Nulty, who traveled to Mount Vernon for research, “We all liked the clean, efficient lines and proportions of traditional Virginia detailing.”