Our rudimentary research shows that in addition to the L.A. property she's currently got up for sale, over the last six (or so) years Miz Murphy has owned (at least) four other homes including a two-story contemporary squeezed on to a tight lot in Venice (CA) and a spectacular, swimming pool-free Spanish style in the comparatively staid flats of Brentwood in Los Angeles (CA).
Just before moving to her current crib—the one in Brentwood now up for grabs—Miz Murphy very briefly owned and occupied a 19th century, Greek Revival-style red-brick townhouse on a leafy street just a couple blocks from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (a.k.a the BQE) in New York City's (mostly) dignified and historic Brooklyn Heights 'hood.
Tall pocket doors divide the parlor floor living room, with original floor-to-ceiling windows, a decorative fireplace, and (unpainted) wood floors, from the dining room, with almost identical fireplace and painted wood floors. The kitchen, wedged tightly into a tall and model-thin space behind the dining room, has—or at least had at the time Miz Murphy sold it—Euro-style appliances, open shelving, extra-big farmhouse sink, through-the-wall a/c unit, and a room-wide row of large, six-over-six windows that overlook the back garden. The kitchen looks like it was bought from IKEA but we have no knowledge whatsoever whether it actually was or was not.
Anyhoo, the second and third floors each have two good-sized bedrooms and one squeezer-of-a-bedroom that—in Your Mama's humble and utterly meaningless opinion—might both better be utilized as a home office, dressing room, toy storage closet, meditation lounge, play space and/or what-have-you.
Miz Murphy and her current crib—the one in Brentwood now on the market—were featured in all their tawny and glossy-rustic glory in the March 2012 issue of Vogue. She told the fashion-obsessed peeps at Vogue—we have a copy of it thoughtfully provided by an aide de camp we'll call Rhonda Rainyday—that she left Brooklyn and hightailed it back to Cali because '"having the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway outside my door was too much for me."'
Before briefly alighting in Brooklyn Miz Murphy (and child) spent a few years in a rather dynamite 1907 Craftsman bungalow on a bucolic 3-ish acre estate in Ojai, CA she bought in December 2007 from Wrigley gum heir Paxson "Packy" Offield for $3,500,500.
The large living room has a lots of multi-pane windows, a wood-beamed ceiling and imposing (but still cozy) river rock fireplace. The country kitchen has a yummy walk-in pantry, commercial-style appliances, open shelving for the dishes, butcher block counter tops and an adjoining dining area with river rock walls.
Upstairs the living room-sized master bedroom has a high wood ceiling, hardwood floors, a second imposing (but still cozy) river rock fireplace and an attached, two-chamber bathroom with twin pedestal sinks and a claw footed tub.
We're not sure who is responsible for the day-core of her Ojai house but it all leaned and veered heavily towards a more East Coast Americana than French Provençal. Then again, we don't know a decorative donkey from a goat, so...
Although she did not sell her Ojai estate until September 2010 Miz Murphy was, as usual, bitten by the bug of her incurable case of The Celebrity Real Estate Fickle way back in May 2008, just five months after signing on the deed's dotted line. Between May 2008 and September 2010, according to the fine folks at Redfin, Miz Murphy de- and re-listed the property a number of times at a variety of prices until, according to property records, it finally got snatched up, at a quarter million dollar-plus loss to her, for $3,250,000.
So, she went from Venice to Brentwood to Ojai to Brooklyn, back to Brentwood and now where? Where, oh where shall Miz Murphy next set down some (if history tells us anything, probably temporary) real estate roots? Ironically—or annoyingly, depending on your point of view—Miz Murphy also told the Vogue people (in the March 2012 issue), '"I don't see us staying in Los Angeles...I Don't think it feeds you in the way the East Coast does."' First of all, hunny, pleeze. Secondly, we suggest you beware the chanting hordes of Buddha statue owning Tinseltown New Agers who migrated from the East Coast to rub magic crystals all over their co-dependant inner children while the sun set over the fiery Pacific Ocean. Trust Your Mama when we tell you those people can get ugly when dissed and (probably unintentionally) dissed they were. And, thirdly, does all this soul feeding nonsense mean the model's packing up and moving cross-country, again? Could be. Or not. Who knows?
Heaven's to Betsy, children, this bracingly beautiful beehawtcha moves house so frequently she probably has to keep a moving company on retainer so they're ready the very moment her feet get itchy. But that's really calling the kettle black since Your Mama and The Dr. Cooter have had two apartments, three houses and three offices in the last 10 years. Good grief. When we're not packing or unpacking, we're making plans for our next pack and unpack. But that's another story for another day in another place with an bottomless mid-morning cocktail in hand.
listing photos and floor plan (Brooklyn): Brown Harris Stevens via StreetEasy
listing photos (Ojai): Village Properties via Redfin