Tour Tarek and Heather Rae El Moussa's California Home

The stars align! HGTV hosts Heather Rae and Tarek El Moussa married their styles to design their first home together.

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March 02, 2023

By: Jaimie Dalessio Clayton

From: HGTV Magazine

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Photo By: David Tsay

The Story

When spouses are both real estate pros, house hunting can be a little … intense.

“We would wake up at 5 a.m. and drive around different neighborhoods, just for fun,” says Tarek El Moussa, who stars in The Flipping El Moussas with his wife, real estate agent Heather Rae. After hundreds of viewings, they fell in love with this 3,000-square-foot house just a block from the ocean in Newport Beach, California — but they weren’t sure if they should flip it or make it their first home as a couple. They decided to keep it and ended up on a year-and-a-half-long renovation roller coaster.

More than halfway through construction, the house flooded and they had to start over. Then, just as finishing touches were being put on the nursery, the place flooded again because of a poorly installed pipe. “After all that, the house means so much to us now,” Heather says. And it’s the perfect spot for their growing family: They share Taylor, 12, and Brayden, 7, with Tarek’s ex, Christina Hall, and the couple welcomed baby Tristan in January.

From: HGTV Magazine

The Exterior

Instead of keeping the brick white — a more typical choice for a house this close to the beach — the couple had it painted Tricorn Black by Sherwin-Williams. “We love a darker, more dramatic look,” Heather says.

From: HGTV Magazine

The Living Room

“When we first saw this house, the interior was completely white, so we had to put our own flair on it,” Heather says. To make the brick fireplace a focal point, they covered the surround in textured wallpaper from Designers Resource Collection and built an iron frame around the firebox. “I love wallpaper because at a pretty reasonable price, you can create the effect of stone or metal,” Tarek says.

From: HGTV Magazine

The Kitchen

The black marble backsplash tile from Mission Tile West sets the tone for the entire space. “We looked at a lot of options and fell in love with this because it’s so bold,” Heather says. Tarek had the hood vent painted black, then coated with wax for a textured effect.

From: HGTV Magazine

The Bedroom

A tufted velvet headboard wall looks luxurious, like a hotel at home, Heather says. And the wallpaper with metallic specks by Wolf-Gordon makes the perfect backdrop. A custom iron light fixture draws attention to the dramatic vaulted ceiling.

From: HGTV Magazine

The Nursery

Heather and Tarek wanted the baby’s room to fit in with the rest of the house, so they used whites, blacks and grays, with lots of elephants (Heather’s favorite animal) for fun. The zigzag design on the walls is a stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils. “We thought the pattern could grow with him, but we can easily paint over it if we decide to change things up,” Heather says. The crib and dresser are by Babyletto.

From: HGTV Magazine

The Roof Deck

“I pretty much use the rooftop as my office,” Tarek says. But even when he’s not working, he and Heather love hanging out here, listening to music by the fire. The seating area has a retractable cover for extra shade, and the wood accent wall shelters the space from wind. The couple’s pup, Bugz, likes to chill on the built-in bench, too.

From: HGTV Magazine

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