Miranda Kerr on Her Malibu Home: I Knew This 'Was It at First Sight'
"I knew that this house was it at first sight," she told Harper's Bazaar.
— -- Miranda Kerr is talking about love at first sight in a new interview. And no, she's not referring to her fiancé, Internet entrepreneur and Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, 26.
The Australian supermodel, 33, opened up to Harper's Bazaar about her new home in Malibu, California.
"I knew that this house was it at first sight," she told the September issue about her 1960s ranch home she purchased two years ago. "It needed a lot of work, but it had a great view. It wasn’t right on the water, so it was protected from the wind and very private. I could just see the potential. It felt so right."
Kerr first moved to Malibu when she and ex-husband Orlando Bloom were deciding where to raise their son Flynn, now 5.
"Orlando and I were living in New York, and we loved it there, but we were considering what the best options were for our son," she explained. "We thought it would be a better lifestyle for Flynn. He could be outside playing year-round, playing in the sand. We could have a garden."
Although she and Bloom are no longer a couple, the pair are committed to raising their son together. So when Kerr first spotted the hillside property overlooking the beach, she jumped on it.
"In some ways it felt like a tree house. That was another thing that I loved," she said about her new home. "It’s all open, and the view of the ocean makes it feel more spacious."
Kerr remodeled the house to have a modern beach-cottage feel, and she included some elements from her childhood.
"When I was a child, I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house. People were coming in and out. She was always in the kitchen making something. There was always food and snacks. She would play the piano, and we would sing and dance. So those were my two priorities," Kerr said. "I wanted to have a piano and a great kitchen, which is always the heart of the home."
Spiegel, who proposed to Kerr last month, also found the perfect gift housewarming for her: a machine called the Skywater 300, which draws moisture from the air to produce enough water for the entire household, including showers, drinking water and a waterfall.
"This property was a dust bowl when I bought it and now it’s so green. Obviously I’m aware of the drought problem in California. This [Skywater 300] system really just pulls water out of the sky," Kerr said. "It was a very thoughtful present because he knows how much I love a garden."