Back in October of 2020, Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden set their sights on a property in the Beverly Hills Post Office section of Los Angeles. The couple paid $14.7 million for the home, a contemporary farmhouse on 1.68 acres in Benedict Canyon. The acreage, heavily fortified with mature trees and featuring an exceedingly private outdoor living area with a tropically landscaped pool area, was a primary reason for the couple’s acquisition of the home.

This spring, Diaz and Madden were again in a buying mood, although their real estate search led them in a southerly foray. They stopped in Santa Barbara County, where they closed on a six-bedroom, ten-bath, double-gated estate in Montecito. The 2000-built villa sits on a 1.77-acre lot; again, the emphasis is on a leafy buffer, although the hilltop position of the house gives it an atmosphere that is perhaps more imperious than reticent.

The grounds are packed with amenities; the list includes a pool with a cabana and spa, a BBQ station, extensive hedgerows and a calligraphic line of mature trees that define and demarcate while sustaining a very private living style.

The house’s interiors are flashily contemporary. The foyer establishes the sense of scale desired in a 10,000 sq. ft. home, and packs in the proper veneer of high-dollar material, but is rendered in grey tones, giving it a moody feel that is turned refined by the lines of its beautifully sculpted ceiling and gallery. The living room is similarly executed, with flat-finished plank hardwood, a pair of fireplaces with black hardwood mantels, and a pair of metallic colonial chandeliers. In the kitchen, office and dining room a welcome bit of cool coloring sneaks in; the line of lower cabinets in the former, given a lick of indigo, is an especially nice touch.

The accommodations in this home culminate in a double-suite layout, with outdoor balconies and fireplaces. Other amenities in this house include a billiards room.