Jonathan Scott and Zooey Deschanelhave purchased a home together! And they’re in the middle of a major renovation, naturally.
The couple will share their new Los Angeles home, which they closed on in June 2020 and have been renovating ever since, with Deschanel’s two kids — son Charlie Wolf, 4, and daughter, Elsie Otter, 5 — whom she shares with her ex-husbandJacob Pechenik.
“Eight months into our relationship, I already knew Zooey was the yin to my yang, the PB to my J. We were on parallel paths toward the happiness we’d been seeking our whole lives,” Jonathan writes ina heartfelt personal essayfor issue #9 ofReveal, on newsstands Jan. 7.
Zooey and Jonathanmet in the summer of 2019while filmingan episode ofCarpool Karaokewith their famous siblings (actress Emily Deschanel and real estate agent Drew) andmade their relationship officialin August of that year.
Dennys Ilic
“What I found out very early on is that Zooey loves Los Angeles. Like,love-loves it. She’s a native Angeleno, her parents still live in her childhood home, the whole deal,” he writes. “I recall thinking,Okay, okay…give me the sales pitch, skeptically, not thinking of myself as an ‘L.A. guy.’ But the more she showed meherLos Angeles — the parks she went to growing up, the neighborhoods where she made memories with her closest friends — the more I found myself in love with an Angeleno, and with L.A., too.”
Peter Yang/Drew + Jonathan
Unfortunately, like any episode of one of Jonathan’s shows, the renovation process came with a few surprises. There was water damage and some shoddy older updates, plus a new earthquake code for the state of California to comply with.
“This dream home would become the largest residential renovation I had ever done in my career,” writes Jonathan. Then came the pandemic, and a host of other delays due to shuttered permit offices and supply chain issues.
After renovating more than 500 homes for other families, Jonathan was unfazed. “We have each other, and we have time — the rest of our lives together in this house.Ourhouse. Our dream home, where we’ll see the kids grow up laughing and adventuring in the yard, where we’ll play host to friends and family,” he writes.
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Having to take the place apart had a silver lining, too: They found an opportunity to implement a host of eco-friendly features. Jonathan is a longtime advocate for green building (he recently self-produced adocumentary about the importance of solar energy) and Zooey is an eco crusader (she’s a co-founder of hydroponic gardening start-up Lettuce Grow).
The house now has fossil-fuel-free heating and cooling, a solar-paneled roof, a gray water system, and is serving as a test case for a new type of insulation, “probably making Park House one of the most efficient homes in the country,” says Jonathan. It’s “a five-bedroom home with a smaller carbon footprint than that of your average small condo.”
Steve Granitz/WireImage
Unlike an episode ofProperty Brothers,Jonathan points out, the homeowners in this renovation see eye to eye on almost everything.
“I knew what our roles would be ever sinceZooey appeared onCelebrity IOU, when I discovered she absolutely loathes demolition. I clearly would be the construction lead and Zooey would be my liaison designer,” he writes. “As a couple undertaking a massive renovation project, if the most you’re disagreeing on is sink placement and recessed lighting, you’re probably doing well.”
Now, Jonathan is looking forward to the best part of any project: “I want the reveal to be perfect,” he writes. “I’m sure we’ll change a few things once we move in, swap some furniture. But overall I want it as close to her vision as possible because I know, like her, it will be beautiful, eclectic, and wonderfully unique.”
Read Jonathan’s full essay and see more photos in the Brilliant Home issue ofDrew + Jonathan Reveal,on newsstands January 7. And subscribe to follow Jonathan and Zooey’s renovation and see the finished home in an upcoming issue ofReveal. Usethis linkto get a discount on a full year subscription for $15.
Mackenzie Schmidt
source: people.com
