Inside the Los Angeles castle built by a family's DIY empire
Welcome to the Novogratz family's new home, The Castle in Los Angeles, California.
The renovation took 10 months to complete. According to Bob Novogratz, it was a "total gut job." Here's the before picture of the Hollywood Hills home, which was built in the 1920s.
We wanted to keep the history of the house and update the outside," he tells Tech Insider. "We kind of gutted the inside and made it more modern.
"Just by cleaning up a place, the value goes up right away because more people have a vision [of what it could look like]," he adds.
!["Just by cleaning up a place, the value goes up right away because more people have a vision [of what it could look like]," he adds.](https://staticbiassets.in/thumb/msid-51621109,width-700,height-525,imgsize-1906901/just-by-cleaning-up-a-place-the-value-goes-up-right-away-because-more-people-have-a-vision-of-what-it-could-look-like-he-adds-.jpg)
The family tore down walls and ceilings to make bigger, loftier, and grander rooms. "We just like bigger spaces," Bob says.
One of their favorite rooms is now the living area with huge open windows, lots of light, and a TV for watching Netflix. Bob says the family loves movies and recently watched the Tower Records documentary, "All Things Must Pass."
Because they didn't plan on needing rooms like a parlor or formal dining room, Bob and Cortney had room to design an open floor plan to give the house a friendlier flow.
And of course, they decorated with their signature mix of high-and-low art and found objects. "The most expensive doesn’t always mean the best," Bob says.
Though the castle originally had seven bedrooms, the family converted it to four bedrooms — a bold move for the family of nine.
Cortney and Bob get their own master bedroom while their kids all share rooms. Bob says all of their seven kids had a lot of input in deciding how they wanted their rooms to look.
The three youngest boys — 10-year-old twins Holleder and Five, as well as seven-year-old Major — share a room with one another.
They actually have two rooms," Bob says. "One room is a play area and the other has three beds. Kind of like a dorm room vibe.
18-year-old Wolfgang shares a bedroom with his 15-year-old brother Breaker while the 17-year-old twin girls Bellamy and Tallulah share a space together.
Courtney refused to give the girls their own room so they share it," Bob says. "It's like a loft where there’s a little divider, but there’s no door between them.
The entire castle renovation was documented in a 10-episode web series for People.com. It's currently streaming.
"We had fun doing it and it shows people how to include their kids in the design process," Bob says.
One of the couple's biggest challenges was redesigning their yard. "We wanted to hire a landscape architect, but we really didn’t have the money," Bob tells TI. "So we did it ourselves."
"I felt like we did a pretty good job," he adds.
Bob tells TI on the whole, the transition to Los Angeles has been wonderful. The family is learning to adapt to the car culture — "The kids use Uber X a lot," he says — and the home's central location means the family can walk nearly everywhere.
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