Amber Valetta Home

From runways to rallies, supermodel and actress Amber Valetta is as busy with environmental advocacy work today as she is fronting campaigns for the world’s biggest luxury fashion houses. But when it comes to sustainability, she’s not acting. A leading climate change activist, Amber’s LA home is an eco-friendly sanctuary that perfectly aligns with her green mission.

Designed with the help of Los Angeles-based interior designer Ross Cassidy, Amber’s home reflects her pro-environmental ethos around every turn.

A six-bedroom house, on the edge of a rural canyon, Amber enlisted Cassidy with whom she has worked on two previous properties, to create a home that is as eco-friendly as possible while being “extremely calming and feels like a sanctuary—a place where, when you come in from the world, you can exhale,” she says.

That meant wiring the property for solar panels, which will be placed on the roof once they arrive, adding double-glazed windows to “help thermal-insulate the house” explains Cassidy and cladding much of the exterior with responsibly sourced dove grey and sand-hued stone from a local supplier. “Light stone reflects light and keeps the house cooler,” Cassidy points out. “And stone lasts forever and is no-maintenance. If you think about the midcentury houses across Los Angeles, they always had stone walls. It’s nice that stone is back in fashion.”

But it’s not just the finishes and fixtures that were chosen with sustainability in mind, inside, the decor reflects the same eco-mindedness. This includes the reupholstery of various pieces Amber already had, such as old kitchen chairs, to fit in with the new scheme.

“They were black with leather seats, and that just wasn’t right for the house,” Amber explains. “We scraped down the wood and found they were white oak, and re-covered the seats with beige linen.” Other items were bought second-hand or vintage, like the Murano chandelier in Amber’s office, which she found at a flea market in Paris, and chairs bought from model friend Carolyn Murphy.

Natural materials were also used throughout – the carpets are made of natural fibres and the linens, curtain fabrics and upholstery are all organic or sustainable materials.

“The manufacturing processes for natural-fibre fabrics are cleaner than for synthetics or polyester,” Cassidy says. “Plus, they are so much more beautiful.”

Amber also opted for a desert garden. Requiring little water, the newly established garden is already a haven for birds, butterflies and insects. “It’s a good vibe here,” Amber says.