An art for design

Barbra Streisand details love of design in new book; shares stories of growing up and Hollywood career

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Published: Sun 28 Nov 2010, 11:29 AM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 1:04 PM

IT’S NOT EXACTLY opening your home to guests at a holiday party, but for film and singing star Barbra Streisand and her fans, it’s pretty close.

This week Streisand has seen her first book land in stores, but it’s no memoir of star turns in films such as Funny Girl or The Way We Were, nor does it recount the making of albums that have sold over 71 million copies.

For her debut as an author, Streisand has instead written about her love of architecture, art, furniture and landscaping in My Passion for Design. But don’t be fooled by its title because within the pages, the star tells tales from her life and career that influenced the choices she made in designing her dream home in Malibu, California.

“I think it makes it more interesting,” she said about the book’s first-person style. “People have been asking me to write my autobiography, but I don’t want to go there yet and be that personal. I guess it crept into my own writing.”

“This is how I see the world now, and what is beautiful to me,” she added.

The coffee table book from Viking publishers takes readers on Streisand’s years-long journey planning, building and furnishing the compound that resembles a 19th century New England farm with a barn, mill house, main house, Grandma’s house and even a chicken coop.

It is not the first house the singer has designed for herself. In fact, it follows several others including an Art Deco-themed house, and her New York City apartments. But it is the home in which Streisand and her husband James Brolin spend most all their time and it is, in a word, rather comfy. Adding to the book’s personal touches, avid photographer Streisand took most all the pictures herself.


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