British comedian and actor Russell Brand has been in the news a bit lately. He's been increasing his profile in the United States with more acting roles (he's set to take on the Dudley Moore role in the remake of Arthur) and with his romance with Katy Perry. Perhaps Brand is considering a permanent move to the U.S. because the BrickWork blog reports that Brand's home in the Hampstead area of London is on the market.

The Victorian home has been renovated in a hiply goth style that reminds me of the vintagey creations of Douglas Little. The home has five levels and features dark flocked wallpaper, large televisions and modern furniture. An entire room is given over to Brand's love of yoga and the plush black and silver master bedroom is exactly what you might from this self-confessed sex addict. The home also includes a media room, outdoor hot tub and a top floor bedroom suite which currently serves as an office. It is listed at £2.5 million.

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen is on her way to a private pilot's license. Bundchen, who is pregnant with her first child with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, spent the summer taking helicopter flying lessons. She has now passed her private pilot written exam and flies several times a week at Shoreline Aviation in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

You need fewer hours in a helicopter than in a fixed wing plane to get a license and it generally takes over $10,000 to log in the necessary flight hours and experience. She is only a month away from giving birth but she is expected to take her checkride next week. The checkride is the practical test in which she will fly with a pilot examiner and be tested on key skills.

People magazine reported earlier this year that she was interested in learning to fly because she is a goodwill ambassador for the UN's Environmental Programme on finding an alternative source of jet fuel.

I'm not up to date on the on again and off again relationship between Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush but it is significant that the curvy reality television star put her home on the market a few weeks ago and now Bush, a New Orleans Saints football player has listed his Hollywood Hills home. I also suspect these two might have had the same decorator. Either that or Kardashian had a major influence on the decor of Bush's tri-level home on a cul-de-sac overlooking the city.

The four-bedroom home has views all the way to the ocean with a glittering swath of city spread out below. It is filled with touches that seem Kardashian inspired including zebra print cushions in the living room and a master suite with an apricot-colored padded headboard. Masculine touches reassert themselves in sports jerseys mounted on the staircase, a pool table on one of the home's many terraces and a wonderful walk-in gentleman's closet. This home has one of the most makeout friendly home theaters I've ever seen. It's decked out in black and red velvet. The football star also seems to have a love of his own monogram, his initials appear throughout the house including in the velvety red elevator. This home is listed at $5.099 million. According to the LA Times Hot Property, Bush bought the home for $4.7 million in 2007 for use as his off-season home.

The main home of the Jenner- Kardashian clan also remains on the market. It was originally listed at $3.395 million but is now listed at $2.995 million.

Plenty of celebrities start fashion lines but few take the step of opening their own stores. William Rast, the casual clothing brand founded by Trace Ayala and Justin Timberlake and operated through subsidiaries of People`s Liberation has announced two new full-price retail stores at the Westfield Century City Shopping Mall in Los Angeles, California, and the Westfield Valley Fair Shopping Mall in San Jose, California as well as an outlet store at the Desert Hills Premium Outlets in Cabazon, California. The brand has an ambitious plan to open around forty retail stores in major metropolitan locations over the next several years.

The William Rast branded retail stores will each be approximately 2,000 square feet and will offer William Rast contemporary apparel collection for men and women. The company also plans to offer a full range of licensed William Rast products in each store. Justin Timberlake is well on his way to a branded empire, he also has his own golf course, a tequila brand and owns several restaurants.

The spontaneous generosity of Elvis Presley was legendary and launched thousands of stories. The 10 carat diamond ring shown above was given to fan Lloyd Perry in Asheville North Carolina at concert in 1975. This one-of-a-kind piece of Elvis Presley memorabilia will be sold at auction by Affiliated Auctions in Tallahassee, Florida on December 6th, 2009. Perry says that the piece was given to him when, four songs in to his 1.5 hour show Elvis tossed his Gibson guitar in to the audience. Perry and the man seated to his right both grabbed for the the guitar. Perry let the other man have the guitar and a few songs later Elvis Presley called Perry on stage, shook his hand and then took the diamond ring shown above from his own finger and handed it to Perry. The 10ctw diamond ring, consists of 19 four-prong set diamonds set in 14K yellow gold.

In a recent article in the Telegraph rap star 50 Cent spoke out about the recession. To 50 Cent economy apparently means selling his "old diamonds" before buying something new. Not to criticize his strategy, clearly 50 Cent has more money than I do, but it seems that selling off old diamonds to buy new pieces is one of the most financially foolhardy ideas around. Resale on diamonds (large rare high carat stones excepted) is notoriously low. Even if he is essentially trading in his pieces with the same jeweler it is likely a losing game. He may be able to resell some pieces at a decent price because of his name but quickly turning over jewelry and constantly getting new pieces is not a way to accrue wealth.

He went on to say that anyone who didn't lose money in this recession "didn't have enough to start off with." He shrugged off his losses and believes he is still a savvy businessman who could even advise President Obama should he need it. Big words from a man who is still in the process of trying to sell one of the great white elephant pieces of Connecticut real estate, Mike Tyson's former mansion in Farmington, Connecticut. Tyson's mansion has been nothing but a headache for Fiddy. He bought the home for $4.1 million (Tyson's ex originally wanted $25 million) and spent $6 million renovating it. He has been trying to sell the home since 2007 when he wanted $18.5 million for the property and it is now listed at $10.9 million.

The Martha Stewart branding train is rolling on with a new food line just in time for Thanksgiving. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.has partnered with The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. to introduce a new Martha Stewart-branded food line that includes poultry from Plainville Farms, baking mixes from Arrowhead Mills and dried pastas from DeBoles. The Martha Stewart-branded products will launch with a line of fresh and frozen vegetarian-fed and antibiotic-free turkeys from Hain Pure Protein's Plainville Farms in time for Thanksgiving 2009. In a press release Stewart said, " I'm delighted to be offering consumers antibiotic-free, vegetarian-fed turkeys that are moist, tender, and absolutely delicious." The Martha Stewart website already has a place where you can order the bird online for $69.99 for a 12-pound bird. You can also download Martha's Turkey 101 guide should you need additional help. Add in some Martha table linens and Martha Stewart-branded wine and it's a very Martha Thanksgiving.

Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler hasn't put down permanent roots in Chicago yet. The Chicago Tribune reports that he is currently renting a three-bedroom house in Lake Forest for $3,750 a month. Cutler does have some real estate in Colorado he is trying to unload. He was traded to the Bears from the Broncos in April and has a pair of homes in Colorado up for sale.

His main home appears to have been a four-bedroom house in Parker, Colorado which he purchased in 2005 for $1.34 million. The home is in a community called Timbers and sits on 1.5 acres of land. Outside the home there is a seating area, patio, bar and fire pit. Inside the home has all the usual luxurious features like a a wine room, gourmet kitchen and great room with massive fireplace. Bachelor-friendly details include a billiard room with a complete wet bar, home theater, a poker room and a bathroom that features a urinal facing a poster of Marilyn Monroe. This home is listed at $1.675 million.

Cutler also owns a five acre property in Elizabeth, Colorado that is for sale for $699,900.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--A Hollywood Hills home once owned by actress Dorothy Dandridge is on the market at $3,495,000. The restored 1926 Mediterranean has three bedrooms and three terraces with city views. The property website is here.
--Singer Melanie Brown, otherwise known as Scary Spice, has bought a five-bedroom home in the San Fernando area for about $3.15 million.

From the Chicago Tribune's Elite Street:
--Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon has sold his mansion in Northbrook, Illinois for $2.85 million and moved to Florida.
--Former Chicago Bulls forward Antonio Davis has taken a loss on his three-story house in Naperville, Illinois selling it for $1.4 million. He Davis also has a contract to sell his mansion in Burr Ridge, which is listed for $3.299 million, and he has a waterfront lot in Plainfield on the market for $399,000.
Former Chicago Blackhawks center Alexei Zhamnov has sold his 11-room home in Lincoln Park for $2.725 million.



From the Boston Channel:
--Add Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez to our list of slow sellers. He's cut the price on his condo at the Ritz Carlton in Boston from to $8.5 million $7.9 million.


From the NY Post:
--While in New York City Jeremy Piven stayed for a week in a triplex penthouse at the Prime condo building at 333 W. 14th St. which is listed for $5.9 million. The listing is here.
--Rolling Stone founder and publisher Jann Wenner has closed on a Hamptons home 6,300-square-foot, three-story waterfront home on Old Montauk Highway for $11.9 million. The home which was listed for $14.9 million, is within a half-mile of Bernie Madoff's old beach house.
--After rejecting Related Companies President Jeff Blau's $31 million bid last May, the co-op board at 820 Fifth Ave. found a buyer for homebuilder Ara Hovnanian's full-floor fourth floor unit. The new buyer is Kenneth Griffin, the founder, president and CEO of Citadel Investment Group in Chicago who reportedly paid just under the $35 million asking price. Tommy Hilfiger once owned the apartment, though he never lived there and the co-op board also rejected Ron Perelman and Steve Wynn.

From Christie's Great Estates:
Legendary director Ingmar Bergman's family compound in Fårö, Sweden, has been sold.


From Brickwork: The London Property Blog:
-- An Edwardian villa in Sheffield Terrace, Kensington W8 which was once the former London home of Madonna is listed for rent for £13,000. The listing is here.
--R&B singer-songwriter Craig David's Hampstead penthouse is for rent at £6000 a week. Earlier this year it was for sale for £6.25 million. The listing is here.


From ShelterPop:
--Grammy winning Dixie Chick Emily Robison has listed her large loft in the old Duerler Candy Factory in San Antonio, Texas for $1.5 million. The 4,800 square foot loft was purchased as raw space and converted into a four-bedroom family home. The listing is here.

From Homes and Property UK:
--Prince Harry's girlfriend Chelsy Davy has moved into a two-bedroom Belgravia flat which cost £1.65 million.
--Perthshire landowner Jamie Montgomery is selling Kinross House, his 17th century ancestral home overlooking Loch Leven, for £4.25 million through Strutt & Parker. The mansion has 15 bedrooms, a ballroom, 80 acres and a cricket pitch. The listing is here.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Julian Schnabel has finally sold the triplex penthouse at Palazzo Chupi. Artist and director turned developer Julian Schnabel once wanted $32 million for the unit but settled for $10.5 million. The buyer is William J.B. Brady who bought a $15.5 million unit in the building several years ago. The Chupi duplex remains on the market for $12.95 million.

--Katie Lee is paying Billy Joel $3 million for their West Village townhouse as part of her their divorce. The couple purchased the home in 2005 for $5.9 million.
--More than a year after art dealer Daniel Wildenstein sold his family's mansion at 11 East 64th Street for $42.5 million, the 29-foot-wide townhouse has reportedly gone back on the market for $37 million.
--Ex-Morgan Stanley vice chairman Bruce D. Fiedorek has listed his fifth-floor apartment at 998 Fifth Avenue for $34 million. The listing is here.

From the WSJ's Private Properties:
--Real-estate mogul Steven Roth of Vornado Realty Trust was the buyer of Bernard Madoff's beach house in Montauk, N.Y.
--Real-estate investor Jeff Greene bought a Beverly Hills property out of receivership for $35 million in 2006 and then put another $15 million into the renovation. Now, instead of selling in a slow market he has put the 25-acre estate up for lease for $250,000 a month. The 43,000-square-foot main house has 11 bedrooms, 14 baths and a 6,000-square-foot ballroom and the property includes six acres of wine-producing vineyards. The listing is here.

From Rented Spaces:
--Madonna sued by her neighbors for noise.
--He works so his tenants have homes.
--Comfort tops fall home decor trends.
--Cash in on wine mistakes.
--Do you live in one of the most stressed-out cities?
--Is mustache decor a hot trend?

Whitney Houston is in the midst of a comeback (complete with a new album and an appropriately contrite appearance on Oprah) and she's shedding the trappings of her old life including some real estate. The Real Estalker reveals that Houston has listed her home in Mendham Township, New Jersey. The five-bedroom contemporary home sits on a five acre lot with a pool, pool house and tennis court. The Real Estalker Mama says that Houston bought the home in 1987 and it appears very 1980s in its style with a circular theme that includes a domed sky light, semicircular walls of windows and a curved wall of art glass. The home is over 12,500 square feet of curving windows draped in lackluster swags, floors in neutral carpeting and pale terracotta tile and anonymous decor. In the master bedroom the bed is mounted on a dais facing a television and topped with more circles in the lighting fixture. It was probably the height of fashion at one point but now it seems a bit dated. It is listed at an even $2.5 million but Property Shark shows an assessed value of $5,640,700 and a tax bill of $87,609.

When this blog launched in December 2004 one of my very first celebrity real estate stories was about Eddie Murphy's Bubble Hill estate in New Jersey. In five years many things have changed but Murphy's desire to unload this mansion hasn't abated. The estate immortalized in Murphy's song "Bubble Hill" in 1989 recently went through a renovation to make is as blandly luxurious as possible.

The 32-room house is on a four acre knoll in the Englewood's East Hill section. The gated and walled,mansion is around 25,000 square feet and includes large entertaining areas. While much of the home has been smoothed out and beiged-up to appeal to the masses one thing still survives, the wood-paneled billiard room with the red curtains, jukebox and the neon signs spelling out "Bubble Hill." This home was at $30 million five years ago making it the most expensive single-family home in the state at the time. At its current price of $14.99 million, it's no longer even the most expensive home in Englewood.



UPDATE: The Real Estalker reminds me this isn't the only Hill in Eddie Murphy's live. Clove Hill Farm, which we covered in 2006 when it was listed at $9.95 million is now listed at $5.95 million.

Persol Eyewear has long been associated with Hollywood's leading men. A pair of Steve McQueen's Persol sunglasses, which he wore in "The Thomas Crown Affair," were sold for $60,000 in 2006. They've also been spotted on Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, George Clooney, Adrien Brody and Brad Pitt, but lately, women are getting in on the Persol action, too.

Julia Roberts (pictured), Angelina Jolie, Hilary Swank, Beyonce, Heidi Klum and Elle Macpherson have all recently donned Persol shades, and we can tell you exactly which ones. Julia is wearing #2873, and so can you -- the ladies' styles are in the $300 - $400 range.

Check out the gallery for the models spotted on our favorite celebs -- maybe you'll see the perfect pair for yourself. The sunglasses are available from ILORI, just tell them the style number (included).

How do you lure a star out of semi-retirement? You start with a big paycheck and then you throw in the perks. This week, savvy casino mogul Steve Wynn drummed up excitement at the Wynn Encore in Las Vegas with the news that Garth Brooks has decided to play a five-year weekend residency at the hotel starting December 11.

Brooks played two secret shows at the hotel this summer. Steve Wynn, a man whose art collection is clear testament to the fact that he is accustomed to getting whatever he wants, began the push to get Brooks at his hotel. Brooks wasn't an easy fish to land and it took more than a big paycheck to get him to the Encore Theater. Wynn threw in the ultimate executive perk, the private jet. When Brooks retired he vowed that he would drive his three daughters to school everyday. The new 11-seat Challenger jet, courtesy of Steve Wynn, will help him honor that promise, making short work of the commute from Oklahoma to Las Vegas. Brooks described the jet to CNN as having a "cool interior, cool paint job."

What does Wynn get out of the deal? Each ticket at the Encore will be $125 and total sales for the shows could bring in millions. But more important than ticket sales is the fact that he will be drawing people to Las Vegas and to Encore, the luxury hotel he opened when the economy was at its worst. Wynn has been in the casino a long, long time and he knows that getting the people in the door can be the hardest part. Having Brooks as an incentive to visit might just be worth the plane and the paycheck.

UPDATE: Tickets for Brooks' first 20 shows at the Wynn Las Vegas resort sold out in less than five hours.

Project X Designs, a new London-based Rolex customizer, has already won some high-profile fans including James Bond himself - Daniel Craig. Project X, which also produces its own Limited Edition Rolex designs in small runs, began with a custom Submariner and Daytona a few months ago which have nearly all sold out. Two new Daytona models have just been released. Founder Daniel Bourn, 37, also launched the London Watch Company in 2003 which specializes in building collections of vintage "investment grade" Rolexes for private clients. Bourn is actually a former investment banker who developed an "obsessive compulsion" for collecting rare, modern and vintage luxury watches and decided to change careers.

Bourn launched Project X Designs (PXD), which has offices in Hanover Square, London W1, out of a desire to "provide a service to clients who appreciate the history and allure of original manufacturers' brand name – guaranteeing maximum performance with minimal maintenance – but who seek the individuality that contemporary high volume production does not offer." It's an aesthetic that appeals to celebs like Kanye West - The Classicist reported on his blacked-out Rolex earlier this year - and Craig, a diehard Rolex enthusiast as we noted last year, who owns PXD's custom Submariner.

PXD offers two distinct services via its website: the first, a bespoke service which, like a bespoke suit, tailors a new luxury wristwatch with unique features to the clients' own personal specification. For example, a leading Formula One Racing Team have commissioned a special Daytona - carrying the company logo on the reverse together with the details of the race victory - for each of its Grand Prix winning drivers. Ex Bond actor Roger Moore also has a bespoke watch in development from PXD. The second element of PXD is the introduction of collectible limited edition (runs of 24) customized Rolex watches inspired by the retro styling of the classic Rolex models from the past.



The bespoke customization service offered by Project X Designs is the 'backbone' of the site whereby watches can be tailored to suit the clients' demands. At present there are 18 Rolex models to choose from and 19 options ranging from different straps to DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) blacked-out watch cases at £1,650. Clients may choose as many of the bespoke options as they wish - more options are in development and will be added to the site in the future. The super-cool DLC Daytona pictured above from the new series is priced at £10,750 or about $17,500.