Onstage with his band KISS, Gene Simmons is a larger-than- life rocker, with startling black-and-white makeup, high-voltage frizzy black hair, and menacingly tall platform shoes. But, behind the front doors of his 16,500-squarefoot Beverly Hills mansion, Simmons is a dedicated father of two (Nick, 15, and Sophine, 11) and a savvy businessman who has parlayed his rock-star status into a lavish and laid-back lifestyle.
"I wanted a place where I could go to be with birds and trees and still have the action of wheeling and dealing," says Simmons, 54, of the modern mansion he and his partner of more than 20 years, Shannon Tweed, 47, carved out of a hillside after tearing down a small farmhouse on the property. "In essence, I moved the mountain," says the rocker.
Shannon was given free reign in decorating the mansion. "I didn't have a thing to do with the furnishings," says Simmons. "I just bought them. Everything homey, beautiful and classy is Shannon Tweed," he says. Shannon transformed a large black lacquered door with wood inlay into a rustic coffee table in the living room. And the large burgundy sofas in the room were once full-sized beds. "It was hard to find furniture to scale because it's such a big room," says Shannon. Some of her most prized items include rare Roseville pottery in the family room and Lalique crystal and a 1920s crystal chandelier from Argentina in the dining room.
Like most families, the Simmons clan usually gravitates to the kitchen. As an avid cook who does most of the work in the kitchen, Shannon made sure the stove didn't face a wall. "The most used room in our house is the kitchen/ family room, and since I do the cooking, I didn't want to be relegated to facing the walls," she says.
Special details sparkle throughout the rest of the house. A giant sundial pattern is inlaid into the wood floors of the regal foyer with its 38-foot high ceiling, which is domed by a huge painted-glass skylight. The soaring living room has a wall of bookcases lined with leather-bound volumes, including a Charles Dickens collection and H.G.Wells' The Time Machine.
Simmons'office, lined with KISS memorabilia, is a time machine of its own. From a logo pinball machine and 50 framed records to concert costumes and a KISS coffin, the office is a shrine to the vast scope of Simmons' music career.
Whether jumping on the large trampoline in the backyard with his kids, watching Lawrence of Arabia in the family room with the whole gang or relaxing with Shannon on a plush sofa, Simmons puts a premium on the good life, but only on his own terms. "Everyone in life is concerned with good taste," he says. "I'm concerned with what tastes good."
-- BONNIE SIEGLER
