H oll y w oo d @home SEAN MURRAY’S SOCAL RETREAT ENCINO, CALIF. The Scene of Design Sean Murray and wife Carrie have been gradually renovating their home for a decade. “Once you get a little bit of it, you just want more. It’s inspiring,” he says. A Special Agent Finds His Home Base THE NCIS STAR’S MOST PERSONAL CASE: RENOVATING THE FAMILY HOUSE HE INSET: BILL INOSHITA/CBS INSET: SHARES WITH HIS WIFE OF 15 YEARS AND TWO KIDS By MACKENZIE SCHMIDT Photographs by MONICA WANG March 22, 2021 71 H oll y w oo d @home For Sean Murray, growing up the son of a Navy captain meant “home” was defined by wherever his dad, Craig, was stationed. The actor spent time in Singapore, Australia and London before the age of 8 and was raised on bases in a series of nondescript houses that the family often first saw when they pulled up outside. “I remember my mom and I joking about, ‘Is it going to be a light shade of military green or a dark shade ‘ We of military green?’ ” he says. There were strict walked rules about personalizing their temporary in here homes, but one thing Murray was allowed to do and knew was decorate the walls of his bedroom. His first foray into interior design was a 3D velvet Guns within 10 N’ Roses poster. “It was the cover of Appetite for seconds’ Destruction, and it came like half an inch off of the wall,” says the actor, 43, with a laugh. “It was my favorite thing ever.” While his military-family background has no doubt served as inspiration for his role as Special Agent Timothy McGee on CBS’s NCIS (which he’s starred in for all of the hit series’ 18 seasons), in real life, Murray was eager to put down some roots. He and his wife, Carrie, 46, moved into their current home 10 years ago when they found out they were expecting their second child, River (now 10), after their daugh- ter Caitlyn (13). Their decision was based almost Bubble Bubble The cauldron on the counter reads “Hocus Pocus,” an homage to one of Sean’s early acting gigs. HOW TO HANG A GALLERY WALL • Keep It Cohesive Using the same- style frame (like the Murrays’ thin black ones) for all your pieces makes a mix of photos look like a unified collection. • Embrace White Space Choosing a wide white mat— even for small snapshots—gives your art a high-end, gallery-like feel. • Try the Straight and Narrow Arranging family photos along a Gathering Place center line, as seen “The kids will come in here, here, evokes a and it’s like the napping/ timeline of special reading room,” says memories. Sean of the cozy living area. “We don’t have a TV in here for a reason.” entirely on the school dis- HOUSE STATS trict. “My wife was a school- Location: teacher,” Sean says of Carrie, Encino, Calif. who now runs the Business Size: 4,200 Relationship Alliance, a net- sq. ft. work for women entrepre- Bedrooms: 6 neurs. And the house was far Bathrooms: 4.5 from visually appealing. “You Who lives here: probably wouldn’t even rec- Sean, Carrie and ognize it now if you saw it,” their kids Caitlyn says Sean of the mid-century- and River modern one-story property. “It looked very early-’90s.” The dated design also hid some more serious issues. “It started with like, ‘Okay, there’s a drainage problem, so we’ll address that,’ ” recalls Murray. “And then you find other little things, and before we knew it, we were redesigning Dining in Style The formal dining room’s spoke-and-hub-style chandelier is a the landscaping and building a pool and nod to Sean’s favorite “mid-century vibe,” something their interior Jacuzzi.” At the peak of their renovation, Murray designer Taryn Bone tapped into. March 22, 2021 73 Collected Works Pieces by Sean’s favorite artist, Mark Ryden (bottom left and center), pop up throughout the house—even sprinkled among family photos. “I think I get away with it,” he jokes. adds with a laugh, “it was like we were living in a tent for a year.” Despite a few headaches, the actor, who had another memorable role as Thackery Binx in Hocus Pocus as a teen, leaned into the cre- ative process. And as any true design lover knows, a house is never really done. The cou- ‘There’s a ple are currently decamped to a part of me spare bathroom while theirs is being remodeled. The one thing that said, you won’t find in the house: a “Make it drop of olive-drab paint. “It got to yours” ’ the point where my wife even said Scan this QR code with your phone’s —SEAN to our designer, ‘Just talk to camera to watch MURRAY Sean about the details,’ ” he adds Hollywood at Home: of the process. “I totally fell in Sean Murray on PeopleTV. love with it.” • GET THE LOOK Albany Sofa, $895 albanypark.com Allis Black Taper Candle Holders, from $25 cb2.com Anima Animals by Louise Margaret Abstract Mark Ryden, Lines Pillow Cover, $39 $40 at Staggered Glass Chandelier, HAIR & GROOMING: DAVID GARDNER/AMIKA HAIRCARE/EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS; MAKEUP & MAKEUP & ARTISTS; HAIRCARE/EXCLUSIVE GARDNER/AMIKA DAVID HAIR & GROOMING: ARTISTS AND ORIBE HAIRCARE/EXCLUSIVE BRAGALONE/DERMA-E KIMBERLY GROOMING: spoonflower.com bookstores from $599 westelm.com March 22, 2021 75.