The beloved movie star transforms a beach house on Martha’s Vineyard

With her tousled blond hair, twinkly blue eyes, and megawatt smile, Meg Ryan has forged an onscreen persona as the screwball leading lady whose warmth can melt an iceberg. Picture Ryan at home and one might expect to find her surrounded by bright colors and perky patterns.

But Ryan has a more serious side, which is evident the moment one steps into her Martha’s Vineyard home. The house is one of many she has lived in and furnished since early adulthood, as her acting career has taken her from place to place. “I feel like I’ve been renovating houses my whole life,” she says. “I’ve renovated apartments, lofts, a log cabin in Montana. I’m constantly ripping pages out of magazines in search of inspiration.”

On a visit to Martha’s Vineyard, Ryan fell in love with a large cedar-shingled house on a seven-acre property. “It’s absolutely beautiful, just operatic,” she says. She decorated the place with help from Marsha Russell of Satinwood, an interior-design firm based in Bedford, New York. “Meg wanted someone to bounce ideas off and to find things for her,” Russell says. “But she’s the visionary on this project. She has a wonderful aesthetic and a great eye.”