Real Housewife' Kandi Burruss opens home and heart

Home and Garden

"Real Housewife of Atlanta" cast member Kandi Burruss gives fans a virtual tour of her Fayetteville home while speaking about the death of her ex-fiancee, A.J. Jewell.

Kandi Burruss, the newest cast member of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" reality TV show, reflects on her first season on the show in between filming the reunion shows (part one airs Oct. 29): "People didn't really catch me in a lot of drama on the show. Me and the girls didn't really know each other that well for me to really involve myself in a lot of stuff that was going on. What you see is in my personal life, which is real." Burruss poses in the living room of her home in Fayetteville.

"I was raised in East Point, on the south side of town," shares Kandi. "Fayetteville is an affluent area that I always knew about and it's not far from where I grew up. I always wanted to have a house in a nice neighborhood; there are a lot of well-to-do African-American people here; it's a mixed community." The main house has four bedrooms, three baths and 2 1/2-baths; the guest house has two bedrooms and two baths.

"When Jagged Edge was here I felt like the mother hen, sometimes," admits Burruss. "I have always acted older than my age, I was the youngest member in Xscape, but I was not the youngest acting, I've always been about business and making things work." Pictured is the foyer.

Accomplished singer and songwriter Kandi Burruss poses with her Grammy in the living room of her home in Fayetteville.

"In the living room, I basically just told [Sonja Strayhand] the color scheme," shares Burruss, "she pretty much took over on that room. I found the black chair and helped find the right couches to fit with it. I found the vase in [the] Miami Design District, I just had to have it." Burruss credits Strayhand with helping her "realize you could have two different patterns that don't go together and make them come together."

"The stone floor tiles go all the way up the fireplace (in the living room)," notes Kandi. "It was brick before, if you notice, even though they're all similar in color the way the tiles were laid in each room varies; but it all comes together."

"When I bought the house I was managing Jagged Edge," reflects Burruss. "They were living with me -- all but one -- I bought the house but didn't have the money to furnish it. So it was this big empty house [with] furniture in the den and a couple [of] bedroom sets. At the time I was 19, they were 20 or whatever, we just had all kinds of swim parties, just hanging out. That was at the beginning of their career, and me and Xscape was doing our thing."

From day one on the show Burruss insisted: "I am not going to try to put on for you just so that I'm making good television, that's how I looked at it." Pictured is the portrait she envisioned for the "Alter Ego" segment of the show. She notes: "The girls (her 'Real Housewives' cast members) are trying to straighten up, they don't like how they were portrayed [in the show]. So everybody wants to become Mother Teresa now." Burruss laughs and adds: "I'm like OK, I wonder how that's going."

"I totally redid my kitchen, I tore out cabinets, installed granite countertops and bamboo floors," says Burruss. "Mother's Day we had all of our family, my mom, my aunts, we had a big cookout. During the summer and spring mostly is when I'll have a get-together." Burruss adds: "No, I haven't hosted any party here with the 'Housewives' cast members, actually the only ones who have been here are Kim and Lisa.

"Sonja Strayhand Interiors helped me with the dining room, bedroom, sunroom, living room and my favorite little bathroom," explains Burruss. "It wasn't like she dictated to me what all needed to be in the house. I knew in my dining room (pictured) I wanted to have one of those benches. I would do tear-outs from mags and then she would take my tear-outs and go find a whole bunch of different things that fit the direction that I liked."

In the [master] bedroom the ceiling was flat, now I have five [ceiling] trays," offers Burruss, who says the huge movie screen that descends in front of a mirror that faces the custom bed is among the fun things she's done to the home since buying it in 1998.

"I've always been a fan of faux decor because of Tobey Sanders (of FauxDecor) before she started her business. I was like her guinea pig that she would experiment on," comments Burruss. Sanders created the lusterstone faux treatment in the master bath (pictured) and guest rooms. "I totally renovated my bathroom, put stone in there, changed the tub, it looks like a whole new house compared to what it was," adds Burruss.

"The funny thing is when I was talking to the producer," recalls Burruss when she was first approached by Bravo to do the 'Housewives' reality show, "I told her from the jump I'm not the type that likes to waste money, because I believe in security. I don't believe in constantly blowing money for the sake of blowing money. If you think I'm gonna be on this show spending thousands on Dior and this and that, you got the wrong person." Even this tasteful half-bath reflects her frugal sensibility.

"Riley's room is her castle," admits Burruss. "All her friends hang out there. She's 7. Pink is her favorite color. Some people love it, some are like 'it's too much.' The pink is really over-the-top-pink but I definitely think it's cute."

"A.J. and I had a lot of great times here with the kids," reflects Burruss about her ex-fiance Ashley "A.J." Jewell, who died last month from complications arising from injuries sustained during a physical altercation. "I'd be cooking on the grill and he'd get out there and go swimming with the kids. One or two times I did jump in there. The kids love swimming. The pool is what sold me on the house." Pictured is the sunroom, one of her favorite rooms.

Burruss, a Grammy-winning songwriter and singer, displays her awards in the studio she built in her guest house. "Shortly after [a] party here a few years ago, somebody broke in and took my plaques," shares Burruss. "Some couldn't be replaced, for instance the TLC plaque for their 'FanMail' album." The collection of stolen original plaques were recently returned by a `Real Housewives' viewer who saw the episode with Burruss and A.J. installing replacement plaques.

"When that episode [aired] a woman called a radio station to say she had my plaques. Isn't that crazy!? For the last couple of years she's had my plaques on her wall," laughs Burruss." She just decided she wanted me to have them back. She was a nice lady; no, she didn't ask for an autograph," offers Burruss. "I wanted to say to her, 'why would you have my plaques on your wall?' She had her children with her so I wasn't going to give her the third degree, I was just happy to get them back."

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Kandi Burruss, the newest cast member of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" reality TV show, reflects on her first season on the show in between filming the reunion shows (part one airs Oct. 29): "People didn't really catch me in a lot of drama on the show. Me and the girls didn't really know each other that well for me to really involve myself in a lot of stuff that was going on. What you see is in my personal life, which is real." Burruss poses in the living room of her home in Fayetteville.

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