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When Alicia Silverstone first laid eyes on her Los Angeles home 27 years ago, it didn’t look much like the glamorous hideaway of a rising Hollywood star.

But for the 19-year-old, the modest house tucked into a winding canyon road high above the city did call to mind another leading lady: “It felt like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” she says. “It was all woods and overgrown and madness, and it had a wild feeling. It was perfect.” 

Much like the forest-dwelling Disney princess, the actress, author and activist, now 46, has cultivated a way of life here that is in harmony with the natural world that surrounds her.

While there may not be any bluebirds landing on her finger, on a sunny Monday in June, there is the soft buzz of her bees audible from a sun-soaked deck, from which she can also pluck a massive avocado off a fruit-laden tree. Around the corner, there’s a blueberry bush she planted for her 12-year-old son Bear when he was little, and a steep hillside strawberry patch that she bravely harvests in a pair of Birkenstocks. 

Her edible garden is just one of many sustainable features of the home that Silverstone (who next appears in the Netflix thriller Reptile this fall) has been optimizing to be as earth-friendly as possible for nearly three decades.

“I’m extremely conscious of the choices I make, so that my impact is as little as possible and I tread as lightly on the earth as I can. I take a lot of pride in that,” she explains. “It just really makes me hap- py knowing that I don’t have to sacrifice beauty here. I don’t have to have things not be lovely” in order to be green.

There are solar panels on the roof and a gray water system that funnels safe waste water from the sinks and showers to provide passive irrigation to the garden. (“When I take a bath or a shower or wash my hands in the sink, all of that water is feeding my fruit trees,” she says.)

The facade is clad in perfectly weathered reclaimed barn wood and covered in a barely visible netting — the result of a years-long cold war with woodpeckers that were hammering holes in the house.

”You know how much I love animals but I strongly considered how I could take them out,” she jokes. “I did everything to try and make these guys go away. I had shiny things hanging, fake owls around, crazy sound machines. Finally, the solution was the mesh."

Even her fridge is stocked with plant-based snacks (she’s followed a strict vegan diet since 1998), and the built-in water filtration system means she can fill up reusable glass bottles from the sink tap.

The arrival of her son, with then-husband, musician Christopher Jarecki, in 2011 inspired many of the changes to both the structure and the way she lives in it.

“Bear inspired me to take care of all the things that I needed to do, that I was supposed to do when I was 19,” she says.

She was determined to make the house not just functional, but as healthy and safe as possible. All the wood and paint used in the remodel is non-toxic and almost all of the furniture is vintage.

When looking for any household item, she says, “I start with gently used. If I can’t find something used, then I go to eco—something new that’s made with sustainable materials.” 

But just because it’s “very rare” she buys something off the shelf, doesn’t mean she isn’t shopping.

Silverstone makes regular trips to Texas’s famed Round Top Antiques Fair to source pieces, often with the help of her friend, photographer and Magnolia Network star Amy Neunsinger, who she says has the perfect “French farmhouse” style she hopes to emulate. She also browses eBay, local vintage stores and admits to returning from her international travels with suitcases full of antique finds. 

And while she owns up to being indecisive about some design decisions (“I’m a Libra”), she says, “Every choice is made with the intention to have it last as long as possible.”

The pair of loveseats in a sun-faded Rachel Ashwell floral pattern on her second floor landing, for example, are from a photo shoot she did for InStyle magazine “a hundred years ago.” And she once dug through a wood yard with another friend, The L Word star Leisha Hailey, to find the perfect reclaimed beam that would be the centerpiece of her kitchen for years to come. 

Asked what makes this house feel like home to her, Silverstone goes quiet. “I’ve been here for a long time. And I’ve touched every little bit of it so much. I’ve put so much time and energy and love and stress in it. I have no reason to leave."

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