They decided to buy the Malibu home despite its utter dreariness. At the time, Jane Seymour and her husband, James Keach, joked that it was “a great place for a suicide or a horror movie.”

A FAVORITE ROOM Now that she’s worked her magic, Seymour can’t bear to single out her favorite room. When pressed, she mentions the living room first, for its tall, airy space that plays to its ocean and garden views. Then she contemplates the cozy “kitchen den” they carved out, saying, “When we have parties, for some reason everyone always ends up in there.” But wait—her master bedroom comes to mind. She calls it her “sanctuary.”

It’s a pleasantly difficult decision, thanks to Seymour’s honed ability to take a space that evokes the horror genre and transform it into something straight out of a fantasy. This talent has come naturally, since she was a little girl in England experimenting with embroidery and fabric scraps. “It’s just an eye I had, and a desire I had to make things look good, to play with color and texture,” she explains.

AN INTEREST IN ALL OF THE ARTS Although fame first came with the craft of acting, on TV shows such as Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and movies including Somewhere in Time, Seymour’s creativity hardly stopped there. She’s hands-on involved with the company she created, Jane Seymour Home Collection, and has come into her own as a fine artist. Her paintings are still lifes of the things that surround her: flowers, the pottery she has collected, the beach.

UNLOCKING PERSONAL STYLE She’s also written a book about unlocking your unique style (Making Yourself at Home, DK Publishing, 2007). Her comfortable but stylish home is featured, as well as the things that inspire her life and art: her family, her garden and the sea and beach that add an ever-changing landscape of hues right outside her window. She knows a thing or two about interior design because she has remodeled and decorated nine Beverly Hills area homes that sold promptly—all fully furnished. Seymour views her home as yet another canvas on which to create, over and over again.

“One minute my living room has got seashells and it’s really speaking to the outdoors; the next minute it’s got bright, vibrant color—orchids in a blue-glass vase, a colorful painting on the mantelpiece,” she says. “Then maybe I’ll pull out my pre-Columbian collection or fake pre-Columbian collection and make what I call tablescapes, and suddenly now we’ve got a feeling more of the desert. You really can change it out all the time. It’s so much fun.”

JANE'S COLOR PALETTE Making Yourself at Home offers color palette examples based on the rooms, displays and items in Jane’s home. Use her examples or create your own.

• Seek inspiration. Find something that speaks to you—a classic painting, some fabric, your garden. Anything you’re drawn to will do.
• Analyze. Notice the different colors in your selection. Choose a few you love.
• Play. Try different colors and shades of the same color together. Use a color wheel to test complementary and triad colors too.
• Get grounded. Select from three to five colors, including one neutral color as a base. There’s your palette!

TRUSTING YOUR INSTINCTS Seymour thrives on such re-creation, and to accommodate this need, she’s learned to start with an adaptable base of neutral tones and comfortable furniture. From that base she accessorizes with an eclectic, accessible style sprung from studying art and traveling, as well as having a home full of children. She’s learned to fully trust her instincts, whether scouring flea markets, as she often did with the late June Carter Cash, or traveling the world. “I allowed myself to see something and say, ‘I really like that,’ then look at it and figure out what it was about it I really liked.”

COLLECT WHAT YOU LOVE If Seymour likes it, it finds a place in her home. She follows her heart when it comes to her collections. And every room in her home is evidence of this love. Her unique items include shelves of vibrant pottery acquired while in El Salvador with UNICEF, a hodgepodge of silver that’s both family heirlooms and antique-store finds, and a large, serene reclining Buddha scored at an Asian flea market— and they all live happily together.

Seymour colors and coordinates every detail of every room with love. Don’t ask her to pick a favorite.