Hollywood actress Mila Kunis has a new—and unique—job to add to her resumé, one that is far less glamorous than the on-screen roles she is best known for: the head of her local homeowners association.
The 42-year-old “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” star opened up about the position in a new interview, revealing the amusing reactions she gets from both locals and contractors when they realize who it is they’re talking to about various neighborhood issues.
Kunis, who lives in a custom-built sustainable farmhouse in Beverly Hills with her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, and their two children, told the Wall Street Journal that she takes her duties as the HOA head very seriously, admitting that she mostly spends her time fielding complaints about “noise” and “trash.”
“I’m the head of the homeowners association in our neighborhood,” she shared. “I take the complaints. If you have a complaint about someone’s trash or if you have a noise complaint, you complain to me.”
As for how her neighbors react when they learn who it is they are filing their grievances with, the “Family Guy” star noted that many of them are unimpressed by her celebrity status, since they are so used to encountering celebrities in Los Angeles.
“They’re desensitized—it is L.A.,” she explained—but noted that she gets a much more amusing response from those she has to chase down for repairs or other projects.
“The funnier part is when I have to call someone to look at the road because it is eroding or something, and then they show up and start laughing. I’m like, ‘I know this is ridiculous, but please, can you give me a quote on this?'” she joked.
Typically, homeowners associations are private organizations that oversee the maintenance and management of residential communities, including gated neighborhoods, condo buildings, and co-ops, and handle everything from repairs to communal amenities to trash pickup.
The head of an HOA is largely responsible for managing this work, while also overseeing and leading association meetings.
Kunis and Kutcher’s property is located in the guard-gated community of Bella Vista Estates, which is widely known as one of the wealthiest and most secure neighborhoods in L.A.
They also own a stunning beach house in Carpinteria, CA, on which they have been carrying out significant renovations that will more than double the size of the dwelling.
Kunis did not reveal which HOA she is involved in; however, the association is likely based in her Beverly Hills neighborhood, where she and her husband own an extraordinary farmhouse that they spent several years building on an enormous plot of land that Kutcher purchased for $8 million in 2007.
The couple broke ground on the dwelling in 2017, and the resulting property features a main house, a two-story guesthouse, and a pavilion.
Speaking about the inspiration for the home, which sits on a 6-acre parcel, Kunis previously revealed during an appearance on “Live With Kelly and Ryan” that it all began with a very “obnoxious” design item: a 10-foot-long chandelier.
“This is how this house happened,” she explained. “So we built this house, and it was all designed around this chandelier that we found so obnoxious, that we had in a previous house.”
The couple knew immediately that the piece had to be featured in their property, but they wanted to come up with a way to make it appear less pretentious, she continued. So, they asked themselves: “How do we make this chandelier less obnoxious? Let’s put a barn around it!”
Despite the cheeky remark, the couple took on a serious, multiyear project that resulted in a modern farmhouse design dubbed KuKu Farms and is an “only in L.A.” take on low-key luxury. The jaw-dropping result was featured in Architectural Digest, in which they opened up about the design ethos they followed when creating the property.
“We wanted a home, not an estate,” Kunis told the publication.
“We wanted the house to look like an old barn, something that had been here for decades, that was then converted into a house,” Kutcher added. “But it also had to feel modern and relevant.”
The couple filled their hilltop home with many eco-friendly elements, including photovoltaics that span the length of the main structure and produce more power than the property requires.
Other dazzling details such as reclaimed oak wood floors, board-form concrete walls, 19-foot sliding glass windows, and exposed wood-beam ceilings make the property a standout.
For the two owners, their attention to detail in the home meant a serene space once finished.
“To feel tranquility in a space, everything needs to be in order,” Kutcher told AD. “If the world around you isn’t in order, it’s hard to get your brain in order. When we’re in our home, the world just makes sense.”
Meanwhile, in Carpinteria, the couple is in the process of completing a massive overhaul of their beachfront home, which they purchased for $10.1 million in 2017 but is now worth upward of $17 million, according to Realtor.com® estimates.
Pictures taken as recently as March showed the beginnings of the mammoth project, capturing a bare patch of land where a cottage once sat—with bulldozers seen leveling the area in preparation for a new structure.
Meanwhile, a large second-story porch and ground-floor covered deck that previously spanned out from the back of the main home were also razed to make way for the new addition.
A planning application that was submitted to the Santa Barbara County Clerk’s office in March 2024 shed some light on Kutcher and Kunis’ plans for the property—revealing that they were seeking a coastal development permit to complete the project.
Per documentation filed as part of that request, the renovations include the demolition of the day cottage that previously sat on the property and the construction of a “2,146-square-foot two-story addition and remodel to the existing 2,359-square-foot two-story single family dwelling.”
The couple are also planning to put a pool and “inset spa” in the backyard, while also building a pool deck and a boardwalk, as well as a trellis.
“Landscaping, outdoor lighting, and other site improvements” are also noted among the plans.
It’s unclear whether their decision to renovate the home—which they purchased via an LLC—was motivated by the impact of severe flooding in the area, which took place between December 2022 and March 2023.
The floods led to mudslides, which saw the couple’s once-lush property turned into a veritable swamp. Images taken at the time revealed that the waterway, which runs alongside the property, had risen to dangerous levels and was filled with sludge and debris.
At the end of the renovation, the extended property will offer 4,505 square feet of living space, while the two plots of land that currently make up the dwelling will be “merged in coordination with the County Surveyor’s Office,” according to the planning application.
It is not known whether any structural damage was caused to Kunis and Kutcher’s dwelling during the natural event.
The dramatic overhaul of the property comes less than two years after Kutcher and Kunis offered one lucky fan the chance to spend the night in their day cottage while teaming up with vacation rental company Airbnb.
In the listing for the one-night rental—which was available only on Aug. 19, 2023—the cottage, which has now been demolished, was described as being able to accommodate four guests in two bedrooms.
“Our Santa Barbara County beach house is our home away from home, especially when we’re in need of some R&R (you fellow parents know what we’re talking about),” the couple wrote in the listing.
“Steps from the beach, and with beautiful views of the Santa Ynez mountains, you’ll find no shortage of sights and plenty of activities to make for an unforgettable summer stay.”