When You See Ellen Pompeo's Home You'll Understand Why She's a Homebody

An inviting seating area is anchored with a lush velvet sofa. "The furniture tells a story once it's been lived in. That's what makes a house a home. I'm a straight-up homebody. It's hard to get me out of the house once the sun goes down," Ellen told Good Housekeeping.

"My home is a place to have a good time with the kids. I had such a painful childhood and have such a happy family life now," explains the actress, whose mother passed away suddenly she was just five. "The house represents [my family] because it's hip but also comfortable."

"Everything about the house needed to be refreshed. The gardens, especially. There were no gardens. It was just a yard full of dirt," Ellen told Good Housekeeping. "So to build the gardens was so fun, something that I had never done before. I'm still not finished, I'll keep adding to it. To be able to have all the fruit trees and the chickens and everything, I think it's so nice for the kids. I think everything I did outside was with the girls in mind."

Read what else Ellen has to say about her home, family, Grey's Anatomy, and more in the September issue of Good Housekeeping.