There’s usually a basket of flip-flops by the back door. When you wander outside—maybe down to the water, as this (amazingly) is the only house in all of Palm Beach that has a private beach—you can slide your toes into a mismatched pair and shuffle off with a good book and forget about the world for a while.

There are usually dog toys here and there: on the floor beneath the new Rashid Johnson triptych that hangs in the front hall; or under the 18-foot custom lacquer dining table the morning after a dinner party with the Hilfigers or Jon Bon Jovi and his wife; or wedged under an upholstered cardamom-colored chair in the elegant lounge, never to be seen again.

There are cups on the counter and feet on the coffee table. It’s not that the house is ever messy, but there is movement. A life. A family. A home.

“We looked at some of the houses built after Covid, and they were monstrosities,” says Sylvester Stallone of the search that led to this house. “Monumental structures, but none of them embraced you or made you feel warm. You felt as though you were in a hotel lobby.”

Then he and his wife of 28 years, Jennifer Flavin, looked at the 2014 house that would become their primary residence two years ago, and thought, “Finally.” The high ceilings and big windows made it ideal for displaying paintings in natural light, but more importantly, it was what Flavin calls “a livable size.”

They went to work making it feel like their own. “I’ve always made every house we’ve ever had a home,” she adds. “I don’t care if someone spills something. I can replace the rug or get it cleaned. We have three dogs and a cat and lots of children—nothing we own is precious. Our family is precious, but the material things are not precious.”

Living Room, Dining Room, Screening Room, Lounge and Bathroom, Primary Suite, Exterior

The Stallones (from left): Scarlet, Sistine, Jennifer Flavin, Sylvester, and Sophia.

After trying out a few local decorators, they turned to an interior designer they’d worked with in California, Martyn Lawrence Bullard. The Los Angeles–based designer is a bit of a chameleon in the best way: He adapts his inimitable taste to each client’s personality so that, somehow, both shine through. “There are a million different looks in what I’ve done,” he says. “Restoring an 18th-century house or doing a ’70s-disco style apartment for Elton John, or this house—I like to decorate for the person and the personality rather than for some theme of my choosing.”

In this case, that meant durable beauty. “The house was given a loungy vibe. All of the custom pieces are deep and comfortable, and the fabrics used—while mainly in a light palette—are all performance fabrics, designed to withstand family life and dogs and parties,” says Bullard, who knew the home was as much for the couple—and their three grown, coming-and-going daughters—to live as it was a showplace for Stallone’s formidable art collection. (He started collecting when he was just 16, around the time he himself started painting; one of his earliest big acquisitions cost him $15.)

The hall’s rotating gallery features works by George Condo, Rashid Johnson, and Sterling Ruby

A long hall was left uncluttered because the art deserves all your attention. Stallone likes to swap out paintings regularly, a curator of his own home, guided by whim and pleasure—and the occasional boredom.

“I consider it like a wardrobe,” the star says of his collection. “You can only wear the same shirt so many times before you go, ‘God, I’d like to see if this other color works [with it].’ With art, you can take a piece that you’ve become…maybe not blasé about, but you’re not exactly overwhelmed by it anymore. You move that piece to another room—now you’re invigorated! It’s like furniture: messing around, moving it around, constantly restimulating our minds.”

A Damien Hirst mosaic and a George Condo abstract adorn mirrored walls in the dining room; the plaster and lacquer table is custom, and the chandelier is by Trueing. “At night the room really sparkles,” Bullard says.

That’s what this house does: It restimulates. It invigorates. An early-career Mondrian inspires you as you enter the home gym, alive with tortoise mural wallpaper. That custom electric-blue dining table draws its energy from a mighty Damien Hirst mosaic at the head of the room. Even for a simple room divider, Bullard avoided the opacity of a wall and commissioned Galerie Glustin in Paris to create hanging geometric chains you can see through.

There is a clear sense that these three collaborators knew exactly what they were doing, and understood the “why” behind the design. First, there’s Flavin, a glamorous, roll-with-it mom who exudes good humor and has extraordinary taste.

And there’s Stallone, one of the biggest stars in movie history (and now television—while the house was being photographed for this story, he was out of town shooting Season 3 of his hit show, Tulsa King), as well as a serious collector, husband, dad, and a man who says things like, “My wife gets back there and plays bartender when people come over. I play bouncer, and I throw myself out.” And of course, Bullard, an artist whose easy charm belies a fierce sense of purpose and the most cunning of eyes.

Stallone befriended the artist LeRoy Neiman and would cast him in the Rocky movies—for instance, as a ring announcer—in exchange for paintings, like these three large works surrounding the screening room bar.

The “why” is because our homes grow and age and live with us; they’re where we have hard conversations at the kitchen table and where we dance in the living room and where we can call out “Goodnight” and hear our people holler it back from down the hall. Here, on any given evening, that’s what you’ll find between these walls: Jennifer frying up chicken cutlets in the kitchen, Sly mixing cocktails, and at least one of the girls working out in the gym—all of it proof that, with the right design, fine art and real life coexist beautifully.

And if you need a respite, step outside. There’s a basket of flip-flops by the back door.

Entry

Sylvester Stallone Palm Beach Home Entry

Living Room

Sylvester Stallone Palm Beach Home Living Room

Andy Warhol portraits of Stallone, created while he was filming Rocky III (top) and Nighthawks, hang in his living room; the curvy lounge chair is by Holly Hunt with Dedar fabric.

Dining Room

Sylvester Stallone Palm Beach Home Dining Room

A custom brass table with cobalt accents (Studio Van Den Akker) invites more intimate gatherings within the large dining room. Artwork, George Condo.

Screening Room

Sylvester Stallone Palm Beach Home Screening Room

“A man and his TV is a special relationship,” Stallone half-jokes of the 19-foot LED screen in the screening room, which Flavin calls “the movie house.” Chandelier, Ralph Lauren for Visual Comfort.

Sylvester Stallone Palm Beach Home Screening Room

“The screening room definitely has a theme,” Stallone says. “It’s about where I came from.” Among his mementos: the knife from First Blood, his robe from Rocky, and—in a glass case—his original, Oscar-nominated Rocky screenplay.

Gym

Sylvester Stallone Palm Beach Home Gym

Pool

Sylvester Stallone Palm Beach Home Pool

The house “throws you right out into nature,” Stallone says. For example, the keyhole pool extending from the glass doors of the gym points toward the beach.

Lounge and Bathroom

At left, the lounge’s de Gournay mural depicts lurking jungle cats, a nod to Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” the theme of Rocky III. At right, a 1970s Italian mirror and a metallic wallcovering (Phillip Jeffries) radiate warmth in a bathroom.

Primary Suite

At left, Jonathan Gardner painting hangs over an earthy red sofa (MLB Atelier) in the primary bedroom. At right, the primary bathroom is its own soothing waterfront oasis.

Exterior

Sylvester Stallone Palm Beach Home Exterior

The house is spacious but not necessarily humongous. “It doesn’t have eight living rooms for no reason,” Bullard says. Stallone adds, “When we saw it, it automatically felt inviting.” According to the designer, the Stallones’ home is the only one in Palm Beach with a private beach.

Featured in our September/October 2025 issue. Interior Design by Martyn Lawrence Bullard; Photography by Douglas Friedman; Styling by Jenny O'Connor; Written by Ryan D'Agostino.