Devon Sawa bellies up to the coffee bar in his ‘chill room’
Sometimes, Devon Sawa just wants a bit of coffee and quiet.
When he’s not filming his role in the drama “Somewhere Between†— now airing on ABC — the actor is facing off against the occasional creepy crawly in his Calabasas home, running into the Kardashians at the local Starbucks or stumbling over toys left by son Hudson, 3, and daughter Scarlett, 1.
Sawa, also known for his turns in the 1995 ghost caper “Casper†and the CW series “Nikita,†finds respite in the 4,000-square-foot, five-bedroom property he also shares with his wife, Dawni Sahanovitch.
He ducks into his so-called “chill room†— a coffee bar stocked with espresso machines and all the lounge furniture a busy dad could desire.
Why a coffee bar?
I grew up in a predominantly Italian neighborhood. I’m a big coffee guy — I actually drink way too much of it. I’m trying to cut back. But you don’t exactly have a drink when you’re reading a script — I’m more espresso and chill.
Besides drinking coffee, what else do you use the room for?
This is where I go to read scripts and learn lines. The rest of the house is littered with every kind of toy you can imagine, which is a good thing! But this is my workroom. There’s a very strong baby gate that keeps the kids out. But my son’s almost 4, and he’s starting to climb.
Was the space already an in-house café when you bought the house?
It used to be a regular mahogany bar. We ripped it apart and painted it. The guys we bought from had everything in the house but a stripper pole. There was a pool table. Somewhere along the way, it had become very ’80s. It was not really classy.
The former owners had put drywall over the double-sided fireplace. We brought it back to life, made it modern and comfortable.
If you had to allow someone into the private sanctum, would it be Christina Ricci or Jonathan Taylor Thomas?
Oooh. Probably Christina. We’ve spent a lot more time together and were really good friends back in the day. But I miss JTT too.
What kind of décor is there?
There’s the Saturn Award I won for “Final Destination.†The hand from “Idle Hands†is here, and an autographed glove from Mike Tyson. There’s always a pile of comic books — “X-Men,†“Walking Dead,†the new “Star Wars†stuff. And “Spider-Man,†which has been dear to me ever since I was a kid.
I hear you had a rather large eight-legged guest on the property.
The tarantula was pretty crazy. My wife called the bug guy, who said it was a nice tarantula and that we could pet it if we liked.
You live in Calabasas, home to many a reality TV star. How often do you run into the Kardashians?
We actually see the Kardashians a lot in the Starbucks line. They’re surprisingly very, very nice people. You see all the who’s who of the Calabasas crowd.
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