Neil Patrick Harris is a successful actor. For decades, he's starred in hits from 1989's "Doogie Howser, M.D.," to CBS's "How I Met Your Mother" and Netflix's "A Series of Unfortunate Events." He even snagged a Tony in 2014 for his performance in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." All that fame comes with a fortune too — he raked in $18 million in 2014, according to Forbes.
But there is one surprising aspect of life that Harris is frugal about: home decor.
"I refuse to spend a lot of money on furniture or on home furnishings," Harris tells CNBC Make It, while co-hosting a Capital One Savor credit card launch even in Manhattan, New York on Sept. 13 with his husband, celebrity chef David Burtka.
"We have dogs and children...so as much as I appreciate that rug is really interesting and nice, I know that dogs will inevitably soil it and that children will spill on it," says Harris, who is dad with Burtka to 7-year-old twins Gideon and Harper.
It's "going to get beaten up," Harris adds. "Like a coffee table; it's going to get rings of water on it no matter how hard you try. So why not get the coffee table from Overstock.com?"
Burtka interjects to clarify.
"We have mix and match. Like we don't furnish our house with all Overstock.com, but different pieces," Burtka says. (According to Overstock.com, the couple have no affiliation with the brand but is happy they are fans, a spokesperson tells CNBC Make It.)
"One hundred percent," Harris says. "But I just don't understand the logic of filling your house with furniture that's super antique and expensive, because I've never known anyone that then resells their armoire, unless they're like really down on their luck."
To be fair, antiques, including armiores, can sell for thousands of dollars on the secondary market. And if Harris and Burtka are shopping on Overstock, they are definitely mixing it with high-end; in 2015, the pair gave Architectural Digest a look inside their townhouse in Harlem in Manhattan, New York, which featured leather sofas, Jonathan Adler light fixtures (which can run from hundreds to more than $1,000), an Annie Lapin painting (an artist whose works can sell for tens of thousands of dollars) and a high end kitchen (though Burtka is a professionally trained chef).
Or perhaps Harris is referring to decor of their East Hampton, New York house.
Whatever the case, Harris isn't the only celebrity to work in down-to-earth decor. "Real Housewives of New York City" star Bethenny Frankel is a fan too. "[It's] a little bit like fashion or getting dressed and wanting to look good, but not break the bank. It's about highs and lows," Frankel tells CNBC Make It. "You have to pick your spots."
When Frankel re-modeled her 3,400-square-foot Tribeca apartment in Manhattan, which she bought in 2011, she mixed high and low by using designer fabrics and custom wallpapers from Ted Tyler, along with off-the-shelf finds from affordable retailers like Ikea and CB2, according to Traditional Home.
As for Harris, a mix-and-match style also seems to speak to Harris and Burtka's life: On Harris' Instagram feed, amid the photos with celebrities and pictures of the couple in fancy tuxedos are shots of homemade birthday cards from his kids and family dinners.
Plus, there is one other thing the pair admit they have a hard time spending a lot of money for: "Room service is a hard thing to pay for," Burtka, who is a chef, admits.
"That's like oatmeal for $12? That makes me mad."
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