Good Morning, Sunshine

At her charming, color-splashed house in the hills of los angeles,actress michelle monaghan and her family embrace each day with a healthy dose of homemade fun.

- Degen Pener

When Michelle Monaghan and her husband, graphic designer Peter White, moved to Los Angeles from New York eight years ago, one of the things they most loved about their new home was the splendid view east toward the San Bernardino Mountains. “This house has beautiful light, and we get incredible sunrises,” says the actress. “You can see the rays coming up from behind the ridge.”

Little did the couple imagine that welcoming the day would turn into a family ritual. Since having two children—daughter Willow is 7, and son Tommy is 2—the sunrise has become something they savor together every day. Early in the morning, the kids tiptoe into the master bedroom to spy those first rays. “Willow is like, ‘Mommy, here it comes. Here it comes.’ There’s this orange glow that fills the room, and it’s magical,” says Monaghan. The family takes pictures and plays music too. “Sometimes we put on ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by the Beatles, and sometimes it’s Taylor Swift’s ‘Welcome to New York’ on Willow’s request—even though we’re clearly in L.A. Something about that song gets you up and moving,” says the actress, who stars in the Hulu series The Path, a drama about a couple who have joined a religious cult. (On a professional roll, she was also nominated last year for a Golden Globe for her role in HBO’s True Detective.)