Inside the Home Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux Created Together

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux‘s Bel Air estate is a love nest no more.

The actors announced on Thursday that they have separated after two-and-a-half years of marriage and seven years together, PEOPLE confirms.

They shared their home — which Aniston purchased in 2011 for a reported $21 million — with the world in the current issue of Architectural Digest.

“It was about the time that she and Justin got together,” says Aniston’s longtime interior designer, Stephen Shadley, of the purchase in a video interview with AD.

“She was conflicted about selling [her former Beverly Hills home], but wanted to move on in her life,” he says. “I think it was just like, let’s try and look for something together,”

“She was ready to turn the page — new home, new life with Justin,” adds the magazine’s editor-in-chief Amy Astley, noting, “They chose this house as a couple.”

WATCH THIS: Jennifer Aniston’s Interior Designer Talks About Working with the Actress and Ex Justin Theroux on Their Bel Air Home

Aniston and Theroux spent two years executing a top-to-bottom renovation on the modern, minimalist property and decorated it together with help from Shadley. The collaboration was a struggle at first for Aniston, who had designed her previous home solo.

RELATED ARTICLE: Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux Split ‘Lovingly’ After Two Years of Marriage

“Justin definitely wanted to be involved, so there was a bit of a learning curve for me on how to include another voice in the design process,” she admits in the feature. “For instance, I figured out that immediately saying ‘No!’ to any suggestion is not the most collaborative move.”

Shadley notes, “When you bring these two sort of disparate backgrounds together and you’re forming this union, it’s a lot of give and take on both sides. And I think she learned a lot.”

Aniston spoke happily about the home and her relationship in the feature, saying, “There was a time when I thought there was something romantic about picking up and trotting off somewhere different every three months. Now I’m becoming more particular about the projects I take,” she says. “I look around at my husband and my dogs and our home, and there’s nowhere else I want to be.”

In a statement, the former couple “say their split was ‘mutual and lovingly made at the end of last year.’”The two spent quite a bit of time apart in recent months raising questions. Theroux was often spotted in New York City away from their L.A. home.