Oprah Winfrey is gutting her Santa Barbara home because it is too grand.

The TV show host is unhappy with the decor of her beachside residence in California and has decided to spend three months and several million dollars on a makeover.

Writing in O magazine, she said: "The gilded mirrors, marble urns, the lavish carpets and sherbet palette - it was all very grand. But it wasn't very true to myself.

"And there you have it: the thing that had been missing from all of the beautiful places I'd ever lived in was me!"

Oprah also admitted she was most disappointed with the library in her home and wants to make it more user friendly.

She explained: "It's not easy to do an entire library that says, Do not touch the books. But somehow I managed.

"Maya Angelou once told me you can become either an old female or a wise woman.

"All I can tell you is that I'm evolving, my taste is, too, and someday soon this room will represent the person I've become."