Meg Ryan’s passion goes well beyond acting, as he star enjoys renovating homes because it allows her to further explore her creativity.

The actress, who recently gave her home a drastic makeover, had worked on eight other renovations and says these projects make her feel “in control.”

She told Architectural Digest magazine: “I know it sounds crazy to most people, the idea of renovating that many houses. But I love renovating. I think it’s tied to living the actor’s life.”

The star appreciates these projects because, according to her, actors are rarely ever in control of their own work.

She continued: “As an actor, you are so rarely in control. You’re always saying words that someone else has given you, standing in a room that someone else has designed, to create a reality that someone else wants to see. But with decorating I am in control; it’s a chance for me to bring my vision into the world.”

And Meg, who has a 24-year-old son with ex-husband Dennis Quaid, had been excited about the loft for a while after visiting it several years earlier. The place once looked completely different, but she was instantly attracted to its “volume.”

“It was all quite different back then, and the space had been through many eras. At one point Cindy Sherman had used it for her photo studio. In fact, what’s now my coatroom was her darkroom. But even when I had visited all those years ago, I was amazed by the volume. It was like so much of New York: cinematic. That’s what attracted me. That’s what I wanted to work with.”