Friday, August 13, 2010

SHELTER Sets: Somewhere Pink To Land



Well, come on in! Welcome to the apartment home of Greg and Joan Harris (nee Holloway), wonderfully sourced and styled by the talented Amy Wells and her team at Mad Men.

It is definitely girly, all done up in coral pink and seafoam green. Or in other words, shades of red and green. You do remember that the former Joan Holloway got married during the Christmas season, right?

Add in some cream, turquoise, gold accents, robin's egg blue in the kitchen, lavender or lilac in the bedroom, and you have Joan's complete interior color scheme for her amazing pink apartment.

So, let's start with that sumptuous floor pillow Joanie is lounging on above. Easy-peasy to replicate with some damask fabric and the same kind of trim which can be found at any fabric store, some 30 decades later. How about a mix and match of the two below?



Wrights trims


In this view, we can see the green graphic patterned drapes alongside shorter cream or eggshell colored sheers; a gilded oval mirror, candle sconces, and her cream painted dining set with cane back chairs. Notice that her walls are in a deep coral (or salmon) and that the trim is that color that landlords still stick you with today, Antique White/Apartment Beige (or as it's called in the U.K, Magnolia). At least she has the wall-to-wall seafoam green carpet to augment her color scheme.

  • The painted piece near the dining table stands in for a bar and seems to have a faux shagreen finish on the sides and gold detailing. Anyone know what this piece is called or what the furniture style is?

  • Gilded gold round coffee table with inset glass resting on three chunky legs.

General Electric refrigerator for S. 3 and newer one for S.4


  • Season 3 had the most adorable refrigerator ever! It took quite a while to source this one! Luckily, it was distinctive because of the vertical handle, separate freezer compartment on the bottom, slightly raised middle section on top and the deep channeled detailing down the center. It looks like it could be either a General Electric Deluxe PB6-40 or just a B6-40. Now whether or not they kept the same designs for years, may mean that this model is as old as the 1940-50s. Perhaps MM noticed that too because Season 4 shows a different, less-cute refrigerator.



  • Remember those nubby sofas? What was that fabric and why was it so hard to clean?
  • Here we see a coral armchair in a different style than the cream damask club chair seen in the earlier picture.
  • I love that pale wood TV cabinet on hairpin wire legs and the lovely turquoise bowl/ashtray on top.
  • Also do you notice the painted street scene? A very similar one is seen in her new office this season, I wonder if she brought it from home or bought herself a new one?



  • Gilded faux bamboo bar cart with turquoise and gold tipped glasses like these.

  • An unique folding buffet tray for appetizers. I used to have a wooden sewing basket that was constructed just like this. Here's one by Karoff that I found online at A La Modern. I'm tempted to believe it's the same one that Mad Men bought. Others can still be found on eBay and Etsy.


Karoff buffet tray


  • A better look at the abstract patterned barkcloth curtains at the back of the room next to the plant.
  • A closer view of those nubby, uncomfortable sofas? We had two otherwise lovely Danish armchairs recovered in that fabric (almost the same color too) when I was a teen. They originally were in tufted black leather...le sigh.
  • Notice Joan's gold-tipped tea service and canape server. You can tell that she studied entertaining from her copy of Emily Post.
  • I wish we could see those hanging light fixtures better though.


Red pearl Crucianelli accordion.

Lookee! Here's Joanie's color scheme from a 1952 print ad for DUCO paints from DuPont.



Images: Courtesy of Tom & Lorenzo (Thank you SO much guys!), A La Modern, Retro Renovation

*Links to two online versions of Etiquette: in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home, 1922.

10 comments:

thefabledneedle (jen) said...

i love her apartment too! it's so feminine. (coral is one of my favorite colors too. it's so "old school.") i'm glad you've posted it. :)

you know what i don't love? or should i say who - her husband!

ATG said...

I love how the coral walls complement her red head.

pamma said...

wow!
Your research and detail was fabulous!!
I am very impressed!
Very enjoyable.

Kaitlin Kroeger said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
C Carroll Adams, PhD said...

With all due respect to the very talented Amy Wells, we all need to remember the very talented Dan Bishop is the production Designer on Mad Men.

Bryan said...

Thanks so much for mentioning the Karoff tray! We're huge Mad Men fans, but for some reason we had missed seeing it in that episode so we didn't realize until recently that it was very similar to the one used in the show. It's truly amazing the amount of effort and attention to detail all the set decorators and production designers for the show put in.

Denise@thebluegardenia.com said...

I love her apartment and find myself wishing my walls were that color. Thanks for the fab post!

The Nest on the Hill said...

Love Joan and love this post!

Anonymous said...

ugh, this was really good. now im going to have to look at your entire site and i've already wasted so much time on the internet today. what a great post!!!

Pat Coffey said...

The fridge in Jopan's apartment in seasoon 4 is a circa 1955 Sears Coldspot....You gotta just LOOOOVE that door handle......