SHELTER Sets: The New Normal

Note: NBC has cancelled this program but I still had a draft post for its set design, so here it is! In fact, here's a piece on the auction house, One Kings Lane that sold the remains.

I didn't get to watch it much because it was on the same time as some other show that probably got cancelled too but I still think Andrew Rannells is amazing. The main set, a Spanish Colonial Revival home for his character Bryan and his husband David is a gorgeous and believable abode for a the Monterey-based TV producer and a gynecologist. The house was based on the design and style of a 1920s home owned by Diane Keaton, perhaps because the show's creator Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story) owns another of her past homes.

Master Bedroom

Bryan and Tony shopping for props

Furnished and styled by set decorator Bryan Venegas and production designer Tony Fanning the New Normal home set is eclectic and full of leather, dark wood furniture and floors all accented by colorful tile and pottery. The rare and expensive Monterey furniture was replicated by an artisan woodworker.


Kitchen

Detail of kitchen island tile

Interesting tidbit gleaned from an L.A. Times article; the tile in the kitchen is fake. Trying to replicate the tile featured in Diane Keaton's kitchen would have been too expensive. Instead, they photographed the inspiration tiles and printed the images on medium-density fiberboard (MDF). They were then routed, grouted and sealed just like real tile. In another example of creative thriftiness, expensive pottery was crafted in foam and then painted to look like cement.

Home office

Dining room and home office

I don't know why more TV and film productions don't do things like that. If it looks the same on camera, why not? It helps the budget (in this case by thousands) and  the actors don't need the real thing. Win-win.

A detail from Georgia and Shania's cottage

However, the set I prefer on the show is not theirs but that of their baby surrogate and friend Goldie and her daughter Shania. It's compact one-room size with kitschy details, bright colors and its frugality is more my style. Too bad I couldn't find more photos of it.

Living room and bedroom

View from kitchen

Living room and kitchen

Images: One Kings Lane, NBC, Twentieth Century Fox

SHELTER Sets: Somewhere Pink To Land

With season 6 updates!

The last ever season of Mad Men has aired. While looking at all the retrospective articles, episode recaps, and fashion commentary, I also looked at the interiors of the Mad Men sets. With Joan Holloway-Harris' departure from McCann Erickson, a lot more of her scenes were staged in her little pink apartment. Even though most of the articles mentioned above spoke about how the characters had or had not changed in the last 10 years, one thing that did not change was her home. When I first put together this post, Joan was still a newlywed. Now, despite all her life changes in the past ten years and the fact that now her little boy and mother share the space, it miraculously looks the same. Check out some new pics and updated commentary (in blue) below.

Well, come on in! Welcome to the apartment home of Greg and Joan Harris (nee Holloway), wonderfully sourced and styled by the talented set decorator Amy Wells, production designer Dan Bishop* and their design teams 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. This would be easy to replicate with some damask fabric and the same kind of trim which can still be found at any fabric store, some 30 decades later. How about a mix and match of the two below from Wrights trims?


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.
  
  

  

  Season 6

• Season 6 shows an even newer refrigerator, in bright blue! What was Joan doing to those things? That seems to be a lot of wear and tear in just ten years.

• 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?

Season 6

• In season 6, Joan still has the same sofa. It is over ten years old and still covered in the same fabric. I find it hard to believe that with the huge increase in her salary this was never replaced. Every other character on the show has changed homes, some numerous times. However, Joan not only did not move but she had never changed anything in her apartment except a kitchen appliance or two? Puh-lease.
• Those turquoise drapes do not seem to have faded and the carpet has changed from a pale seafoam blue to cream, despite there being a child under ten living there.

Season 6

• Gilded faux bamboo bar cart with turquoise and gold tipped glasses. Of course, this made it to season 6!

• 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.

• I found many similar looking Italian-made Scandalli models before I could find a picture of a Crucianelli model like Joan's. Isn't it truly gorgeous?

Update: Picture of Joanie's bedroom, just ignore the exhausted diva in her jammies.

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

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

*Links to two online versions of Etiquette: in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home, 1922.
** He's a VCU alum too!

SHELTER Sets: Just Like Heaven

Remove the "girl in the table" and what else could you ask for?!

How come I don't remember any bloggers talking about the gorgeous apartment in the movie Just Like Heaven? I got home last night in time to see the last 30 minutes, but the movie (with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo) looks like something I might want to see again from the beginning. In that same 30 minutes, I fell in love with the characters' San Francisco apartment!

Look at that kitchen!

That bay window seat!

Unfortunately, I could only find a few film stills that show the apartment in the background. However, if you go to the movie's site and click on About The Movie, you can see this great shot of the living room into the kitchen.

If anyone knows of more images of the movie set, please let me know.

I also found a picture of the building that they used for the apartment's exterior.

What a gorgeous "wedding-cake" kind of place!

Images: DreamWorks Studio's' official film stills, exterior shot by g0ldnangel

SHELTER Sets: "I'll Be There For You..."

Recognize this room?

Do you recognize it now?

The One Where Ross Finds Out

Yup, it's Monica and Phoebe's --> Monica and Rachel's --> Chandler and Joey's to finally Monica and Chandler's huge apartment in New York City. Hmmm, the only person who never lived there was Ross...

Looking back at these pictures I don't think I ever realized how many different colors were in this apartment. How had I not noticed that the kitchen windows, ceiling, moldings, and lower cabinets were bright turquoise blue and the upper cabinets were yellow? The only thing I did remember was that the mismatched kitchen chairs were painted, and now it seems in the same yellow and a different shade of blue.

The hallway which led to the dark plum bathroom ended at a green closet door (the "secret closet") while the walls of the hallway and all other living room walls were a strong lavender color. How did they get away with that, without it looking like a carnival house?

Well, I guess to many people, it did look like a carnival. It was meant to show young women finding their style by using family hand-me-downs, thrift stores, a little DIY, and every once in a while splurging on actual antiques.

Key details for this look:

• Aubusson rug, probably bought at a thrift shop that did not know how much it was worth

The One With Barry and Mindy's Wedding

• TV console constructed from an actual antique buffet
• Lavender walls with molding that sometimes looked blue and at other times a very vivid purple

• White vintage refrigerator
• Pink tiled counter and brick-lined kitchen walls
• Decorative plates attached to the brick walls
• Blue-green painted window frames and molding in the small open kitchen
• Kitschy vintage fabric used for the kitchen, living room windows and as a sink skirt
• Mix-matched chairs either painted in different colors or unified by being the same color

Trivia: You know that little frame around the peephole? It was a mistake, not a design choice, it was originally a mirror that hung on the door that someone accidentally smashed during filming. I think it turned out to be the most iconic object in the whole apartment!

This apartment; the funky colors, feminine furnishings, and the use of large vintage florals make me think of these clippings that I have of designer Betsey Johnson's apartment in the late 90's. Not a bad style muse, huh?

*Some details and first picture from this article in STYLE at HOME magazine. Article was excerpted from Sitcom Style by Diana Friedman.

**Betsey Johnson home shots from Metropolitan Home magazine, May/June 1997.

SHELTER Sets: "You're gonna make it after all..."

When I think young independent career woman on her own I think - Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. When I think of a "career-gal" apartment, I think of Mary's attic apartment in the 1892 Victorian at 119 N Weatherly Ave. in Minneapolis.*

What did I like about her place?

The open space, the big windows, and the pass-through kitchen. I have always wanted one of those. I imagined that when I had a party, I could keep in on the action by listening through the opening and yelling cute contributions to the conversations in the other room. However, I never really had one of those apartments, in fact, I have never even been shown one of those for rent.

My current apartment is the closest; I have an extended breakfast bar separating the living room from the kitchen. However, sometimes too much of my kitchen is visible, so I will be installing a curtain drape to pull over when the mess threatens to take over the rest of the apartment. But I did have something in common with Mary. Even though I never had her pass-through, I sure had plenty of Mary's "bad" parties.

Layout of apt D, 119 North Weatherly Avenue (click to see larger)

I found an incredible article at The Mary & Rhoda Magazine that details the design and contents of Mary's apartment and even helps you source the items that were used in its decor. Now I don't know that many people today who would want to live in the apartment as it looked then. However, if you are interested in set design and how you can show aspects of a character's personality through their living environment, it's a fascinating read. Think about it, would Monica Geller have been the same without her lavender painted apartment and mis-matched kitchen chairs?

Interesting facts about Mary's first apartment:

• The apartment had to look like the rent was only $130 per month in 1970.
• A real attic apartment would NOT have a sunken living room. However, it gave them two levels to the set, which would make it possible for all the actors to be seen during group scenes like Mary's infamous parties.
• When Mary did move to a better apartment, a lot of her furniture and things moved with her. Some were re-upholstered or refinished, just like someone would do in real life.
• The kitchenette that I loved so much had a stained glass panel that could be raised up and down to hide the kitchen if needed.

Some of the items used to give Mary the impression of being a young, educated, career woman with traditional values:

• French Provincial furniture as investments: dining chairs, armoire, lingerie chest, etc.
• Brown velvet sleeper sofa
• Fine art posters:

Ben Shahn's January 18th to February 12th

Toulouse-Lautrec's Jane Avril, 1893

• Franklin stove
• Chemex hourglass-shaped coffee maker
• White Samsonite luggage with gold detailing
• Blue rotary dial phone

And her one modern touch, a futuristic Laurel lamp.



*The real location of the house was 2104 Kenwood Parkway, where the house is currently worth over three million dollars.

Apartment blueprint from here uncredited, though I think it's the work of artist Mark Bennett.

The Mary & Rhoda Magazine
The Mary Tyler Moore Show Online!