Take Me to the Movies for Design Inspiration!
/I love movies.
If I am having a stressful day, writer's block or decorating block, I sometimes will close up my office (advantage of being your own boss!) pick up my purse and head to a movie. The total escape always reshapes my attitude. Even when I worked in the corporate world, I would sometimes give my staff a mental break in the middle of the afternoon and take them all to a movie. Of course, I was their favorite boss!
Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
A good friend from LA came for a visit a couple of weeks ago. She was coincidently one of my "staff" who learned early in her career, the benefits of sneaking out to a movie midday. Now she is all grown up and is a successful NBC Universal vice president and I am very proud of her accomplishments. One of her responsibilities is dealing with product placement and sponsorship in the theme parks and movies. It is a great job and being in LA, she is immersed in all things Hollywood. So, our conversation always turns to movies.
Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
This time to the talented Nancy Meyers, the wonderful writer/director who gave us It's Complicated (see kitchen above), Something's Gotta Give, Father of the Bride and more. Her movies are an interior decorator's dream. She creates rooms that we love. They make us want to walk right in and sit down. They are as beautiful as a Channel suit and as comfortable as your favorite pair of jeans. You want to sink right into a comfortable chair or couch or open a bottle of wine at the kitchen island. Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures. Or stretch out by the pool to the left in It's Complicated.
Her attention to detail is incredible and she has a reputation (of course) for doing a lot of takes to get the right angles. She gets it perfect. How? She never overdoes a room. She leaves enough space so that we can imagine ourselves and our stuff in the room. She doesn't crowd us out. She leaves the space just impersonal enough that we see ourselves in the scene. Isn't that what movies are really all about?
She gives us room to dream. And dream we do.
Photo Courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
So many dreamed of white inset cabinetry, large island and dark countertops and hardwood flooring (and lots of other details) that the kitchen in Something's Gotta Give became the most popular and requested kitchen design ever. Say what you may about Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. The kitchen was the star. Look closely and you can picture yourself there, can't you?
And then we have the casual Santa Barbara look in It's Complicated. Thanks to set decorator Beth Rubino, we found ourselves torn between Meryl Streep's old, outdated and yes, filled with problems, kitchen and her future new kitchen that would be fitting (with enough counterspace) for a baker. But let's face it, there some great things about this kitchen that we can use! If you would like to duplicate some of the features, check out this site for suggestions.
We understand that Meyers is building her own house with designer and film collaborator James Radin. Let's hope that it makes it to the big screen. We would love to stop by for a visit.
