Looking for surefire inspiration for your next staging project that will please just about every buyer?
Rent the movie "Something's Gotta Give". Read all about it in today's Washington Post article.
They've Gotta Have It
A Glam Kitchen From Hollywood Is a Smash Hit Off the Screen
By Terri SapienzaWashington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 22, 2007; Page H01
The 2003 comedy "Something's Gotta Give" starred Oscar-winning legends Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson. But for lots of moviegoers, the most memorable role was played by the house, especially its big, light-filled kitchen.
The airy, shingled Hamptons beach house is walled with windows and built-in bookcases. The rooms are open, the furniture slipcovered and the walls and fabrics awash in creamy blues, whites and tans. The kitchen gleams with white glass-front cabinets, vintage hardware, a commercial-style range and dark soapstone counters.
  Buy This Photo
 Liz Livingston of McLean and son Kilgo, 17, in their kitchen, which she modeled after Diane Keaton's kitchen in the movie "Something's Gotta Give." (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post) Video They've Gotta Have It
Oscar legends Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson were in the 2003 movie, "Something's Gotta Give," but the real star is the house and its big, white kitchen with white, glass-front cabinets and vintage hardware. Homeowners have been known to play the movie DVD for their designer, hoping to replicate the movie set at home.
Staff Design Favorites Deconstructing the Appeal Photos  Hollywood Hit Kitchen
For many moviegoers, the kitchen in the 2003 comedy "Something's Gotta Give," plays the most memorable role.
Digg Google
del.icio.us Yahoo!
Reddit Facebook
|
With a backdrop like that, who cares if Keaton and Nicholson find midlife love?
Even when a movie's stars seem dim and the plot is plodding, those of us who can't get enough of interiors can wallow in the set designs. When poor Cameron Diaz began to feel sorry for herself (yet again) in the otherwise forgettable Christmas release "The Holiday," at least we could look past her to the delicious English cottage beyond. (Both films were directed by Nancy Meyers, with production design by Jon Hutman.)
But the "Something's Gotta Give" house sparked interest of an entirely new intensity.
Designers started getting requests to re-create the house's interior or to plan an entire remodel around it. Clients carried in the video to show designers and contractors what they wanted. The president of Williams-Sonoma Home, David DeMattei, created a custom-upholstered headboard collection after seeing the bedrooms. A New England decorator blogged about how to achieve the look and got more hits on that entry than she'd ever had. A rug manufacturer in the Midwest produced a version of the living room's carpet and has sold 65 in the past two years. One overzealous fan rented a helicopter and flew over Long Island until he located the actual house -- then offered to buy it, Meyers told the Los Angeles Times. The house, whose owners were not identified, was not for sale.
"There are catchphrases that we often hear about what people want: comfortable, warm, welcoming, open and light-filled," said LuAnn Brandsen, editor of Renovation Style magazine. This movie set, she said, has all of that: "It's informal and casual, not too over the top, but very nicely done." Two years after the film came out, the magazine featured a story-and-photo layout of a remodel in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., based on the "Gotta Give" kitchen.
The appeal of the space, designers say, is its old-fashioned styling, modern conveniences and classic look.
Two years ago, Harriet Finder of Stuart Kitchens in Bethesda helped design a front-window display for her firm that was modeled after the movie kitchen. It's still up and continues to draw clients. "We have people coming in, stopping in that kitchen and saying, 'This is what I want,' " Finder said.
Susan and Myron Myers were building their Rockville house in 2004 when Susan saw the movie. She bought a copy of the film as soon as it was out. "I would play the DVD, stop it and look at it," she said. "My husband noticed the [kitchen] cabinet doors and the inset hinges right away." Before the next meeting with their designer, Susan tucked her laptop under her arm, movie loaded.
Liz Livingston of McLean also wanted to replicate the design. "I saw the movie, and that was it," she said. "I had found my kitchen. . . . It wasn't fancy and it wasn't too casual. It was the kind of kitchen that made you want to hang out there all the time."
But it's more than the kitchen that enthralls fans. They covet the whole house.
They've Gotta Have It
"It's got to be the most popular interior ever," said Linda Merrill, a designer based in Duxbury, Mass. An entry she posted on her blog earlier this year about the movie's interior garners as many as 30 hits a day. People from Australia, Canada and Africa check her blog in search of rugs, artwork, lamps, furniture, fabric.
When Merrill found that Aspen Carpet Designs carries a blue-and-white-striped rug inspired by the movie, she mentioned the Chicago-area retailer on her site. Jerry Krull, the company owner, said one of his customers had "actually tracked down the set designer of the movie to find out where the original rug had been made." When the price of the original proved too steep, she asked Krull to design something similar. He has sold 65 of the cotton dhurrie look-alikes in the past two years without advertising or a storefront. Customers find his Web site ( http://www.aspencarpetdesigns.com/) by searching for information about the movie. "Almost every single sale is based on the movie in some way," Krull said. "I told my wife, 'Selling these rugs has the possibility of paying for our kids' college.' "
Buy This Photo
Liz Livingston of McLean and son Kilgo, 17, in their kitchen, which she modeled after Diane Keaton's kitchen in the movie "Something's Gotta Give." (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post) Video They've Gotta Have It
Oscar legends Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson were in the 2003 movie, "Something's Gotta Give," but the real star is the house and its big, white kitchen with white, glass-front cabinets and vintage hardware. Homeowners have been known to play the movie DVD for their designer, hoping to replicate the movie set at home.
Staff Design Favorites Deconstructing the Appeal Photos Hollywood Hit Kitchen
For many moviegoers, the kitchen in the 2003 comedy "Something's Gotta Give," plays the most memorable role.
Digg Google
del.icio.us Yahoo!
Reddit Facebook
|
Some designers are somewhat mystified by all the fuss.
"When you really study 'Something's Gotta Give,' you realize that the interiors verge on almost being impersonal," D.C. designer Skip Sroka wrote in an e-mail. D.C. designer Lisa Adams is a fan of the kitchen but agrees: "In and of itself, [the design] doesn't make a statement. It's a background."
That might be exactly what makes the interior so attractive. "It isn't so personal that you couldn't imagine yourself in it," said Brandsen of Renovation Style. "People look at it and say: 'I can see myself in there. I want to be there.' "
It might surprise (and disappoint) fans to learn that the exterior of the Southampton home was the only part of the set that was real. The interior and back yard were built on a Hollywood soundstage, and set designers created much of the furniture. The islands were built on casters so they could be wheeled out of the way as needed. The countertops were plywood painted to look like soapstone. And when the filming wrapped, the entire set was dismantled. Props were auctioned on eBay for charity.
So the ideal is gone, but the kitchens it inspired have taken on a real life of their own.
Livingston's new kitchen in McLean bears many similarities to the one in the movie: white cabinets, farmhouse sink, center island, stainless-steel appliances and oil-rubbed bronze pulls. But she decided on a cooktop in the island rather than a sink, polished granite countertops instead of soapstone, and a black butler's pantry with marble countertops.
The Myerses in Rockville also veered from the original: The cabinets are off-white, the island is made of dark wood, the counters are honed dark-green marble. It's not a reproduction, but a look they consider all their own. "I'm happy with what I have," Susan Myers said. "The kitchen in the movie fits that house. My kitchen fits my house."
;)
;)
