Set Designers’ Tips for Cinematic Style at Home
Ahead of the Oscars, pros with experience in interiors and movie sets offer insight into big-screen-inspired style
Study Your Character
Though there are a few notable differences — movie set furniture, for instance, is often made from lightweight, flimsy materials like particleboard and doesn’t need to hold up to certain safety standards — Massachusetts-based interior designer Deirdre Cullen of 2Mix Interiors and Deb Longua-Zamero of DLZ Interiors in Los Angeles agree that the role of a set designer has a lot in common with the role of a designer who focuses on real-life homes.
“As [set designers are] reading through a script, they have to understand the characters and then they have to tap in, and it’s really not about them, it really becomes about the people they’re trying to portray,” Cullen says. “And it’s the same for residential design. It’s about the way people function. It’s about their personal aesthetic and really tapping into that and then breathing life into it. It’s the same way a set decorator will breathe life into a movie.”
In addition to their interior design business, Cullen and her 2Mix co-owner Butch McCarthy operate the largest movie and TV prop house in the New England area, offering unique collected pieces to directors and others behind the scenes. McCarthy has worked with set and production designers for decades on movies including Joy, The Departed and Meet Joe Black.
Reflecting a character in a set design, Cullen says, can come down to good research. The same is true at home, though there’s not the luxury of a script or a director to look to for reference. Instead, Cullen helps clients hone an aesthetic that represents their unique character by creating shared ideabooks and talking through imagery they like and dislike to establish a personalized “visual vocabulary” as work gets underway. A movie set tells its own story about the people inhabiting it and so should your home.
How to Create and Use Ideabooks
Though there are a few notable differences — movie set furniture, for instance, is often made from lightweight, flimsy materials like particleboard and doesn’t need to hold up to certain safety standards — Massachusetts-based interior designer Deirdre Cullen of 2Mix Interiors and Deb Longua-Zamero of DLZ Interiors in Los Angeles agree that the role of a set designer has a lot in common with the role of a designer who focuses on real-life homes.
“As [set designers are] reading through a script, they have to understand the characters and then they have to tap in, and it’s really not about them, it really becomes about the people they’re trying to portray,” Cullen says. “And it’s the same for residential design. It’s about the way people function. It’s about their personal aesthetic and really tapping into that and then breathing life into it. It’s the same way a set decorator will breathe life into a movie.”
In addition to their interior design business, Cullen and her 2Mix co-owner Butch McCarthy operate the largest movie and TV prop house in the New England area, offering unique collected pieces to directors and others behind the scenes. McCarthy has worked with set and production designers for decades on movies including Joy, The Departed and Meet Joe Black.
Reflecting a character in a set design, Cullen says, can come down to good research. The same is true at home, though there’s not the luxury of a script or a director to look to for reference. Instead, Cullen helps clients hone an aesthetic that represents their unique character by creating shared ideabooks and talking through imagery they like and dislike to establish a personalized “visual vocabulary” as work gets underway. A movie set tells its own story about the people inhabiting it and so should your home.
How to Create and Use Ideabooks
Tap Into Deeper Meaning
In her years working as a set designer, Longua-Zamero says, attention to detail and meaning always left an impression. One film she worked on, for example, used color cues to signify important plot points.
“We would have the clock hand turn blue,” Longua-Zamero says, “because when there was blue in the room, that meant one of the ancestors had come back to visit.”
Carefully chosen details in home design can be just as revealing. You might associate a certain color with a particular memory or emotion you want to convey. A specific object or furniture style may represent a past experience or future aspiration.
“Just subtle little things that maybe nobody will ever pick up on but they’re there, and they’re subliminally there,” Longua-Zamero says. “It’s kind of cool to be able to incorporate those cues as well.”
One of Cullen’s favorite aspects of production design is the way objects in movies tend to be so thoughtfully presented and edited. Though movie objects have the advantage of flattering camera angles and digital cuts, the same intentional mindset can elevate everyday items as well. Just the right combination of just the right pieces makes all the difference.
Pro tip: Don’t be too jealous of the perfect homes you see in movies. Often, they’re not what they seem. “A lot of times they’ll find a house in L.A. and they’ll shoot the exterior of the house and then they’ll come to New England and maybe find a house with a really cool kitchen and shoot in that kitchen,” Cullen says. “So a lot of times it may appear in a movie that the house is one whole house that’s amazingly designed when it’s actually usually edited and cut and put together.”
Why We Gravitate Toward Beauty in Design
In her years working as a set designer, Longua-Zamero says, attention to detail and meaning always left an impression. One film she worked on, for example, used color cues to signify important plot points.
“We would have the clock hand turn blue,” Longua-Zamero says, “because when there was blue in the room, that meant one of the ancestors had come back to visit.”
Carefully chosen details in home design can be just as revealing. You might associate a certain color with a particular memory or emotion you want to convey. A specific object or furniture style may represent a past experience or future aspiration.
“Just subtle little things that maybe nobody will ever pick up on but they’re there, and they’re subliminally there,” Longua-Zamero says. “It’s kind of cool to be able to incorporate those cues as well.”
One of Cullen’s favorite aspects of production design is the way objects in movies tend to be so thoughtfully presented and edited. Though movie objects have the advantage of flattering camera angles and digital cuts, the same intentional mindset can elevate everyday items as well. Just the right combination of just the right pieces makes all the difference.
Pro tip: Don’t be too jealous of the perfect homes you see in movies. Often, they’re not what they seem. “A lot of times they’ll find a house in L.A. and they’ll shoot the exterior of the house and then they’ll come to New England and maybe find a house with a really cool kitchen and shoot in that kitchen,” Cullen says. “So a lot of times it may appear in a movie that the house is one whole house that’s amazingly designed when it’s actually usually edited and cut and put together.”
Why We Gravitate Toward Beauty in Design
It’s All About Lighting
“A good designer, like a good set designer, our No. 1 thing that really shows the work is the lighting,” Cullen says. “Like in design, like in architecture, in sets, lighting is everything.”
How objects will be lit and highlighted on the movie screen drives much of the work that set and production designers do, Cullen says. In fact, it’s movies with memorably lit sets that stick in her own memory. “We just watched [2019 Oscar nominee] A Star Is Born and we were both blown away at how well shot it was,” Cullen says. “That was a really well-done set, and the photography was amazing. And that was an example of lighting playing a huge part.”
To channel that effect at home, make lighting a priority. Focus on refining sources of natural and artificial light so that the pieces, colors and textures you’ve so carefully chosen get the star treatment they deserve.
Shop for lighting fixtures on Houzz
“A good designer, like a good set designer, our No. 1 thing that really shows the work is the lighting,” Cullen says. “Like in design, like in architecture, in sets, lighting is everything.”
How objects will be lit and highlighted on the movie screen drives much of the work that set and production designers do, Cullen says. In fact, it’s movies with memorably lit sets that stick in her own memory. “We just watched [2019 Oscar nominee] A Star Is Born and we were both blown away at how well shot it was,” Cullen says. “That was a really well-done set, and the photography was amazing. And that was an example of lighting playing a huge part.”
To channel that effect at home, make lighting a priority. Focus on refining sources of natural and artificial light so that the pieces, colors and textures you’ve so carefully chosen get the star treatment they deserve.
Shop for lighting fixtures on Houzz
Find Unscripted Inspiration Everywhere
It was working on her elementary school theater sets and, later, the playful purple apartment and other scenery on Friends that first inspired Longua-Zamero to go into the motion picture business as a designer, but both she and Cullen agree that inspiration is all around. Watching movies with an eye for design details can stir up ideas, especially if a character or lifestyle you identify with is being portrayed.
“All of a sudden you start liking the things because you like the character, you like the movie,” Cullen says.
Color choices, character wardrobes and, of course, picture-perfect sets can all bring about home design ideas you may not have considered.
Longua-Zamero borrows from decluttering guru Marie Kondo in describing her own movie design inspiration philosophy: “If you see something on the screen that would spark joy for you, do the same thing in your home.”
It was working on her elementary school theater sets and, later, the playful purple apartment and other scenery on Friends that first inspired Longua-Zamero to go into the motion picture business as a designer, but both she and Cullen agree that inspiration is all around. Watching movies with an eye for design details can stir up ideas, especially if a character or lifestyle you identify with is being portrayed.
“All of a sudden you start liking the things because you like the character, you like the movie,” Cullen says.
Color choices, character wardrobes and, of course, picture-perfect sets can all bring about home design ideas you may not have considered.
Longua-Zamero borrows from decluttering guru Marie Kondo in describing her own movie design inspiration philosophy: “If you see something on the screen that would spark joy for you, do the same thing in your home.”
“And Action!”: What role do movies play in your home design aesthetic? Which Oscar-nominated film gets your Best Style Inspiration trophy? Tell us in the Comments.
More on Houzz
The Unofficial Houzz Academy Awards for Movie Homes
Nancy Meyers on Bringing Movie Interiors to Life
How to Get a Big Movie Experience in a Smaller Space
Find a pro for your home project
Shop for products
More on Houzz
The Unofficial Houzz Academy Awards for Movie Homes
Nancy Meyers on Bringing Movie Interiors to Life
How to Get a Big Movie Experience in a Smaller Space
Find a pro for your home project
Shop for products
In honor of this year’s 91st annual Academy Awards on Feb. 24, we spoke with two designers on Houzz with experience in both the residential and movie set worlds. Here are a few ideas they shared about how homeowners and home pros can think more like set designers when it comes to creating Oscar-worthy environments.