apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

What a cute post! i have to agree about the design of brothers and sisters!! especially kevin and scotty's apt!

It's great that I Love Lucy is in this list. The set for their Hollywood Hotel room is one of the best designed mid century rooms. I've always loved the Paul Mccobb Sofa and armchairs used although in the picture used for this article the sofas aren't quite right.

I am a big fan of the interiors on Dirt. A bit symbolically over the top, but quite fabulous nonetheless.

I always loved Will's apartment on Will & Grace.

And I was always inspired by Jeannie's bottle in I Dream of Jeannie!

i cant figure out how to work the slideshow?

The I LOVE LUCY room had me scratching my head too. Then I realized it was their hotel room in Hollywood.

Why didn't you include BIG BROTHER? Half the stuff in most BIG BROTHER seasons is from that store I don't visit: IKEA.

I think lately they've tried to get away from it but there's usually something from IKEA in the BIG BROTHER house.

The above pic of the I Love Lucy "apartment" is in all actuality a pic of the hotel they stayed at when they went to Hollywood (Season 4). Nonetheless, still very cool as always. :) Glad it was included

Signed,
Die hard Lucy fan :P

oops, i'm a little late, walked away from my desk before i was done with my comment, thanks Mr. Dangerous for jumping ahead! :)

Favorite of all time: The Avengers. Both Emma's and Steed's apartments

The name of the show is "Sex *and* the City".

Space: 1999. UFO without all the kitsch.

Commander's Office:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2466129540/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2466130570/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2466131598/

Living quarters:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2466129174/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2466127584/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2150785892/

Main Mission:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2465303199/

And of course, the weird and wild alien landscapes & interiors:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2150790476/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2150787888/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2149992103/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19933106@N00/2149987593/

I think it's still, after more than 30 years, the best-looking science fiction program ever made for television.

My number one tv inspiration for my home is the Monkees. Gosh, that house was just the greatest.

I liked Frasier's pad too.

But The Brady Bunch... really? I always thought it was hideous. Anybody actually remember living in the 70s? I suspect most people who get into that vibe were born in 1988.

I have to avert my eyes every time I see an orange kitchen on AT, sorry.

Nip Tuck

&

House

I am surprised no one mentioned these two..maybe no one likes cable.

Oh, THE PRISONER, definitely. If you don't know it, an old Patrick McGoohan show; a secret agent tries to retire from spying and gets put in the unidentified "Village" for de-briefing. Not only is the external Village itself adorable (filmed in North Wales, and I've visited in real life; crazy Italianate place all bite-sized and colorful), the clothes and hair a retro dream, but the "homes" all mod-'60's mixed with futuristic ideas.

Oops, having just posted, I suddenly realize a tie for me is the Emma Peel era of THE AVENGERS too. But those shows are linked in my mind.

I am so with you, Valerie!

When I was 10 or so, I wanted to move into Blair Brown's apartment on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. Books, moldings, kitchen counter, hard wood floors....a classic NYC apt.

I also thought Six Feet Under did a great job with interiors. Brenda's house--a sorta eastern organic modern blend in particular. Its interesting that many of the houses mentioned are set in LA...

And of course Brady Bunch and I Love Lucy...the Brady Bunch house did not look like my sorta country mass market middle class long island suburb house...it was sleak and unified and unlike anything in my neighborhood!

Oh, and lets not forget Dr. Melfi's office on Sopranos! Is that a ROUND room???

Actually, being of the Masterpiece Theater set, I think that Hercule Poirot's moderne London digs are the bees knees. Of course I love the decor of Morse's flat, and Jean's house in "As time goes by". Let us not forget the fabulous 10 Downing Street of "Mrs. Pritchard".

Let me second those comments on the Avengers and the Prisoner.

I've watched a lot of tv but don't know a lot of the newer shows determined to have such great set design. And I love set design! I can't really pick something out as influential. I didn't really like Frasier's apartment, a lot of it seemed rather nothing he decisively chose, but it was decorated in his general taste. I hated his coffee table, and I don't think he ever regarded it as more than a coffee table, and I hated his fireplace. "Martin's chair" as a piece, was that part of the influence? The sets of certain shows are so excessively deliberate in that way, and by deliberate, I mean obvious. Coming off the last few years of "Cheers," "Frasier" was an extremely visual show. Jokes so visually obvious, anyone would notice, not just astute interior observers. "Cheers" was not at first more visual than verbal, but became increasingly so over the span of time.

I do like seeing how interiors on tv define the characters... not as influences or inspirations particularly. Jerry on Seinfeld had his apartment. I have never seen him ride a bike so that was weird, but he was a bachelor without any help picking out furniture and he "picked out" what he liked Basic, looked like he went to the store and didn't take a long time to consider it. His nemesis, Newman, had a very "Newman" apartment. I don't think we saw the whole space, but he had some descriptive stuff. "Friends" was another show I watched a whole lot of, and seeing Monica and Rachel's apartment, and the period when they lost the bet and lived in Chandler and Joey's apartment for a while. When Chandler and Joey's plot turned to where they lost all their furniture and got all new furniture and used lawn furniture that was abandoned in the storage room in the interim (not to mention the purchases Joey made but couldn't afford when he moved out during his contract with Days of Our Lives). The secret closet where Monica kept her mess... the problem with her design is that except when they switched apartments, that living room never really changed furnishings, and nobody ever got sick of the purple living room and the turquoise kitchen and the mismatched chairs and the gold frame over the peephole. All these shows' sets seem more like stages than apartments, where the doors are placed, little spaces like Monica's open kitchen or Frasier's little guest bathroom next to the front door and the piano toward the back. Convenient for vignettes.

I am trying to think of other shows. It's hard since I hardly ever watch tv anymore, and there are many shows I really have forgotten about since they're not on anymore.

I've never really watched a program on tv or a movie that "inspired" me by the set design, as I usually take it in as part of the character, and unless either explicitly mentioned or evidently probable, I assume as part of the store that the character designed it with their intention. Frasier's stands apart in my examples, as he didn't seem to love any of his furniture (compared to admiration of his art) as much as they were stand-ins to exude whatever taste he thought he had, and to contrast as much as possible with Martin's chair. Niles' furnishings weren't modern, so starting with that as a jumping off point, Martin's chair, even with the tape, wouldn't have made such obvious contrast as it did in Frasier's apartment - a visual gag.

Frasier might have fussed if he had Jerry Seinfeld's furniture or the stuff Chandler picked out after he stole Joey's girlfriend (tv bachelor contrast), but he gives off the air that he didn't personally choose it, as it defines his character who is refined with modern taste and somewhat wealthy, and hired a designer accordingly, and as long as those things queue up for him, he's not really concerned with the ultimate results, which puts him mentally with Seinfeld's choices.

Given all that I could think about it, I am wondering how Frasier made the list.

Drats, I totally forgot to include The Prisoner, which is one of my favourite programs of all time. By chance, my boxed set was on loan and I missed it while perusing the collection for ideas).

"Be seeing you."

Where is Bewitched?
The Munsters?
The Addams Family?
Leave It To Beaver?

Where is Bewitched?
The Munsters?
The Addams Family?
Leave It To Beaver?

Usually on reruns on cable channels [badda bing!]

There were plenty of shows left off...top lists are just subjective preferences, thus the invitation to add your own favourite. I also personally loved all those 50's-60's era family shows plenty, but tried to keep a mix from different decades. I also admit I left off The Jeffersons and Three's Company as examples of kitsch decor after some sound advice. I do regret not including The Prisoner though...that show was as stylish as they've ever made.

I find the treatment of this subject pretty shallow. The art of set design is not just for trendy, it's exemplifying the character or characters, the time period, the age bracket, the career and family choices, etc., all placements and demographic information and preferences are deliberate and at times, deliberately ironic. The balance is so as not to draw too much attention away from the action, but to fill in the negative space with their life story or some fashion of it that feeds information to the viewer in a peripheral sense, but also non-empty; it is there to be examined if one wants to. It's nice that you like stuff though and think it's cool.

KTG:

In your effort to be a smarty-pants I think you misunderstood the point of the post. It's "Best Inspiring Decor!" Basically, "which shows deserve to be stolen from?"

What you're suggesting might be a good topic for a thesis (with some work) but I suspect only a select few would want to read a thesis based on what you're proposing. (I received my first M.A. from the film school at USC so this is just my own informed opinion.)

What you're suggesting is a little too academic for AT.

P.S. I also like Jean's house on AS TIME GOES BY.

Umm there has been no mention anywhere in here about a set which defied the rules of space and had some of the most inspiring decor.......... Golden Girls! :)

oddly enough, the color choices for my new apartment (the landlord is having it painted before we moved in... we got to choose) were partially inspired by the blues and greens on the walls in The West Wing.

This is what the top ten should be...
1. Addam's Family
2. Pee-Wee's Playhouse
3. Real World Chicago
4. Jeanne's Bottle
5. Friends
6. Real World Seattle
7. Dharma & Gregg
8. Real World Austin
9. Big Brother 4
10. Red Room in Twin Peaks

I like the Forman's house from That 70's Show. Not because it's the bleeding edge of design, but because that house feels so homey. I look at the set for it, and think "Yeah. A regular family could live there." I forget that it's actually a set, which is what I want for my own home. I love design and I love having little knicknacks that make the place perfect for me, but homes (like some of my friends have) that are 95% top design and everything in it's place, seem so very cold to me. I don't want to touch anything, lest I break it.

Plus, I grew up with a basement like theirs which was usually full of kids. ;)