If you’ve ever wanted to change up your living space, movies can be a source of great inspiration. From visually rich and coordinated sets like that from The Grand Budapest Hotel to the rough, throwback aesthetic of Chicago, they’re accessible pegs when you want to switch up your place. They’re something can aspire to have, whether or not they will be actually attainable. Still, it doesn’t hurt to dream. So here at Preen, the editorial team singled out the house or apartment found in a particular film they wanted to live in and the particular pieces they especially like inside.
Bea Ledesma
Publisher
I want to live in the house of Diane Keaton’s character in Something’s Gotta Give. I like it especially because of the kitchen. Almost every kitchen in a Nancy Meyer’s film is something out of a Pinterest board. In Something’s Gotta Give, the sublime light, the soapstone counters, glass-fronted cabinets and subway tiles (before subway tiles showed up everywhere–this was 2003, mind you) make for a seriously dreamy kitchen. Nancy Meyers said, “The kitchen is what everybody talks about. It’s about the bountiful kitchen, the hearth, the mother.” It’s really the center of every home.
Key piece: The sub-zero fridge and the cooking range. Gave me major appliance envy.
Cai Subijano
Managing editor
As much as I would love to say that I’d like to live on the Tenenbaum house on Archer Avenue, I’d like to move into a space with a little less history in it. I don’t really watch movies for the interiors, but I do love the 3,600 sq. ft. loft that served as Lena Dunham’s real-life childhood home in Tiny Furniture. It’s not so much the interior decoration as the space that I love—imagine, having a three bedroom home in TriBeCa, complete with two separate studios to work in! They put the house up for sale in 2013. If only I had the spare $6.25 million lying around back then.
Key pieces: That bookshelf, the accent drop lights in the living room, and the Eames chairs. Maybe even an original piece by Laurie Simmons.
Nimu Muallam
Creative director
I want a retro-futuristic apartment like Theodore Twombly’s in Her. The minimal almost blank color palette breaks away from the riot and chaos of color I experience every day. I want it spacious, clean, and welcoming. Accents like natural wood and discreet light fixtures give warmth and character as opposed to glass and steel, are staples in modern apartments.
Key piece: A mid-century sofa and contemporary floor lamp. It’s comfortable enough for long dinner parties or sitting through a five-series TV marathon.
Randz Manucom
Associate managing editor
I find Justin Timberlake’s New York City apartment in Friends With Benefits freakin’ sexy. It’s the ultimate bachelor’s pad! It just screams, “I have a super awesome job in New York and I’m beautiful!” #lifegoals.
Key piece: The walls with mood lighting is an instant turn on—and I’m sure the same will go for anyone you’ll take home.
Meg Manzano
Contributing editor
I want to say Cher’s house in Beverly Hills in Clueless.
Key piece: We all know I’d only be choosing it for her nifty closet. You don’t understand, it’s an Alaïa!
Chryssa Celestino
Features editor
I love, love, LOVE Helen and Danny’s apartment in An Education. I mean, I love Jenny, but god damn that space. It screams ’60s English posh, while staying pristinely conservative.
Key piece: [All the fixtures are] conversation pieces (the pad’s got a Burne-Jones!) that do more than just make you talk. What especially turns me on is Dominic Cooper—err, that antique wooden drawer with deep caramel tones.
Olivia Estrada
Editorial assistant
I want to have Holly Golightly’s apartment in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It’s chic. It’s got everything a single girl needs.
Key piece: Her couch that’s made of half a bath tub. Quirky yet sleek at the same time.
Art by Dorothy Guya