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It’s no secret we here at Country Living love Nancy Meyers. Beyond the heartwarming plots and lovable characters, her movies are notoriously full of interior design eye-candy. From kitchens that will steal your heart to living rooms that look like the perfect place to curl up with a good book, her movie set rooms are full of dreamy, comforting materials juxtaposed against a happily neutral backdrop. To get to the bottom of what makes her homes so inviting, I spoke with Academy Award-nominated set decorator Beth Rubino, who worked on three of Nancy’s movies—Something’s Gotta Give, It’s Complicated, and What Women Want. Below, she shares her one secret to creating Nancy’s dreamiest rooms.
Craft the Perfect Backdrop
Nancy Meyers’ movie sets are undoubtedly visual masterpieces—living rooms with sumptuous sofas and happily hodgepodge kitchens make them real and lived-in, almost as if you’re just hanging out at your friend’s house. Much of that comes down to their color and how it makes you feel—never overwhelmed, always welcome. “The choice of palettes is about complementing all the choices in the room,” says set decorator Beth Rubino. It’s about building what she’s dubbed a “quite supportive backdrop.”
To build that backdrop, Beth, Nancy, and production designer Jon Hutman have almost exclusively used creamy color palettes. The custom paint colors are “generally subtle and beautiful,” says Beth, and were specifically chosen based on how they would interact with other decorating choices in the room such as fabrics, window treatments, antique wood pieces, and rugs.
Another big factor? The illusion of natural light. “Nancy’s houses always have a great sense of light,” says Beth. Like any good decorator, Beth and Nancy know that a room’s lighting is the most important make-it-or-break-it factor.
Here’s How To Get the Nancy Meyers Look
The breezy tones of the It’s Complicated kitchen represent the cozy, welcoming vibe that Beth says is inherent in the work she and Nancy do together. Universal Pictures
While Beth was reluctant to share exact paint shades—“for years people have asked what paints were used,” she explained, but “the colors used are film-friendly, meaning they are different to the naked eye”—she did recommend starting with neutrals from one of her three go-to brands: Benjamin Moore, Farrow & Ball, or Donald Kaufman Color. Focus on those airy, grounded neutrals to get the Nancy-approved look.
If you’re hoping to enhance your home’s natural light, opt for an eggshell paint finish to do most of the heavy lifting for you. But, before you commit to a color, heed Beth’s advice to try a range of samples, and, be sure to try each sample in different light situations.
Below, my picks of the best neutral paint colors from each of Beth’s go-to brands to help you bring home that Nancy Meyers look.
From Benjamin Moore:
From Farrow & Ball:
From Donald Kaufman Color:
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