Jennifer Lopez�s Brownstone in �The Back-up Plan�

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on AUGUST 8, 2011

The 2010 romantic comedy The Back-up Plan starring Jennifer Lopez and Alex O�Loughlin didn�t get great reviews, but a lot of my readers gave the set design two thumbs up. I finally had a chance to watch the movie myself this weekend and get some photos of Zoe�s apartment in New York City for you.

First off, does the front of her brownstone look familiar?

According to On the Set New York, it�s only two doors down from Carrie Bradshaw�s apartment in �Sex and the City� (70 Perry Street and Bleecker Street in Manhattan).

The real interiors of this apartment weren�t used for the movie, though�they were created at Warner Bros. studios in California.

The Production Designer for this movie was Alec Hammond, and the Set Decorator was Kathy Lucas. Interestingly, the project Lucas worked on before this one was The Ugly Truth�another movie I�ve gotten a lot of requests for (and I�ll get to it eventually, I promise!).

It was great seeing Linda Lavin as Lopez�s �Nana� in this movie. I grew up watching reruns of her sitcom �Alice� that seemed to play on an endless loop in the afternoons (�Kiss my grits!�). Tom Bosley played Lavin�s boyfriend in the movie. This was his final role before his death last year at the age of 83.

When the camera pans up the exterior of the brownstone and looks through a window, we can see the sofa in Zoe�s living room:

The Back-up Plan was supposed to be Jennifer Lopez�s �movie comeback.� Her last one had been El cantante in 2006 with husband Marc Anthony (the couple recently announced their split). She had taken time off to be with her twins Max and Emme (you can see their nursery here).

In this shot of Zoe sitting in her dining room, you can see that it opens into her bedroom without any doors between the two (a reader points out that there were probably pocket doors that were just not used):

A quick shot of the fireplace in the dining room:

The kitchen seems pretty big for a city apartment. One thing I learned from this movie is that there must be a lot money in running an �ethical pet store� like Zoe does. 

Did you know Alex O�Loughlin is Australian? One of his first roles was as part of the �kissing couple� (that�s how he was billed) in The Holiday. Now he plays Steve McGarrett in the new version of �Hawaii Five-O.�

Zoe�s bathroom has blue and red tile:

Her bedroom has an upholstered headboard that I�ve gotten a lot of emails about�everyone seems to love it and want one just like it:

UPDATE: A reader found the bed at Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. It�s called the Celina bed (thanks, Katy!):

At the end of the movie, we get a glimpse into a room off the dining room that I don�t think we�d seen before, which has now become a nursery for the twins:

What did you think of �The Back-up Plan�? Did you fall in love with her apartment?

P.S. If you missed it, take a look at Jennifer Lopez�s new house in California, where she moved after taking the job on �American Idol� last year (according to reports, she�s close to signing on for a second season).

Carrie and Big�s Apartment in �Sex and the City 2?

byHOOKEDONHOUSES on FEBRUARY 28, 2011

In Sex and the City 2, Carrie quips that she�s been cheating on fashion with furniture. And honestly, I thought the furniture may have been the best thing about this movie, which had the fab foursome flying off to Abu Dhabi and leaving their signature city of New York behind. (I wasn�t the only one who wasn�t crazy about it�it was nominated for the Worst Movie of 2010 by the Razzie Awards.)

The set design kept me fairly entertained while I was watching it, though, so let�s take a closer look at the apartment that newlyweds Carrie and Big are living in now.

Carrie and Big�s Apartment:

The Set Decorator for the movie was Lydia Marks, who says they took their inspiration for the apartment�s architectural style of from old movies, including Alfred Hitchcock films. She says they �wanted it to feel very, very real to New York City.�

�A lot of fancy apartments that you see in movies tend to get a little bit largebecause it�s easier to shoot in, and it�s an instant read to the general public that it�s a nice apartment,� Marks says. �But we felt really strongly that we could make an apartment on a scale that was realistic to the real New York and still have it be elegant and high-end and I think we did that.� You can read more of her interview onShine.

Because Carrie kept her old apartment, everything in the one she shares with her husband is new and was chosen so that it reflects them both. It�s much more masculine and �grown-up� than the place she lived in as a single girl.

Carrie and Big�s living room includes a sofa byMontauk Sofa upholstered in blue wool-mohair fromDonghia and a pair of beige midcentury side chairs. The bright floral Birdie Blossom Cushion by Paul Smith for the Rug Company adds a classic �Carrie� touch. (Source: Elle Decor.)

�Carrie is trying to make a new apartment for the two of them, not just for her,� Jeremy Conway, the production designer for the TV series and both films, told Elle Decor.

An unusual oxidized-metal chandelier by Property hangs above a French 1940s mahogany table from Alan Moss in the dining room:

He says they wanted to design a space that would combine masculine elements, such as linear midcentury furnishings and dark woods, with whimsical rugs and cheerful fabrics.

Elle Decor reports that the unusual blue tile in the kitchen is by Heath Ceramics from Ann Sacks.

The Bedroom:

In the first half of the movie, when the characters are in New York, the colors are muted, in stark contrast to the sets and costumes when they�re vacationing in Abu Dhabi. (Some of those scenes were filmed at a hotel outside Marrakech in Morocco. Others, like the one in the nightclub where they sang karaoke, were built on soundstages back in the States.)

Big and Carrie don�t agree on having the TV in the bedroom. When he surprises her with one for their anniversary, she pouts because she would have rather gotten jewelry.

The His and Hers Closet in this apartment isn�t quite as dazzling as the one he built for her in the first movie, but it�s still pretty fabulous.

Some of these photos were taken by Craig Blenkenhorn for Elle Decor. You can read their article about the sets and see more pics here.

Charlotte�s Park Avenue Apartment:

I can�t resist throwing a few photos of Charlotte�s Park Avenue apartment in while we�re at it. I wish we had gotten to see more of it in the movie. The kitchen looks exactly the way I�d imagine hers to be, pink cupcakes and all.

I loved that little breakdown she had in the pantry. I�ve had days like that, too, although my pantry isn�t quite as fabulous a place to hide out in, sadly.

Set Decorator Lydia Marks says the kitchen was designed to show Charlotte�s need for perfection. We get a glimpse of the bathroom, too, which also has lots of white and pink in it�and a pretty fabulous tub:

Charlotte�s daughters Lily and Rose share this pink bedroom (read all about it in an interview on LilSugar):

We saw more of Charlotte�s place in the first movie, and I featured those photos, along with ones of Miranda�s house in Brooklyn brownstone in Sex and the City: Real Estate Heaven.

Carrie�s Old Apartment:

Carrie spends some of her time in her old apartment, too, which she uses as a quiet place to write. This set had to be re-built from scratch for the movie to make it match the one from the first.

You can see more photos of it�including how it looked in the first movie before she gave it the makeover�here

The �Sex and the City� Movie: Real Estate Heaven

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

The second Sex and the City movie is being filmed in NYC right now, so I thought it would be fun to revisit the first one. The movie brought Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte back together four years after the HBO television series went off the air. Whether you loved the movie or found it lacking (reviews were mixed), I think we all agreed that the clothes and the sets made for some pretty fabulous eye candy.

When we meet up with them again, Carrie is planning her wedding to Mr. Big; Miranda finds out husband Steve is cheating; Samantha lives in LA with her boyfriend Smith; and Charlotte is happily married to Harry.

The interior sets were mostly filmed in Queens at the Silvercup Studios, where the HBO series was. Before we get to Carrie Bradshaw�s  apartment, let�s take a look at where the other girls�and Mr. Big�live. 

Miranda�s House in Brooklyn

Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) lives here with her husband Steve (David Eigenberg) and son Brady. We don�t see much of her place, but I love this corner of their kitchen.

Samantha�s Malibu Beach House:

Samantha�s boyfriend, Jerry �Smith� Jerrod, coming in the front door:

Samantha (Kim Cattrall) works on a special sushi dinner for Valentine�s Day. Things don�t go quite as she planned, however (I�ll spare you photos of that)�

Remember the flower ring that Smith buys for Samantha? It was worth about $50,000. Yowza.

The house almost looks like a commercial space more than a home to me (a fabulous commercial space!).

Her balcony:

Charlotte�s Place:

The night before the wedding, the girls gather at Charlotte�s house.  Charlotte bought them all matching robes, of course!

Carrie emerges from the bedroom in her wedding gown:

After the wedding doesn�t happen, Carrie returns to Charlotte�s house. She has given up her apartment and has nowhere else to go.

Charlotte tells Carrie she�s pregnant (made me teary!):

Lily�s sweet pink room:

Mr. Big�s Apartment:

Producer Michael Patrick King says, �Big�s apartment had to be chic enough that you�d want to be there, but small enough that they couldn�t live there together.� He adds that they referred to it as �Big�s sublet apartment� because it was a temporary space. �His heart wasn�t there.�

In the series� finale, we learned that Mr. Big�s real name is John James Preston.

Big and Carrie�s New Penthouse Apartment (�Real Estate Heaven�)

When they step into the lobby of the apartment building, Carrie is holding an Eiffel-Tower purse (according to the special features commentary on the DVD, this is a reference to Paris, where we last saw her and Big on the TV show).

When Carrie walks into the penthouse apartment, she says:

�I think I died and went to real estate heaven!�

Producer Michael Patrick King says that Carrie knows the apartment isn�t her style, but she gets addicted to the idea of who they can be together as a couple living there.

The master closet is so tiny that Big builds her a new one:

�The closet is the ultimate expression of love Big has for Carrie,� Michael Patrick King says. �He understands her well enough to know how important it is to her. It�s his way of saying I love you.�

A pair of electric-blue Manolos are the first things to go in it:

It seems fitting that Big and Carrie reunite in this closet at the end of the film and this is where he asks her (again) to marry him:

Carrie�s Apartment:

Her official address: 245 E. 73rd Street. The exterior shots were actually filmed in the Village, however, on Perry Street.

They had to rebuild all of the sets from scratch because they�d been destroyed when the TV series ended.

The girls come to help Carrie pack up her apartment, bearing champagne. 

Carrie�s closet as it looked in the TV series (via HBO.com):

The closet as it appeared in the movie, with her Vivienne Westwood wedding gown hanging in it:

Carrie�s bathroom (via HBO.com):

The kitchen that we rarely saw:

Her bedroom:

The front door:

Carrie leaves her long-time apartment:

When she moves back into her apartment, Carrie gives it a makeover. King says, �She decides to try to make her life better by changing her environment.�

A photo of her new bedroom that appeared in Traditional Home magazine:

From the movie:

The movie-makeover of Carrie�s apartment was hotly debated in the blogospherewhen the movie came out. Some design bloggers felt like it no longer reflected her personality. It looked too slick and �decorated� for her character. What do you think? Did you like the �after�?

The wall color is similar to Benjamin Moore�s Electric Blue (but was custom mixed for the set). In this shot you can see how she uses the wall unit for storage:

The LOVE wall hanging (by Paul Smith) next to the front door was interesting, especially in light of the fact that she was just dumped at the altar. Seems like she�d be more likely to hang a picture of a heart with an �x� through it or something.

Here�s a closeup:

2/11 UPDATE: The Malibu Beach House that Samantha lived in is on the market. Get the details and see the photos here.