�Flipping Out:� Jeff Lewis Puts Valley Oak House on Market

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on AUGUST 31, 2010

Are you watching Bravo�s popular reality series Flipping Out? The show is now in its 4th season, and I�ve been watching since the beginning. For me it brings backnightmares memories of working as an assistant to a brilliant but demanding designer myself. Jeff Lewis has definitely mellowed out on the show over the years, though. (Makes me wonder if my designer has, too? For the sake of whoever is working for her now, let�s hope!)

Jeff lives and works from a beautiful house he renovated in Los Angeles called �Valley Oak.� He�s been trying to sell it off and on since the reno was finished, and it�s back on the market for $2.495 million. Let�s take a look!

House Beautiful�s Kitchen of the Year was designed by Lewis. You can see the photos of ithere.

Jeff�s Office:

Jeff says he hasn�t seen former BFF and business partner Ryan Brown since the Fall of �09 when they had a very ugly and public falling out on the show. I took a poll at the time to see who you were siding with in the feud, and you can see the (surprising to me) resultshere.

Oh, and you can see photos of Ryan Brown�s house, too�I posted them here.

�Flipping Out:� Ryan Brown at Home in L.A.

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

It�s no secret that I love reality shows. My favorites are the ones that feature talented people doing what they�re best at, and Flipping Out fits the bill. It�s fun to see designers likeJeff Lewis and Ryan Brown at work. It�s the third season of the show, and their original business of flipping houses together is no longer as lucrative, so they�re doing more design work for clients instead.

The L.A. Times recently featured Ryan�s home in California. We�ve gotten glimpses of it on the show, and it always left me wanting to see more.

Here are Ryan and his partner Dale Monchamp (who was an interior designer himself before becoming a chef) in their kitchen with their adorable daughter Chloe.

If you�ve seen the show, then you know how Jeff Lewis likes to teach Chloe to say funny things. If Jeff asks what she wants to drink, he taught her to say, �Chardonnay!� �Where do you want to work when you grow up, Chloe?�  �Hooters!� He thinks this is hilarious. (Ryan, not so much.)

For the large center island (it seats 10!) they used river-washed black granite.

The living room:

The dining room:

The master bedroom:

The master bath:

One more shot of the kitchen, just because I love it so much. This is what my kitchen wants to be when it grows up (and starts earning its own paycheck):

Jeff and Ryan haven�t been getting along very well this season (<�understatement), and it looks like they might be going their separate ways.  If they do, I hope Bravo will give Ryan his own show (Andy Cohen, are you listening?!).

Ryan has a blog, Brown Design, where you can learn more about his current projects. Check out the L.A. Times article for all the beautiful photos and more information about his home. Or go to the official Flipping Out page on BravoTV.com to learn more about the show.

UPDATE: Did you see the cast reunion show? We�re discussing the Jeff Lewis-Ryan Brown throw-down here. Oh, and I posted photos of some rooms that Ryan designed for his clientshere if you missed it!

The �Bewitched� Movie: Nicole Kidman�s Cottage

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on OCTOBER 11, 2009

Welcome to Movie Monday, when we look at the houses from our favorite TV shows and films. Last week we toured the sets used on the original television series�Bewitched,� so I thought it would be fun to feature Nicole Kidman�s charming California cottage in the 2005 movie remake, too.

In the movie, Kidman plays Isabel Bigelow, a real witch who is cast as Samantha in a television remake of the original series. Will Ferrell plays Jack, the movie star cast as Darrin who is determined to make the show all about him. But then he falls in love with Isabel and finds out she�s a witch and, you know the drill�complications ensue.

When Isabel sees the house she wants, she puts a �For Rent� sign out front:

Nora Ephron came up with the concept of the movie after producers called and begged for help. Nicole Kidman had agreed to consider doing the film, and they needed a pitch.

There were a stack of rejected screenplays that had piled up over the years, including one written by Richard Curtis (the writer behind Notting Hill, which I featured a few weeks ago�I�d love to see what his version of Bewitched looked like!).

Ephron sketched out the idea for the remake, suggesting that Nicole play an entirely new character instead of reprising Elizabeth Montgomery�s Samantha. Kidman liked the idea and signed on.

This house was chosen for Isabel by director Nora Ephron because it belonged to friends of her parents, and she visited it often as a child. Coincidentally, those friends were Larry Berns and his wife, Sandra Gould, who played the second, better-known Gladys Kravitz. (Alice Pearce, who played the first Gladys Kravitz, died after the second season.)

Isabel�s home was set in a tree-lined Valley suburb of modest A-frame houses and white picket fences. 

Isabel watches the pilot episode of the original �Bewitched� after being cast as Samantha for the remake:

Nicole Kidman went to the Broadway musical Wicked and was so blown away byKristin Chenoweth�s performance as Glinda that she begged �Bewitched� writer Nora Ephron to create a part for Chenoweth into the film. Ephron wrote the role of Isabel�s next-door neighbor Maria Kelly for her:

Production designer Neil Spisak explains the thinking behind the design of Isabel�s house:

Our idea was that since Isabel is desperately searching for normalcy, whatever that might be, she�s moved into a charming, simple house in the Valley, finding a lovely place for her to start her life.

Nora quite liked the exterior of the house we found and, based on that, we designed an interior. The concept was to maintain its simplicity but to play up a certain appealing femininity in the furnishings and details. So, like Isabel, her surroundings are a little na�ve, a place that is neutral but warm and comfortable.

Note the magnetic spice holders hanging on the wall behind her (under the microwave) in this shot:

Isabel in her bedroom:

Isabel�s living room:

Isabel has her friends over to discuss what to do with her �Jack problem� (she�s figured out his scheme to be the star of the show and cut her out as much as possible):

Aunt Clara arrives�down Isabel�s chimney:

Brunch on Isabel�s patio. Aunt Clara has an idea: �Let�s put a hex on Jack.�

Casting a hex on Jack that will teach him a lesson. (In Isabel�s backyard. I wonder what the neighbors thought of this?)

Isabel�s bedroom (I read that they tucked a photo of Elizabeth Montgomery into the mirror frame, but I never saw it):

Isabel on the phone in her kitchen at night (why does this photo make me think of  that scene with Drew Barrymore in Scream?):

In the opening credits of the �Bewitched� remake, Darrin is the star of the cartoon�Samantha�s face is never even shown:

The role of Jack/Darrin was originally supposed to be played by Jim Carrey, which I think may have worked a little better. Can�t you see him mugging the way Dick York used to? And Will Ferrell�s Jack was funny, but he was too goofy and over-the-top to ever take seriously as Isabel�s love interest. (Carrey chose to make the movie Fun With Dick and Jane instead.)

Isabel wears a heart-shaped necklace as Samantha on the remake, just like Samantha did on the original TV show:

Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha on the TV show wearing the heart necklace:

Samantha and Darrin�s kitchen on the new set of �Bewitched:�

Samantha and Darren�s bedroom on the set of the new �Bewitched:�

Isabel and her dad Maurice:

The roles of Iris (actress who plays Endora on the TV remake in the movie) and Maurice (Isabel�s warlock father) were played by Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine. According to Bewitched fansite Harpies Bizarre:

The role of the warlock father was reportedly crafted by the Ephrons with only Michael Caine in mind. Shirley MacLaine told the press that she �wasn�t much of a fan of the TV series,� but had taken the film role because she �wanted to play a witch.� It is assumed that Ephron catered to MacLaine�s request and allowed her character to be a sorceress, since the April 2004 script copy had the Iris character just written as a mortal diva actress cast as the new TV Endora.

The exterior set of the �Bewitched� house for the TV show:

At the end of the movie, Isabel and Jack move into a home that looks almost identical to the one on their television show:

The numbers above the door of their new home are 1164�Samantha and Darrin lived at 1164 Morning Glory Circle (Westport, Connecticut) in the original TV series:

The house is a private home in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles (via Seeing Stars):

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy photos from the original �Bewitched� TV series and photos of Nicole Kidman�s Beverly Hills home where she lives with husband Keith Urban and their daughter Sunday Rose.

The Truth About �House Hunters� on HGTV

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by HOOKEDONHOUSES on JUNE 2, 2010

Whenever I mention the popular HGTV series �House Hunters,� I get e-mails from readers asking, �Do you know the truth about that show?� I just got another one from someone saying, �I�m surprised more people don�t know how �House Hunters� really works. I was so mad when I found out!�

It�s actually not a secret�the show even explained it in a newspaper article a few years ago, but it doesn�t seem to be common knowledge.  Here�s what it said:

For quicker turn-around, producers sometimes choose buyers who are already in escrow with one of the three locations shown. The other two choices that are filmed, are only shown to allow viewers the option of making the choice themselves.

Did you catch that? The house hunters aren�t actually house hunting in some of the episodes because they already bought one. The producers show them two other houses and they pretend to consider them. Then they pretend to deliberate, and pretend to choose the house that they already chose from the beginning.

Based on the number of e-mails I�ve gotten from people who have written to tell me that they know someone who was on the show and �faked it,� this must be a fairly common practice.

It makes sense from a production point of view. It prevents the problem that we see so often on HGTV�s Property Virgin, in which the house hunters don�t end up choosing anything at all.

According to that same article, the participants get only $500 for being on the show. I was surprised that they earn so little�especially if there�s acting involved! That was a few years ago, though, so maybe they earn more by now.

There can be long hours of filming each house�I heard that they often have to reenter the same room many times until they get it just right for the camera. (This explains why sometimes the sun is blazing when they enter the house, but it looks dark outside in later scenes.)

Another thing I get a lot of e-mails about is Suzanne Whang�s absence. Have you missed her? I told you what happened to her in this post.

So there you have it�a few more insights into how one of HGTV�s most popular series works. What do you think? Does it bother you that there aren�t always real decisions being made? I still watch, but now I try to figure out which couples are faking it. 

P.S. If you have some inside information, please fill us in!