#62 Nancy Meyers Homes - Unpacking Iconic Homes

In this episode of our Unpacking Iconic Homes series, we dive into the interiors of the most famous Nancy Meyers movies - from The Holiday and Something’s Gotta Give to It’s Complicated and Father of the Bride - and unpack why these homes have become so deeply iconic. 

Nancy Meyers interiors aren’t just beautiful - they feel warm, layered, lived-in and deeply aspirational in a way that still feels attainable.

What we cover:

•  Why Nancy Meyers homes feel so comforting and timeless 
•  The signature palette: warm neutrals, off-whites, contrast, and the occasional pale blues, sage greens and earthy browns relative to the location
•  The art of layering (these homes are a masterclass)
•  Kitchens as the emotional centre of the home 
•  The role of texture: linen, stone, wood, panelling, marble and slipcovered furniture 
•  Why lighting is everything (there are never too many lamps!)
•  The famous The Holiday cottage (devastatingly it wasn’t actually real!!) 
•  French doors, open shelving, subway tile and the “collected over time” look 
•  How Nancy Meyers interiors balance elegance with practicality 

Design details mentioned:

•  Rosehill Cottage from The Holiday
• Something’s Gotta Give Hamptons interiors 
• It’s Complicated California warmth and layered neutrals 
•  Open shelving, plate racks and hanging pot rails 
•  Linen curtains and textured neutral rugs 
•  Fresh flowers, bowls of lemons and “lived-in” styling 

Paint colours & references mentioned:

•  Benjamin Moore: Gentle Cream, White Dove, Timid White 
•  Farrow & Ball: School House White, James White, Slipper Satin 
•  Fleetwood Prestige: Greene Street 
•  Ikea Stockholm sheer curtains 

Key takeaways:

•  Nancy Meyers homes work because they prioritise practicality over perfection 
•  Texture and layering is crucial
•  Great homes feel collected and lived in, not instantly finished 
•  Practical everyday objects can be part of the styling 
•  The goal isn’t minimalism - it’s comfort, character and ease 

This episode is essentially a masterclass in creating a home that feels timeless, welcoming and deeply liveable. 

Follow the podcast on Instagram @ripitup_podcast_official, or follow us - Jenny is @workerscottage and Kate is @victorianrathmines

Transcript

# UIH Nancy Meyers

## Intro

[00:00:00] 

**Speaker:** Welcome to Rip It Up. Every now and then, we see a certain house that stops us in our scroll and makes us want to completely redesign our own homes. In this series, we're picking six iconic homes, some that recently went viral and some that have stood the test of time. We'll be discussing design elements, color palettes, items we love, things we would change, and breaking down how to recreate the look on a more realistic budget.

This is unpacking iconic homes We


## Episode

**Jennifer:** lcome back to the podcast. Hi, Kate. 

**Kate:** Hi, Jen. 

**Jennifer:** Um, we're on s- episode two of our new series 

of unpacking iconic houses. We did Jamie Lang and Sophia Bu's beautiful house last week, and by popular demand, this week doing the Nancy Meyers, like, suite of houses.

**Kate:** Yeah.

They definitely all follow a similar theme, don't they? 

**Jennifer:** Yeah. 

**Kate:** Um, that kind of, I don't know, understated wealth. Lived [00:01:00] in, lived in cozy. And then I think some of the older ones are probably dated interiors, but still nostalgic for a lot of people. 

**Jennifer:** If you're and you don't know what we're talking about, so Nancy Meyers is a movie producer and a director, and she 

did so many iconic films over, like, the '90s, the noughties, the late 2000s, even up to, like, recently, 2015. she did Something's Gotta Give, which I think is one of my favorite movies, Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, and The Holiday, where the cottage, everyone just

I don't know, I'm obsessed with that cottage. I love it so much. It's not real, that cottage. Do you know 

**Kate:** amount of people that? think that's real, and I even saw videos where like, "I stayed in the Holiday College." You're like, "No, you didn't," because It's not even real? It's just a set. 

**Jennifer:** couldn't possibly have. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** the LA, the mansion in LA that, that Cameron Diaz lives on, the outside is actually real. It was 

designed by Wallace Neff, who's a famous Californian architect, but, the cottage isn't real and I [00:02:00] was devastated.

And one I love, It's Complicated, 

**Kate:** Yeah, I love the kitchen in that as well. 

**Jennifer:** Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. It's ... I just love the interiors in that one. It's so beautiful. And then other ones, older ones, The Father of the Bride, The Parent Trap. those ones I found a little bit dated, but I have to say, going back through, like, Something's Gotta Give was 2000, 2003, and, like, looking through the images, The Holiday was only a few years later, like 2006.

and looking through, like, that's 20 years ago more, and looking through the interiors of this, I really did not get a sense that this is dated 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** held up so well.

**Kate:** It's so, um, it's so timeless, I think, and it's just so classic in design. Like, and I think even in the last five years, would you say, over kind of this side of the pond, it, that kind of style has made a bit of a resurgence with the likes of Devol and, you know, plain English kitchens. Like, I think like, I love the Nancy Meyers aesthetic, especially in kitchens, But [00:03:00] I think it needs to be scaled a little bit for our houses over here, 'cause they're definitely big American houses. 

**Jennifer:** it's for big American houses, you're totally right, and also though, if ... Like, there's such strong themes running through every house, and we'll go through them and kinda break down what they are and maybe how you can recreate them in your own home. But there is also slight adaptations for every single one, and it's very much of the location that it's in, which I really, really like.

Um, 

**Kate:** Yeah, leaning into that kind of beach side, if it's beach side, and it's like bright and airy, and then the cottage is, like, so-

cozy and nostalgic and stuff everywhere. And, like, I feel like the cottage, and it's not the same, don't get me wrong, but that feeling of the Carrie "Sex and the City" New York apartment with stuff, and the stuff is the kind of personality in it or something.

That's what I feel like at the cottage. Um, but Yeah.

**Jennifer:** But I think with all of them, so I, like, I'm gonna start with Something's Gotta Give 'cause I just love that movie so much it's so good. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** was set in the Hamptons, and, like, her... I feel like all her [00:04:00] stuff is, it's so neutral, and, like, okay, neutrals are everywhere, and it's all the wood and the off-whites and the linens and the textured materials and everything.

But th- I 

think it's 'cause of her. Well, it's, it's her. She's got a really strong style. Her mother was an interior designer, and she worked with a, like, a bunch of interior designers across movies. But Beth Rubino is, like, the one that's quite consistent across the movies and probably drove a lot of those, those looks.

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** it's, it is so neutral. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** very, very little color in, in this. It's all layered, like off-whites, beiges. And then, like, works and why it works so well is because it's, it's, it's very layered. There's a lot of textures 

coming through it. Um, there's linen curtains everywhere.

There isn't an inch that isn't or has a cushion on it or, like, has a lamp. There's lamps everywhere. Do you know? Like, there's stuff everywhere, but they're all very, very, very, very [00:05:00] neutral except for a couple of contrasting accents. So she does have probably not black, but really maybe dark browns, 

**Kate:** Yeah, dark woods 

**Jennifer:** through in, yeah, 

**Kate:** Dark woods and also, 

**Jennifer:** worktop. 

**Kate:** dark, um, like antiqued brass and stuff. Do you know, pendant lights or something like that, like there's that kind of old worn feel. And I feel there is ...like there's a lot of similarities and, you know, differences between the one we did last week and this week, and one thing that's similar is you won't, you won't find a fake version of a material in, in any of these houses.

They're all, you know, natural brass or, you know, real wood or real marble on the, countertops or wood floors or slate tiles, quite popular as well in a lot of them. So all 

**Jennifer:** the, 

**Kate:** natural, natural, slightly imperfect and worn in and lived in, and really gives that sense of like these kitchens are used.

This house is used, you know. It's plush and homely, but it's still [00:06:00] like, oh, wealthy and kind of somewhat opulent. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah.

Yeah. Well, we start with her kitchens 'cause 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** there's similarities across the kitchens, I think. So she... I'm gonna put up pictures here for anyone who is, um, watching, if you're watching on, uh, on YouTube. but th- a theme, a very strong theme running across her kitchen. So 

again, we're talking about very neutral, 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** the contrast in and then with the, you know, real metal brass or whatever it might be in the handles.

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** But there is stuff everywhere, 

**Kate:** Still a book. 

**Jennifer:** all ... Everything that's being used in a kitchen is out on display.

**Kate:** Yeah.

Cookbooks on the countertop, curtains across the window. Like, who has curtains in their kitchen? But, 

**Jennifer:** Yeah. 

**Kate:** is in some of these. And like, it's just stuff, stuff, stuff. You know, it's just worn and lived in, but for some reason, that little bit of mess actually still works, you know, still looks really nice. 

**Jennifer:** why I think it works because [00:07:00] it's not, um ... It's, it ... Okay, it's obviously curated, 

**Kate:** Mm. 

**Jennifer:** the stuff that you, that does look nice, but it is the stuff that you actually use. So it's not 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** clay pots that I'm like, "What are you doing with 20 clay pots in your kitchen?" it's the hanging up, it's the hanging saucepans.

It's, 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** in a little, you know, in a little jar sticking up. It's the plates that are actually used piled, like, not perfectly, maybe a little bit messy, but then they're all very, um, uniform, do you know, 

in color. at least they go well together. It's, like, the coffee pot. It's the kettle.

it's not manky appliances with wires everywhere. Like, it's nice stuff, but that 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** reaching for every day. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** Um.

**Kate:** say that when we're talking about, like, our kitchen episodes, where we talk about, like, shelves and open shelves, and, like, I would say half the people that ask me for an open shelf, I'm like, "Do you want an open shelf?" I'm like, "What are you gonna put on those shelves?" And I think they have to be, like, you know, things that look [00:08:00] nice, but also things you use, and it's not just a display shelf.

Because I feel like if it's a display shelf, you're just taking stuff down to, like, dust it every day. So, like, that's a really ... I don't know. I think these kitchens are such an excellent example of this. Like, pots and stuff that you'll take down every day. Your more used kind of plates and stuff down low, and then maybe cake stands you use, like, less up high.

You know, but they're still nice to have out on a shelf. But not hideous plastic stuff or water bottles and stuff. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah. Yeah. Your nicely curated stuff. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** also, um ... We were talking about this before we started recording. You- bowls of lemons. Like, there's so ... There is 

**Kate:** So many bowls 

**Jennifer:** I don't know how they're dealing 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** I, we just won't get into that. But bowls of fruit everywhere.

There's herbs everywhere. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** flowers, fresh flowers everywhere, all over the 

houses, if you notice, throughout, and

**Kate:** Yeah.

**Jennifer:** But

**Kate:** I 

**Jennifer:** and 

**Kate:** think it looks great. 

**Jennifer:** I love the coziness of that. I love the invitation to just kind of reach for something, help yourself. [00:09:00] Like, it's 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** isn't it?

**Kate:** Yeah.

it really is. And the ... I would say my favorite of the kitchens is probably Something's Gotta Give, just because I think it's, it's still paired back. I think it's white or off-white, but are the countertops, like black in the Something's Gotta Give one? 

**Jennifer:** don't they? 

**Kate:** say it's, because it's America, it's more than likely soapstone, 'cause that's a really common countertop material in the US, and it's kind of a 

**Jennifer:** Yeah.

**Kate:** it's black but it's kind of dusty black almost like.

It's not as, it's not as black-black as granite sometimes. Uh, I don't know. I'm thinking it.

**Jennifer:** it.

**Kate:** Yeah, And then some of the other kitchens she tends to have, like, Carrara marble as well, which I think is always a nice option. Timeless, but 

**Jennifer:** never shiny. It's 

**Kate:** yeah. 

**Jennifer:** a c- honed marble, which I love the, the look of. And ti- I'm seeing in her kitchen, tiles here, like just kind of basic white kind of subway 

**Kate:** Basic metro tiles. Yeah.

And I, I like all the, the hardware. There's hardware, there's always hardware on the doors as well, and the hardware is always visible. Like, they're butt hinges that are [00:10:00] visible, not modern hinges. So, like, those little details all add to the kind of layering, and that's something similar in, like, the likes of DeVol kitchens as well.

The hardware plays such a part, I think, in the kitchen. It's not just about the door.

**Jennifer:** I do, I really like that. Again, it's all very utilitarian in a, 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** a nice, inviting way. Like, everything's on show, everything is kind of there to be used. 

**Kate:** It's always a range as well. Talking about utilitarian, it's always a range. It's never, like, a high up oven. I don't think there's any with a high up oven anyway from memory. I think they're Always like, a range, A big wide range with gas burners. Do you know, the real sense again that someone cooks here as opposed to just for display, you know?

**Jennifer:** A big extraction hood over it, like, 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** touchable, you know, there's no kind of flat press button screens here. Like, it's all very af- there's a high affordance to everything. It's like, again, very 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** you to kind of touch it and use it and, and interact with it, um, which I love. I was desperately looking up paint colors just 

to be like, [00:11:00] "What paint is it?"

But Beth Rubino, who's the interior designer, said that a lot of the colors are formulated specifically for film. And we 

**Kate:** Of course. 

**Jennifer:** like you always say, you get asked a lot, like, "What color is this? What color is this?" is useless. I love the way you say that, because it, it's gonna look different in your house, and that's such a good example of this.

Like, what looks good on film and on TV doesn't look good at home. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** go through at the end, like, what kind of paint colors could be used to recreate something

**Kate:** But I also think even in the white kitchen in Something's Gotta Give, it's probably not white. Like, it's probably an off-white. It's very unlikely to be an actual white. Like, so it's always gonna be some sort of version of an off-white or something like that, and I think, Yeah. you hit the nail on the head.

Like, No.

two off-whites are the same in two different spaces. So, like, it's just, you just have to try them all, see what fits your space, um, and then like, Yeah.

work around your light and all that. But also I think lighting is interesting here. It's very diffused. I don't think there's any down lights in any of, the kitchens that I've seen.

I wouldn't feel [00:12:00] like. 

**Jennifer:** there's a couple of under-cabinet lighting, which I think is gorgeous. I'm just looking here at the living room, right, in Something's Gotta Give. There, I, 

there's five lamps that I can 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** like, and it's true of all of the interiors that go throughout all of her movies, there are lamps everywhere.

I don't think 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** lighting. I think there is all diffused 

lighting coming from lamps dotted around the room, and that's I could not love that more. I'm so into it. And like these days, 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** easier and easier to do that, even if you don't have plugs everywhere, because you can have smart lighting.

You don't need to have it wired to 

**Kate:** Okay. 

**Jennifer:** You can use rechargeable lighting, which of course you do have to recharge them, but they're getting better and better. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** So it's a very replicable thing to do. Like I'm looking at the, the cottage here as well, 

**Kate:** so true, the cottage does— oh, it has one pendant by the door. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah, 

**Kate:** look at it. 

**Jennifer:** dim. It's 

**Kate:** yeah. 

**Jennifer:** and it's like an ornate kind of, um, Middle Eastern-y type of 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** It's like there's... And again, there's five lamps dotted around the place, like it's,

**Kate:** talk about [00:13:00] the cottage? 'Cause that is very... I think this is very different, obviously because it's not US, it's, in it, based in England or whatever. So, like I think it's, a bit fussier than her US versions of houses, the cottage. But still that kinda cozy, lived-in, um, cozy, lived-in space that you feel like you can kind of, you know, like an Airbnb, you can just arrive and pick stuff off the shelves if you want.

But, 

**Jennifer:** kinda 

**Kate:** like... 

**Jennifer:** with less of a blank canvas, 'cause cottages like that, there's stone walls. There's already a lot of texture in there. There's wooden beams. It's a lot smaller, so you're kinda cramming things in. the kitchen in the cottage, like the same thing, she's al- it's open shelving. If she doesn't have open shelving, she has glass 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** on upper cabinets, which, um, with everything out on display.

obviously everything there every kitchen is perfectly, it's curated for the 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** it, there's nothing up there that I wouldn't reach for and use on a pretty regular basis. It's ju- it's not ornamental. It's not purely [00:14:00] ornamental. 

**Kate:** Yeah. I think, like, yeah, the cottage looks like fire hazard to me, if I'm honest. Most cottages are. Just this huge fireplace here, open fireplace in a wood kitchen with a wood dining table in front of it. 

**Jennifer:** That's a 

**Kate:** But it is, 

**Jennifer:** then like, and Christmas tree, uh, Christmas, uh, what do you call it? Garland just hanging 

up right 

**Kate:** just hanging up over the 

**Jennifer:** waiting to, waiting to go on 

**Kate:** just to, yeah, and attach that then, then to the curtains that will also go on fire.

And the place will go up in about 10 seconds. But no, it is very different, and I feel even the cabinetry here, like, the wood knobs and stuff like that, it's less refined and obviously more cottage-y, obviously.

But, like, um, even in the living room of the cottage, it's all, like, pattern. There's a lot more pattern, I think, rather than just texture. There's, like, clashing patterns, and there's the florals, but there's also, like, a bit of a distressed rug and stripe on the sofas and one of them, I think. The stripe on the, the stairs there as well, and I think one of the sofas is striped or something.

But there's such a mishmash of kind of patterns and [00:15:00] colors compared to, I think, the US big homes are more, I dunno, pared back and minimal but layered. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah, like the only-- she did have patterns, I w- I would say, throughout of the houses, but they're not, they're not created with color. 

They're just created with texture typically or a tiny bit of color, like in, in Something's Gotta Give, the house is in the Hamptons, she does have that nod to the kinda coastal Hamptons-y, beachy vibe 

**Kate:** bit of blue, 

**Jennifer:** bit of blue 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** through, like there's blue in the rugs, a tiny bit of blue in like the cushions and stuff like 

that.

But a lot of the pattern is coming from, from paneling, from, 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** in the fabric. It's not coming from colored patterns. Whereas the 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** cottage in The Holiday, you're right, it does lean a lot more into colored patterns, which 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** very different, cozier. It does, it does lead to [00:16:00] a more cluttered feeling, doesn't it?

Because...

**Kate:** I'll tell you which house I'd pick, because I think the cottage would send me into overdrive now. I'd be, like, clearing off a lot of that stuff, but, like, that's just the way I am and how s- I like to have, like, some spaces clear or whatever, or else I feel like I always wanna put the kids' toys away as soon as they go to bed so I can just sit down and relax and, uh...

When there's a lot of stuff out, I'm like, "Why is, why is that stuff there? If I'm not using it, then put it away." 

**Jennifer:** put that away. Yeah. 

**Kate:** Yeah. bar a few nice shelves, besides that. 

**Jennifer:** What I'd love to do a, like, just side by side, if you see the cottage, The Holiday, like Rose Hill Cottage in The Holiday, and if you see the living room from Some-Something's Gotta Give or from It's Complicated, which both feel much more pared back, 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** of color.

I think it's becau- I'd say there's as much stuff out. 

I just think that there's a lot more color brought in, even though it's still not a lot of color, and it just feels more cluttered because of that.

**Kate:** What do you think about the windows? This is interesting because I think a lot of her kitchens especially are all kinda, like, [00:17:00] timber frame windows. Do you know... And there's a lot of detail in the windows. Like, none of the windows are, like, minimal glass pane windows. They're all, like, they've all some sort of bars on them.

Usually they're timber. A lot of them have black frame on them, but some of them are white frame as well. But, like, it's definitely more, like, timber windows and that kind of traditional style there as well, I think. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah. So even in her kitchens, you're right, she has kinda c- um, curtains on her kitchens. Every window is 

paneled, every 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** I've never 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** paneled window in 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** the houses she's done. Like, and pretty, you know, extensive paneling. French doors everywhere, French 

**Kate:** Yeah, 

**Jennifer:** doors outside, French doors, like, is there anything other than French doors, except for maybe the odd internal kinda bedroom door?

**Kate:** can we just look at, 

**Jennifer:** else is French

**Kate:** this room and something's gotta give. Like, look how far away they are. Like, look at the size of this room. Like, when we say we have to scale down for Ireland, this is what we mean. Like, if you put in, like- 

**Jennifer:** gonna say they're 9 or 10 meters apart. 

standing apart. 

**Kate:** that room is absolutely [00:18:00] ginormous. But I,

**Jennifer:** Yeah.

**Kate:** even, even in Ireland, some of their biggest homes, I don't think we have very many rooms this size.

So like This what I'm saying is like we need to scale everything down, and sometimes it's hard to scale this style down and, you know, not ... still get the same opulence or something. Do you know, sometimes I feel like when you scale down those real traditional sofas, they look a bit granny. So it's hard to, it's hard to take on exactly this style, but you can definitely take on the palettes and like the paired back kind of, you know, more layered with texture, like you said earlier, rather than layering a pattern and stuff like that.

But it's difficult to replicate the full style of this in the scales of the houses We have at home, I think. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah.

Yeah. you need to strip back, uh, you know, maybe about 30 to 40%, I think. Can 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** about the sofas for a minute and the chairs? 

Because every single sofa that I can see, or chair, has kind of a skirt on it. What do you call that? Like, a, it's covered. 

**Kate:** What, as in you can't see the, feet? 

**Jennifer:** You can't see the feet.

**Kate:** But look, some of them look like loose [00:19:00] cover a lot of the time, which is kind of common enough in beachy houses, but they're all traditional shapes, I find. Like, they're not really modern shapes. Like, I know exactly, I'd be going to Finline for any of these sofas, and I know both our sofas are from there, but like all those traditional shapes, that's their bread and butter, I think.

But I think they're all, um, yeah, the cottage what 

**Jennifer:** Are, are 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** covers here, that you can 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** and off and 

**Kate:** Definitely in those. 

**Jennifer:** so much sense. You've got sand everywhere, 

sand's 

**Kate:** Yeah, But I think 

**Jennifer:** yeah, I'm looking at every single house, 

every single living room in, that I can see, has that kind of 

**Kate:** oh, the LA mansion. Actually, this is something that a lot of people ... and I, I watched The Holiday for the First time? I'd say last year or the year before. I have to say, I didn't get the 

**Jennifer:** were you 

doing? 

**Kate:** just, I don't get it.

Like, I ... it's not a movie that I would rewatch. Did not like it. Sorry. I'm just not into it.

**Jennifer:** Wow.

**Kate:** but yeah, everyone seemed to love this LA mansion because it's very timeless, and [00:20:00] 

**Jennifer:** I 

**Kate:** it's 

**Jennifer:** you know what? I'm gonna 

**Kate:** a bit more modern. 

**Jennifer:** for me, in general, is not ... I, I like the 

beach houses, 

**Kate:** I agree. 

**Jennifer:** do you know what, like, I'm ... Selling Sunset, I'll watch all day. I think it's addictive, but I don't like any of the houses.

**Kate:** No, I don't either. But I think this one has a bit more character in it, and I think that's kinda maybe the black frame windows and stuff. But it all is very contrived for me. There's just stuff on display for the sake of having it on display, you know, which, I don't know, is not for me. But I, I still think this is nice.

It still has some sort of level of warmth even though It's fairly pared back. Again, enormous spaces, but, like, this LA mansion reminds me of Kendall Jenner's last house, not this, not the current one with all the pattern and all that. But I loved her last house as well, actually. I love all her houses. I think she has great taste.

But, like, the last house was, had kind of a big walkthrough with these kind of black frame doors, and it just had just that tiny bit more character than just the standard clinical LA style. And I think that 

**Jennifer:** she does have, like, she has the f- the, not, uh, are [00:21:00] these traditional timber frames? They look a bit more kinda crystal style or 

they're a slimmer frame anyway, at least the, the windows in the LA mansion in The Holiday. couches are all very similar. They've got that kind of cover and skirt looking.

There's really textured. 

**Kate:** Hmm. 

**Jennifer:** you know, very dark if not black, probably, like, very, very dark brown, very, very dark green, um, elements around the place through chairs, through side tables, the window frames themselves. There's curtains everywhere. There's always, like, lovely draped kinda linen curtains, I would say.

Um, and then There's 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** just a million lamps. It's the answer to many things is just throw in a load of lamps. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** And sorry, 

**Kate:** But I think there are some lovely homes like ... Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** There's, like, sea cell 

**Kate:** yeah, Trelli- trellis patterns. Yeah, yeah. Yeah,

**Jennifer:** works.

**Kate:** I do think there are houses like this in LA, like Kendall Jenner's house is one. Dakota Johnson, do you know, with her gorgeous green kitchen? That's still an LA style, but it's an LA [00:22:00] style where they kinda leaned into what the house used to be, that there's those slightly kind of, I guess, Spanish kind of influences, you know?

Um, and I just think that, that style is lovely if it's leaned into, and that's the traditional style, and maybe that was Crittle, you know? So I think it works. 

**Jennifer:** was. It does look great. Yeah, it looks 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** Um, do ... Another element that's throughout every single house is bookcases. There's a million bookcases. Um, just books everywhere, even in, I think it's in, uh, Gotta Give, there's, like, a little bookcase shelf over one door. Like, they're everywhere, which she's a 

writer in that movie, so it 

**Kate:** this a, b- is this a bookshelf or is this a DVD shelf? 

**Jennifer:** So 

**Kate:** Horrendous. 

**Jennifer:** in the, mansion, LA mansion in The Holiday, it's full of DVDs, but she's a DVD, she's a movie trailer producer, so it kinda makes sense. So 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** that, I have to say. 

**Kate:** Yeah, maybe back then, but like, my God.

**Jennifer:** Yeah,

**Kate:** If, if I saw a ... 

**Jennifer:** every 

**Kate:** if I see anyone with a DVD shelf nowadays, I'm like, "You're crazy." Throw them out. 

**Jennifer:** ones are all collecting CDs. CDs are in. [00:23:00] Yeah, guys, go back to vinyl. CDs were shite. We, like, we 

got rid of them for a reason. 

**Kate:** yeah. 

**Jennifer:** But every other house has bookshelves, loads of 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** perfectly, like, it's not perfect straight lines of books, you know.

Some are stacked, some are on their sides, some have, you know, the, the photo frames dotted in through them, and I think that's a really nice way to style books. But there's not, you know, there isn't just one in every one. They, they're kinda throughout many of the rooms is bookshelves, which lends itself to me into that kinda lived-in, you know, we use this stuff, 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** um, 

**Kate:** So what would you like to spend a few minutes toward the end, like what would you tell people if you wanted to recreate this style? Maybe first in a kitchen, like what would you do? 

**Jennifer:** Can we, sorry, before we jump into that, can we just talk about the bedrooms? 'Cause the 

**Kate:** Oh, yeah. 

**Jennifer:** very key ... There's a lot of time spent in bedrooms, like, you know, the phone, like Diane Keaton or Meryl Streep, like freaking out about who's gonna, are you writing back to like [00:24:00] my online messages?

Or like, the phone to your daughter or whatever, like, um, thing. And they're the same. There's lamps everywhere. it's very textured. There's so many quilts on these beds and blankets. Like, I can't even ... 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** the bed? There's just cushions 

**Kate:** the bedrooms as much. There's just, again, bedside lockers for me you know my feeling. They just gather shit. Like, and like the bedside lockers are enormous. 

**Jennifer:** I don't know how this 

**Kate:** Yeah. And these beds that are about Like, fucking four foot off the floor, like you have to jump up onto. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot. It's, it's a lot. You're, like you're getting in, you're 

**Kate:** It's re- 

**Jennifer:** of a job before you get into the bed. Like, you really have to move around the cushions and it just looks hot as well. I'd probably run a bit hot many of these. 

**Kate:** It's very, uh... Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** in general. 

**Kate:** yeah. It's very, um, it's very American and it's very that kind of hotel level opulence in a bedroom 

**Jennifer:** Yeah. Yeah. 

**Kate:** A lot of stuff. 

**Jennifer:** But cozy, very cozy. I just, I don't know if I [00:25:00] personally would have the, the ability to keep on top of all the dust that would be 

created from all that stuff. 

**Kate:** Yeah. Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** Um, okay, recreating it, 

where would you ... Like, a 

**Kate:** Kitchens, 

**Jennifer:** there are through, are throughout all of the houses. Paneling, 

**Kate:** they are. 

**Jennifer:** Just throw paneling 

**Kate:** I think paneling, Yeah. a nice neutral palette, nothing too bold, no high contrast, I'd say, in your paints, even if you have different paint choices, that they kind of melt into one another throughout the rooms. I think like,

**Jennifer:** Mm-hmm.

**Kate:** know, even the colors, where colors are used are washed out and dusty and distressed if they're rugs or natural rugs like, you know, sisal or jute or whatever.

Like, and then kitchens, I think the cabinets are always neutral. Shaker cabinets, usually in frame, exposed brass hardware.

**Jennifer:** or glass if that's your thing. 

**Kate:** Yeah. And then 

**Jennifer:** daily 

**Kate:** real stone on the countertops. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah, real 

**Kate:** Yeah. [00:26:00] 

**Jennifer:** marble, or a soft kind of dark kind of granite. That look I never 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** Dark countertops, they're just really hard to keep clean. but that was how she brought in the contrast, I suppose, in the Something's Gotta Give.

But in real life, I just think dark, dark ... Some people love them. I, for me, I find them hard to keep clean. Books 

**Kate:** I have never actually seen a soapstone kind of countertops in Ireland. Do they exist? Do people do that? 

**Jennifer:** If you do, listener, text us and let us know or message us on Instagram. We don't know. Or leave a comment. Um, 

**Kate:** Yeah. I ne- I rarely see it, but it... That, that... Mm-hmm. 

**Jennifer:** Um, your bowl of lemons. It's practical items. It's not decorative. It's like, you know, it's all your stuff that you can reach for. It's nice for a guest. There's books scattered around. There's, like, have an apple. Do you know? Like, help yourself to coffee. It's all there. It's 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** Um, 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** flowers, the 

**Kate:** And [00:27:00] I think lighting, can we talk about lighting? 

**Jennifer:** yeah, key.

**Kate:** Lighting, I think there's no down lights. Like you said, a million lamps. If you're gonna have ceiling lights, they have to be diffused in a shade, in a closed-in maybe opal glass or something like that. No direct harsh lighting, and even the under-cabinet lights are, they're all warm.

No cool lights. 

**Jennifer:** Mm-hmm. Yeah, very much so, and lamps everywhere. Like, lamps, you ... Like, if, I would say go as many lamps as you think is maybe just about too much, and then put in another two lamps is probably the right amount of lamps to, like, recreate the style. But it works. It's so 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** it's so nice. Like, it looks great.

curtains, like, really slim linen curtains with a lot of texture and a bit of movement, and, like, super slimline curtain poles, um, that she seems to bring in contrast there as well. Like, the contrast, I think, is important because there's very little contrast, as you said, in, in the paint, in the materials, in the furniture and all that.

But then [00:28:00] there is items placed around the place, and it does give it a lot more depth and interest than just pure, you know, off-white everywhere.

**Kate:** Great. And then, uh, the furniture, sofas, and that, a lot of loose cover, a lot of cotton. Uh, no shine. I would say no shininess. on anything really. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah. 

**Kate:** Same for the curtain fabric, I would say. You know, all matte or lineny or natural fabrics, which are lovely to clean, so, Like, ideal if you've a load of small kids.

**Jennifer:** I do. this, yeah, this is it. Like, we're, maybe we're missing a trick with the cover. We moved away from those sofa covers. Should we go back to that? Like, ripping it off, throwing it in the washing machine, put it back on. Like, that's dreamy.

**Kate:** I actually do have a loose cover sofa. I put it in my kids' playroom for now. It's one of the IKEA ones. I think it's called, uh, Hilltorp. It's actually a lovely sofa. I cannot fault it. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah. There's a lot

**Kate:** it's a loose cover. You can take off the covers, put them in the washing machine. I've done it, and they've been fine.

And, [00:29:00] like, 

**Jennifer:** be said for 

**Kate:** I don't know, like, they're onto something. Now, the, the velvet's easy to clean, but the taking the covers off is, is a real refresh to your couch. 

**Jennifer:** There's something to be, to be looked at there maybe in all of these houses is that they don't look difficult to clean. Okay, I was going on, I was going on about dust, but there's nothing in there that would show up 

a bit of a handprint or a bit of a ... You know? Like, it looks ... It, it's v- it's, again, very practical, very lived in Like, and then take that to a very elevated style.

Lots of na- natural fabt- uh, fabrics. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** Um, I love that. Uh, 

French doors. French doors everywhere. Lots of window 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** Um, 

**Kate:** I would say, in general, the rule of thumb here is kind of shy away from modernity in all its forms, whether that's even curtain tracks, like they're old rod-on curtain tracks. You know, everything is old and like it would've been 50 or 60 years ago in houses. There's nothing modern, really.

Maybe [00:30:00] some LED lighting for that diffused lighting in kind of coving or under your kitchen or on top.

of your kitchen or something for that diffused light. But other than that, I'd say there's nothing that looks modern in the house. 

**Jennifer:** It's really timeless. Like, 

we're 23 years on here from Something's Gotta Give, and that looks really timeless to me. 

**Kate:** Yeah. Agree. 

**Jennifer:** maybe that has something to do as well with appliances. Like, there's no big, you know, flat screen TVs or, like, microwaves with, like, shiny front and, you know, touch buttons on it 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** it.

Like, it's all very, appliance-free or technology-free, 

**Kate:** Yeah, agree. Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** of layering. We'll just talk about paint colors for a minute 'cause we, we went through this a little bit last week. Like, there's a lot, a lot of off-white here, and that's one of our favorite topics. 

And through some previous episodes.

We've one specific episode on 50 shades of white, I think we called it. Um, there's one that I was playing with recently that I, I 

love 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** a prestige ... [00:31:00] Ugh, a collection of paint with Fleetwood, the prestige line, and there's two in there.

One's called Sepia and one's called Green Street. Green Street's a good but kind of a stronger color. 

**Kate:** Yeah 

**Jennifer:** but they're both, I think, so gorgeously translated over to an Irish, um, context. and then you have quite a bit of Farrow & Ball through your 

**Kate:** like Schoolhouse White. Schoolhouse White I've gone back to time and time again. Like, I love it. Uh, I love... I did A kitchen for someone in James' White before, and it's almost white, but it's got like a tiny, teeny, tiny hint of green underneath, but it's almost white when you look at it. So I just thought it was a lovely, crisp, fresh kind of white as opposed to a taupey creamy white, which I think in the sun, 

**Jennifer:** looks, looks so nice in the 

**Kate:** yeah, it just cools everything down if you're likely to see a bit of yellow. I think. Slipper Satin is a lovely white, although it can show a bit yellow depending on the light. That's a nice soft kind of white. So those are the kind of palettes I think, I, I think work. Those kind of [00:32:00] colors. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah. Agree. Um, and then one more thing to call out that you can recreate. Remember you spoke about before, you got gorgeous kinda linen-y texture curtains in IKEA. Do you remember? Do you remember what they were called? Were they Hilja?

**Kate:** I got my shears. My shears. 

**Jennifer:** Yeah, your sheers. Yeah. I think they were Hilja. 

**Kate:** So the original shears, the original shears I used were Hilja, but the better one that's out now in Ikea is their Stockholm. range. They're a bit more expensive, but they're total linen look. And I think they're actually cotton from memory. But I have them for all my café curtains in my bedroom, in my ensuite, my toilet downstairs.

Um, Yeah.

they're the best if you're gonna make your own café curtains. 

**Jennifer:** It's just more sheer, I suppose, than what's in, that we're talking about in these movies, but it's a nice affordable to add some texture and curtains to your windows without blocking out 

**Kate:** For sure. 

**Jennifer:** which we really need in Ireland. 

**Kate:** Mm-hmm. [00:33:00] 

**Jennifer:** that's it for Nancy Meyers. If we missed anything, let us know. We didn't really cover Father of the Bride, which is a classic, but I feel like that look has dated and her signature look has kind of evolved since then.

**Kate:** That reminds me of Laura Ashley. 

**Jennifer:** yeah, more kind of chintzy, but very 

lived in again and really cozy and gorgeous. 

**Kate:** Yeah. 

**Jennifer:** And that's it, and we will be 

**Kate:** Okay. 

**Jennifer:** with another Iconic House next week 

**Kate:** Talk to you then.

**Jen (2):** If you found this episode helpful, please hit subscribe. Give us a few stars and best of all, send it to someone else who you think would like it so they can subscribe too Thank you.


## Outro