There was a time that I wanted to do a column about interior design as seen in the movies, an idea that I could never monetize. In talking about Vanessa Redgrave in Evening to Vanessa’s daughter, Joely Richardson, it reminded me about a piece I did for Angela Matusik’s Shelterrific.com about the Newport seaside mansion where the movie was set:
Don’t tell Meryl Streep: The beauty with the finest bones in Evening, the actress-packed literary weepy is totally wooden! It’s the primary location, a Newport, Rhode Island mansion. I fell orgasmically in love with the white frame wedding cake on the Newport headlands, frothy as the Atlantic whitecaps on the outside, the internal walls in shades of blue as rich and changing as the Atlantic Ocean that sparkles in the background. And I came away with a ton of interior ideas to get that grand, old wasp money, luxe cottage look. The trim and flowers (many hydrangeas or mixed bouquets of white summer blooms) picked up the whitecap white, but the walls of the reception rooms were those delicious peacock blue greens that I love – in my house I have Farrow and Ball Blue Green in my dining room, Benjamin Moore Peacock Feathers in my son’s room. While watching Evening, I wanted to boldly paint each room in my house a harmonizing but different shade of turquoisy blue. Harder to come by would be the collection of oil paintings (including family portraits that are definitely school of John Singer Sargent). But I could steal the mix of rich blues, pale trim, beige upholstered furniture in subtle patterns and solids paired with dark wood furniture, and dark wood panel floors tarted up with oriental rugs. The orientalism theme repeats in turqoiuse lamps with pagoda shades. And then there was that one hugely flamboyant touch: a gorgous Asian-inspired peacock mural in thementry way. It reminded me of the decorative arts of Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf’s sister) but not laid on so heavily. It’s rare to see a mural that’s actually tasteful, that leads the interior design of the rest of the rooms, but doesn’t challenge the rest of the design to be equally flamboyant. That would be too new money! The mural is a major clue: this is not an movie production designer’s studied interior but a living, breathing place. It’s called The Ledges and is on Newport’s tony Ocean Drive. The Cushing family still lives there (and appear in the movie as extras!). And Grandpa Howard Gardiner Cushing (1869 – 1916) painted the peacock himself! His paintings — very school of Sargent – also hang at the nearby Newport Art Museum. Hmmm – I wonder how much one of those costs? — Thelma Adams