West Elm Kids makes a cameo in And Just Like That, the new chapter of Sex and the City
Set decorator Carol Silverman on how every room tells a story.
As set decorator for And Just Like That—the newest chapter in the Sex and the City series and film franchise—Carol Silverman has something in common with lead character, New York Star and Vogue columnist Carrie Bradshaw: “Set decoration is storytelling.”
It was Carol’s job to create environments that reflect the lives of Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda since the audience last dropped in. When it came to crafting the set for Charlotte’s two daughters, Lily and Rose, Carol turned to West Elm Kids for help.
Naturally, we couldn’t help but wonder how the space came together behind the scenes…
What was your inspiration for Lily and Rose’s room?
In And Just Like That, Lily is 15 and Rose is 12, and my team and I naturally assumed that Charlotte had decorated their room since the movie sequel. The wallpaper I chose depicts drawings of women doing activities like playing music and riding horses together. It represents the friendships of Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha that Lily and Rose have grown up with.
The girls’ desks and dressers are sophisticated but have a bright, fun quality—a perfect look for Charlotte’s kids. Both have twin platform beds, arranged symmetrically in the room. I love their simple, clean lines. They’re neutral, which is a great counterpoint to all the pink.
“Set decoration should support the script and give subtext to it by revealing the characters’ inner lives, as anyone’s home does.”
–Carol Silverman, set decorator
As a Sex and the City fan, how did the series influence you?
I felt a big responsibility in taking on the spaces for these iconic characters while also updating them since the last time we saw everyone was in 2010. [Director and writer] Michael Patrick King and I had a lot of conversations about what form those changes would take for each of the characters. Within that, I still wanted to give fans something they could use in their own homes.
What design takeaways from this space would you recommend?
An upholstered platform bed would be beautiful in any bedroom style. It’s a great-looking centerpiece that’s functional and comfortable. I balanced the low profile of the beds with desks that are at about the same height as the top of the headboards. The matching modernist dressers build an interesting design landscape that’s stylistically consistent, while the nightstands and lucite shelves act as fun wild cards.
The room gets pizzazz from the layered patterns on the bed, wallpaper, drapes and curtains. Keeping either the scale of the patterns and colors consistent across different elements of a room will create a similar effect.
What decisions informed your set design?
Lily and Rose’s room had to fulfill a few functions. It had to be stylistically consistent with Charlotte’s taste and the rest of the apartment. It had to reflect the girls’ lives as they are now while showing that they’ve been growing up in this space for a number of years. It also had to take a few story points into consideration. I wanted it to look comfortable—the actors needed to look at home there. The soft surfaces and pink surroundings really do that, as do the dolls and the name murals.
What’s your mantra when designing a set like this, or any other?
Never be afraid of trying something new, even if it seems a little strange at first. Sometimes the most exciting rooms can come out of that approach. I got swatches of fabrics and wallpapers I wouldn’t ordinarily choose for this show and pinned them all up on a wall alongside images of furniture. Then I pulled out what wasn’t working and put that to the side. Sometimes a thing would come back from exile and have its chance. And at the end of all that, there would be a space that felt fully considered and successful.