I am LOVING Season 3 of “Only Murders In the Building,” Gentle Readers! I confess I lost steam in Season 2. I never quite believed the Selena Gomez/Cara Delevingne thing, for one.
Anyhoo, finishing Season 2 does not seem to be a prerequisite for beginning Season 3, so here we are!
The set design in this show is thoughtful, whimsical, and fun. There is SO MUCH wallpaper! Here are a few I’ve identified, along with a few random…let’s just say “thoughts.”
Schumacher’s “Acanthus Stripe” by Celerie Kemble.
I missed the reason that the character Mabel renovated her aunt’s apartment, but in doing so she seems to have developed an allergy to color, poor thing. Nonetheless, the Acanthus Stripe wallpaper is super elegant even in a neutral colorway.
Pair it with other beige and white wallpapers, though, and it becomes…cheap. (Check out the walls AND ceiling in the room below! So much effort for so little reward.)
They use the printed sisal version of Acanthus Stripe in the show. It comes in several cool colorways.
In the room on the other side of the elegant Acanthus is this train wreck of a wallpaper, which manages to be bland and offensive at the same time. (This is one of the aforementioned “thoughts.”) It’s lazy and completely uninspired. And, I’m sorry to say, tacky.
Lesson learned: throwing several different beige and white wallcoverings together does not an elegant space create. As you can see.
Moving on to Lee Jofa’s “Hicks Grand” by David Hicks, in the Slate/Brown colorway. I LOVE this paper!
This is an example of a metallic finish being used for good, not evil. Or boring.
I’ve used this paper in the Green colorway, which is also cool and sophisticated.
Finally, a confession. I thought I had Oliver’s dining room nailed!
“That’s Cole & Son!” I yelled. (I’m quite annoying to watch TV with. Ask anyone.)
The characters in balconies, with the swooping curtains…I thought it was Lee Jofa’s “Teatro,” designed by Cole & Son. Looks kind of Edward Gorey-like.
Mais non! There are far more people, more colors, more action in Oliver’s wallpaper.
Who makes it, I wonder?
In a way, Oliver’s wallpaper is more like Lee Jofa’s “Cabaret,” which I happen to have in my powder room ;)
Well, you can’t win ’em all.
Annie Elliott Design is based in Washington, D.C., with offices in St. Michaels, Maryland and Middlebury, Vermont.
