Heat Advisory in a Junkyard

Some days you are dressing a set in a historic mansion, a five star hotel in a penthouse suite, and some days you are outside in a literal junkyard all day.

Leadman Deon Philipps literally jumping out of a dumpster

I was so grateful to our set dressing crew for really rallying for a long day under the sun in heat advisory (HEAT ADVISORY!) weather to put together this unconventional and creative set. Shooting crew was filming in there overnight.

Not going to lie, it was a really tough day for me. But this was a real highlight that gave me faith in humanity:

At lunch I walked to the nearby deli but wasn’t feeling it.

Remembering that I saw some Chinese workers eating a rice dish at the warehouse down the street I walked over and asked them where they got that Chinese food (we were in deep industrial Ridgewood where cinematic junkyards still exist in NYC.)

They told me the warehouse provides lunch to them but if I walked a couple of blocks there was a Chinese place. I was about to start walking when the lady of the group said to one of the truck drivers “you want her to walk blocks in this weather?”

And she rushed inside and gave me two boxes of the homemade food she made for everyone’s lunch at the warehouse. We chit chatted about 老家 and the 麻烦 when filming is on your street and then I walked back to the junkyard to eat lunch.

The food was so good and I felt so grateful I totally forgot how utterly disgusting it is that I ate lunch outside in a toxic junkyard. I went back to the warehouse with some oranges from crafty to say thank you. Best pay off of learning Chinese to date.

Find of the Day

this perfect 80's couch

I had this idea today to start a new category on this blog of "Find of the Day" to keep all my favorite things I find when out shopping but usually don't end up buying or needing catalogued. 

It is hilarious that I'm creating a new category for a blog that I hardly ever update, but anyways I am leaning into the ambition for now. 

The thing is, I get a chance to come across so many truly unique, fascinating, and funny things which truly give me joy and delight. Often I feel like I just need a photo to complete my joyful experience without purchasing the item. 

But then I was thinking about all my favorite things I've come across throughout the years and many thrift shops I've scoured and I thought it would be nice to have them all accessible here through the click of a category tag "find of the day". So I'm going to try it out. Maybe one day when I'm feeling truly ambitious I will back catalog all my favorite finds from the last few years (...someday).

Back to this couch, it is such a nice shape, great proportions, and then the print. THE PRINT! It is so perfect. So late 80s early 90s in such a great subtle and interesting way. Sigh if only I needed the couch for a set...

here's a close up of that sweet print. AND THE MATCHING PILLOWS!

Seven Carts at IKEA

checking out with seven loaded carts at IKEA

I’m sorry to say I can tell you what it looks like to checkout with seven full carts of IKEA.

with Jessica Petruccelli, partner in crime. It was a two person job.

When someone asks about the glamour and fun of set decorating I always mention the number of lunches I’ve eaten in my minivan in the IKEA parking lot.

Reuniting Shelf Brackets

from my instagram account @charlenewangdechen

Victorian door hardware!

On Valentines Day, I discovered one of my true decorative arts shopping loves: searching for the perfect Victorian door hardware.

I parked myself at one of New York City’s funnest stores: Olde Good Things rifling through their collection of old door hardware to find pieces for a hero door for Russian Doll which will air on Netflix in 2019.

I could spend every afternoon carefully rummaging through old Victorian hardware and be in bliss. .

Harlem Toile

For the Netflix film "Irreplaceable You” I decorated, we needed to create within the location of Abbi’s apartment another space to act as the backdrop for her mom, Jane’s, apartment big enough for tight shot of her mom on the phone.

Since this was the only real time we were seeing Jane in her own space, we wanted to give a sense of the character with a very limited time and not much space.

To flesh out the idea of her as an elegant and regal while also contemporary and chic black woman living in New York City, I thought of the idea of using Harlem Toile by Sheila Bridges as her backdrop.

The one time we are in her home, it is for the scene when Jane is on the phone with Abbi and just found out her daughter has cancer.

I like how the familiar language of the toile pattern communicates her classical elegance, while this specific unique toile gives some extra layers to her character and background in this quick scene.

Christmas Tree Wrangler

I did one of the funniest jobs where my official title was “Christmas Tree Wrangler” (though I don’t know if it actually showed up in the credits like this).

A friend was decorating a film that needed someone to just come in, be in charge of decorating the Christmas tree. I was going on a flight the day they needed someone, so she said I could just come in, quickly lead the decoration of the Christmas tree, then go take my flight.

So I showed up early to set with my luggage, decorated the tree, and then went straight to the airport.

Magazine Back Issue Warehouse

One of my favorite parts of the job is discovering warehouses filled with items that are a gateway into a whole ecosystem you never thought much about. Today’s was magazine back issues, like where newsstands send back all their magazines after the month has passed.