Don Draper's New "Mad Men" Pad

After a hiatus, Episode 1, Season 5, of "Mad Men." began last Sunday night after. The LA Times has an article on Don Draper's new digs.

It's June 1966, and though Draper (played by Jon Hamm) might be a newlywed, he's traded in his dreary digs from last season for an Upper East Side spread complete with serious bachelor pad trappings.

The article gives us a peek at how set designers achieved the look and feel of the mid-60s in Manhattan. Love the show!

"Mad Men" Is Back Next Month

"Mad Men," the TV show about Madison Avenue in the late fifties early sixties, will be back soon and already the PR machine is ginning up interest. 

The Baltimore Sun has one article about Bryan Batt, the actor who played Salvatore Romano, the closeted art director. Batt gave a "...sensitive, nuanced portrayal of a married man struggling to deal with his gay identity." He is an interior designer in real life and lives with Tom Cianfichi, his partner of more than 20 years. He opened Hazelnut, a home furnishings store in New Orleans, in 2003.

Then we learn that Paul McCartney may make a  cameo appearance on "Mad Men" because the Beatles were big in the 1960s




 Banana Republic has already featured their Fall 2011 'Mad Men' Collection.

Our Blog Is Recognized For "Mad Men"

Tracy (as in Dick Tracy?), informed us that our blog is featured on Criminal Justice's
list of the best Mad Men blogs found here: http://www.criminaljustice.net/best-mad-men-blogs. Tracy compiled a list of his favorites and listed all the distinctive reasons why he love them.

What caught his attention were these posts: Amy Wells: Set Decorator For Mad Men,  Interior Design Of Mad Men and Don Draper's Furniture on "Mad Men".

Amy Wells: Set Decorator For Mad Men

Reprint of Amy Wells: Set Decorator For Mad Men at Home Accents Today:



Judging by the Emmy nominations, Americans are fascinated by the hit TV show Mad Men. In case you've been living in a cave the past few years, Mad Men is more than the early 60s on Madison Avenue. It's about the roles of men and women just 40-plus years ago. It's about double standards, smoking, and glass ceilings before we even invented the words.

Sherwin Williams' magazine Stir has an interview with Mad Men set decorator Amy Wells, who also has worked on Last of the Mohicans, There Will Be Blood and Sex and the City. The challenge has been to make the sets and the clothing as real as possible. Wells not only talks about how she uses color to achieve the feeling of the period, but what colors are associated with the lead characters.

The article is a good example, too, of how a writer needs to know his characters. For example Wells started with,

Who are Don and Betty Draper? What kind of taste do they have? Do they have enough money to buy the things they want?

From there she painted the walls oatmeal yellow in the Draper bedroom.

Then I added a vibrant blue period headboard for contrast. There are no primary colors; we’re not in that era yet. When I think of Don, I think of graphics and the color of his office — deeper blues, black. With Betty, I think of pastels.

Does Mad Men interest people because many of us lived through that era or is it because we find the writing and characters interesting? Both probably and it's fun to see how much things have changed since those years.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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Interior Design Of Mad Men

Sunday night is the season finale of Mad Men and Newsday has an article about the interior design of the show at 1960s 'Mad Men' style: So dated, it's daring.

The show doesn't show neutrality, writes Manhattan interior designer Valerie Onor, but "feminine or masculine styles and shades again."

Annette Tatum, author of the new book "The Well-Dressed Home: Fashionable Design Inspired by Your Personal Style" (Clarkson Potter, $35), suggests letting your taste in clothes guide your interior decorating:

As often as not, the actors themselves seem to serve as design elements; their wardrobe, makeup or personal effects add a definitive pop of color or sophistication that plays off their surroundings for a seamlessly styled scene.

And don't miss our blog post about Don Draper's office furniture.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
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