Cougar Town Set Design {Epic}

Seems like only yesterday, but it was way back in 2009 when my favorite comedy writer Bill Lawrence debuted his newest show Cougar Town. It started out as a show about a recently divorced woman (Courteney Cox) on the prowl for hot young 'uns.  Gross.

About 6 episodes in, the show hit it's stride and became a funny ensemble about a group of neighbors in fictional Gulftown, Florida (the "cul-de-sac crew") who drink a lot of wine and are quirky, funny & sweet.  It's not about cougars anymore.

The show's greatest asset way back then was it's awesome set design by the amazing Archie D'Amico.

Easy breezy coastal design without being too beachy.  Captivated a nation.  Or at least thousands of crazed bloggers and internet lurkers like myself.  We went nuts trying to source every single detail of the set.  Like the fabric, Thomas Paul's Aviary in Robin on the barstools, Ikea's Henriksdal.  That was a week of my life finding that fabric.

Had slipcovers made for my kitchen chairs.  Still love them.

The darling kitchen table from the set below is custom made.  Wicker chairs from Crate & Barrel.

I came dangerously close to having a coral sofa made.  I'm a white sofa girl...always will be.  So glad I didn't do it, but still love the look.  Lamps filled with shells are the Bacchus Lamp from Pottery Barn.

Custom made coffee table is gorgeous.  Spent a month of my life looking for this table until I finally heard from set designer himself that it was custom.

I was never that crazy about the bedding in the master bedroom...

Lucia from Crate & Barrel. 

It has since been changed on the set.  But I did love the bedside lamps from PB...bought 'em.  

Frosted pantry door created quite a buzz.  And the vintage bamboo hat rack is from Wertz Bros. in L.A.  I say that so casually but it took me a month or more to find out where that hat rack came from!  I must have been insane.  Or maybe the challenge of the hunt.

The crazy gorgeous fabric on the two club chairs in the living room...Gran Umbelifera by Gaston y Daniela.  That was SO hard to track down...seriously at least two months of looking.  It's like $500.00 a yard and you have to buy like a million yards. 

But pretty right?

And perhaps best of all...the painting on the far wall in the living room.

Changed. My. Life.

OK, maybe not my actual life, but you know.

Tracked the painting to a prop rental house on Santa Monica Boulevard.  It's an old unsigned painting from the 60's.  Seriously?  I wanted to buy it so badly.  But no deal.

 

(p.s. see that white etagere from Bungalow 5 hiding behind the French door in the photo above?  Still love that piece.)

I never imagined a set design would have so much impact on my own design tastes, but this set hit me like a bolt of lightening.  And I wasn't alone.  In November 2009, a sweet blogger named Melkorka did a blog post "Does Anyone Else Watch Cougar Town For The Set Design?".  Innocent enough question.  As of today's date there are 138 comments and 20,548 hits on that post with the most recent ones being in September 2012.  That's 3 years!(I'm new to blogging but that seems like a LOT of hits to me!)  Poor girl, we took OVER that post.  It became a chat room for all us crazies trying to source every detail of that set. 

I didn't have a clue what a blog was then...people were asking me to post pictures of my finds and sources.  I couldn't understand why I couldn't post pictures in the comments section of someone else's blog.  Oy vey.

I recently emailed Melkorka to ask her if I could post the link.  She's no longer blogging much (I think we scared her) but she sweetly said absolutely yes. 

You can read the original post and comments here on Our Little Big House.  There are lots more sources named along with a couple of comments by Archie D'Amico, the set designer.  I am the crazy poster going by the name of Hartmom (don't hate me).

Entertainment Weekly did a piece on the sets naming many sources but they had some pretty glaring errors.  Shoddy research ;)

The "EAT" letters...yeah have those in my kitchen too...originally from Anthropologie but since discontinued.

It's always fun when something really gets your creative juices going, and the Cougar Town set did that for me.  In many ways it changed my design outlook forever. 

Gotta love that!

As always, thanks for reading...I appreciate you so much!

xo

~Karen~

P.S.  If you are interested in the new bedding in Jules' bedroom set, click here.