I’ve been obsessed with the sets on House of Cards since that Netflix series began. I was so excited that this season's episodes dropped this week.
I've written about where they ended the backsplash in the private kitchen, using it as an example for many of my readers with questions about their kitchen backsplashes.
I love looking at all the mouldings and trimwork, the chandeliers and sconces. Studying those interiors while watching the show is such a guilty pleasure.
I feel like the sets are pretty realistic, just from the photos I’ve seen of the White House, but the rooms, color palettes, lighting….everything, looks like it has been tweaked for the drama and the mood.
It seems to me that all the trim in the White House on House of Cards is a creamy white, but there is a light gray as a wall color. There is a subtle contrast between the mouldings and the walls, creating this rather unusual gray/beige color scheme that is so difficult to achieve. I've written about that color palette before, linked here.
Okay, I’m obsessing.
What I’m really here to get off my chest is how every surface seems to have a perfectly placed, lit lamp. Have you noticed?
Image via: Domino magazine
Image via: Architectural Digest
Image via: Vanity Fair
Season 4 House of Cards - Claire's mother's home also had plenty of lit table lamps, Image via: Baltimore Sun
Image via: Minimalist House
I’m not talking about a particular lamp or how everyone is sort of obsessed with the pineapple lamps in the Oval Office.
Image via: Vanity Fair
I’m talking about every single lamp being lit, with a beautiful shade atop, most often in pairs and carefully centered on each surface. Even some strange little table in the hall will have a beautiful, slender, lit lamp atop, illuminating the surface, the wall, the character’s faces.
I wonder if those lamps are all perfectly lit every single day in the real White House? It puts an eerie mood in the setting to me, a sense of nighttime, worry, deceit.
And don’t you think Claire needs some larger nightstands, maybe at least some bachelor chests? There has been much talk about how uncomfortably far away from the bed they are placed.
Image via: Architectural Digest
Image via: Vanity Fair
When you watch, keep an eye out for all those lamps. You’ll see what I mean.
Joni Webb has a great run down of the Oval Office designs from year's past. I think the House of Cards Oval Office really has the best look. :-)
Related posts:
I’m really obsessed with this house and property after watching the Netflix series, Ozark. I’ve got a few pics I found on the internet and then I’m sharing what I would love to do to in this house, if I owned it.