You Have to See Drew Barrymore’s Dreamy New Talk-Show Set Kitchen
It might not be a typical source of design inspiration, but the new kitchen on the set of The Drew Barrymore Show is inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale.
In a new edition of The Spruce’s series The Spruce Up, Barrymore takes readers behind the scenes to show how she teamed up with a set of designers to overhaul the set of her talk show to create a space that exudes comfort and personality — just like Drew.
“I wanted to build something that really felt like it would be inside of someone’s home,” said Barrymore, who worked with 513 set designers Tom Lenz and Mel Lovric for the project. While the duo called working with Barrymore “a dream for us,” they had a significant challenge in the renovation, as they hoped to avoid the typically stale “sofa and a chair” setup of a talk show.
To create a set that feels “layered, cinematic, and bold,” the kitchen was transformed with European influences, as well as a Handmaid’s Tale-inspired Shaker-style setup. Because Barrymore frequently has guest chefs pop by for cooking demonstrations, she wanted the space to “be a destination where chefs come, and they feel like there’s nothing demo about this,” she explained. “This is their kitchen right now and their space.” A rollable kitchen cart helps make food demos easier in the space.
Playing on Barrymore’s love of nostalgia, a news desk is reminiscent of journalism heavyweight Walter Cronkite, and there are also “old cracked leather chairs,” a shag rug, and a vintage table. One unique fixture is an enlarged drawing by Barrymore’s ex-boyfriend, Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti, which he did in college.
“I think if you make it personal, you probably will feel more comfortable in the space,” Barrymore told The Spruce. “If it’s somewhere that you’re trying to do a professional job and the more you bring a plant or a photo or decorate it or go out to a little store and buy some tchotchkes and put them around, you will start to feel like it’s your space and you will be more yourself.”
As for the seating for the guests, Barrymore didn’t want it to look like traditional bleachers. Instead, she wanted “a very luxe, permanent fixture” involving “something velvet and beautiful.” The same goes for visiting chefs for cooking segments, whom Barrymore calls “her Marvel characters” because she’s such a fan.
When she’s traveling, Barrymore attempts to cultivate that same sense of home.
“When I go to a hotel room, I immediately unzip my bag and throw it up into the air,” Barrymore noted. “I’ll try to move things around in the room that feel a little bit more me. I will take every temporary piece of paper, like the menu and the WiFi and the ‘We have this restaurant downstairs’ pamphlet, and I will shove it immediately in a drawer. I don’t want anything that indicates it’s a temporary setting.”
This post originally appeared on Apartment Therapy. See it there: Drew Barrymore’s New Talk Show Set Has the Dreamiest Kitchen