Just as Martha and Ingrid’s respective homes needed to feel lived in, the modernist Airbnb couldn’t “feel entirely like a museum either, so we brought in mid-century elements as well as modern interpretations of them,” explains Casado. This meant custom sun loungers from Kettal alongside Stua armchairs, a Womb Chair Relax by Knoll, Pierre Chareau desks, Pierre Chapo sideboards, and chairs from Pierre Jeanneret and Jean Prouvé.
Meanwhile, in Martha’s New York apartment, the entrance hall features an Iranian console with an Indian Mehraab-style mirror and a Fornasetti umbrella stand, and in the living room, a Jean Prouvé table sits alongside a pair of Bonanza armchairs by Esko Pajamies, featuring striking geometric prints. “Pedro likes Cassina, Moroso, Utrecht, and Vitra, and we often work with brands including Jonathan Adler, Fritz Hansen, and The Rug Company,” Casado continues. “You can take inspiration from designers like Gio Ponti, Charlotte Perriand, Gerrit Rietveld, or the Memphis group, but there’s no need to break the bank. Nowadays, there are so many great design stores offering pieces inspired by legendary designers.”
Choose warm woods
Almodóvarian interiors have an innate sense of warmth, and that was even more crucial to incorporate into The Room Next Door, considering it was the director’s first English-language feature and set outside of his native Spain, as well as the fact that much of the story takes place in a somewhat cold, glass-walled Airbnb. The key? Deep, warm woods, says Casado, which create a sense of coziness.
Use lamps to create atmosphere
Various light fixtures from Flos, Louis Poulsen, Foscarini, Venini, Casa Josephine, Mayice Studio, Sammode, and even a Taliesin lamp by Frank Lloyd Wright fill the sets of The Room Next Door, casting a gentle, golden glow and adding to this feeling of quiet, content homeliness. Keen to inject the same warmth into your own home? “Consider some wall sconces, too,” advises Casado.
Display art that is meaningful to you
“Pedro is like a sponge,” the set decorator says. “He soaks up culture, art, fashion, and music, and shares his new interests with his team, and then we have to translate them to his sets.” One example this time around was a trip the director took to a Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition, during which he fell in love with a specific painting showing a silhouetted tree against a blue- and peach-colored sky. So, naturally, a print of it ended up in The Room Next Door, in Martha’s bedroom.
Elsewhere in that house, you’ll spot a blue and white Louise Bourgeois print embroidered with the words: “I have been to hell and back. And let me tell you, it was wonderful.” This was a piece Almodóvar already owned. “That was perfect for Martha because she’s gone to war and survived, and despite everything, it was an adventure.” Beside it hangs yet another item from the director’s personal collection: an image by Spanish photographer Cristina García Rodero which shows women in mourning dress at a funeral in Puglia. “It’s also connected to Martha, because she’s witnessed a lot of pain and sorrow around the world.”