Imagined Interiors

Revealing the private spaces of tv and film characters whose home you haven't seen.

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Chi Chi Rodriguez

Film: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar Setting: 1995, Pyramid Club Room: Chi Chi’s backstage area

Story we told: Chi Chi is hyped from beating out those old hag queens and being crowned Miss Drag Queen of America in Los Angeles. She’s back in New York and ready to prove herself at the Pyramid Club. She even brought her own electric fan to make sure she looks fresh AF when she steps on stage. 

Picture it: Chi Chi teetering down the alley to the back entrance with her Marilyn Monroe makeup bag, electric fan in one arm and dress form in the other. 

Girl is serious.

Though pumped she beat her drag mothers in the pageant, she still feels a tight sisterhood. They are all doing their own thing. There’s room for everyone. You belong! You belong! And you belong! Vida gifted Chi Chi and Noxeema “Pink Ladies” pins for them to remember the road trip...as if they could ever forget!

Scarves, scarves, scarves! Chi Chi’s style has evolved from “boy in a dress,” however scarves will always kind of be her thing.

If you have eagle eyes then you spotted a reflection of this dress and necklace in the mirror of the wide shot. Even if you don’t have eagle eyes, you can probably spot the wrinkles on this dress now cause Chi Chi forgot her freakin’ steamer. 

The whole “boy in a dress” comment still bothers her so she is going to make it work in her favor by channeling Kate Moss and working a slip dress. Maybe it will catch the attention of her very own Johnny Depp. 

She’s prepared Don’t Take It Personal by Monica for her song against the advice of the other queens who say she should do something “Everyone knows.” EYE ROLL. This is the future of drag!

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The Characters from Clue (the movie)

FILM: Clue Setting: New England, 1954 Room: Dinner Place Settings In the film Clue six characters are invited to a fancy old mansion for a dinner party hosted by the mysterious Mr. Body. Only one scene from the film is set around the dinner table, however, we thought it would be fun to imagine the personal table settings of each character. What does time at the dining room table look like at their house? We decided!

And, yes, each place setting includes a weapon from the film (wrench, knife, candlestick, rope, revolver, lead pipe) so get out your eagle eyes because some are more subtle than others.

Miss Scarlett Story We Told: Miss Scarlet doesn’t usually eat at home because she has sooooo many client meetings. This place setting is at one of her favorite restaurants where the maître d' doesn’t make her pay for the champagne if she gets stood up and they sell her favorite cigarettes in the lobby. It’s a classy place even though they allow Madams, as you can tell by all the velvet and gold.

Colonel Mustard Story We Told: Colonel Mustard is aware that he’s kind of a dummy. So he spends his evenings trying to make up for time lost during the war by reading up on war training manuals. Unfortunately, his eye is always too focused on the pie.

Mrs Peacock Story We Told: Mrs. Peacock gives and receives lots of friendly “Thank You” cards for her charitable work in bribery. She’s been known to down an entire pot of tea going through correspondence so she needs some sweets to cut the bitterness of an over-steeped cup of caffeine. 

Professor Plum Story We Told: Plum is desperate to go down in history for anything but his illicit affair. We decided he would use his free time drawing up recipes for hallucinogens to use as experimental drugs for his psychiatry clients. And he likes hot dogs.

Mr. Green Story We Told: Mr. Green’s after dinner tradition is a sherry with fruit while he tends to his manicure. It’s a metaphor, guys. A metaphor for how dirty his hands get working for the State Department. Also, he’s fancy and likes to look clean.

Mrs. White Story We Told: Mrs. White is all about contrast and commitment. She needs what she needs - her martini and her squid ink pasta. And she’s committed to those things - especially her martini.

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Barb Holland (Stranger Things)

TV Show: Stranger Things Setting: Fall 1983, Indiana Room: Barb’s Bedroom

Story we told: Poor smarty pants Barb. She was one minute from busting out of those prairie ruffle blouses and living her real life. I like to imagine that her last moments on that diving board were spent thinking “This bitch is actually holding me back,” but we may never know. 

We decided to give Barb an eclectic, colorful home escape from her drab school life and lame friends who let her die alone in the cold. A place where she can explore her inner truth without worrying about her idiot friend Nancy.

Brooding brainiacs don’t have time for sports but bowling isn’t a sport - it’s a right of passage in the Holland family and a great way for Barb to get out her frustrations at the world.

Barb’s older brother scored her a job at the BRAND NEW video rental store. Although Barb’s parents don’t quite understand the concept of renting movies to watch at home, they are extremely supportive of her desire to learn financial independence. Barb is just glad she gets to watch all the classics (or movies that just came out recently) for free. She also has to rent a VCR (not pictured) because her parents don’t have one yet.

Barb definitely takes time to nurture some budding inner truth (after her homework is done and before she reads her NASA newsletter). Her experimentation with on-trend electric blue eye shadow is symbolic of the clear and present truth Barb can see that her idiot friend, blinded by lust, ignores.

But it’s fine. Barb is comforted by listening to The Cure and reading her Seventeen Magazine; reminding herself that there’s more out there than this small, backward town and its rich white kid entitlement attitude.

Barb isn’t sure if her coat is cool but it makes her feel warm. She’s practical.

Barb is 100% sure her patchwork white leather purse is cool which is why she doesn’t take it to school and risk drawing attention to her inner truth that is still being carefully cultivated. The blue eye shadow is risky enough for junior year. Maybe next year, patchwork purse. Or not, since Barb dies.

BONUS IMAGES

Proof we didn’t fake that 1981 Seventeen magazine. We found it at the same thrift shop as the puffy coat. Killer finds for Barb.

Barb’s sheets! Like totally 80s but on point when we pair it with this 70s afghan. We are truly into details here at Imagined Interiors.

We were extremely excited by this Seals in Space trapper keeper and thought it screamed “BARBARA HOLLAND”. However, due to the Seventeen magazine it had to get moved to the nightstand and ultimately upstaged by the video rentals. Poor Seals in Space.

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Melanie Daniels

Film: The Birds Setting: San Francisco, 1963 Room: Kitchen table

Story we told: Melanie is perfectly normal. Just kidding. She’s CRAZY! What kind of person takes a motorboat in a MINK FUR COAT to break into a guy’s house and leave birds for his sister who she’s never met? Melanie is out of it. But she does project total confidence and we love her. She’s 60s fierce! In our setting, Melanie is in her cutie SF kitchen writing a thank you card to unfortunate soul Mitch Brenner for taking her to the hospital after the “incident”. This scene would have taken place after the film ended.

Shout out to south paws! Melanie is so crazy she deliberately chose a bird card to send to Mitch. He’s gonna freak.

Melanie reads her daddy’s newspaper every day to make sure she didn’t end up in the funny pages. Fun fact, these cigarettes are made of chocolate but we liked the packaging so we used them anyway.

Ohhhhhh, Rome. EVERYTHING YOU HEARD IS A LIE! Melanie’s memory of her trip to Italy is very different from what the paper reported. She reacts more violently to being questioned about her escapades in Rome than she reacts to being attacked by thousands of birds. She may have lost her clothes in a fountain there but she found these authentic Italian lace fans to bring back in her suitcase.

Melanie received four “Get Well Soon” cards. One from her dad, one from Mitch, one from Cathy, and one from the lady who owns the pet store.

ALT SHOT ALERT

We decided to try white shell chairs as an alt shot and change the color scheme from green to brown - both playing off her costume in the film. For this shot we ditched the darkness of the fans, closed the curtains, and added wardrobe. We decided the chairs were not quite right for the table but we did like the “lived-in” quality of adding wardrobe. What do you think? Would Melanie go for the sleekness of the shell chairs or the brightness of the vinyl chairs?

Thanks to Keli for lending us her Grandpas vintage fan!

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Jane Henderson

Film: Paris, Texas Setting: Houston, Texas 1984 Room: Studio Apartment

FLAGGED for re-shoot! Maybe I had too much champagne at brunch right before the shoot but I over-propped this room and the wide shot is TOTAL CHAOS. So we’re going to show you the detail shots and let you IMAGINE the INTERIOR as a whole. Get it? Imagined Interiors? We really love Jane, though, so we’ll def come back to her later and do her justice. Until then, this is our story for Jane’s apartment.

Story we told: Jane is a complex woman. After her marriage suddenly and dramatically fell apart she felt desperate for a new start and left her child with family in LA, moved to Houston and began working at a Peep Show club.

We told the story of her shared apartment with another girl from the club. The apartment is littered with both of the girls’ few possessions. For Jane, a modern 80s woman, romance novels, cassette tapes, and powerful crystals. The new roommate is just really into Texas.

Like, totally 80s.

Hers and hers. Jane’s roommate and coworker convinced her to get cowboy boots but her roommate borrows them so often they fit her feet better. Jane likes her Keds, though, because someone told her Marilyn Monroe used to wear them.

Although Jane prefers historical romance novels, she’s considering getting into Sci-Fi fantasy. She finds her roommate’s cactus to be aggressive so she placed a selenite wand near it to even out the energy.

Jane’s roommate found the dark grey rock in a parking lot and thought Jane would like it. Jane finds that to be aggressive, also.

Jane lost the power adapter to her boom box so she mostly listens on her walkman because the smaller batteries are cheaper. Her roommate gave her a “Good Luck” plate to keep her gems somewhere. Jane isn’t sure if her roommate is being snarky or not but has decided not to react.

Last time she was at the rock shop she picked up this prism to help with “deep disappointment” and jade for “strength at work”. 

Jane saved up FOR MONTHS to get this killer salt lamp. She read it helps calm nerves and may help her sleep better. She’s had nightmares ever since THAT NIGHT. The salt lamp isn’t really helping as much as she had hoped.

She places a galenite stone here to absorb bad vibes.

A million thanks to Miriam and Megan for lending us some killer props!

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Libby Mae Brown

Film: Waiting for Guffman Setting: Mid to late 90s, Missouri Room: Bathroom

Story we told: Libby is an eternally optimistic young woman living with her single mother. Maybe she has her own bathroom in their dilapidated 3 bedroom, 2 bath home but Libby does her best to keep her cherished pink bathroom bright and clean.  Most of what Libby has now she bought with her Dairy Queen money but there are still signs of her childhood lingering.

Libby likes the subtle, affordable scent of the Designer Imposter sprays however she keeps a bottle of Exclamation in her purse at all times. Vaseline is a nightly ritual she confessed to Sheila

We imagined Libby was always kind of waiting for Skeet to come by the drive through for a peanut buster parfait.

The seashells were collected on the only trip her family took togeher to the beach before her parents split and her dad ended up in jail.

Every legit mid 90s home had potpourri in the bathroom.

Libby’s vices: gum and cigarettes.

We read a little deep into Libby’s audition song choice of Teacher’s Pet, a song by Doris Day. In the 1952 film Teacher’s Pet, Day’s love interest is Clark Gable. Much older than Day at the time of filming Gable may represent a father figure/crush for Libby.  Jean Harlow, born in Missouri, could also have been an inspiration for the aspiring actress.

Mulberry was the official scent of the 90s.

These are Libby’s “going out” shoes. She wears them with jeans to the pool hall.