Find of the Day / June 19, 2018 by Charlene Wang de Chen

I had this idea today to start a new category on this blog of "Find of the Day" to keep all my favorite things I find when out shopping but usually don't end up buying or needing catalogued.

It is hilarious that I'm creating a new category for a blog that I hardly ever update, but anyways I am leaning into the ambition for now.

The thing is, I get a chance to come across so many truly unique, fascinating, and funny things which truly give me joy and delight. Often I feel like I just need a photo to complete my joyful experience without purchasing the item.

But then I was thinking about all my favorite things I've come across throughout the years and many thrift shops I've scoured and I thought it would be nice to have them all accessible here through the click of a category tag "find of the day". So I'm going to try it out. Maybe one day when I'm feeling truly ambitious I will back catalog all my favorite finds from the last few years (...someday).

Back to this couch, it is such a nice shape, great proportions, and then the print. THE PRINT! It is so perfect. So late 80s early 90s in such a great subtle and interesting way. Sigh if only I needed the couch for a set...

here's a close up of that sweet print. AND THE MATCHING PILLOWS!

Seven Carts at IKEA / March 16, 2018 by Charlene Wang de Chen

checking out with seven loaded carts at IKEA

I’m sorry to say I can tell you what it looks like to checkout with seven full carts of IKEA.

with Jessica Petruccelli, partner in crime. It was a two person job.

When someone asks about the glamour and fun of set decorating I always mention the number of lunches I’ve eaten in my minivan in the IKEA parking lot.

Reuniting Shelf Brackets / March 12, 2018 by Charlene Wang de Chen

from my instagram account @charlenewangdechen

Victorian door hardware! / February 14, 2018 by Charlene Wang de Chen

On Valentines Day, I discovered one of my true decorative arts shopping loves: searching for the perfect Victorian door hardware.

I parked myself at one of New York City’s funnest stores: Olde Good Things rifling through their collection of old door hardware to find pieces for a hero door for Russian Doll which will air on Netflix in 2019.

I could spend every afternoon carefully rummaging through old Victorian hardware and be in bliss. .

Harlem Toile / January 24, 2018 by Charlene Wang de Chen

For the Netflix film "Irreplaceable You” I decorated, we needed to create within the location of Abbi’s apartment another space to act as the backdrop for her mom, Jane’s, apartment big enough for tight shot of her mom on the phone.

Since this was the only real time we were seeing Jane in her own space, we wanted to give a sense of the character with a very limited time and not much space.

To flesh out the idea of her as an elegant and regal while also contemporary and chic black woman living in New York City, I thought of the idea of using Harlem Toile by Sheila Bridges as her backdrop.

The one time we are in her home, it is for the scene when Jane is on the phone with Abbi and just found out her daughter has cancer.

I like how the familiar language of the toile pattern communicates her classical elegance, while this specific unique toile gives some extra layers to her character and background in this quick scene.

Christmas Tree Wrangler / December 11, 2017 by Charlene Wang de Chen

I did one of the funniest jobs where my official title was “Christmas Tree Wrangler” (though I don’t know if it actually showed up in the credits like this).

A friend was decorating a film that needed someone to just come in, be in charge of decorating the Christmas tree. I was going on a flight the day they needed someone, so she said I could just come in, quickly lead the decoration of the Christmas tree, then go take my flight.

So I showed up early to set with my luggage, decorated the tree, and then went straight to the airport.

Magazine Back Issue Warehouse / November 28, 2017 by Charlene Wang de Chen

One of my favorite parts of the job is discovering warehouses filled with items that are a gateway into a whole ecosystem you never thought much about. Today’s was magazine back issues, like where newsstands send back all their magazines after the month has passed.

Difficult People: Carter the Musical / November 15, 2017 by Charlene Wang de Chen

From Season 2 Episode 7 of Difficult People

Since it was just announced that Difficult People has not been picked up for another season and Taylor Swift is out there promoting her latest album, it seems like the perfect time to resurrect this highlight in my career thus far.

One of the storylines from Difficult People Season 2 Episode 7 “Carter” was a musical that Julie and Billy are writing which evolves from a musical about Taylor Swift from the point of view of her cats (“Swiftical”) to a musical about President Carter in a pastiche homage to the runaway Broadway hit “Hamilton.”

This sort of improbable and absurdly comic combination of pop-culture elements is a hallmark Difficult People move and what made the show so fun. (#RIP)

So the idea was that they wrote the musical about Taylor Swift, and then they had to change it overnight to make it about President Carter and the script called for a storyboard that showed this evolution in the set.

Knowing that writing story beats about a musical about Taylor Swift was a job perfectly designed for me and my embarrassing wealth of knowledge about Taylor Swift, Jess the set decorator delegated me the task of coming up with the storyboard elements.

this is after I wrote it out at my desk in the production offices

In order to transform the Taylor Swift musical storyboard elements into a musical about Carter, I did a quick Carter presidency wikipedia read and tried to find storylines or characters that had any sort of parallel to the story beats I came up with for the Taylor Swift musical.

Yes, what I’m saying is I tried my best to make it actually logical and realistic in how I transformed a Taylor Swift musical storyboard into a Carter Presidency musical storyboard.