How to Decorate Your Home Like a Wes Anderson Film

Father Guido and Angora Holly Polo, recently engaged, are starting their new lives together by creating a non-profit musician’s hostel called Donnybrook Manor: a sanctuary for road-weary musicians and a palace for starving artists. Here they will share with you their research, dreams, and doodles of what they hope Donnybrook Manor will be.

From the beginning, I’ve wanted our web site to read like it was written by eccentric characters from a Wes Anderson film, and now I want Donnybrook Manor to look like a Wes Anderson set. I’m deeply inspired by all aspects of the films he’s made with the Wilsons: the hilarious understatement and dry dialogue, the soundtracks, the costume design, the epic sequences that unfold in slow motion, and the sets – ohhh, the sets. I want to live in a Wes Anderson set. They are masterpieces. I love their patterns, vintage colors, whimsy, and the stillness that only comes from arranging things so meticulously. Such patterned neatness might look stiff if it weren’t for the nostalgic details that wink from every scene, especially in the Royal Tenenbaums – striped jumpsuits, the forts, the animals on the wallpaper, Margot’s single barrette, Ritchie’s headband, Eli’s cowboy getup, which to me is reminiscent of a little boy playing Cowboys and Indians.

So here are some tips I’ve put together on how to decorate your home like a Wes Anderson film in the hopes that we can do the same to our future home, Donnybrook Manor. For more on our Wes Anderson obsession, read how you can live like a Wes Anderson character!

Turrets. It’s all about turrets. Live in an old brownstone building with turrets and lots of rooms.

Mark your territory.

Don’t be afraid of symmetry. Or wallpaper.

Choose unlikely vintage color combinations, like baby blue with rusty orange-red, bright yellow and teal, or bubblegum pink with gold and maroon.

Use nostalgically antique forms of technology.

Stripes are key.

Gold is good.

Everything should look like it’s from a storybook.

Patterns.

Choose small patterns that are ornate or whimsical, like animals or palm trees.

Frame everything in black.

Opulence. Outfit furniture in rich, deep red velvet patterns, hang golden drapes and exotic souvenirs, and bathe everything in warm light.

When in doubt, try to imagine building a royal palace with a whimsical twist and a wayyyy better editing eye.

That was fun. Now see how you can be like a Wes Anderson character!