Sunday 15 March 2009

Message in a Bottle Set

Back in the late nineties, Kevin Costner stared in a chic flick called “Message in a Bottle”…well I was smitten with the movie; mostly because of the set! It was so memorable and was so appealing to me, even know it’s very masculine. I imagine painting the afternoon away listening to Beethoven, Nina Simone or CBC Radio, enjoying the long summer evenings with a cold glass of lemonade.

The production designer was Jeffrey Beecroft, and he was trying to tell the story with objects instead of words.  He said “I wanted the character’s house to feel isolated and somehow romantically haunted, but comfortably masculine, too”- and that he wanted the interior to evoke the inside of a ship. 

I dream of such a getaway…one where you take off the white sheets from the furniture and open the house up for the warm season, and where everything creaks. Where the dust is caught in old screen doors, and the fireplace warms you, as you sip strong coffee and reminisce with friends (if you chose to share this space with anyone else, that is).

*Check out the apothecary chest full of seashells…yum.

costner2

costner1

kitchen miab set miab set 5kitchen miab set2 miab set 3

miab set 4Photos from Coastal Living March/April 1999; photography by Bruce Buck.

7 comments:

MEADE DESIGN GROUP said...

I can't believe that project was photographed almost 10 years ago and still looks amazing. I just read Albarosa's entry and now yours and now I definitely have a little worm in my brain telling me that I need a beautiful weekend home... Of course I need mother recession to go away (lol)

Maria Killam said...

Michelle, I just loved this post. Those pictures are so beautiful. They definitely go with that movie!

Fargerike Dagny said...

Wow, love it! :)

Pam Kersting said...

I remember being very taken with that set as well! Thanks for sharing! I think the set designer achieved what he set out to do as well.

pve design said...

Places like this evoke more than a message, they speak of weathering a storm, and resiliently going out to see again, with gusto. I love salty old dogs like this home and how befitting for this movie.
pve

Anonymous said...

From the movie DVD commentaries this is an actual house not a set, but they did lots of changes to it so it looks like this.
The owners were pretty chuffed with the results!!

Kit Lang said...

Here from Hooked on Houses - love your post - it's so beautifully written!