Set-Design Drool: Nancy Drew

Nick and I took the kids to see Nancy Drew this weekend, and I have to say, the sets were the best thing about the movie. (Even so, our daughter is now devouring her third Nancy Drew book in as many days, and anything that gets her excited about reading can't be all bad ... )

Taking place mostly in the fictional Draycott Mansion -- the formerly glamorous, now timeworn and supposedly haunted Hollywood Hills home of a movie star who died under suspicious circumstances decades earlier -- the set oozes old-style Hollywood elegance.

Production designer Tony Fanning modeled the mansion's interiors on the work of Billy Haines, decorator to many a silver-screen star from the late 1930s through the early '70s, including Joan Crawford, Carole Lombard, Gloria Swanson, and even Ronald Reagan. (If you're not familiar with Haines, be sure to check out the great book Class Act: William Haines Legendary Hollywood Decorator.)

The rooms feature lots of Blanc de Chine and other Asian accents, dark metallic finishes, silk and velvet fabrics, and ornate furniture (hallmarks of the current Hollywood Regency look popularized by designers like Kelly Wearstler). But all of it is washed in an aged, sepia tone that gives it the look and feel of a Hollywood that's long since disappeared.

In short, to die for. (The movie, though? Not so much.)