Tabla de contenidos para March/April 2026 en Veranda

THROUGHOUT MY SEVEN YEARS as editor in chief of VERANDA, I’ve asked many designers where they find inspiration. Some say travel or books; many say film or television. The common denominator: These media are immersive. Visually, they convey atmosphere, sense of place, original points of view, unique narrative, personality (sure, even cults of personality)—not unlike the task at hand for decorators. “We both trade in visuals that are almost cinematic,” observes decorator Michael S. Smith in a conversation with his client Shonda Rhimes, screenwriter and producer of so many hit television shows—including Netflix’s Bridgerton, now in its fourth season—during the cover shoot of her new LA apartment for our first-ever Hollywood issue. (Look closely and you’ll see that her terrace overlooks the area’s celebrated sign!) Smith’s reflection on the parallels…

Billy Wilder’s 1950 noir masterpiece Sunset Boulevard is the touchpoint for designer Mary McDonald’s elegant entry, vestibule, and loggia. A Mediterranean-style Los Angeles estate—the 1920s William O. Jenkins House—was the location for the exterior shots of the film’s iconic mansion, the home of lead character Norma Desmond. For her interpretation of the property, McDonald selected a luxe Spanish Revival material palette of bronze, wood, iron, tile, and terra-cotta, but abandoned the gloom of film noir for the luminosity of indoor/outdoor living. In the entry, natural light catches the carving of a Spanish baroque–style walnut table; in the vestibule, bright blue-and-white antique Azulejos ceramic tiles wrap the walls; and in the loggia, a series of arched windows and doors frames views of the courtyard. To paraphrase Sunset Boulevard’s most famous line,…

With celebrity clients like Cher, Elton John, and RuPaul, Martyn Lawrence Bullard is an interior designer who defines statement-making glamour. Bullard chose fashion icon Tom Ford’s directorial debut, A Single Man, as his inspiration for the primary bedroom and bath. In the film, the bedroom of socialite Charlotte Roberts, played by Julianne Moore, embodies her character’s cosmopolitan chic. “The beauty of this woman’s boudoir captured her sensuality, her eclectic spirit,” says the Los Angeles–based designer. “It exemplifies the beauty of the personal style we can infuse into our interiors.” Bullard married the Moorish aesthetics of the mise-en-scène with 18th-century Indian-inspired decorative arts and English country house romance to create a wildly alluring sanctuary.…

Familiar Motifs, Juiced-Up Color Playful twists on plaid (far left and center) and paisley (far right) echo the electric-green tones of a banana-plant canopy in Walska’s beloved Tropical Garden, a dense oasis reminiscent of a South American rainforest. Feminine pinks and purples arrive like a burst of spring blooms, including a painterly spin on quilt squares and historic block printing (fourth from left). Dancing Zigzags and Jaunty Stripes Warm light casts a soft glow through the Dunlap Cactus Garden, where prickly silhouettes arch and bend in an open-air waltz. As if on cue, light-as-air zigzagging patterns (at left) and multicolor embroidery frolic onto the scene, mirroring the organic forms of the native spines. Latticework, Revisited Fresh tributes to historic treillage light up the Fern Garden, where plants with prehistoric lineage…

PEACHY QUEEN In Mahogany (1975), Motown superstar and lead actress Diana Ross designed the wardrobe for her character Tracy Chambers, an aspiring couturier–turned–modeling sensation. Seared into our collective memory is an embroidered gown she wore in Rome, re-created in a composition of peach amaryllises and tangerine lilies with plumes of indigo delphinium. FIERY INGENUE A bouquet of burgundy peonies and scarlet nerine lilies reimagines Funny Face’s denouement: Bookish Jo Stockton (played by Audrey Hepburn in 1957) steps into her confidence—and that Hubert de Givenchy gown—realizing she can succeed as a model without sacrificing intellect. With a swish of her chiffon wrap, conveyed as wispy troll grass and plumosa, Stockton emerges as a most gifted style icon. GILDED MONARCH It was the Roman Empire’s version of power dressing: Cleopatra, played by…

THE AIR IS THIN AND COOL when I arrive in Yorkshire, chasing a literary landscape I’ve never seen, but feel I know by heart. I’m not after those memorable idyllic vistas Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote about in The Secret Garden, nor for the emerald pastures of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small, but something darker—far darker. I’m here for the bruised skies and windswept moors, the scenes that have haunted my imagination and sent chills down my spine since I first read Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights as a teenager more than two decades ago. Filmmakers have long attempted to bring this tumultuous novel to the screen—an early silent film adaptation in 1920; the 1992 Paramount drama with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche. Now director Emerald Fennell’s adaptation, with megastars…

“If you’ve ever wondered where your dreams come from, you look around. This is where they are made.” This invitation to imagination is offered by filmmaker and magician Georges Méliès in Hugo, the movie inspired by the life of the legendary French auteur. Méliès, a pioneer of early cinema, transformed movies at the turn of the 20th century with the innovative, enchanting visual effects he created in his Paris studio. Like Méliès, designer Peter Dunham bridges the magic of Paris and Hollywood. Raised in the City of Light amid artists and writers, Dunham could be imagined as the precocious urchin in Hugo, spending his teenage years much like the character, combing his arrondissement for decorative riches and treasure hunting at fabled French auction house Drouot. Today, as one of Los…

House Rules IN THE EARLY 1990s, when I’d just begun working for Mark Hampton, he made me comb through his finely bound boxes of images he’d cut out from magazines over the years. They were in complete disorder and needed a gargantuan amount of sorting and reorganizing. What seemed like a gruesomely unfair punishment at the time was Mark’s way of teaching me about the great designs of the past (while getting a crucial part of his offce library cataloged). It was a seminal learning experience, practically beaten into me, I say now with gratitude. Going through all the images for weeks on end, I learned that the iconic apartment of Oscar and Annette de la Renta, which blew my mind, employed the same design element as did the fabulous…

SHONDA UNSCRIPTED Interior design: Michael S. Smith; michaelsmithinc.com. Pages 80–81 Sofa, chairs, and coffee table: Janus et Cie; shopjanusetcie.com. Cushion fabric: Perennials; perennialsfabrics.com. Page 82 Table: Formations; formationsusa.com. Chairs: Janus et Cie. Cushion fabric: Perennials. Page 84 Curtain fabric: Pintura Studio; pinturastudio.com. Pendant light: Marc Bankowsky; maisongerard.com. Framed mural: de Gournay; degournay.com. Rug: Mansour; mansour.com. Page 85 Mirror: Michel Contessa Antiques; michelcontessa.com. Sofa, armchair, and coffee table: Roman Thomas; romanthomas.com. Sofa fabric: Christopher Farr Cloth; christopherfarrcloth.com. Armchair fabric: Toyine; toyine.com. Side table: Jasper; michaelsmithinc.com. Crystal lamp: Vaughan through Jasper Showroom. Celadon lamp: SCDS through Jasper Showroom. Page 86 Drapery fabric, coffee table, console, and side table: Jasper. Sofa fabric: Rose Tarlow; rosetarlow.com. Mirror: CB2; cb2.com. Verdigris lamp: Paolo Moschino through Jasper Showroom. White vase: Nickey Kehoe; nickeykehoe.com. Page 87 Window…

“We’ve had so many incredible clients here in Los Angeles and have had the opportunity to see glorious old Hollywood estates,” says Jaime Rummerfield, known both for her A-list clientele and her thoughtful work on historic residences. “Over time, we also started witnessing the demolition of some very notable homes, and that’s what prompted starting Save Iconic Architecture,” she explains of the nonprofit she cofounded with former design partner Ron Woodson to landmark, preserve, and advocate for culturally significant structures. Rummerfield chose Frida, Julie Taymor’s biopic of painter Frida Kahlo, to inspire her kitchen. “The movie references the 1930s and ’40s in Mexico City,” says the designer, noting the organic pink hues, tall wooden doors, terra-cotta brickwork and pavers, and tile patterning in Kahlo’s own home. Taking those elements as…

Mr. Winston’s Big Night It was a gem of an idea: lending out a necklace to a Best Actress nominee. She, Jennifer Jones, would go on to win the Oscar, and he, Harry Winston, would become known as “jeweler to the stars,” his creations shining on the big screen (at left, Ingrid Bergman in Notorious). The legacy continues in a High Jewelry necklace with 266 white diamonds and a 5-carat pear-shaped diamond. Diamond Cascading necklace, Harry Winston. Chopard’s Cinematic Salute In 1997, Co-President and Artistic Director Caroline Scheufele was asked to reimagine Cannes International Film Festival’s prestigious trophy, the Palme d’Or, sparking a partnership with the event that now includes draping festivalgoers like Charlize Theron (above) in their latest baubles. Shimmering at the ready: these 34-carat emerald earrings and a choker…

I was just 60 seconds into my first visit to the Ancient City—Thailand’s enormous, open-air museum south of Bangkok—when I turned to my wife, Ruth, and said, “We’ve got to get Tony over here.” This was 1981 and “Tony,” of course, was my former business partner, the legendary artist and designer Tony Duquette. Over the 30 years we worked together, I found myself saying those same words quite a lot, whether stumbling upon a piece of real estate for sale in LA, a sari shop in Old Delhi, or a mirrored church interior in Peru. And it was always followed by action. In this instance, I reported my find to Tony that evening as we dined on the terrace of the Oriental [now the Mandarin Oriental] overlooking the Chao Phraya…

MICHAEL S. SMITH: I’ve known you for more than a decade now, since we worked together on your previous house in LA. Your girls were young then. SHONDA RHIMES: Yes, my youngest was a baby, and she’s 12 now. MS: We were both so young. [Laughing] So the first thing I want to get to is, I’ve always been in awe of your craft, your ability to create characters and narratives outside of yourself. And similar to when you create a character or a show, and have to allow runway for future development, part of my job is to work with you to create a narrative that you want to inhabit—based on a romantic idea, yes, but also [one that acknowledges] it’s not just about the life you have right…

Madeline Stuart is equally fluent in the languages of film and design. She grew up in the movie industry—her father was the Academy Award–nominated director Mel Stuart, and young Madeline made an appearance in his beloved Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory—and she was immersed in the Spanish Revival vernacular of Hollywood. “I have a reverence for and a deep appreciation of this architecture,” says Stuart, who not only grew up in an “extraordinary” Spanish Revival house, but lives in one now. “I do a lot of restoration in this genre, and I do what I can to try to return it to its glory.” Stuart selected Double Indemnity as her cinematic inspiration for the living and dining rooms. “The original house is still extant in the Hollywood Hills,” she…

Two Bunch Palms DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA THE RETREAT: Since Al Capone was rumored to have hidden out here in the 1920s, this palm-shaded desert redoubt has lured discretion-seeking celebs, who sink into its mineral hot springs away from prying eyes. THE RENEWAL: A grotto with pools that naturally hover around 100 degrees is the signature magic here, with skin treatments and bodywork also on offer. Test the waters with a Day Retreat pass on select weekdays. twobunchpalms.com Indian Springs Calistoga CALISTOGA, CALIFORNIA THE RETREAT: Come for the Olympic-size hot springs pool, stay for the mud bath. That’s the siren song luring movie stars to the quiet northern end of Napa Valley since the arrival of the talkies. THE RENEWAL: The spa blends pure volcanic ash from the property with…