Continuing our series on the TV Show Harlem’s glorious set design (see the first part here), I wanted to explore the amazing bar/restaurant set of Luelle’s, the girl’s favorite hang out spot. Now I can’t create a board to shop this look but let’s drool over it together, with added design details from the designer, Javiera Varas !

This space is a total jaw-drop, the whole color palette is exquisite and again, the attention to detail and mix of styles and textures is total perfection. I would live in this bar, no questions asked. Let’s take a little tour first :

How fantastic is this spot ? To start us off, here is the original moodboard for the space from the production design :

Now designer Javiera Varas has a few details plans on her site that I want to share because some of the views are a bit obscured, but here you can spot a fabulous mural of historical Harlem and see the original design of it below :

My other favorite detail was the custom banquettes that run throughout the space (in different colors) :

It’s subtle touches like this, incorporating african patterns in the channel tufting of the classic yellow velvet seats,
that really show the thought put into every single detail :

And then of course, this one side caught my eye even more than the rest, you might remember these incredible women’s portraits from one of my AKAA – African art design fair round ups ! I actually saw these photos in person and they are so powerful and beautiful, I was delighted to see them used here. Go give some love to the artist, Osborne Macharia.

I meaaannnn…. Fabulous.

For those of you who have seen the show and are waiting for Camille’s place, don’t worry I’m keep the best for last, but in the meantime I have other spaces I want to showcase over the next two days, so keep checking in 😉
See you tomorrow !

— Marie

*(Disclaimer : I pulled some images to share on my own but some of these are from Javiera Varas’ website )

Late last year I remember seeing promos for Harlem. I was in mourning from Insecure ending and in need of new TV gal-pals running around a city being fabulous together. I knew it wasn’t going to be as unique, funny, or masterful, because you can’t rival Issa, but I thought, Meagan Goode is in it, it looked cute and I was ready to let it be a warm comfy blanket.
And then, of course … I totally forgot about it. Like 100% completely forgot. What happened ? No one knows.

By March, I had not seen one frame. Thankfully, the universe knows I’m a hot mess, so it always steps in to clean shit up. It sent me not one, but two clients in same week with reminders to catch up on the show. It was subtle, like a screenshot on a TV in the room pictures, or in a Pinterest board, but enough to say to me : “hey dumbass, you dropped something !”.

So I grabbed some popcorn and sat back to finally watch the show and holy crap ! I was expecting fabulous clothes but not fabulous interiors ! I was delighted throughout the whole season to discover such incredibly colorful spaces with so much personality for each of the characters. No half-assed accent walls here, it’s wall to wall for every space !
Bold colors, amazing eclectic touches, and everything feels so personal. I. Was. Floored.
More set design like this, please, forever !

The other aspect I really enjoyed was recognizing actually affordable décor pieces in these spaces.
So I thought, first, I need to share the amazing work of Production Designer Javiera Varas with the world and also, let’s turn this inspiration into something you can recreate for yourself !

I’m going be a running a series this week highlighting all the spaces so make sure to follow along room by room – today we’re starting with Quinn and her delightful candy-colored space !

Quinn’s Apartment :

(Disclaimer : I pulled some images to share but you can see more details on Javiera Varas’ website )

Shop the Look Below :