How to Bring the Almodóvar Aesthetic Into Your Home

If you, like me, have spent the last few decades drooling over the eye-popping interiors in the ravishing, delightfully soapy, and emotionally devastating films of Pedro Almodóvar, then you owe a debt to Carlota Casado. The Madrid-based creative has been collaborating with the Spanish auteur for over 15 years, carefully decorating his stunning sets for the likes of Broken Embraces, The Skin I Live In, I’m So Excited, Julieta, Pain and Glory, The Human Voice, Parallel Mothers, Strange Way of Life and his latest meticulously designed melodrama, The Room Next Door.

The tale of two friends—Martha (Tilda Swinton), an ailing war reporter, and Ingrid (Julianne Moore), the novelist she enlists to support her as her health worsens—is a moving examination of loneliness, mortality, and familial estrangement, but it’s also, unquestionably, an ode to spectacular design. There’s Martha’s bohemian New York apartment, filled with striking artwork and ornate decorative objects; Ingrid’s temporary home, more shabby chic but no less beautiful; and the angular, modernist gem of an Airbnb the pair eventually decamp to in the woods, in search of some peace and quiet. As to be expected with any Almodóvar project, the attention to detail is astounding, and it’s impossible to watch the film without making a mental shopping list.

“Martha’s house was the most interesting,” Casado tells me over Zoom, speaking from her extremely Almodóvarian apartment, a giant framed floral print and endless shelves of hardback books behind her. “Pedro was inspired by real homes in New York, including the houses of his friends and actual war correspondents. Martha used to work at Paper magazine, lived in New York in the ’80s, and traveled extensively, so that meant we could mix pieces from different places and periods—some second-hand furniture and things she would’ve picked up on her trips. And then for the rental house, it needed to be a more neutral space, and we leaned into American modernism and mid-century design.”

She describes Almodóvar as a dynamic, spontaneous, and highly creative collaborator—someone overflowing with references, with a magpie’s eye for collecting beautiful things and new obsessions which he incorporates into his films—and understands completely why people want to imitate his style, though she cautions against trying to copy it exactly, because “his talent is unique. You can’t reduce the Almodóvar aesthetic to a single style—it’s different for each film—but the key is that he works from a place of freedom, is intuitive, and doesn’t conform to the norm. He brings together experiences from his childhood, references to Spain, his travels, books, exhibitions, fashion editorials, everything he loves and welcomes all of it into his very distinctive world.”

Still, if fans do want to take inspiration from this latest visual feast, easily one of the director’s most swoon-worthy, she has plenty of advice to share. Below, find 12 key tips on bringing the Almodóvar aesthetic into your home.

It’s not just about colour

Almodóvar’s films are, of course, instantly recognizable due to their often saturated color palettes—a symphony of vibrant primary shades and clashing prints, with his use of red perhaps most striking of all. In some senses, The Room Next Door is no different—there are bold pops of red, the color associated here with the courageous Martha, as well as shades of green, the hue linked to the more serene Ingrid, from the glossy side tables and light fixtures to the red and green sun loungers the pair recline on in their woodside rental home. But, Casado reiterates, it’s important to have a more neutral base to allow these accents to shine. “My advice would be to focus on your walls first, and to choose a calming tone, like a soft, light grey, or desaturated green or blue,” she says. “People think Almodóvar-inspired interiors are only about the use of vivid, dramatic colors, but it’s so much more than that.”

The sofa is the centerpiece

“I love the sofas in this film,” Casado adds, referencing the turquoise sofa in Martha’s New York apartment, the forest-green one in the rural Airbnb, and the more ornate velvet one in Ingrid’s flat. The latter was a 19th-century Italian antique bought in Rome, while the other two have classic shapes but are actually new, from Roche Bobois. “They’re iconic. Pedro loves great sofas – from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and All About My Mother to Julieta, they’re unforgettable—and this blue one is my favorite. It’s an important element to get right.”

Reupholster and customize

“For that Pedro touch, you could customize your sofa, too,” suggests Casado, adding that her favorite blue sofa was, in fact, reupholstered in turquoise with bright red piping. The same is true for many of the other armchairs, while the curtains and bedspreads are custom-made using fabrics from the likes of Pierre Frey and Dedar. As for your cushions? Find prints you love and design them yourself—or discover some typically Almodóvarian styles at Fornasetti. “These are the things that’ll make your space feel unique.”

Mix vintage and contemporary styles

Just as Martha and Ingrid’s respective homes needed to feel lived in, the modernist Airbnb couldn’t “feel entirely like a museum either, so we brought in mid-century elements as well as modern interpretations of them,” explains Casado. This meant custom sun loungers from Kettal alongside Stua armchairs, a Womb Chair Relax by Knoll, Pierre Chareau desks, Pierre Chapo sideboards, and chairs from Pierre Jeanneret and Jean Prouvé.

Meanwhile, in Martha’s New York apartment, the entrance hall features an Iranian console with an Indian Mehraab-style mirror and a Fornasetti umbrella stand, and in the living room, a Jean Prouvé table sits alongside a pair of Bonanza armchairs by Esko Pajamies, featuring striking geometric prints. “Pedro likes Cassina, Moroso, Utrecht, and Vitra, and we often work with brands including Jonathan Adler, Fritz Hansen, and The Rug Company,” Casado continues. “You can take inspiration from designers like Gio Ponti, Charlotte Perriand, Gerrit Rietveld, or the Memphis group, but there’s no need to break the bank. Nowadays, there are so many great design stores offering pieces inspired by legendary designers.”

Choose warm woods

Almodóvarian interiors have an innate sense of warmth, and that was even more crucial to incorporate into The Room Next Door, considering it was the director’s first English-language feature and set outside of his native Spain, as well as the fact that much of the story takes place in a somewhat cold, glass-walled Airbnb. The key? Deep, warm woods, says Casado, which create a sense of coziness.

Use lamps to create atmosphere

Various light fixtures from Flos, Louis Poulsen, Foscarini, Venini, Casa Josephine, Mayice Studio, Sammode, and even a Taliesin lamp by Frank Lloyd Wright fill the sets of The Room Next Door, casting a gentle, golden glow and adding to this feeling of quiet, content homeliness. Keen to inject the same warmth into your own home? “Consider some wall sconces, too,” advises Casado.

Display art that is meaningful to you

“Pedro is like a sponge,” the set decorator says. “He soaks up culture, art, fashion, and music, and shares his new interests with his team, and then we have to translate them to his sets.” One example this time around was a trip the director took to a Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition, during which he fell in love with a specific painting showing a silhouetted tree against a blue- and peach-colored sky. So, naturally, a print of it ended up in The Room Next Door, in Martha’s bedroom.

Elsewhere in that house, you’ll spot a blue and white Louise Bourgeois print embroidered with the words: “I have been to hell and back. And let me tell you, it was wonderful.” This was a piece Almodóvar already owned. “That was perfect for Martha because she’s gone to war and survived, and despite everything, it was an adventure.” Beside it hangs yet another item from the director’s personal collection: an image by Spanish photographer Cristina García Rodero which shows women in mourning dress at a funeral in Puglia. “It’s also connected to Martha, because she’s witnessed a lot of pain and sorrow around the world.”

There are also a wealth of personal photographs—Tilda pictured in war zones on the walls of Martha’s office, and a real childhood photo of Tilda’s own daughter, Honor Swinton Byrne, on Martha’s bedside table, representing Martha’s daughter, Michelle—a Niki de Saint Phalle poster in the kitchen; and in the entrance hall, a vintage framed Paper magazine cover, and a painting by Jorge Galindo and Almodóvar himself. “Another tip would be for people to take inspiration from Pedro’s own paintings and still-life photos,” says Casado. “They really capture his moods and emotions.”

Then, in the rental house, the centerpiece is Edward Hopper’s glorious People in the Sun, which connects to the custom sun loungers just outside, on which Ingrid and Martha lie, mirroring the painter’s subjects. “Nothing in this film is left to chance,” notes Casado. When decorating our own homes, she recommends taking the same approach as Almodóvar: collect everything you have an emotional connection to and consider how all of these pieces come together to tell the story of your life.

Invest in blinds

A subtle detail you might miss in Martha’s flat? The slightly translucent, earth-colored blinds in the living room, which are a tribute to the ones in James Stewart’s apartment in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. “There are cinematic references everywhere in Pedro’s work,” confirms Casado.

Upgrade your kitchen appliances

“Every object on screen is important to Pedro,” says Casado. “And this includes the vases, ashtrays, and fruit bowls.” Murano glass is always a winner, as are vases from Venini. “There’s a beautiful yellow Venini vase on the living room table in the rental house, and that color really symbolizes optimism, which is one of the film’s essential themes.” Similar objects can be found in Martha’s house, too. In her kitchen, you’ll also spot a Dolce & Gabbana x Smeg toaster and a Moccamaster coffee maker, while the mugs Ingrid and Martha sip from are by Pantone, Prada, and Hermès.

Trawl through flea markets

From furniture to objets d’art, you never know what you might stumble across when exploring one of the best flea markets in Europe. Casado’s favorites when working on an Almodóvar film include Paris’s Les Puces de Paris Saint-Ouen, Rome’s Porta Portese, and Madrid’s El Rastro.

Curate your clutter

There’s a remarkable scene in The Room Next Door in which Martha loses something important and turns her apartment upside down searching for it—we feel her panic, but it’s difficult not to be distracted by all the gorgeous knick-knacks she uncovers as a result: an empty Dolce & Gabbana cookie box, for instance, or old tickets from MoMA, matchbooks from Fanelli’s Café in New York’s Soho and fridge magnets featuring David Hockney’s pool paintings. “Everything here is chosen with intention,” says Casado. In an era of incessant decluttering and enforced minimalism, it’s a joyous ode to holding on to the ephemera of your life and reveling in its beauty.

Surround yourself with all the books and films that inspire you

An Almodóvarian home isn’t complete without a packed bookshelf, says Casado. Martha has one from Roche Bobois in her office, and all of the books and DVDs visible on her shelves and tables are carefully selected. “You’ll find the works of Paul Auster, Truman Capote, Dashiell Hammett, Elfriede Jelinek, Sebastião Salgado, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life.” Just add a few more tributes to the Spanish master himself, and you’re good to go.

The Room Next Door is in US cinemas on December 20.