Bridgerton‘s highly anticipated second season is finally here—and with that comes even more opulent interiors to look to for design inspiration. This time around, the Sharma family’s residence steals the show, with all-pink interiors that would make even Barbie jealous. To find out how these vibrant spaces came to life, House Beautiful spoke to Bridgerton‘s production designer, Will Hughes-Jones, who divulged how the interiors were designed to match the aesthetic that Bridgerton has become known for, all the while making sure they were distinctly different from the interiors of other characters’ homes.
While season one of Bridgerton focused on the love story of Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Basset, season two centers around Anthony Bridgerton and a member of the Sharma family. And what better color to choose for the home of a love interest than pink? To the production team, though, this color choice wasn’t meant to be symbolic, but rather was a practical decision: “The home needed to be easily identifiable amongst the other sets and locations, and it also had to fit with the look of Lady Danbury [whose home is where the Sharma family resides] and compliment the costumes,” Hughes-Jones reveals. Additionally, the design team “hadn’t used that color very much, so it was the natural choice.”
Courtesy of Netflix
In real life, the Holburne Museum in Bath, England acts as the dwelling’s exterior, while the sets were created by the design team elsewhere, as the historic interiors of the museum were not suited to be used as filming locations. Hughes-Jones reveals that this circumstance “allowed us to spread our creative wings yet again and do what ever we wanted. This house had to be different to anything we had seen before so the entrance hall was made with side staircase and Tuscan columns.” In addition to the Holburne Museum, expect to see other historic dwellings from season one, such as Wilton House, West Wycombe House, Lancaster House, and Syon House, as well as new additions like Wrotham Park.
To ensure that the Sharma residence suited the Bridgerton aesthetic without mirroring the homes of the Bridgertons and Featheringtons, selecting a distinct color palette for each family was key. “We have used blue and ivory for Bridgertons, yellow and mint greens for the Featheringtons, and creams reds and gold for the Queen,” explains Hughes-Jones. So, “by the time we get to the Danbury house, we [were] slightly running out of colors.” The designer then turned to history books, as the Bridgerton team often does, to study interiors of the Regency era. As it turns out, “dusky pink was a widely used color in the period, so it was a natural choice, but also—and most importantly—it fitted with the look of lady Danbury from season one.”
Courtesy of Netflix
When it came to sourcing the decor of the Sharma family’s interiors, Hughes-Jones discloses that there was no one place or strategy used. Instead, the design team hired a “few key pieces [and made many furnishings] ourselves,” taking old furniture and transforming it to include the chosen pink color palette. The series’ scenic artist even painted many chinoiserie pieces for the Sharma family sets.
The team sourced decor from antique fairs, flea markets, and online auction sites. Normally, they would also venture to Europe to make purchases at French markets and other such places, but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “this was not possible, so a lot of online purchases were done this season.”
And although the Sharmas are staying in the home of Lady Danbury, there are some decorative pieces on display that belong to them as well. This is why you’ll notice “a bit of India in the interiors, in the form of fabrics and cushions on the beds, [as well as] objects on the writing desks and dressing tables.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Another key design element that influenced the sets of Bridgerton‘s second season—other than the many homes’ unique color palettes—is the man-made detailing of these dwellings, including custom plasterwork and intricate moldings, all of which are made with a strong attention to detail, to ensure that these homes “feel real to the audience.”
Of course, we can only dream that the Bridgerton residences are real life abodes that we could visit, drop in at for afternoon tea, and, most ideal of all, live in—but, for now, watching the latest season of the series will have to do.
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