‘Single Man’s’ homes create 2 different tones

Colin Firth may have scored a lead actor Oscar nomination this week for “A Single Man,” but for fans of California design, the film’s equally deserving costars were residential sets that deepened the audience’s understanding of the characters and their actions.

The movie, the directorial debut by fashion designer Tom Ford, is set in mid-1960s Santa Monica but was filmed primarily at two locations to the east. One is a lushly landscaped Pasadena residence used as the home of Charley (Julianne Moore) and decorated in an ultra-feminine cream-and-pink Hollywood Regency scheme with a Moroccan accent. Far different is the austere monochromatic modern home of George (Firth), filmed in the iconic Schaffer residence, a 1949 redwood design in Glendale by John Lautner.

The art direction team -- “Mad Men” production designer Dan Bishop and set decorator Amy Wells -- faced logistical problems when it came to the Lautner, a historic house that could not be altered. Drained of color in much the same way George has been drained of life by sorrow, the house and decor were to have a palette of natural wood tones, with beige and ivory accessories. But because of its abundant glass and open plan, the house posed problems -- like how to create a bedroom with solid walls.

“It was Dan’s brilliant idea to bring in cut-to-fit pressure-mounted panels to cover windows and create the walls of the room,” said Wells, who added period-appropriate details such as ceramic and wood lamps, an abstract sculpture and a Modernist relief wall hanging.

Charley’s boudoir, meanwhile, could not be more of a counterpoint. Oversize silver lamps flank a North African mirror made from inlaid bone and wood at her vanity. The mirror hangs on an ornately carved wooden screen painted in Hollywood Regency white. The table is draped in a coral-and-white botanical print that coordinates with ikat-pattern curtains. The wall-to-wall carpet is the palest of pinks. The vanity slipper chair with cabriolet legs is upholstered in a flokati, Wells said.

For those who love George’s style more? The two-bedroom Lautner house is for sale, reduced to $1,495,000.

-- David A. Keeps