Lily Blossom Bloom [Blake Lively] is a modern woman needing to resolve personal issues as old as time.
IT ENDS WITH US is Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel adapted for the screen as a story of love, trauma and abuse, with honest decisions and descriptions that are not easily defined in film. The film gives details of the characters through their surroundings, which are defined with depth and accuracy.
SETDECOR talked with the film's two Set Decorators, Carrie Stewart SDSA and Alexandra Mazur SDSA, about creating the amazing Lily Bloom’s florist shop and the other spaces which are detailed with the psychology of the characters.
These two outstanding set decorators have not only talent and an eye for design, but also the professional expertise and resources to bring about what is being envisioned, and a long-established respect for each other and their work. Filming began last year, with Carrie as Set Decorator and Russell Barnes as Production Designer, and, in fact, was nearing the end when because of the strikes, production was shut down...and remained so much longer than anticipated. When it finally reset, the team was committed elsewhere, so Carrie called on Alex to take it across the finish line. Previous Art Director Annie Simeone stepped in as Production Designer to work with Alex on Phase 2.
As Carrie remarks, “I've known Alex so long, and we've worked together a lot, so I just knew that Alex would understand the vision and would be able to take the baton and run, and finish the race and win.” Alex replies, “We had a lot of interaction, it was very helpful, and much of the stuff I was working with were pieces that Carrie had bought, we just had a shop full of these wonderful things, marvelous inventory!”
And here are photos to prove it!
Lily Bloom’s flower shop. A definite BoHo chic vibe permeates Lily’s dream shop. Flowers and plants sit in carefully chosen vessels among antique items. Scroll-bracket garment rack holds hanging baskets, while an old metal ladder acts as trellis for tomato vines. Photo by Jojo Whilden ©2023 CMTG. All Rights Reserved.
Lily Bloom’s shop sign. Warm orange tone sets store signage apart from the verdant and woody tones of the shop exterior, giving high visibility, the sign beckons to the Lily Bloom’s shop. Photo by Jojo Whilden ©2023 CMTG. All Rights Reserved.
Lily Bloom's Flower Shop...
Lily Bloom's, the dream flower shop, is like an enchanted forest, a space of nurturing and growth, filled with whimsy and BoHo chic. An extension of Lily herself.
Carrie points out, “We had a lot of fun doing it, and I have to say, the person who did the flowers was Tess Casey from Aisling Flowers, an SDSA Business member, who understood the scope of what we needed, and the amount of flowers!”
Lily Bloom’s shop interior, tabletop. An array of eclectic and interesting items are used to feature the blooms. A twig epergne holds succulents, spindle compote dangles a welding mask. There are even some aquatic pieces and art relating to Lily’s love of fish. Photo by Jojo Whilden ©2023 CMTG. All Rights Reserved.
“To have a changeover of flowers, we had to map out all the changes over the seasons, defining the time passage. We brought Tess in, and she did about half a dozen arrangements for us, to give us an idea, and just knocked it out of the park. She really got into Lily Bloom's head, and she understood the esthetic of the flowers, and the fact that it's not your usual arrangement. It started out as the idea behind the flower shop was like a little bit whimsy-Gothic...but that sort of evolved more into the Victorian and bringing in a lot of colors and a lot of different patterns. And Blake really helped in our discussion with her in terms of moving that vision along.”
Lily Bloom’s shop interior, another angle, floor to ceiling. Lily kept the original vintage floral floor tiles, added a modern gold twig with crystal droplet chandelier. Unexpected items adorn the shop...old windows and shutters...vases, vessels and cloche grace a vintage bakers rack. Against the foliate painted wall, antique gold leaf frames showcase the windows into the flower cooler. Photo by Jojo Whilden ©2023 CMTG. All Rights Reserved.
“Tess was great in terms of working with us with budget, especially with the changeover, because we originally had some crazy thing, like 85 flower arrangements that we needed over the course of shooting for Lily Bloom’s alone. So, she was integral to the process, like saying, ‘We can use silks here. We can change this out for winter.’”
Lily Bloom’s shop interior, checkout counter. More of the refurb and whimsy of the flower shop, including the vintage cash register, Victrola overhead and the faux fauna fabric covering the stools. We see Lily did not peel away or paint over the old wallpaper, however the gold-painted brick wall bounces warm light from the sconces. Photo courtesy of Sony.
“We changed out mostly the flowers and the arrangement of stuff, but we kept a lot of the big pieces the same. It just all happened so fast, we didn't really have time to do a massive changeover, and since the storyline was over a two-year period, it's not like Lily’s big displays were changing. It just became about the flowers.”
Lily Bloom’s shop, entry way. Inset: exterior. A vine trimmed awning shelters blooms and plants in carefully curated pots to entice patrons to Lily’s shop. The set created in an actual storefront in New Jersey, inhabitants of the area thought it was a real, new neighborhood shop. When the filming was explained, a lot of people were excited, and one woman exclaimed, “Oh, wow, this is how I imagined it!” Tess Casey at Aisling Flowers replenished and replaced the live flower greens as needed. Photos courtesy of Sony.
When Alex came in to do the insert shots, she was able to use some of the elements, so the slight changes seemed imperceptible, natural, including some florals by Tess. Alex points out, “Tess also did arrangements for the apartments...just gorgeous. She can switch gears like that, and you need somebody who understands the whole filmmaking urgency, like the fact that the arrangement has to show up at 6am!”
Editor’s Note: Click on SHOW MORE PHOTOS below to see these apartments!
Alex also graciously calls out other SDSA Business members, particularly City Knickerbocker. Carrie heartily agrees, “I don’t know how we could have done it without City...” Alex adds, “Amsterdam Gallery was another great, they did a lot of framing and printing. And there were others we worked with and relied on for Phase 2: Acme Props, Bridge Furniture and Props, Carpet Time, Eclectic/Encore, Fabric City, Fennick Studio Props, Newel Props, propNspoon, Visual Alchemy and Zarin Fabrics. A shout out to all.”
Dusty café that Lily turned into Lily Bloom’s Floral Shop...
Pre-Lily, dusty café. Tattered remnants of the previous establishment, as is, when Lily gets the keys.
Lily will keep some of the items to incorporate with her own style into what will become Lily Bloom’s. Squatters have left the building quite a mess for Lily to clear out on her own. Photo courtesy of Sony.
Pre-Lily, dusty café. The bar, scrolled base table, hammered copper espresso machine will all make gussied up appearance in the new shop. The floral design floor will be polished up and the European cabinet, Chinese grid doors and brass ribbon sconces will be used. Photo courtesy of Sony.
Other key sets:
Root Restaurant...
A grown-up Atlas’s dream akin to Lily’s flower shop, the eclectic aesthetic is only one part of the deep bond shared by childhood friends Lily and Atlas.
Root Restaurant, stairs. Lily’s childhood friend, Atlas’s restaurant shows the same BoHo vibe as Lily Bloom’s. Tables, seating, bar lamps all a harmonious mismatch of items. Antique rugs cover the floor, while various styles of pendant lamps give light from above. Some of the clever ideas were already in the practical location and expanded on by the Set Decorators. Photo courtesy of Sony.
Root Restaurant. The mixed seating and tables show a warm patina of time, and represent the old soul Atlas has bloomed into. Inset: Exterior of Root Restaurant continues the tree & root symbolism of the friendship and shared past of Lily and Atlas. Greens and aged vessels are also a shared refrain. Photos courtesy of Sony.
Root Restaurant, night. A twisted trunk blossom tree anchors the space, not unlike Lily Bloom’s deep, earthy and eclectic BoHo feel. Unexpected items hang from the scrubbed brick walls, a mishmash of seating and dining tables. The sectioned roll-up door shows it is a converted garage space. Photo by Jojo Whilden ©2023 CMTG. All Rights Reserved.
Ryle’s Loft - the modern antithesis of Lily’s vibrancy...
“We changed the sets a little to convey the time passage...We had different stages, her little touches, and then there's stuff that had been broken that's not there anymore. It was very subtle.”
Ryle’s Loft, pre-Lily. Ryle, the surgeon, lives in an expansive loft with pale neutral tones and floor-to-ceiling windows, the opposite of Lily’s colorful and whimsy-filled BoHo spaces. Once Lily moves in, we see a change in the mood and vibe of the space.
Editor’s Note: Click on SHOW MORE PHOTOS below to see more of this glamorous loft, plus some of those subtle changes.
Lily’s childhood bedroom...
Lily’s childhood bedroom captures the seeds of her artistic vision and personal style.
“It was supposed to be a time capsule,” Carrie mentions. “A lot of it is based on the notebook and scrapbook that she had kept from an early age. She was drawing. She was collecting samples. She was collecting material. She was collecting ideas. She was very much about being in her head in terms of all the visuals that would eventually go into her becoming a graphic designer and then carry over into the flower shop. You see the origins of that warm, worn eclecticism in the bedroom, which fully unfolds with the flower shop that is unlike any other flower shop.”
“When Alex came on board for Phase 2, they went back and reshot the bedroom, this time with Blake Lively, when in the storyline, Lily comes back to her childhood home.”
Editor’s Note: Click on SHOW MORE PHOTOS below to see her beautifully rendered artistic origins...AND Lily’s apartment, when she moves away and starts anew, now with a new baby!
Congratulations to Carrie and Alex for the splendid sets that beautifully fulfilled fan expectations, and thank you to host/writer Gene Cane.
--KB, Editor
