The Homey Headquarters of Drew & Co.

When Drew Barrymore moved her production company, Flower Films, from a bleak bungalow on the Warner Bros. lot to a Deco-style building, she enlisted interior designer Ruthie Sommers to realize her vision for an un-office: a chic working environment that reflects each partner’s personality.


Drew

“I’m not a paper pusher,” Barrymore says. “My goal is to be creative, which is why my work space is playful and full of images that are thought-provoking and inspire me.” A linen-covered corkboard serves as a map of the actor-producer-director’s mind and inherently collage-y aesthetic. “Drew decorates intuitively. She falls in love with individual pieces—and somehow they always end up working together,” says designer Ruthie Sommers. “I don’t have a particular style,” Barrymore agrees. “I feel there are no rules.” Take the striped, upholstered chair, for example. “I told Drew that chair was totally wrong for that room—but of course it ended up being perfect,” Sommers admits with a laugh. A French sofa reupholstered in a Clarence House fabric and a faux-croc-covered custom desk walk the line between Euro and bohemian, while open shelving and a Lucite stepladder act as a mini library. “You can never, never, never have too many books,” Barrymore says.


Chris

As if producing TV shows like VH1’s upcoming Shoot to Kill weren’t enough, Chris Miller, vice president of production, also acts as Barrymore’s manager and publicist. “We all have crazy 24-hour jobs, so I wanted my space to be sleek and understated but also warm and cozy,” he says. Or, as Sommers puts it, “It exudes quiet power.” She began with Wilton carpeting, then added a mid-century chrome-accented rosewood desk that was large enough for Miller to spread out the daily influx of scripts, layouts and contracts. Facing the desk is a black velvet couch (not shown), from which Miller watches the news and rough cuts of Flower Films projects. Since his office gets plenty of southern light, it could handle rich chocolate walls. “I draw the curtains in the afternoon, and the room becomes almost incandescent,” he says. But his favorite feature is a recess in the L-shaped room that Sommers turned into a bar. “It really is fun,” he says. “And on a bad day, that I-could-have-a-whiskey thought is a serious comfort.”


Nancy

“I’ve always had a mix-and-match, do-it-yourself approach to decorating,” says Nancy Juvonen, partner at Flower Films. “I love that soulful, chipped-paint vibe, but I wanted to step it up with our office because it’s such a beautiful space.” After going over tear sheets and fabric swatches, the two decided on a palette of soft neutrals punctuated by jolts of color. Sommers clad the walls in muted sage paint—“It has the soothing quality of cream but with a bite,” says the designer—to make a gentle background for a gallery of cheap vintage paintings from Silver Lake thrift stores. “As a producer, you always want to be out making a movie,” explains Juvonen, who has worked on 10 projects for Flower Films, including Charlie’s Angels and the upcoming He’s Just Not That Into You. “But now, even if I just swing by to sign something, two hours later I’ll find myself still hanging out.”


Flower Films

Sommers also decorated Barrymore’s and Miller’s houses, so she already had a strong sense of their individual aesthetics. “We wanted the opposite of corporate,” Miller says. “Every room is different, and everyone’s taste is represented—-we have that West Village brownstone feel.” While Sommers operated at lightning speed, going on oneday shopping sprees with each client, the real makeover blitz was in the renovations. The contractor, Rani Ben Ezra of Basix Designs & Remodeling, Inc., gutted and rehabbed the building in just two months. “The whole process was one big collaboration,” Sommers says. Miller adds, “Now we all eat together and watch CNN in the kitchen. Nan and Drew are always running around each other’s offices, giggling. We’re working family-style.”


Drew on Decorating

How did you connect with Ruthie?

From the first issue of domino. She was on the cover, holding her dog—she looked like a cool chick. I saw what she had done with her own home, and it was the exact same aesthetic I was drawn to, so we met and I realized we really did see eye to eye. That started the renovation process and a wonderful, inspiring friendship.

Ruthie says that all of you could open an interior-design company together.

Fun is always the first order of business. We get so much pleasure from having a vision and then seeing it through. To have something in your mind and then watch it come alive is so thrilling.

Your office incorporates a variety of styles. What’s your favorite piece?

I believe you can combine anything. I love my globe, record player and horseshoe, and I’m crazy for my antique gold scissors and my Lucite stepladder that has two bronze deer bookends on it.


Loads more pictures of Drew and the Flower Films HQ at dominomag.com/go/barrymore.