O Tenenbaums: Merry Wesmas Living Room
Paper goods from @shindig.addict
This year marks the 20th Anniversary of Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), making it a fitting year to incorporate the offbeat family into my own annual tradition of Wes Anderson film-inspired Christmas decorations.
Influenced by classic films like The Fire Within (1963), Orson Welles’ the Magnificient Ambersans (1942) and one of my personal favorite books, J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey (1961), the Royal Tenenbaums features a family of prodigious children experiencing existential crisis.
These 1960s influences leave their mark in subtleties, as well as more overt design and soundtrack choices. This year’s Merry Wesmas paid hommage to the film with our vintage aluminum Christmas tree and living room decor.
The family home was shot in a 6,000 square foot mansion in Harlem has a vintage composure with one foot planted in 60s-70s style and the other in it’s early 1900’s genesis. It’s one of my favorite sets in all his films as evidenced by my Margot Tenenbaum inspired closet featuring the canonical Zebra Scalamandre wallpaper.
A closet turned guest phone booth in honor of Margot Tenenbaum completed as part of my guest bedroom makeover
The key to the Tenenbaum home is that it remains in a stage of arrested development, much like it’s returned children - Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), Chas (Ben Stiller), Richie (Luke Wilson) and adoptive member Eli Cash (Owen Wilson).
Read on to tour some of my own playful details inspired by the whole Royal Tenenbaum family.
Don’t miss the rest of this year’s Merry Wesmas with my Mendl’s kitchen window display and Christmas dinner dedicated to Moonrise Kingdom.
O Tenenbaum, o tenenbaum how lovely are thy branches
In the 1960s, aluminum Christmas trees experienced fleeting celebrity status but have since sustained their hold on kitschy Americana vintage-lovers like myself. I’ve been struggling to find a tree skirt that feels right so this year I bucked tradition for a more Wesmas-inspired choice with this vintage cardboard trunk from Austin Antique Mall.
Introducing the tenenbaums
Flying the same flag as the Tenenbaums rooftop, I opted for using felt to make my own tree toppers.
The bb was still lodged between two knuckles
Chas Tenenbaum: child business genius, wears an Adidas track suit in concert with his two children Ari and Uzi, widow and suffers from severe anxiety.
Apparently the Dalmatian mice bred by Chas in the film were created by adding sharpie spots to normal white mice. My tree had a few of it’s own thanks to treat toppers by @shindig.addict - a creator on Instagram who specializes in handcrafted party decorations who shares a love of Wes Anderson.
He’s playing the worst tennis of his life
Richie Tenenbaum: failed tennis prodigy, in love with his sister and depressed with a hint of hope.
HGTV Handmade Home’s Liz Gray did her own take on an embroidered tennis racket DIY, taking a similar approach I created custom monogrammed stocking hangers out of vintage Goodwill thrifted rackets.
She had not completed a play in seven years
Margot Tenenbaum: The only adopted Tenenbaum, fur coat-clad with a heavy dose of eyeliner, secret smoker, a playwright and also hopelessly in love with her brother.
I styled the coffee table with a printable cover of Margot’s Book: Three Plays from Etsy, vintage racket coasters from Okasan Vintage in Austin and matchbooks from Drecor Vintage in Dallas on a Tartan Plaid Tray from Target.
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky
When it’s not housing plants, I use the shelf above our TV as a mantle during the holidays. Last Christmas I built these Mid-century Mod Putz paper houses from Amaya Jade & Co. on Etsy.
Golden Fall Sunrise paper garlands by Amanda Witucki of the Paper Committee
And the stockings were stitched with care
I’ve been admiring quilted creations by local favorite, Ashley Adams (Maker Nation, Feast of Fiction) on Instagram for a while now - so I was thrilled when she posted quilted stockings for sale this year. I am always looking for extra special pieces to become part of my permanent Christmas collection like these cuties.
Most families I know start to look like the Royal Tenenbaums during the holidays. Lingering resentments may find their way to the Christmas table, your second cousin’s twinkling eye catches yours in the light of the menorah or you find yourself concealing a once abandoned smoking habit in your childhood bedroom.
Whether we like it or not, just as the film’s tagline states - family isn’t a word…it’s a sentence.