The Baking Center in "It's Complicated"

Hope your day is going great!  It's been gorgeous here...in the 70's, so I've been spending some time out of the porch enjoying the fall colors.

I know the cold is coming so I'm trying to fully enjoy these last warm days of fall.

A while back I posted a tour of the house in the movie, It's Complicated, starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin.  (That movie house tour is available, HERE.)

When It's Complicated first came out, the kitchen was one of the most talked about rooms in the Mediterranean-style home featured in the movie.  Even though it isn't overly grand, it had that special something that drew you in.  Nancy Meyers, the writer and director, knows how to create kitchens that truly feel like the heart of the home.  She did the same in the cottage featured in the movie, The Holiday. (That house tour is available, HERE.)

In It's Complicated, Jane, is working with architect, Adam (played by Steve Martin) to re-design a whole new kitchen for her home.  Jane is a serious cook--even owns her own bakery!  While watching the movie, something really caught my eye in this scene.  Do you know what it was?

I hinted in yesterday's post about making a little change in my kitchen recently, a change inspired by a scene in the kitchen.  Foley, guessed what it was in her comment on yesterday's giveaway post!   I loved the "baking" center Jane has over in the corner of her kitchen. We just get a glimpse of it behind her here in this scene.

I have no idea why, but I haven't been able to get it out of my head.  I think it's just all that potential goodness waiting to be explored.  The flour, the sugar--it's all saying come play with me.  Make something delicious and wonderful.  Fill the house with amazing scents of homemade goodness.  Yep, I got all that out this one scene. lol  You know a serious baker lives here when you see all those big glass jars.

My kitchen is definitely nothing like the one in It's Complicated.

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It's Complicated: A Movie House Tour

Tour the Home in the Movie, It's Complicated

It's been almost two years now, but I still remember how excited I was when I heard another movie written and directed by the talented Nancy Meyers was about to be released.  It's Complicated was released in December 2009 and since I'm a self-confessed movie house junkie, I wondered if another amazing house would be "starring" in this movie, too.  Nancy Meyers has the amazing ability to turn the sets/houses in her movies into full-fledged characters, just as she did with the darling English cottage in The Holiday, the beach house in Something's Gotta Give and the stately Colonial in Father of the Bride.

In an interview with Indiewire, Ms. Meyers described the house in It's Complicated as "an extension of character."  It's so true; often the houses in the movies written and directed by Nancy Meyers deserve top billing along with the stars.  They bring so much to the movie, establishing the mood and atmosphere that permeates the entire movie from start to finish.

Synopsis:
It's Complicated is a movie about a couple who were married 20+ years and have been divorced for 10.  Jane, played by Meryl Streep, owns her own bakery and Jake, played by Alec Baldwin, is a successful attorney.  In the movie, Jake has married a much younger woman, Agness, with whom he had an affair.  Agness is interested in having more children, in addition to the child she already has who was the result of a brief romance she participated in when she and Jake were temporarily split up.  Did ya follow all that? lol  It's a soap opera life.

During the movie, Jane and Jake find themselves back together again at their son, Luke's graduation and before you know it, they are having an affair.  Jane now finds herself in the role of the mistress to her ex-husband.  She is now cheating with her ex-husband on the woman who broke up their marriage.  Yep, it is definitely complicated.

The story is told with  humor and when asked what "genre" the movie falls in, Nancy Meyers called it a "Relationship Comedy."  The three children of Jane and Jake are played by Hunter Parrish as Luke, Zoe Kazan as Gabby and Caitlin Fitzgerald as Lauren.  Lauren's fiancé Harley, is played by John Krasinski who I read had a small role in another Nancy Meyers film, The Holiday.  There's a great article about the movie and how the cast was chosen HERE.

Exterior:
Now, let's get to the good part...the tour!   Seventy percent of the movie takes place in a beautiful Spanish style (Mediterranean) home in Thousand Oaks, California, although, in the movie, the house is supposed to be in Santa Barbara.

As is so often the case with movie houses, only the exterior shown in the movie was that of a real house.  The home is located at 714 West Potrero Road, Thousand Oaks, CA.  All the interior scenes were filmed on set in New York.

Don't be disappointed, though.  You can take heart in knowing that Ms. Meyers did use the interior of this home as inspiration for the layout of the set in It's Complicated.  She wanted the interior scenes to make sense in relation to how the real house appears on the exterior in the movie.  This pic below shows how the exterior of the home looks in the movie.  In this scene, Jane and Jake's youngest daughter, Gabby, is leaving the nest, heading off to college.  A pretty important scene takes place on the tree swing toward the end of the movie.

Another view of the exterior of the home in the movie.  Behind the gated area on the left is an interesting courtyard where another scene takes place.  You'll see that area in just a sec.
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