Apr 11, 2026 10:00am IST
From ‘The Drama’s’ Boston Brownstone to ‘Saltburn’s’ English Estate, Nine On-Screen Homes We’d Happily Make Ours
Homes in films don’t just serve the story—they spark full-blown fantasy. Here are nine we’ve been living in, rent-free, in our heads.
The Drama
Kristoffer Borgli’s “The Drama,” starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, follows an engaged couple whose relationship quietly unravels in the week before their wedding, and the apartment they share becomes as much a character as either of them. A real 1800s brownstone in Boston’s South End, it has a spiral staircase, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, crown molding, and sun-drenched rooms that somehow make even the most uncomfortable conversations look beautiful. The production designer sourced everything from Facebook Marketplace and vintage stores.
Saltburn
Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn,” starring Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi, is a psychological thriller about obsession, class, and the strange pull of inherited wealth, and the Saltburn estate is the film’s most striking visual element. Drayton House in Northamptonshire is a real English country pile built over several centuries, and the house itself is magnificent, and one into which we absolutely would want to move.
Sirens
“Sirens”, starring Julianne Moore, Meghann Fahy and Milly Alcock, is a five-episode dark comedy about a billionaire socialite, her overworked assistant, and the chaos that unfolds over a Labor Day weekend on a fictional New England island. The Kell Family’s Cliff House has aquamarine blues, pastel walls, dusty sky-colored columns and contemporary art on every surface. It is the kind of home that has been described as Wes Anderson meets Nantucket. Eight different shades of blue were sourced for the hallways alone.
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The Perfect Couple
Before the body washed up on the shore, “The Perfect Couple,” starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber, gave us Summerland, the Winbury family's beachfront estate in Nantucket, with its private beach, panoramic ocean views and blue hydrangeas that the matriarch tends to like they are a second family. A five-bedroom waterfront mansion filmed in Chatham, Cape Cod, it is the kind of home that suggests a very specific kind of American wealth, old, coastal and impeccably maintained. The murder mystery has an aesthetic addition to it.
Big Little Lies
“Big Little Lies,” starring Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, and Zoë Kravitz, is about secrets, marriages, and what lives underneath the surface of a perfect life in Monterey, California. The homes, all with glass walls, ocean views, and architect-designed interiors, sitting on the cliffs above the Pacific, make even the most devastating scenes look subtle. Madeline’s house, Celeste’s cliff-side home, Jane’s more modest apartment, all of them feel like the kind of place you would never actually leave, regardless of what is happening inside.
The Holiday
Nancy Meyers has made a career out of homes that make you want to swap your life entirely, and “The Holiday,” starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black, gives you two at once. Amanda’s sleek, glass-walled Los Angeles mansion with its infinity pool and panoramic views of the hills. And Iris’s tiny, crooked, rose-covered Surrey cottage that looks like it was designed just to feel cozy. Two completely different aesthetics, two completely different lives, both deeply covetable.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
“The Summer I Turned Pretty,” starring Lola Tung and Christopher Briney, is a series about summers, first loves and the particular ache of growing up in a place you know you will eventually have to leave. The Fisher Beach House in Cousins, with the weathered wood, open porches, mismatched furniture, and the sound of the sea from every room, is everything a summerhouse should be. It is the kind of house that holds years of memories in its walls, with every season of the show making it more tempting to move in there!
The Materialists
“The Materialists,” starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, follows a New York matchmaker caught between the perfect, wealthy match and her imperfect ex-boyfriend. The film is essentially a love letter to a very specific version of Manhattan. Pedro Pascal’s apartment in the film has Pierre Jeanneret-style dark wood dining chairs around a long marble-topped table, with sculptural art pieces, warm neutral walls and an architectural pendant light that anchors the whole dining room. Directed by Celine Song and shot on 35mm film, it makes it look even more beautiful.
Fifty Shades of Grey
Christian Grey’s Seattle penthouse in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, is genuinely extraordinary. Floor-to-ceiling windows, an open-plan living space with panoramic city views, a grand piano, and the entire apartment entice you to move to Seattle and grab that penthouse. The penthouse does complete justice to Christian Grey’s character in the film while also working for his personality.
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