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" As Princess Leia, actress Carrie Fisher won the rebel fight against Darth Vader in a galaxy far, far away, but recently she&amp;#039;s faced a fresh battle\u2014her dressing room design. When she arrived at Broadway&amp;#039;s Studio 54 for her new one-woman show, Wishful Drinking, the scene was bleak. A decorative rewrite was clearly in order if the show was to open with a happy star. The call went out to John Gidding, a Yale- and Harvard-educated designer/architect known to millions for his role on Designed to Sell and to Fisher as the guy who can confer instant style on the worst of spaces. With just two weeks to complete the job, Gidding was limited to a single phone conversation with the actress and one photo of her home to assess her design preferences. &amp;quot;Carrie&amp;#039;s biggest concern was that the room had no character or color. She was adamant that there was nothing at all that she liked in it,&amp;quot; recalls Gidding. Fisher&amp;#039;s requests were simple\u2014use lots of color, make the room comfortable and keep the look lighthearted. &amp;quot;Carrie said that she liked to display things on walls, anything from objets trouv\u00E9s to pictures and paintings. I asked if drawing some inspiration from Star Wars was kosher or if she was completely over it. She said she loved Star Wars stuff but only if it had a sense of humor. She cautioned that anything taking itself too seriously wouldn&amp;#039;t stay in the room for long.&amp;quot; With that, Gidding turned his attention to the room itself. Although housed in a building with a chic pedigree (in its previous life, it was the storied Studio 54 nightclub), the dressing room was anything but stylish or distinguished. Instead, it was a nondescript space with four small-space decorating problems\u2014ones that most city dwellers can relate to.  Problem #1: Too Little Space for the Client&amp;#039;s Needs The room needed to play dual roles: as a place for production meetings, media interviews and fan &amp;quot;meet and greets&amp;quot; and as a cozy retreat in which Fisher could study scripts and relax with friends and family. This was a tall order for a box of 180 square feet with a squat L shape that had very limited traffic flow. Solution: Divide and Conquer The room was already somewhat split by a centrally located, walled-in powder room, so Gidding played off the powder room&amp;#039;s positioning to stylistically separate the room into two zones, one private, one public. &amp;quot;Carrie indicated that she often meets guests in the space before and after performances, so the bifurcation of the room provided the architecture to create the public/private functions she needed,&amp;quot; notes Gidding. &amp;quot;Decoratively, these two zones read quite differently. The public area has an exuberant color scheme and gregarious furniture. The private area features more muted hues so its colors won&amp;#039;t affect the makeup application process and utilitarian furniture dedicated to the reality of preparing for the show.&amp;quot; Each zone has its own seating area and is accessorized according to function. The public area has lots of surfaces to hold beverages, a fridge for an endless supply of Coke Zero (Carrie&amp;#039;s favorite) and racks to house the book by Fisher on which the play is based. The generous use of colors, paintings and twinkly lights gives cues to Fisher&amp;#039;s vibrant personality. The private space has cozy, comfy pillows and throws and groupings of more whimsical accessories. Both zones are unified by their sophisticated yet fun look. Problem #2: Hodgepodge, Makeshift Decor Over time, as actors from various productions had rotated in and out of the space, they&amp;#039;d modified it to fit their needs, so it was a stylistic mess. &amp;quot;The dressing room was in a truly unimpressive state. Its most dominant design feature was an abundance of painted plywood and pine shelves left behind by previous occupants. There was such a staggering amount that I actually asked the theater manager why so many shelves were shoved in such a small space,&amp;quot; says Gidding. Holes littered walls that had been painted hospital white and were lined, end to end, with mismatched furniture castoffs. Carpeting was dark and worn. There was only one window, so lighting was unevenly distributed. The ideal solution? Junk it all, renovate and start from scratch. But that wasn&amp;#039;t possible with a tight budget and turnaround time. Solution: Unify the Look and Pay Attention to Detail All furnishings had to pass the &amp;quot;accumulated eclecticism&amp;quot; test, a phrase the designer coined to describe Fisher&amp;#039;s look. &amp;quot;Carrie wanted everything in the room to feel as if it had been acquired over time, rather than the reality, which was in the course of two weeks of frantic shopping,&amp;quot; notes Gidding. Vintage accessories are mixed with new. Personal photos are grouped alongside art by professionals. Despite these challenges, every item tells a story or hints at something about Fisher&amp;#039;s personality or interests. He also infused the room with a runway touch. &amp;quot;Sequins and lam\u00E9 clothing are big on the fashion scene right now, and in interiors as well, there&amp;#039;s a reciprocal interest in shiny surfaces and eye-catching luster, so we incorporated metallics and mirrored effects,&amp;quot; says Gidding. There are stainless steel makeup tables and shelves. The sink is hand-crafted of hammered copper. Philippe Starck&amp;#039;s Louis Ghost chairs catch the light and reflect it. Even lightbulbs have an unexpected sheen. Large exposed bulbs framing the makeup mirror are mirror-capped to provide respite for eyes and add a shiny element to the room.   Problem #3: Some Stuff Had to Stay To Gidding&amp;#039;s dismay, items like the large wall-hung mirrors and lights couldn&amp;#039;t be moved for budgetary or utilitarian reasons, so he faced the problem many people contend with when redoing their own homes\u2014how to implement a new design direction within a room that has elements that have to stay for one reason or the other. Solution: If You Can&amp;#039;t Change It, Make It Better A large mirror above the sofa was brought down to size with paint. &amp;quot;To soften the edges of a very bleak, contractor-grade wall mirror, we painted atop it, creating stripes and curves,&amp;quot; says Gidding. The paint makes portions of the mirror seemingly disappear into the wall. Existing light fixtures were large fluorescent banks reminiscent of those in a classroom or industrial space. The designer opted to circumvent them by using a variety of table, floor and wall lights instead. &amp;quot;The finished room can be entirely lit with these decorative lights, without the use of overheads,&amp;quot; notes Gidding. He also replaced regular bulbs with pink ones in the public area to soften the look. &amp;quot;The saturation and diffusion change is immediately felt within the room as a welcoming element.&amp;quot; Problem #4: How to Stylishly Store Everything When There&amp;#039;s No Closet Despite the lack of built-in storage, Gidding stripped the room of its mismatched linear shelving. Doing so decluttered surfaces and made the room feel airier and even a tad bigger. &amp;quot;I needed to make storage opportunities plentiful and evident, but I didn&amp;#039;t want to make the mistake of sacrificing the entire room to storage, as had been done before.&amp;quot;  Solution: Layer In Functional Yet Fashionable Storage  He layered in a mix of sophisticated wall, table and rolling storage pieces of varying sizes, shapes and finishes. They add to the overall look of the room instead of detracting from it. Some tuck beneath tables or in room corners, others jut out from the wall like space-age pods in flight. Sleek tabletop organizers decoratively display items as if they were mini collections. As quickly as the whirlwind makeover began, it was over, earning a rave review from the star. &amp;quot;Carrie said I was somehow able to divine from our single conversation exactly the feel she wanted for her dressing room. It embodies the intersection between chic and young, elegant and eclectic, fun and functional\u2014and the Star Wars touches make her smile.&amp;quot; See Carrie Fisher&amp;#039;s fantastic and miraculous dressing room makeover! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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