“I’d do flat-panel cabinets and quartz counters. Maybe the quartz could be marble-look to make it interesting. Then we put a pop of color in the backsplash so it’s not too monotone.”
“Solid plan. Here, I have some samples.”
Nolan had gotten to the studio an hour before Grayson for just this reason. He’d already gone through the store of material samples Restoration had gotten from its various vendors and planted a few in one of the cabinets so he could whip them out at this moment. He completely agreed that light and bright was the way to go, but flat-panel cabinets were too modern for this family.
“I’m thinking Shaker or even craftsman cabinets,” Nolan said, laying a white cabinet sample on the table. “Then I agree, marble-look quartz because it’s pretty and practical.” He put a square of white quartz with a gray streak in it on the table. “Then we should do the same floor throughout the first floor. I think a medium brown, but I kind of want to do something with gray tones to make it match with the paint colors I have in mind.” Nolan pulled a piece of paper out of the cabinet. He’d already painted streaks on it. “This is the color story I have in mind. Soft and beachy.”
“So is that our theme for the design?”
“Jersey Shore in the winter.”
“I like it,” said Grayson. He grabbed a purple pencil from the box and used it to point to the den on the main floor plan. “We’re getting rid of the wood paneling, right?”
“Oh, yeah. Why someone would make the interior of that house so dark is a mystery. And I think we could do something really fun with the den, but I’m not totally sure what yet.”
Grayson looked at the floor plan for a moment. Nolan was conscious of the camera, but he also couldn’t take his eyes off Grayson. Even though his hair was styled in a jaunty way that made Nolan think he was trying too hard, it still hung over his eye in a sexy way, and Grayson’s perfect skin almost glowed under the big lights of the studio. He wore a lot of layers—a T-shirt and a jacket and a scarf today—and Nolan still wanted to peel them all off.
But they were designing a house.
“They seem like fun people,” Grayson said. “They need entertaining spaces.”
“Absolutely. What did you have in mind?”
Grayson hesitated. The pause went on for an uncomfortably long time. Just before Nolan was about to ask again, or come up with something to say to help Grayson out, Helena said, “Cut!” Then she walked onto the set and addressed Grayson directly. “It’s fine, Gray. Share your ideas, even if you think Nolan will disagree. Your role here is to challenge him so that together, you come up with the best design.”
Grayson took a deep breath and nodded.
The director yelled, “Action!”
Grayson pointed his pencil at the den again. “Okay, here’s what I’d do. We have two living areas, right? One of them is directly next to the kitchen and is the main entertaining space. The other one is the den, which is a little more private. I’d widen the doorway to the den and make it an intimate space. Big, soft furniture, built-in bookcases, and lots of little homey touches. It should be a comfortable, everyday kind of room, whereas the other living space is a little more formal. Does that make sense?”
“It does. I don’t know if the Roberts are really formal people, though.”
Nolan realized that he was prepared to bulldoze right over Grayson, but he had a very clear vision of what this house should look like. And in principle, Nolan opposed formal rooms. The formal living room at his favorite aunt’s house was still the room at the front of the house where the furniture was covered in plastic because no one ever sat there. What was the point of having a room in your home that no one ever used? But on the other hand, he was impressed Grayson had stood up for him and wanted to keep the frown off Grayson’s beautiful face.
“Formal is the wrong word,” said Grayson. “I just mean, they could have one room where they host company and one room that is just for them. Carol mentioned their daughters come to visit a lot, so they should have a good space for that, but also a retreat.”
It wasn’t a terrible idea. Nolan had thought to make the den into a library or office, depending on what the Robertses needed, but keeping it as a den wasn’t a bad idea.
In all, they filmed two hours of brainstorming that would probably be distilled down to a five-minute segment of the show. Grayson pitched some reasonable ideas but seemed a little timid throughout the whole discussion. As the crew packed up, Nolan felt a little guilty for dominating the discussion so thoroughly, even though he thought his ideas were right and most of Grayson’s showed his inexperience.
Or was Nolan overcompensating? His attraction to Grayson was becoming like an itch he really wanted to scratch but knew he shouldn’t. At first Nolan had figured that he’d been thinking about Grayson a lot, even when they weren’t filming, because they’d been spending so much time together lately. But no. This was a full-fledged crush. Nolan had forgotten what that felt like.
Still, Nolan worried he’d bullied Grayson into some of his ideas, so once most of the crew had cleared out, he walked up to Grayson and said, “Sorry if I was too assertive.”
Grayson smiled ruefully and nodded. “It’s okay. You have more experience at this.”
“I’m set in my ways. Your idea about turning the den into a comfy retreat is a good one. It’s fine to challenge me. It probably makes better TV if we disagree on some things.”
“Okay. I mean, in that case, I’d add mustard to your color story.”
Nolan looked down at the paper he’d prepared with the colored streaks on it. “Mustard?” He couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose. He hated mustard almost as much as he hated red.
“Lemon or sunny yellow will get washed out, but something a little stronger would complement the blue. Not a lot, but some pops of it, especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. I mean orangey yellow, like a sunset.” Grayson hesitated just a second and then seemed to decide something and said, “I think this color story could use some more depth, is all I’m saying. You afraid of a little color?” He raised an eyebrow.
Well, that certainly seemed like a dare. Nolan had some little cans with paint samples in one of the cabinets, so he dug around and found an orangey yellow. The sticker on the can saidmango. He grabbed a paintbrush and added it to the color story he’d prepared. It… wasn’t bad. And it played well with the soft pink and the blue.
“Is that what you meant?”
