The Proposal - Between Naps On The Porch

Have you ever wondered where the house in the movie, The Proposal, is located?  Or, have you ever wondered if it’s a real home, a movie set or a “fake” house built just for the movie?

The House in the Movie, The Proposal

Imagine one day there’s a knock at your door.  You answer and a smiling movie-location-scout is asking to use your home for the upcoming movie, The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.  Sounds exciting, doesn’t it.

That’s what happened to the Kaneb family who lives in this beautiful home located north of Boston in Manchester, MA.   In the movie, the house is located in Sitka, Alaska.  In this scene where we get our first glance of this wonderful home, the snow-covered mountains were actually photo-shopped in to give the illusion of being in Alaska.  It’s the magic of the movies!

The Proposal was filmed in February and all the trees were completely bare.  Leaf-covered limbs were shipped in and attached to all the bare trees around the house to give the appearance it was summertime.  Amazing!

In the movie, The Proposal, this beautiful shingle and rock home is supposed to be very remote and only reachable via boat.

Here’s an aerial view via Bing showing where this house is actually situated.  Since there’s not much call for swimming pools in Alaska, it was covered with a dance floor in the movie.

Today I’m taking you inside for a tour of some of the rooms on the first floor where the filming took place.  But first, here’s a little background, in case you haven’t seen this romantic comedy.

Sandra Bullock plays Margaret Tate who is the chief editor for a major New York book publisher.  Ryan Reynolds plays her badly mistreated assistant, Andrew Paxton.  Andrew puts up with Margaret’s abuse because his dream is to one day have a book he’s written published.

During the movie, Margaret has carelessly let her visa expire (she’s from Canada) and finds herself about to be deported.  A la “Green Card” (another movie with a similar theme) she comes up with a scheme telling the immigration agent she and Andrew are engaged and are about to be married.  Andrew is horrified but Margaret threatens to fire him if he doesn’t go along with her scheme.  He agrees since she promises to publish his book.  While being interviewed by the immigration agent, to make the whole story seem more probable, Margaret says she will be flying out with Andrew that weekend to meet his parents.  She is stunned when she learns Andrew’s family lives in Alaska!

The majority of the movie is set in Alaska, which is actually Massachusetts, and there are lots of  funny “fish out water” scenes as you might expect when a New York city girl ends up in the wilds of Alaska.  One of the funniest scenes is when Margaret forgets a prior warning and lets the adorable family dog outside.  He is quickly snatched up by an eagle who eventually drops him to take Margaret’s cell phone from her frantically waving hand, instead.  Fitting with Margaret’s cold, unfeeling persona, she runs around the yard trying to entice the eagle to bring back her phone and take the dog, instead.  Fortunately, Andrew comes out about this time.

Since the Kanebs have four children, they initially said, “no” when they heard what was going to be involved if they allowed their home to be used in the movie.  Their children talked them into doing it in the end.   The script called for a rugged, somewhat rustic interior.  Here’s a “before” picture of their home from THIS article in the New York Times.  This is beautiful, but it’s about as “un-rustic” as you can get.  Major changes were made to create the interior of the home for the movie.  I was stunned when I saw this picture below because the inside of the home in The Proposal looks absolutely nothing like this.  Let’s check it out!

In the movie, The Proposal, Andrew’s parents Grace (Mary Steenburgen) and Joe (Craig T. Nelson) throw a “Welcome Home” party for Andrew.  We get a few glimpses into the kitchen but unfortunately we never get to go in for a full tour.  I wonder if the kitchen cabinets were actually this pretty teal color or if they painted them for the movie.

Have you ever wondered if folks are compensated monetarily for allowing their home to be used in a movie.  According to the NY Times article, fees often range from $1,500-$3,000 a day.  The actually filming in the Kaneb’s home was just three days, but there was a good bit of construction time prior to the shooting.

All of the furniture (except for a grand piano) was moved out of the home and put into storage.  New furniture was brought in for the filming.  I love the deep color of the  teal/turquoise-blue chandelier we see in this scene.

Great antler mirror!  You can find faux antler mirrors these days that look just like they are made with real antlers.

See all that stained paneling and wood here in the entrance/foyer of the home?

The real walls inside the home were wrapped in bubble wrap and walls were constructed in front of them!  Is that not amazing?  I never would have guessed that when I saw this movie.

That’s how they took an interior that looked like this….

And turned it into a rugged, Alaskan home that looks like this.  This is the dining room in the movie.  Notice the heavy, rough-hewn trim around the doorways.

Another view of the dining room in a different scene.  This house has the most beautiful cathedral styled windows.  Not sure that works so well for a rustic interior but I do love them!

I never could get a great shot of the family room from the movie so I snagged this one from a promo video on YouTube.

Here’s a view of the other side of  the family room.  (Picture from the NY Times)  The rock fireplace was created for the movie and the rustic ceiling beams were added on top of the home’s normal ceiling.

In this scene we get another glimpse of the kitchen.  You can really see how open the interior of the home is and how one room flows to the next.

Andrew and Margaret are shown to “their” room.  Some of the funniest scenes take place in this space.  Look at that view outside the doors!  Wow!  I wonder if this is the master bedroom of the home in real life.  Again, all the walls have been covered with stained, paneled walls for a rugged, Alaskan home look.

When you first enter this bedroom, a shelving/wall unit is immediately to the right.

A wonderful fireplace was constructed for the room.  Sooo realistic!  Later in the movie, there’s a real fire blazing away and it’s wonderfully cozy.

A view of the room to the right of the fireplace.

The bed feels sort of like of a modern take on the sleigh bed to me.  I adore sleigh beds.  They feel so cozy and safe, the way they wrap around you as you drift off into sweet dreams.  Update:  I recently saw a headboard similar to this one in a catalog and they referred to it as a “wingback” headboard.

In this scene below, the family bursts in on the couple early in the morning, sending Andrew scrambling from the floor where he was sleeping and into the bed beside Margaret since they supposed to be a couple in love and engaged.  Andrew’s parents and his grandmother, Gammy (played by Betty White) have come up with the brilliant idea that Margaret and Andrew should marry right away while they are home in Alaska so the family can all attend.  That explains the distressed look on Margaret’s face in this scene.

Loved this overhead shot from the movie because you really get a good view of the luxurious rugs and bed linens.  The colors in this room are sooo cozy, so rich and warm.

For several years now I’ve dreamed of finding or sewing linens for my bed to create a cozy “Ralph Lauren” look and feel for winter, so I was especially interested in getting a better look at the bed duvet/coverlet.

During the daytime, the coverlet looks a lot lighter in color.  In the movie, the daylight goes on forever since it’s Alaska, so they have to close the drapes to simulate nighttime to get some sleep.

This door on the other side of the room leads to the bathroom.

I thought the full-length mirror was kind of cool.  Doesn’t this make you wish for a cabin to decorate?  I always think of the cabin Charles Faudree once owned.  I used to drool over it in one of my old Traditional Home magazines. I loved how he decorated it.  Okay, back to the movie…quit daydreaming, Susan!

This is the only view we get of the bath on the other side of the door.  I’m sure this was all created just for the movie to continue the rustic theme of the home.

The “almost” wedding scene takes place in the Kaneb’s antique barn.  I loved this beautiful entrance created for Margaret to walk down.  Isn’t it enchanting?!   I’d love to do this on either side of the doors leading from my screened-in porch to the decks for a summer’s eve party. Ummm, the wheels are turning!

The story-line of this movie reminded me so much of another romantic comedy, Green Card.  Green Card also has an amazing home, as well as a to-die-for conservatory.  You can take the tour of the darling apartment and conservatory in that movie here:  Movie House Tour: Green Card: Tour the Apartment and Greenhouse

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