For Fifty Shades of Grey Escala stands tall as the residence for Christian Grey. He and Ana spend a lot of time inside  his apartment in the books and movies as well. For the first Fifty Shades of Grey movie David Wasco and his wife were in charge of designing Christians home. They shared several photos and videos of the process of designing and making it just right for the movie. There was a lot of glass, chrome, marble and cool tones mixed with white. The furnishings designer Boca Do Lobo and their affiliates had many of their pieces placed in the various rooms. There were also several art pieces brought in to complete the walls.

When filming was to begin for Fifty Shades Darker/Freed new director James Foley brought in an all new design team including Nelson Coates as Production Designer. After speaking with him in Vancouver during filming, I came to understand that he was the one person who was in charge, under director James Foley, of the look of everything you see in the movies. His vision encompassed the costumes, furnishings for Escala, Ana’s apartment, Casa Mia for the Grey Mansion, inside SIP, the spectacular Masquerade Ball, and many others. I did notice that he was constantly on the move at locations during filming, always working ahead to the next locations and scenes.

For Fifty Shades Darker/Freed Christian’s home Escala added a few new rooms and had new design work done to the existing rooms. Some of the new rooms that have been seen in the trailer include Ana’s bedroom closet/dressing area, Christian’s office, Christian’s gym and the library including the pool table. From what we have been able to see already it seems that these other areas have had some new design work for the two movies: the entryway and living room and his shower and bathroom. Two other areas of his home look very similar: the Red Room and his bedroom. It does look like the walls of his bedroom have been repainted to a more neutral tone.

When I first saw the “new” Escala rooms I did notice a change to more warmer tones and colors. This design change was recently confirmed in an interview for Total Film Magazine UK with director James Foley. “There was a lot of things I wanted to ‘correct’ from the first movie,” he says, citing aspects such as the design of Christian’s apartment to the “black helmet” of Rita Ora’s hair.”  “I think the look of the film is quite different: it’s much warmer tones, it’s a much more fluid camera, it’s a bit more cinematic.”

Several of the new rooms reflect this new warmer neutral palette with the color on the walls and the use of rich woods. There is a new beautiful carpet used in the living room and what looks to be a neutral gray sofa. I also noticed the framing on the windows is now black. There is also an addition of a wine wall behind the staircase on the main floor. This wine wall also is located at the far end of the new library. We also see in the trailer that while in Christian’s office you can view into the new library. The new added rooms all seem to connect together with the warm wall color, carpet and dark woods used throughout.

In this new video Production Designer Nelson Coates talks about the changes he has brought to Escala including that wonderful new fireplace.

For Fifty Shades Freed they brought in new art work for the walls in Escala. You can read about those pieces here. 

Here are a few photos of the new rooms and changes that we can expect to see in Darker/Freed.

Ana’s Closet and Dressing Room:

I could not help but notice more “grid” type of design used here like in the living room and of course the Red Room.

You can spot her silver Masquerade Ball dress hanging here. There is also a black lace dress she may have worn to the Mile High Club dinner.

Christian’s Gym looks fully equipped for whatever he has on his mind to do with Ana:

Grey House serves as Christian’s main office, but now he also has a home office to work in:

The art work on the wall to the right also shows up behind Ana while sitting in his office. You can also get a glimpse inside the new library from this view.

This leads off to the new Library with the pool table.  There is also a new wine bottle wall at one end of the room.

Several areas in Escala look to be redesigned. Here are a few updates:

The Living Room/Entry area from FSOG:

The new FS Darker/Freed look:

Gone is that crazy painting of the “upside down christmas tree”.

With the new addition of several shower scenes it looks as though Christian’s bathroom has a new look or addition as well:

The only thing that looks similar is the floor. I think all the fans will still have found memories of this beautiful Blu Bathworks bathtub.

There is a new scene with Ana out on Christian’s balcony overlooking the city at night. Behind her you can see Christian in bed with the same ocean painting above his bed. It looks as thought the bold turquoise painted wall has been redone.

For Fifty Shades Darker Christian and Ana do not rush back into the Red Room. This room has already been established in the first movie and I can’t believe it would have many changes. Except the ones that Christian makes along with the story.

This new photo looks to be inside the Red Room as you can spot one of the hanging loops behind Ana. There are several of these type of loops attached to the bed in the Red Room.

With Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed now opening I know the fans will be front and center to take in all the visual glory that has been created by James Foley, Nelson Coates and their production team.

Credit to Universal for photos. Credit to thegreysapartment.com