Set Dressing 101: Why It’s Important & How to Do It

Think about the characters

For example, if you are doing set dressing for a teenage girl’s room, go through the script and see if you can find any details that might speak to what her bedroom might look like. Does she come from a wealthy home, a middle-class family, or a family of lower socioeconomic status? Is she into pop music or wild about nature? This will greatly influence the pieces that you will choose when you dress this set. You can make any given space look authentic with a bit of careful consideration.

Manage your budget

Keep detailed notes on all set dressing expenses. Keep it within the established budget as much as possible. By keeping a detailed budget along the way, you ensure that your costs won’t require you to pull money from other areas of your production budget. 

Give yourself time to dress your set

Make sure you have at least a day to dress your set. On large-scale productions, you might need even more time. Investing the time in dressing your sets will pay off when the camera rolls. Be sure to include your set dressing time within your overall production schedule. 

Dress the part

Like so much of production, set dressing is physical labor. Come prepared and wear comfortable closed-toe shoes. Dress in dark colors — a white shirt is never welcome on a film set. White can pick up a lot of light, so stick to what we call set blacks. This applies to all on-set production members and is a practical overall professional tip. 

Set dressing, a conclusion

Hopefully now you have a better understanding of what set dressing is and how to do it. Take this knowledge with you as you head into your next production.

And if you’re looking for new places to try your hand at set dressing, why not give Peerspace a chance? We have thousands of gorgeous spaces rentable by the day or hour in locations across North America and beyond. Some of our most popular production venues include completely bare industrial warehouses and wildly kitsch castles to experiment with.

And when you book a Peerspace venue, you also have access to the Concierge service.These logistical pros can source equipment and furnishings for your production space, saving you valuable time and legwork. Whether you book a production space on Peerspace or elsewhere, we hope you’ll keep these tips in mind. Happy set dressing!