Room We Love

ROOM WE LOVE Grime, Meet Style

Designer Brooke Adler builds a mudroom with function and flair

BROOKE ADLER, owner of Brooke Adler Interiors, knew her family would outgrow their Myers Park home as soon as they moved in ve years ago. But she was already planning for that. “You know what your house needs once you’ve lived in it for a bit,” she says. Two and a half years later, they knew they needed an expanded kitchen and upstairs playroom, a fourth bedroom, and a covered porch. At the top of her wish list was a mudroom with plenty of storage for her two boys, ages 7 and 4. A er a six-month renovation, the family nally had a house— and a dedicated room—that could stand up to a little mud. —Taylor Bowler

SPACE TO MOVE

Before, the washer and dryer lived in a cramped closet with no storage. “With two boys, I wanted a sink where they could throw their stinky stuff, good ventilation, and countertops for folding laundry,” Adler says. She added hooks for their backpacks and jackets, drawers for their shoes, and cabinets to store paper towels and cleaning supplies. DURABILITY

Adler chose a dark gray tile for the herringbone-pattern floor because it hides much of the dirt the boys bring inside. “The shiplap is super durable, and the paint is super wipeable,” she says. “I liked the idea of nothing to clean—I wanted a plain look that’s low maintenance.” STYLE MEETS FUNCTION

A gold pendant light from Visual Comfort complements gold hooks and handles from Emtek, and the shiplap walls modernize the otherwise traditional house. The full-light entry door allows in plenty of natural light, and the long area rug invites people into the kitchen. “I like having the washer and dryer in a spot where I can still see my kids, and this is right off the kitchen— it’s an essential location for functionality,” she says. “This is what the house was really missing.”

TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY

“If you ain’t rst, you’re last.” The Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly comedy was shot partially at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Also, the titular racer’s homestead? A house on Lake Norman.

TUSK

Filmed in Charlotte in 2013, it stars Justin Long, Michael Parks, and Haley Joel Osment. The idea for the lm was born out of a conversation on Smith’s SModcast, Smith’s weekly podcast, part of the True North Trilogy, a set of horror lms that take place in Canada.

STREAMING GUIDE

TELEVISION

The QC’s Cue Card

See anywhere familiar?

BANSHEE

UNDER A STAY-AT-HOME ORDER, we’ve all streamed more lms and TV shows lately than in previous summers. Some people binge on certain directors or genres; I’ve revisited movies and shows lmed in the Charlotte area. Below, I’ve assembled some of the marquee examples of Hollywood cameras in our beloved city. —Andy Smith

FILMS

ASHBY

This 2015 lm with Mickey Rourke, Nat Wol , Sarah Silverman, and Emma Roberts used thousands of Charlotteans as extras. Filming locations included South Mecklenburg High School and spots around Plaza Midwood.

CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

This Nick Jonas vehicle lmed at Lakes Norman and Lure. The 2015 thriller was inspired by the 1981 lm Body Heat, in which a young man nds himself in a dangerous romance while he stays at his parents’ lake house.

DAYS OF THUNDER

This 1990 racing movie with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman— they met on set and were later married for 11 years—used Charlotte Motor Speedway for several scenes. Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, even served as a technical consultant for the lm.

THE HUNGER GAMES

In 2011, uptown was the epicenter of this highly anticipated adaption of the young adult book series. In one scene, Stanley Tucci’s Caesar Flickerman takes the stage in The Capitol to interview the protagonists. That’s Knight Theater, and many audience members are locals.

LEATHERHEADS

This 2008 George Clooneydirected lm used American Legion Memorial Stadium at Central Piedmont Community College for several football scenes. Look for traces of our skyline as a stand-in for 1920s Chicago.

LOGAN LUCKY

This 2017 heist lm uses the Coca-Cola 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway as its backdrop—and the lmmakers used the real thing to pull it o . If nothing else, it’s fun to watch Daniel Craig, known for portraying James Bond, a ect a West Virginian accent. The Cinemax show used Charlotte to represent an Amish community in Pennsylvania. Look for locales in Mooresville and Waxhaw throughout the show’s run.

THE RAGE: CARRIE 2

This 1999 horror sequel was lmed entirely in Charlotte. According a fan site about the lm: “An 11,000 square foot house was built on the oor of Charlotte’s old convention center (soon to be a shopping mall) in the heart of downtown. The house … was completely destroyed for the climactic party scene.”

SULLY

The “Miracle on the Hudson” aircra once rested at Carolinas Aviation Museum, and director Clint Eastwood lmed in this space for the dramatic retelling.

HOMELAND

For a few years, you could occasionally spot Claire Danes or Mandy Patinkin around town. The spy thriller series le town for Season Four in 2014, opting to shoot in Cape Town, South Africa.

SHOTS FIRED

Primarily lmed in Kannapolis, this Fox miniseries also shot in Concord, Charlotte, and Mooresville. The show follows a federal investigation of a police shooting of an unarmed teenager.

WILD WILD COUNTRY

This addictive Net ix docuseries about the religious community Rajneeshpuram has a surprising cameo from Charlotte, and it arrives during the concluding episodes of the popular series.