Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » living in: dirty dancing

Some folks, when asked about movies they love, rattle off a list of obscure art house films and directors no one knows. You’re left thinking, okay, but what movies to do you actually watch when no one else is around While I do like me some wackadoo movies, fluff like Dirty Dancing is always in my top 10. I mean, catskills resort vacation circa 1963, an awesome soundtrack and some cheesy dialogue? Makes me want to pop some corn and have a pillow fight with my best friends, slumber party style.

[image above, clockwise from top left: acacia floor lamp $298,leotard $12, ballroom heels $100, vintage radio poster $100, rattan living suite $8500, watermelon $3, vintage suitcase $25]

Honestly, I hadn’t ever really paused to considered Dirty Dancing a stylistic oeuvre, seeing as takes place in a hysterically blatant 1980s version of the 1960s, but who am I to judge. Its mountain bungalow setting is just amazing. Grace- next summer let’s book Kellerman’s for a design*sponge sleep away camp. Who’s with me? amy m.

[image above, clockwise from top left: antique French desk lamp,clock $88, st. james tee $67, rattan dresser $5750, keds $35, recycled plaid blanket $35, playing cards $3.50, armchair $1500 for pair]

Classic! I was totally hoping you would cover this movie next. I watched it this weekend…OK, much to my husband’s dismay (and my own embarrassment) I watched it twice…and thought it would be perfect for this column. Hooray for Dirty Dancing! :)

The true love he shared with his wife of thirty plus years only makes his passing more sad.

I remember watching this movie as a young girl and feeling so grown up and hopeful that my days would be filled with dancing like that!

We all have hopes;-)

I’m totally with you- this is one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies, too. A google search revealed that the real Kellerman’s is the Mountain Lake Hotel in VA and lo and behold, they have special “Dirty Dancing Weekends” throughout the summer: http://www.mtnlakehotel.com/Section_Home.asp?SID=40

Oh gosh so true! I love artsy fartsy movies but the fluffy ones are always my favorites!. Though I didn’t really like Dirty Dancing, I do LOVE the soundtrack. That and Debbie Gibson were my soundtrack to the 80’s/early90’s.

Mountain Lake IS a in beautiful part of Virginia (I live in the area and love it!) but you might like to know that this hotel is now more of a mountain lodge than lake resort: as one of only two natural lakes in the state, Mountain Lake is almost dried up at the moment! http://www.virginiaplaces.org/watersheds/mountainlake.html

What a fantastic D*S send-off to the fabulous Mr. Swayze! Ginny Branch, I feel your pain, my mom forbade me to see it as well. Lucky for me, it was impossible to make it through any slumber party that year without sneaking it in!

Love this Living In! That rattan furniture set is perfect. I finally made my husband a fan of Dirty Dancing this past weekend – forced him to sit through it, and he ended up loving it (he’s a sucker for romance).

the plaid blankets are perfect. I was watching this the other day, thinking how much fun it made living in a cabin look.

my mom took dance from Patrick Swayze when he was a young struggling actor/dance teacher and we always followed his career. When Dirty Dancing came out, she was OBSESSED.

i can’t even begin to describe how much i love dirty dancing. i have been watching dirty dancing for as long as i can remember (it came out a few months after i was born. i know, i’m young). people have songs or smells or movies that form the way they are, and dirty dancing is one of those movies. the songs from the movie, the scenery (oh my god, the forests, the lodge and cabins, rocks and rustic wood), the fashion (the perm [when i was little], keds, sweaters, shirt-dresses, classy bermuda shorts, oxford shirts), everything about it influenced the way i am. the kellerman’s song is even to the same tune as my college’s alma mater. so i am SO, SO glad you did a “living in:” on this movie. now i CAN live at kellerman’s. this is especially nice since patrick swayze passed away…

I especially love it how the watermelon from the line, “I carried a watermelon” made the cut. Unrelated: very random that the last thing I bought was that clock from Anthropologie — and then you posted this today!

I hate to add the “if I bought that furniture my husband would kill me” comment, but its so true. Before I thought about how much I love it, I thought about how much he would hate it. Seriously though? How can you do better than giant leaf prints and rattan??

Also, I love how you included the watermelon.

1. I must have that rattan living suite.
2. I always thought no woman in 1963 would have worn her hair as “naturally” as Baby did and that lack of authenticity interfered with my enjoyment of the movie. lol
3. I keep listening to NKOTB’s (yes, the New Kids) “Dirty Dancing” and it’s helped to ease the pain of losing Johnny Castle.
Thanks for this post!

I love (loved?) this movie. I remember my friend Maria and I watched this movie EVERY day for one whole summer! Occasionally more than once! She had 4 brothers-they pretty much hated us that summer! This was probably 1988? so there was only 1 VCR per house!

Oooh…. I absolutely love this week’s Living In. I want all those pieces. The rattan furniture is to die for. (Whoever thought I’d end up loving wicker?) My honey and I just watched this the other night. We both love the movie and secretly want to live in Johnny’s bungalow.

i love all the responses to this post!! amazing lady love for a classic movie about a chick owning it! i loved this movie in 5th grade, fell in love again in college with one of my best friends (watching it with running commentary became a nightly ritual) and saw it again recently with the same ol’ feeling of joy. timeless. rip johnny castle.

It was really sweet to do one on dirty dancing….

I never thought of it stylistically either, but it really is. I love the top outdoor furniture, I would buy it today If i didnt have a feeling it was thousands of dollars, and I have more outdoor furniture that I do indoor furniture. Upstate New York is gorgeous and secluded…every week you do a movie that just so happens to be set in a completely different place in the world, its really amazing.

If I was a billionaire I would have a hundred houses all over the world.

I actually started dancing because of Dirty Dancing… I don’t get why they call it “dirty”. It’s sexy and fun, but not dirty!

This round-up is great, even if rattan is still a no-go for me. That’s not the point here: it’s really funny to see how we could(n’t) live in Dirty Dancing ! Can’t wait for the next column !

I always loved the movie, Patric Swayze, the music.. everything. Now I live just down the road from Mountain Lake. I understand that the natural- and re-occuring- crack in the lake is on the mend and with all the rain we had this year the water is on the rise.. They have wonderful festivals worth checking out.

Fantastic post. Great synthesis of all of the visual and textural elements.

A good chunk of the scenes from the film were shot just down the road from me, in Lake Lure, N.C., just south of Asheville. It’s a beautiful little hamlet of a town, and they held a vigil on the lake this past weekend in memory of Patrick. R.I.P.

This is so lovely. I’m a big Dirty Dancing lover. As a teenage I saw the movie a thousand times. Last week I looked it again together with my best friend. It was so funny, cause everything affects so different to us than we were young. Strange, but I still love the movie and I will never forgot Johnny Castle, respectively Patrick Swayze.

I’m quite impressed. I was a little disappointed when I saw that Dirty Dancing was the latest Living In, but this one might actually be my favorite yet! I love those palm leaf chairs and the radio, and that dresser is super hot! -X

Being an ‘83 grad, I can’t separate my history from Dirty Dancing. It was just part of our culture, and I love it still. I also still pains me Jennifer Grey had to change her lovely, distinctive looks. She was a natural beauty. Loved the column and may just have to have that clock!!

I’m new and have been devouring the archives. I adore this feature. Have you thought about doing living in: Grey Gardens (the recent version)? Perhaps with less cat urine and broken windows and more 1940s Hamptons glam?

Charlotte…

I love grey gardens, both the original and the new HBO movie, but honestly, who wants to live in that film? have you seen that house? Sure before it was beautiful, but 70% of the movie is spent in a little yellow bedroom with a hotplate and fridge next to the bed. That house was a hot mess. I am trying to think of what can be pulled from that movie…pretty scarves, a big floppy beach hat, ornate wooden twin headboards, wonder bread, cats…I guess if you did the HBO movie you could pull alot of the design elements from the parts in the 30s and 40s, besides that I dont know.

One of my favorite design*sponge posts ever! I love your picks. Even my husband secretly likes this movie. I’m sure part of it is the mountains and the sets. Filmed in the Southern Appalachians, filming locations included Asheville’s Grove Park Inn and Lake Lure, NC.

Ha! I love this. I actually went to Mountain Lake in college as part of a volunteer trip, and we spent the week there with the hotel to ourselves, recreating all of the scenes. If only YouTube was around then, it would have been amazing! For more about Mountain Lake, check this out:
http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2007/11/have-the-time-of-your-life.html

Dirty Dancing has a special place in my heart because of its shooting location: Mountain Lake. We used to go all the time when I was a kid. I grew up 20 minutes down the mountain. It’s sad that the lake where Johnny teaches Baby the lift is practically dry.

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