2011 CH+D Award for Showcase House Design
Author:Lindsey ShookJeff Andrews
Jeff Andrews – Design, Los Angeles
Dexter’s Refuge
If you find yourself in a serial killer’s bedroom, it’s generally a good idea to run for your life. But if that bedroom is “Dexter’s Refuge,” you just might have a dangerous desire to stay for a while. For the third annual Showtime House in New York City, Los Angeles designer Jeff Andrews was selected to channel the namesake character of Showtime’s series Dexter. For his showcase suite at Manhattan’s Cassa Hotel and Residences, Andrews played with organic materials and hard surfaces to create a place where the forensic scientist/serial killer main character could decadently embrace his darker side.
The rich palette of wood, metal and leather contrasts with the show’s vibrant Miami aesthetic.
Andrews covered the floor in embossed leather with a patchwork cowhide rug in the center and designed an entertainment center, bar and hanging platform bed using salvaged wood and metal (a reference to Dexter’s beloved boat, where actor Michael C. Hall told the designer his character feels most at home). For the bar area, Andrews enlarged a screen shot of Dexter’s eyeball peering through a microscope and separated it into six black-and-white segments. Above the bar, Andrews created a light fixture using 22 exposed light bulbs. For an art installation in the office area, he arranged pieces of petrified wood into two fragmented circular designs on the wall.
From a cage-like desk to a butcher block filled with 12 identical carving knives, Andrews referenced Dexter’s double life as a professional crime-scene investigator and vigilante serial killer.
“We had fun alluding to Dexter’s dark side, but we didn’t want the room to feel like a set. His character is an intelligent blood-splatter analyst who basically gets away with murder every week, so all items were well considered,” says Andrews, who also designed Hall’s own West Hollywood condo, albeit with fewer sharp objects.
