MILF Manor: A Vivid Fever Dream with a Bland Backdrop

Welcome to the new blog series, where reality TV houses go under the microscope as we scrutinize the interior design choices.

Without further ado, here is house number 1!

MILF Manor: A Vivid Fever Dream with a Bland Backdrop

MILF Manor, TLC’s Freudian nightmare, had the internet abuzz earlier this year. This Oedipal yet entertaining reality show followed a group of middle aged women as they dated each other’s sons and lived in a picturesque, albeit bland seaside villa in Mexico.

While the show’s concept gives us A LOT to unpack—like the fact that 20-year-old Joey left the Villa in a love triangle with 60-year-old April and the hot age-appropriate daughter of one of the other MILFs, Emma; or how Jose chose to pursue a relationship with Kelle despite the racist comments she made toward his mother; or Gabriel’s wonderfully bizarre sense of style—let’s focus on the physical Manor itself.

MILF Manor was filmed at boutique hotel Orchid House in Baja California, Mexico. With only eight rooms, Orchid House was the perfect intimate setting for this mildly incestuous dating show. Orchid House’s cheapest rooms start at a steep $10,000 a night (hopefully, they got a discounted rat while filming). While Orchid House may have a luxurious price and a beautiful ocean-front location, the interior is extremely lacking and dated, in my humble opinion. With beige walls and the same dark wood furniture as far as the eye can see, the MILF Manor “Villa” (as they call it in the show) is an unfit backdrop for a cast of such bizarre characters.

The dark wood beams that line the ceilings of some of the Villa’s rooms are a lovely, rustic touch. The early 2000s interior vibe is strong. Rustic seems to clearly be the vibe that the designers were going for—with their iron lighting fixtures and stone floors—but the whole thing just feels so sterile. Kelle’s overly highlighted, self-tanned face shouldn’t be the most colorful thing on my screen!

Is an accent wall with a textured finish (SET plaster, perhaps?), or even just some colorful artwork too much to ask for? Add some warmer, homier colors to brighten up the place and compliment the dark wood. As we said in an earlier post, humans are evolutionarily conditioned to feel at home when surrounded by earth tones, so some green or even a rich tan would be a safe place to start.

I won’t say that Orchid House is totally to blame for this beige dystopia. Looking at the photos on the official website, it looks like MILF Manor’s production team made some tweaks to the place. The lobby, which wasn’t featured in the show, actually does bring some pops of color to the rustic minimalist aesthetic; it features a beautiful mural of a flower, patterned seat cushions, and large potted plants. Also, the two full beds placed in each room for the show throw off the elaborate wall alcoves designed to compliment the king sized beds that typically fill those rooms.

While nothing has been said about MILF Manor being renewed for a second season, let alone if they will use the same shooting location, we can only hope that in the future they will use a backdrop that fits the intense drama of the show. Whenever the cast would venture outside the Villa they would lounge in seaside cabanas adorned with colorful pillows, or visit restaurants with vivid artwork, which could be a great jumping off point for future design inspiration.