You’re not mad at Emily Gilmore, you hate her house decor

Old money, it’s what’s for dinner
Video essay on Emily and Richard Gilmore’s house/mansion. It contains the original house used, a tudor revival, along with the french eclectic it swapped to in later episodes. More on Emily Gilmore, her decor style and her control in her home and how it looks like a dollhouse. Then we get into WASPs, old money, and go through an architectural digest from 1983, featuring the home of Burt Reynolds.
And check out my podcast Someone Lived Here. If you want an episode that feels old and rich check out the episode on Lyndhurst Mansion.
someonelivedhere.com/lyndhurs...
Sources:
The AI Gilmore Girls creator is / bryanhartlett
Info on the history of the houses
www.iamnotastalker.com/2017/0...
Hammons house dollhouse mohai.org/exhibits/hammons-ho...
Amy Sherman Palladino dollhouse quote hellogiggles.com/gilmore-girl...
Follow me on TikTok: / kendragaylord
Instagram: / kendraggg

[@sweetness371]

The Gilmore mansion is Monica's dollhouse and Lorelai's house is Phoebe's dollhouse. 😂

[@KaritKtana]

😂❤💯

[@helgacucumber3871]

I always think it's interesting that Lorelai essentially has the same job as Emily except she's paid for it. Hospitality and managing a home like that are similar, at least on the surface. They both manage staff/service providers, entertain guests, and plan events. I just watched the first few episodes and The Independence Inn, while much more light and charming than the Gilmore house, is still a little stuffy looking. It's like a slightly more casual version of the Gilmore's house. Lorelai is very much her own person but she's also definitely Emily Gilmore's daughter. How else could they have such glorious verbal sparring matches?

[@emlestrange]

I never saw this connection but you are so right!

[@PeachPlastic]

Well, Lorelai is deeply in denial about having "left that world". Her relationship with Rory is one of acute enmeshment, and then Rory aspires to re-join the Gilmore world.

[@cinnynadin4605]

I got a new appreciation for the Gilmore Mansion when i decided to replicate it in the Sims 4. It took me ages, i went room by room and then had to watch and rewatch scenes where they go from room to room on set to see how they connected to each other. The layout feels deranged to me. SO MANY DOORS. After trying to connect the back patio and the pool house i was exhausted so i gave up on finishing the front of the house exterior, but i did do the entire house. The first floor was even more challenging because we only see glimpses outside the main bedrooms. But it was a very fun project honestly and it got me to pay attention to different details i hadn't seen in the past.

[@kendragaylord]

Amazing! If you’re comfortable can you share your gallery ID. I would love to check it out

[@cinnynadin4605]

@@kendragaylord I'll try to see if i can upload it, i never did, but i do know i have the savefile in my hard drive.

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

WHAT IS YOUR GALLERY ID. I wanna download it 😂

[@t.k.llewellyn1886]

Please share! 🤩

[@2002stylan]

omg please post it!!! i want to know

[@HaggisIsGross]

Emily was every bit as trapped as Lorelei. Over and over she displayed her excellent executive abilities, brains, and drive but she was utterly stuck in the outdated (even then) role as wife/hostess. That’s why her home never changed and looked so overstuffed and dead, and why she resented Lorelei’s determination to escape and live on her own terms. Once Richard died, she was free to live on her own terms and became more open, kinder, free. She fled the dollhouse!

[@HaggisIsGross]

Oh and the most heartbreaking moment for me is when she went on that massive breakdown shopping spree and bought a dozen crystal apples for the table. When she mentioned them proudly Richard glanced at them and said “Oh yes, I’ve always liked those”, despite them being brand new, demonstrating how irrelevant her efforts were.

[@kendragaylord]

This is such a good analysis! "She fled the dollhouse!"

[@RoxanneLaWinSTABBY]

You typed out my exact thoughts. Seeing her story in A Year In The Life, it actually made me sad for all the decades she was just living in Richard’s world, and basically being his secretary and maid rolled into a spouse. When she gets to make her own decisions she doesn’t know what to do. All her previous decisions have been just within a set role for her ie: choosing chairs for Richard’s house and Richard’s decor preferences, or the DAR which was her entire world so became disproportionately important. But finally settling into the Clam Shack showed us the real Emily. Not Emily Gilmore, or (blarg) Mrs Richard Gilmore. Just Emily.

[@rosemaryharold8189]

How very Ibsen!

[@IamSnowbird]

My impression of Old Money from watching TV and movies and reading books is they have authentic antique furniture and they don't replace or redecorate. They might recover something or add a piece but their is no wholesale redecorating even when the next generation takes over.

[@lpchambers3681]

Emily Gilmore is someone I have a difficult relationship with-I simultaneously love her character and Kelly’s acting while also having issues the person. Her house is one that I aspire to but also despise due to the apparent wealth of it all. I want to be able to have a cohesive room design and be able to command such a presence within them. Her story lines after Richard make me cry, but I also cried just when she left the house, it felt like my grandparents leaving their house and all the memories I had in it.

[@aaronfrey4418]

Please make a second video! Lorelai's doll house is also a plot point in season six when Rory has dropped out of Yale and moved in with Richard and Emily. And the Gilmore house does expand as the show progresses. I can't believe how big the pool house is. It's bigger than most apartments!

[@kendragaylord]

I almost want to do a whole video on those later years. the college years and the dissolution of home with everything you mentioned. i need to do another later seasons rewatch, but i always find myself starting at season 1 again.

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

Yeah that's wealth for you

[@TheGPFilmMaker]

So much of Richard and Emily's house reminds me of my grandparents' home. They were not old money, both of them were refugees. But my grandpa became very sucessful and moved into an old money community. And so tried to pick up - at least in the "public" spaces in his house - the old money style. And that's what the dining room looked like. That's what the sitting room looked like. The pink embroidered chairs. The eight sets of china nobody ever used. And so on. It still looks like that today! One thing I've consistently liked about Gilmore Girls is that they capture the old money experience really accurately. The odd coldness and insistently dated interior design included.

[@circleinforthecube5170]

millenials are insane, this style is dated but every modern room looks gray, cold, and boring

[@clairegiammaria]

"Chairs that look like cellos" is a great, great line. Another amazing video, Kendra!

[@raeannewood]

Ohhhh the old school decor might be due to the fact that when Emily was buying the home and raising Loralie in the 70s and 80s… we’ll if you look and the fashion in both clothing and decor. The 70s had an Edwardian revival and in the the 80s there was a 20s revival and well as a 50s one. So that could factor into Emily’s decoration decisions

[@carmeng8170]

Interesting comparison to a doll house. The dining room and living room seem to be viewed from only a few angles, unlike other sets in the show.

[@kendragaylord]

Yes! Looking through it was always one of two options

[@RoxanneLaWinSTABBY]

To me it always looks like a theatre stage, with the wide, side-on shots of rooms, showing us that it’s all a performance. I don’t know if that was intentional, but it really kept that performative aspect in the forefront of my reading of the show.

[@sailorpaulino]

I actually cried just listening to you talking about Richard's portrait at Emily's new house. If I could reedit AYITL, that arc would remain intact.

[@SatchmoBronson]

I'm afraid it couldn't be saved in editing, they'd have to rewrite every non-Emily plot line. But Emily's was good.

[@NeptunesHorses5909]

I also loved Emily's reinvention. As a perpetually horseless horse girl with an art degree, I have to point out that the painting (print) on the stair landing, Bonheur's "The Horse Fair," is too well known and in the Met. The Gilmores go to Europe regularly and Gran lived in England, so they would have access to less known originals by other genre painters. Set dressers should have used something less well known, not from a museum in the region. Museum poster prints would be in casual, less seen areas as someone's particular favorite.

[@hannahseale9954]

Yay! You did the contrast of the original house they lived in & where Emily ended up! I've never felt heard by a creator before. Thanks Kendra! Keep rocking it!

[@bywayofkpc]

It's fascinating how low(er) budget productions try to convey wealth when they have less access to expensive items. I know this show expanded the budget later on, I just meant for the pilot. If they had needed to convey wealthy parents who liked new and cutting-edge things, I wonder if they would have had more problems dressing the set! Looking forward to the Barbie/dollhouse video!

[@kendragaylord]

it is lucky that they were going for a timeless look, because a couple urns and a brass candelabra can make anything look fancy even on a budget

[@bywayofkpc]

@@kendragaylord A few urns go a long way! XP

[@missycoletti6101]

I am absolutely obsessed with your knowledge on interiors! If you haven't already, you should do a video about Frasier's apartment. There has been so much said about it, but seldom by experts!

[@AviatorF177]

Yes! I too loved Emily’s plotline in a year in the life, it was so satisfactory and made sense even though she was given significantly less airtime. Volunteering in the museum was the cherry on top

[@Gingersnap0]

So grateful you popped up in my recommended videos a month or so ago! Your approach feels well researched but with a fun, conversational spin. I paused the video to open my library app to see if I could find that doll house book in my library system and ended up putting a hold on it!

[@rockinsockmonkey8033]

I love your videos! They're such a perfect intersection of my niche interests. I always come away having learned something new, even when I thought I knew a lot about a topic already :)

[@babypinkfan]

I love these videos! You do such an amazing job at focusing on the subject but weaving in lots of different tid bits to the narrative. Bravaaaaa 🤩

[@kateashton8904]

Loved this! I'm also super stoked for your Barbie/dollhouse video!

[@coquinarestrepo7769]

Nice video! It was really well researched and entertaining, nice draws from other media and publications. Also! Because I find this neat, the algorithm really does work. Who knew there'd actually be a video created using my specific interests: Architecture + Sociology + "Gilmore Girls" reruns.

[@rockhugger1]

so happy to have found your channel and fallen into a rabbit hole of binging all your videos today !! :)

[@contraptionsarefunny]

Do the Dragonfly Inn next please!!

[@TheSimArchitect]

Love the carpeting in the bathroom joke. 😁

[@audreyrose3394]

This is gold! Thank you, Please keep up the amazing work

[@barttrodd7918]

Love the video! The Gilmore videos is how I found your channel so this was awesome! If you ever need ideas for a video I would love to see your reaction to some celebrity houses on AD KZbin 😁👍 in particular Rupaul’s recent house tour because it was so full of personality.

[@kathycourtney2]

Emily Gilmore was the funniest one on that show.

[@dcslye8330]

Wow! So glad I came across your channel. Love your fun, informative style. Subscribed!

[@framemygaze]

Loved this video essay! Very well-researched and I love the visual references! And the jokes!

[@reganfitzpatrick7892]

Literally needed that cry so bad. Thank you for continuing to make this content- ESPECIALLY stamp and Gilmore-centric.

[@dianarouz4835]

Thank you for your videos!❤

[@abbaknow6869]

I really love how you write these gilmore videos. I'm really into tv and over analyzing it, i especially like how you are connecting what we like about these shows and the reason we are watching them to our needs and desires in life which are often not met by modern business and housing starndards. I'd love it if you looked into shows like friends and movies like home alone and rear window to give your take on those homes.

[@brunnicocktail]

awesome video! love everything gilmore girls related! thanks ❤

[@marieblonka6158]

You video is so fun and educational! Thanks :D

[@daniellemartin9896]

Id love to hear your take on the "old money" and "coastal grandma" fashion trends going on right now. I inow fashion is not exactly on brand but it feels fitting with this video

[@user-oj5bw7sl8p]

I like classic design, "mansion design" & even "palace design". They are gorgeous! That being said, - such interiors, with all their precious antics, exquisite woodwork, ancient textiles and old paitings require hours&hours of gentle cleaning with special equipment, performed by trained staff, - somebody in between the professional cleaners & high-qualified restorations workers. It's like living in the museum. May be, I would agree to have one formal room in my house, decorated with modern replics of beautiful old armchairs, a lavishly embellished oval dining table, inlaid with precious woods and couple of matching small round tables, like some ornate Italian style Rococo mahogany inlay veneer coffee table, delicate ball-room chairs with curved legs and satin upholstery, giant cupborad, decorated with abundant carvings, with a decorative "crown" on top, and lush multi-layer curtains of satin and velvet in pastel shades.

[@Isatheoneandonly]

yooo your videos are top teirrrr i love watching them

[@kendragaylord]

Thank you!!

[@katherinelangford981]

How this home is decorated reminds me of my grandparents place growing up. So this to me feels like home. We've since moved in and over time pieces have been removed and replaced with more modern ones but honestly it would look better going back to this style. We still have much of it, these darker woods, gold guilded pieces, leather top tables with ornate embellishments, large stone fireplace with wooden mantle, thick wooden trim and baseboards. Similar lighting. People generally say it feels warm in here. I'd put it back to that 100%

[@pitulanek]

Must say I've fallen out of love with Gilmore Girls over the years. I'm extremely grateful for it - as a non-native English speaker it has taught me so much of the language itself and was sort of a crash course in (mostly) American culture - pop and otherwise. It was certainly good entertainment to have in my formative years. That being said, I can no longer watch it with pleasure. What I do enjoy, however, are video essays and dissections of various of its themes on KZbin which is how I found your channel! So, I guess, it's actually another point for GG as it continues to indirectly provide me with entertainment and new information :) Good video! Also, I've just realised you've got a podcast too, so I'm now going to check it out!

[@kendragaylord]

the show that just keeps providing! and thank you for checking out my podcast!

[@DeePeeZee]

I can't watch this show the same way either. Because I just can't relate to the amount of white privilege this show demonstrates. But I can relate to the family dysfunction.

[@katie7748]

​@@DeePeeZeeW privilege? Omg gtfoh

[@cn9071]

Omg You’re so brainwashed

[@everausten]

Excellent video! ✨🌙✨

[@Meredith36]

I LOVE your Gilmore videos

[@KaritKtana]

Everything you say about "A Year in the Life" & Emily is 💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💖

[@monsieurlespaique2333]

Firstly, I love your videos, they're always entertaining and interesting. Secondly, I think that all of this exposing of the codification of wealth started with "The Preppy Handbook", a good read for a mind like yours. It's funny, yet it's also dead serious, I first read it in 1980, when I was in college, and there it was, all laid out for me: This is how the Ruling Class lives.

[@kendragaylord]

I have never heard of this, but it sounds like a fun read! Adding to my list, thank you!

[@GreatGreebo]

Nowadays it seems like EVERY house here in the PNW is a “rich person’s house” between the interest rates and the house prices being so high 👀 But seriously, I’m heading north to visit my brother and was wondering WHAT is the name of the BOOKSTORE you got the 1984 Architectural Digest book from??!? I’m looking for new bookstores and that one sounds promising. Please and thank you!

[@writerspen010]

I don't hate Emily, nor do i hate her home decor. She was always my favorite character (i love dragonlady matrons) and i thought her home exquisite. I would be curious to hear what you think about Lorelai's bedroom at the Gilmore estate versus how youthful Emily decorated the one she designed for Rory.

[@kendragaylord]

this is such a good point. it seemed like emily was more comfortable with more modern styles with rory, but with lorelai she seemed pretty stuck in the past, with no interest in what she might want

[@BasedTexans]

I could watch you talk about Gilmore Girls all day 😂

[@victoria4]

Speaking of Nancy Meyers.. I know you’ve already made a video I’ve requested but I’d live to see you talk about her interior design style and the whole “coastal grandmother” vibe as a whole👀

[@kendragaylord]

I have been thinking of something along those lines and I feel like your comment is a sign to start researching

[@JustAnEmptyCageGirl]

Fun fact: The so-called 'polo shirt' ist actually a tennis shirt designed by René Lacoste, a french Grand Slam tennis champion.

[@victoria4]

Oh I cannot wait for the dollhouse video

[@lestatangel]

Well.... we're gonna have to lol..... Can't rush perfection.

[@AyaKatz]

It doesn’t seem you like you hate her home decor. Maybe you would not sit in those chairs, but you adore the way they look. Admit it!

[@kendragaylord]

You're right! And I have an uncomfortable victorian couch in my apartment to prove it

[@dianelee1299]

I LOVE that Tacoma bookstore! I need to go in there with a list so I don't get overwhelmed

[@taniarojas7521]

On a side note I always love the title of your videos

[@kendragaylord]

Thank you!! I almost changed this one, but I just love the push and pull of these titles

[@avnib1581]

i'd love to see a downton abbey based video if that's something you're interested in!!

[@kendragaylord]

This is a great idea!

[@laurenm3148]

I'd love for you to do a video on your favorite books about architecture and houses!

[@kendragaylord]

This is a great idea!

[@cproteus]

I think Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous really started all this. You should totally look at the 1980s soap opera architectures. Like Dallas and Dynasty, would love to hear you break those down.

[@confusedpotato5017]

i really loved gilmore girls but sometimes it's just unbearable, like the amount of privilege they have despite acting like they don't. The grandparents being able and willing to pay for rory's education at extremely expensive elite establishments and how both rory and lorelai just take it for granted and then lorelai acting like the friday night dinners are horrible torture, bc considering what they get out of it they really are not. Like, yes, lorelei might not have a lot of money, but emily and Richard are always willing to support them for rory's sake. The thing that made me the maddest was that rory DROPPED OUT OF FUCKING YALE, like girl, that is a school i can only dream of going to, I wouldn't even have that kind of money if i lived in the USA and living in germany means i'd have to pay wayyyyy more, it just makes me so mad to see even a fictional character just throwing that opportunity away

[@357rbdee]

Yessss! Preparation for the Barbie movie, I can't wait!

[@VplusMuffin]

I think I might have just found my new favorite YT channel

[@dimpleinatorHCG]

The Gilmore’s house always reminds me of my grandparent’s house…which I live in now. Try shoving an MCM aesthetic into a traditional one, always a challenge.

[@RachelCunningham-ut9ks]

my mums dining room legit looks halfway to emilys

[@CyclingM1867]

I love the house itself, and I could see it decorated so differently. I just don't like how it's decorated. I don't like that uber rich kind of style and would never be comfortable in a house decorated like that. Emily's house in Nantucket is, on the other hand, a lovely delight of a home that would comfy to live in. Plus its view! Wow!! With that move, Emily seemed to loosen up and finally relax. I like her in the end.

[@helenkane8594]

Perhaps Emily didn't need to change the system for her daughter and granddaughter, she only needed to change her idea of a successful life and accept them. Also, the wasp way is not a bad one, they have given much to the world, I respect their values and wish I could join!

[@michaeltutty1540]

Oddly enough, I look at Emily and Richard's house and see exactly what it woulf take to make it into a real home. It would not take much. A bit more colour, some cozy carpets, and some art that warms the ambiance. The only problem with it is that Emily has locked herself into that way of living. She never learned how to let her hair down. Oddly, though, the pool house was that bit more relaxed even though as beautiful and elegant. If there is ine thing wrong with the house it is that everything is too new and fresh. Splendiferous living only becomes comfortable when tome has been gentle in a space, where items have been added over decades or centuries, where nothing is bandbox fresh. Just check out Downton Abbey. Yes, the furniture looks fantastically new and expensive, but the sets are using the real furniture belonging to the Earl and Countess. Those pieces really are quite old; some are very old indeed. The result is a warmth that cannot be msnufactured.

[@Print229]

I was always rooting for Emily. She was my favorite.

[@danielafrosina6849]

Me encanta!

[@jeannelipham2583]

I like both houses and the decor. May I have both, please?

[@anthonyvarricchio1404]

I love the house beautiful

[@Dan4CW]

I remember Emily being a member of DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution)

[@jeannelipham2583]

I like both houses. If I had to choose, I would chose the parents' house.

[@glszq4]

Follow up video! Lorelei and Emily's relationship with Richard's mother

[@katie7748]

I actually loved Richard's and Emily's house 🤷‍♀️ Loved Lorelai'a and Rory's too but in a different way and for a different reason.

[@laurenconrad1799]

Literally every mean girl in high school mastered that trick of insulting you to your core in a way where if you repeated back what they said verbatim, it wouldn’t sound like an insult.

[@camib148]

It’s giving the Duke of Sandringhams mansion in outlander

[@mariyadimitrova2097]

1:18 The tuition fee + enrollment fee was probably way more than 5k. According to a forbes article, the fanciest day prep schools cost around 30 000 per year in 2006, so 5000 tuition + enrollment sounds too little for a school like Chilton. Maybe it was 15000 or 25000, which is why Lorelai had no other choice - given she's managing an inn and some of her friends are doing okay financially, if it's 5000 she can always pay some of it out of pocket, loan part of it from friends or get a loan from the bank, but 15000 or 25000 is a different beast - in that case her parents truly are the only option

[@confusedpotato5017]

but even having that option available already shows an incredible amount of privilege

[@zvezdoblyat]

Not only am I not mad at Emily Gilmore, but I love the house decor 😤

[@MeMyshelfAndI]

Sims reference 4 for 4!

[@alexzaleski6364]

came to this video to say: hartford mentioned

[@GeorgeGlass298]

Emily and Richard's house looks like my mom's house but my mom's broke. My mom's mean like they are too.

[@elizabethclaiborne6461]

All that French and Chippendale furniture persists because it’s actually very comfortable. Go sit in a quality French chair. Yes Emilies house is a little overdone, but you can actually sit on the dining chairs for hours. You mistake the furniture for the toxic family. I grew up on that furniture, it’s not the problem.

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

Emily reminds me of my mother while said mother always thought of herself as Lorelai. I can't enjoy the show anymore because it just ticks me off now.

[@clevamanfra6231]

*Promo sm*

[@gaslitworldf.melissab2897]

I'm so bad, b/c I'm a Black American female who absolutely _adores_ WASPs. I really was born into the wrong body, wrong life, etc. I'm really a transWASP. Can't that be a thing?

[@maya_unplugged]

Well, I hated Emily Gilmore for her covert narcissistic behaviour. Who cares for the decor? She was grumpy, manipulative, unfair, verbal abusive and so on. Lorely was her “scapegoat” and Rory became the “golden child”, her husband preferred to be invisible behind his work and newspapers… I guess, many people felt triggert because of her “treatment”-style to her family. What decor??

[@Lanaxparillaxwife]

Nope I hate Emily & don't like Richard it has 0 to do with the house

[@Wandering.Homebody]

Why are you referring to Lorelei as "they"? "To help "their" child"? It's so unnecessarily confusing for your global audience. Simply bizarre. Not once have I heard the Lorelei character refer to herself as they /them, or anything other than a straightforward, run of the mill woman.

[@kendragaylord]

In this case, I was referring to both Lorelai and the protagonist of Dracula, so I used they for both. But now that I think of it, he was making money to get engaged and for some reason, I thought it was for his family/ children

[@Wandering.Homebody]

@@kendragaylord why, though?

[@lestatangel]

🖤 I wouldn't have made that trade off like she did however. My "doll house" (Gothika) is coming along. When I get enough content uploaded on that channel I'll leave a trail of bread crumbs for you and you'll have something very unique and very old to check out. Have a beautiful evening Kendra.

[@kendragaylord]

I look forward to following those bread crumbs, Gothika sounds like an amazing place

[@lestatangel]

@@kendragaylord It's still twenty-five percent Ruins.....🖤