Michelle Dockery may hold the keys to the kingdom as it were in the new movie “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” but in real life, her home is perhaps a little less grand.
The actress is letting fans inside her trendy London townhome in a tour by Architectural Digest.
Michelle Dockery, who plays Lady Mary Grantham in the new movie as well as the original PBS series that has become a global sensation, has spent four years transforming her West London home according to Architectural Digest.
She bought the home in 2019 for $2.3 million.
“We started out just doing some aesthetic changes, adding curtains and changing colors in rooms,” Dockery told AD. But she says even though the previous owners had done “an amazing job modernizing what was apparently a house stuck in the ’70s, we wanted to make it feel more our own.”
The 43-year-old actress is expecting her first child with husband Jasper Waller-Bridge.
Michelle Dockery’s Home Is Filled With Special Touches
Michelle Dockery says once she started working with designer Emma Ainscough to transform the home, it awakened her passion for decorating.
“My mum said whenever I went to other people’s houses, I’d pretend I wanted to use the bathroom because actually I wanted to be nosy and look in the bedrooms,” Dockery told AD, laughing. “I’ve always been fascinated by other people’s houses and how they live.”
She was also inspired during her years working on “Downton Abbey.”
“I was always fascinated by what colors the set designer would come up with for each bedroom. They used a lot of Farrow & Ball [paint.]”
In the video tour, Michelle told the camera that she loves the color red.
“I read about the ‘unexpected red theory’ in a home a while ago,” explained Dockery. “It said you can put red anywhere, maybe a lamp or chair. And it brightens up a space, so most of the rooms have something red in them.”
‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’ Brings the Crawley Story to a Close
Michelle Dockery has played Lady Mary, the oldest of three daughters of the Earl of Grantham, for 15 years.
And while Michelle says she’s ready to finally close the book on Downton Abbey, she’s also feeling the loss.
Dockery told Vogue that the finality of it all hit her when reading the final film’s script for the first time. “There was always the ambition to do a trilogy of films, but I never could have dreamed of it,” she told Vogue. “No less than 52 episodes and three movies! We weren’t even thinking beyond the first, but we have really set up a true grand finale here.”
“As we were filming, I felt this real poignancy,” she continued. “We were shooting in locations we know so well, and saying goodbye to those, too—with each scene—was emotional. I really soaked it up.”
The plot of “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” is very much centered on Dockery’s Lady Mary character, who finds herself a social outcast after divorcing her second husband.
“I remember being really shocked by how Mary was treated as a divorced woman,” Michelle told Vogue.
“Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” is in theaters now.
Comments
Michelle Dockery Invites Fans Inside Her Stylish London Townhome