In The Bedroom With Nate Berkus.
©QCO Media 2005
by Randy McCoy of Queer-America.us
and David Fagan Queer-America.com

Today, May 25th Nate Berkus, personal designer and friend to Oprah Winfrey, was on The Oprah Winfrey Show …. again. Nate’s been on the show with Oprah many times, giving advice, dishing, and, after last Christmas’ devastating Tsunami, describing the experience and the loss of his life partner. Today Oprah announced that she was giving us a tour of Nate’s house. And, then, with just the right hint of suggestiveness, and twinkle in her eye, she added that she knew a lot of viewers were dying to get inside it, and that, yes, we’d definitely get a tour of his bedroom!! HERE HERE!!!

With the ‘stage’ set for the day’s program, Oprah settled into the stage set’s couch and, through the magic of television, we were whisked off to Nate’s Chicago home, in a brick townhouse built in the 1920s and first remodeled in the 1950's.



The exterior of the townhouse seemed to be a four or five story building typical of the 1920’s – sturdy and substantial. The exact location of the townhouse was not given, which is probably a good thing since Nate, thereby (hopefully) avoided the mass of persons (likely mostly homosexuals) who would have descended upon him. Once inside, however, the view out his living room window, with its view of the lakefront, suggests that he lives on Lake Shore Drive or Clark Street. (I used to live a block East of the John Hancock Building, at Dewitt and Delaware...which is only a block from Oprah’s first Chicago apartment inside the 57th floor of Water Tower Place.)

Nate served as guide for the camera man as we walked through the house, with Oprah commenting occasionally from the studio. The tour began with the living room, which was mostly white and, considering the decorating tastes of many, might best be described as void of color. Nate warned us at the door, as he welcomed his audience, that he lives very simply and that he didn’t need a lot of color.

He also seems to live comfortably. The living room provided a good introduction to that studied comfort as Nate described the history of many of the room’s pieces and fixtures. With an unassuming pride in his ‘eye’ as a designer, at one moment he pointed to a corner noting for us the first piece of furniture that he ever bought, an antique leather chaise purchased 15 years ago, which was somewhat worn but which Nate said he loved for its age and the flaws which spoke to him of the chair’s history. Obviously, for Nate, newness is not important; rather he appreciates quality, design and what might be described as the ‘character’ of age.

Throughout his home, Nate pointed out souvenirs and mementos from trips all over the world (many of which he took with his partner Fernando Bengoechea who died in the Christmas Tsunami during a vacation with Nate to Sri Lanka). The He also exhibited the kind of eclectic taste and acquisition that marks a designer’s ‘eye’ as he pointed out a pair of event chairs from a New York flea market, a pair of stone ponies brought from Fernando’s New York apartment, and a set of shelves, salvaged from the basement of a French bank, that were a little rusty and unfinished..

Commenting about the shelves, Nate said that he’d thought about redoing them but, untimately, decided he likes them exactly like they are. There was a table brought back from Mexico, a photo of roman ruins that Fernando took on a trip to Lebanon, and what Nate described as his most prized possession: a woven photograph of Joshua Tree in California also taken by Fernando. In reflecting on that particular piece, Nate said that, in a fire, he'd grab his dogs, and that photograph.

The main sitting area was a couch that he designed....an expensive piece that his dog had chewed the arm of...he said that he thought of replacing it, and then decided that it represented how he lived, so he decided to keep it. (During the tour that same dog was seen lying on the couch he had defaced, an indication of the love and pampering Nate showers on him.)

In the middle of the home tour, just before the commercial break, Oprah, from her studio couch, transitioned the audience back to the soundstage into the studio by recounting a story about a time when Nate and Halle Berry were both on the show and Oprah said that Halle had told Nate backstage that her mother said that she should bring some of Nate’s sperm home in a cup!!!

Halle, who at the time was thinking of having a baby, said that her mother thought that Nate would be the perfect choice for a father! (And, Halle, I agree, I agree! Oh, where is that cup?!) Nate was amused and Oprah said that she remembered thinking ‘DO IT, NATE! DO IT!” Oprah then said that she'd love to see that beautiful, beautiful baby. (And all I kept thinking was how much that sperm would go for on Ebay! lol)

In keeping with the simplicity with which he obviously lives, Nate’s kitchen is very plain. Forgoing ‘modernization’ Nate said he decided to keep the original cabinets, simply painting them army green, which he admitted to us is his favorite color.....so now you know. The kitchen’s appliances are in keeping with that same desire to not tamper with the original feel. Besides, as Nate said, with a small glimmer of self-mocking, he had doesn’t cook and had never as much as boiled a pan of water on the stove. He orders out whatever he wants at the end of the day and has it delivered and then dines in the small dining room where he has a concrete table which designed and 4 barrel type scoop chairs.

Following our look at the kitchen and insight into Nate’s lack of culinary skills, we are finally given entre into that space we’ve been waiting for and, with little fanfare, find ourselves in the bedroom with Nate Berkus:

The first impression that the bedroom gives is that it, unlike the rest of the house, has some color; however, that’s a misconception, since black is the absence of color and not a color itself. But that’s the theme carried out on the floor, the walls, and the bed. Nate's bedroom has a black and white honeycomb area rug on the floor. His bed is covered with crisp white cotton sheets and black bedding. As he allowed us to gaze on that most private space, he also revealed some intimate detail of the room as he told us that he sleeps on the right hand side of the bed...hehehe.

Like any good real estate agent, Nate’s tour did not neglect the room’s closet space, which gave us another intimate look at Nake Berkus. And I’ve got to say that Nate’s closets were impeccable. He is a self confessed neat freak and all of his clothes were on hangers by color group, or in labeled drawers....and, speaking of which, we were even given a glimpse of the holy of holies and thus gained an answer to the unasked question that was on everyone’s mind. Opening his drawers for our view, we got to see lots and lots of checked and striped boxer shorts, all neatly folded .....sooooo what did we learn here? And, yes, this will be on the test! Nate Berkus: Boxers of Briefs? DEFINITELY BOXERS! Greater comfort and greater freedom of movement, no doubt!

Nate’s favorite part of his home, he declared, is his study, which had a. Two of the walls in the study had original pannelled walls from a remodeling in the 1950's. Nate added his own touch by covering the inside of the panels with soft brown leather with baseball stitching. The other walls had silver leaf...and was original to the house. Nate kept it and loves it. On the floor was another memento, a 300 year old hand woven rug of a deep red color that he brought back from the border of China and Russia

All in all the house was more simple than you'd expect from Nate Berkus, World Class Interior Deisgner...but it looked like someplace I could call home....especially with Nate on the left side of that bed!

©Randy McCoy 2005