Homo Sweet Home: 'Will and Grace''s Set Design

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Grace Adler Designs

Grace's SoHo office is a study in contrast to the show's other main set. ''Will's apartment is primary and monochromatic,'' says Ritz. ''This is more feminine and pastel-y. It's very eclectic, from a Lucite cart to industrial metal right next to an authentic Biedermeyer antique armoire.'' Messing's favorite playthings are Grace's work stools, which go higher or lower with a twirl of the seat: ''It reminds me of one of those, God, what was it ... Sit 'n' Spins!'' Since this set is situated at the far end of the studio, it's also Mullally's personal sanctuary. ''I hang out at the desk a lot,'' she says. ''It's out-of-the-way and private.'' And those pills on the desk that keep Karen so uppity? They're actually tic-tacs. ''But sometimes they get the orange ones,'' she says, ''which are really gross.''

1. AMERICAN BEAUTY
''There's nothing work-related on the whole table,'' says Mullally of her character's desk, which is packed with all sorts of makeup products and perfumes. One item you won't find any more: Pond's hand cream, which was the subject of one rather obsessive piece of viewer mail. Says Rovello, ''It said, 'Karen would never use Pond's on her hands.'''

2. BOARD SILLY
Grace's chalkboard to-do list, updated every week by Ritz or her assistant Peter Gerski, is filled with names of crew members' friends (Mutchnick and Kohan are coexec producers Max and David, respectively, and S. Prentis is Rovello's architect husband, Scott). Says Messing: ''It's a fun inside wink within the family.''

3. COLUMN PINCH
Recognize this pillar? Probably not, since Rovello and Ritz actually scavenged it from the set of the defunct Lea Thompson sitcom Caroline in the City (it stood in Caroline's apartment-cum-studio). ''Oh, I didn't know that,'' says Mullally. ''That's so sad!'' Exactly.

4. FLOWER POWER
The blossoms you see on the show are nothing to sneeze at — literally: All the flowers on the Grace Adler Designs set are made of silk, thanks to what Messing calls her ''horrific allergies. They brought in all these beautiful [real] flowers the first season. I turned bright red, my nose and throat closed, my eyes were slits, and I was sneezing. That's the high-maintenance aspect of Debra.''