In Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the latest instalment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s true-crime anthology series, production designer Matthew Flood Ferguson leads viewers deep into the design of 1980s Los Angeles, recreating both the opulence and eerie emptiness that defined the Menendez family’s world.

Chronicling the case of two real-life brothers convicted for the brutal murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, the series captures not only the psychological complexity of their story but also the haunting aesthetic of their lives—from their lavish Beverly Hills home to the iconic locales, like Spago, that set the tone of the era.

Join us as we explore how the meticulous choice of furniture, and 1980s design and decor of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, reveals how Ferguson and his production design team crafted a visual world as layered and complex as the case itself.

Film and Furniture: The show starts in the late 1980s. How did you begin when tasked with recreating LA at the time? Were there specific sets or aspects of bringing back that time period to life that were especially challenging?

Matthew Flood Ferguson: I start every job with research. It is a big part of the design process. Besides the internet, I really enjoy scouring bookstores (the ones that are still remaining) for history and inspiration. I love the hunt. I also draw from life experience.

Since I grew up in the ’80s, I remember the time period, my friend’s parent’s homes, the malls, the styles and trends, and even the albums I had with their graphic covers.  I also sourced and looked at many history and photography books from the ’70s and ’80s and old LA magazines from that period. With most shows I have designed, I tend to have one or two “hero” books that inspire me.

On Dahmer, I discovered a photographer named Chauncey Hare, whose images were bleak and informative. For this season, I came across photographer Anthony Hernandez’s book called Rodeo Drive. His candid images of people on the streets on and around Rodeo Drive were a great source of inspiration for design, wardrobe, colour blocking, and even the classic cliche yellow and white awnings that hung over the Georgio storefront windows. I looked at album covers like Devo, The Human League, and Toni Basil for colour and tone.

F&F: Speaking of LA, you recreated some iconic spaces, including Spago and The Chateau Marmont Suite. Could you share more about bringing 1980s design and decor back to life and sourcing furniture for them?

MFF: Spago was shot on location. We were able to use the original site, but it took a lot of work.  Today, the space now serves as a barber shop and a commercial production house, but it still has a few of its original architectural details.

We ended up painting the walls and custom building the long bar with the lattice half wall on one end. Set Decorator Melissa Licht recreated the same oversized floral arrangements and was able to source the white wire metal chairs and add the mauve vinyl seat cushions. She did a fantastic job bringing in the bright 80s artwork as well. Art Director Craig Kellar and Graphic Designer Camelia Cox worked together in recreating the original menus, the monogrammed ashtrays, and even printed matchbooks.

It was a logistically challenging set to shoot in, but I felt strongly about recreating the set for Spago in its original location. It helped give a sense of authenticity and history to the scene. When our actors and director walked on the set everyone was transformed back to 1989 Spago.

The Chateau Marmont Suite was built on stage.  Supervising Art Director Helen Harwell and I were able to access one of the larger suites in the actual Chateau Marmont to survey and get an overall feel for what we would build on stage.  We meticulously recreated the structure of the Suite exactly, from the casement doors and windows, as well as the wrap-around balcony overlooking the Sunset Strip.

The furnishings were a mix of Spanish Revival and Deco with a mix of Biedermeier furniture which was having a resurgence in the 1980s. In the sitting room, I used a bold blue and gold wallpaper of Ginkgo leaves on one wall. 

It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to recreate two iconic locations in Los Angeles. We felt the responsibility to make them exact. 

F&F: Looking into the Menendez house itself. Was it shot on location or on a soundstage? Was it hard to match a location with the house the family actually lived in?

MFF: Finding the exterior location proved to be surprisingly difficult. The Menendez family home was set back from the street and had a motor court in the front, a pool and guest house in the back, and a period-style green tennis court off to the side. The entire property was also enclosed with a large green metal fence with electric gates. Sounds like an easy find in LA but it wasn’t. And it needed to at least appear like it was in Beverly Hills.

We ended up using three different locations to create the house. The front was one location, the back with the pool and guest house was another, and the tennis court was a third. We custom built the green metal fence and electric gates and added greens in the front to help separate the house from the street.

The entire interior of the home was built on a soundstage.

F&F: Homes can be an excellent insight into who people are. How did you want to reflect family dynamics in the common spaces within the house? Common spaces include the room in which the crime happened. Could you share about recreating that room from the crime scene photos? I assume that it can be difficult to get it perfectly decades later.

MFF: In first approaching the design and build of the Menendez home, we sourced the crime scene photos taken the night of the murder. Most of the images were focused in one room and in one direction – the TV room where Jose & Kitty were murdered.

Set Designer Kristen Davis and I worked closely together translating dimensions from fuzzy old black & white photographs to construction plans. From the oversized built-in bookcase that anchored the back wall, to the vaulted beamed ceiling, and even to the small distance from the open French doors to the back of the sofa.  All these little details needed to be both historically accurate but still functional for filming.  Set decorator, Melissa Licht and I worked together to recreate and custom build the oversized sectional sofa. And she was even able to find the exact TV that Kitty and Jose were watching the night of their murder.

We matched the built in bookcase that anchored the back wall. Melissa found the two matching Kerman rugs at Dilmaghani in New York that we had shipped and they arrived just in time before we began filming. I researched many designers from the 1980s including Steve Chase; famous Palm Springs interior & furniture designer. 

We used oversized white silk sofas and side chairs in the formal living room inspired by Steve Chase designs. Since Jose Menendez was a self-made man, the house needed to show a certain style of “new money” and lack a history that comes with generational wealth. We wanted the furniture and decor to appear as if it had all been purchased at the same time. Showing more of a focus on outward appearance and stylistic trends of the time, rather than a warm comfortable family home.

F&F: So, you chose to put a blue Marlin in the family room in the New Jersey home, and then you found out it was actually hanging in the room at the time. It almost feels like you could see through the characters so well you could guess the missing decor perfectly. Could you talk a little bit about it and whether there were any other elements like this one?

MFF: That was a surprising moment. As I get more immersed in a project the characters’ worlds begin to reveal themselves to me.

I decided to use a bold red wall to wall carpet in the parents bedroom. It was a strong choice but I felt compelled to do it. I had no reference pictures of what their bedroom looked like but thought it was appropriate.

The colour was garish and had an uneasy feeling to it. I also wanted to use the colour as a foreshadowing. Later, after we started filming, someone showed me a Tik-Tok video which had photos of the Menendez Home I had never seen. And in the video was a small picture of Jose lying on the floor in his bedroom and indeed the carpet was red.

F&F: The show seems to have quite a few short sequences, so I assume that creating so many sets is a challenge. Could you talk a little about how you worked with your team to make it work and stay on schedule?

MFF: It is always a challenge so sometimes locations have to work and serve as more than on set. Sets we build on stage need to be changed over quickly-almost like in theater. For instance, the courtroom that we built on stage and 3 different back walls that were hung on chain motors and the jury boxes were on casters – so we could swap out the set piece to create the look of a different courtroom quickly.

Most times a big part of my job is problem solving. For instance, one day our schedule had us shooting three very different scenes with different looks in one day.  I scouted an old, virtually gutted empty bank in Woodland Hills that still had a great 80s brick accent wall with a large concrete header above and floor-to-ceiling glass windows in the corner. We used those visually pleasing architectural elements and built the remaining walls around them. I added carpet paint and dressed the new area as our Adoption Agency, where Leslie and her husband are looking to adopt a child.

The opposite side of the raw space had a small area with steel storefront windows and a low white beamed ceiling. We decided this could work for the quick moment when Lyle and Jose visit The Hair Replacement Center. The exterior of the building had a great brick facade with a large asymmetrical metal roof. It had a late 70s or early 80s look to it, and this became our Calabasas exterior.

F&F: Could you walk us through the boys’ and parents’ bedrooms? How did you get started on each room? How did you showcase their individuality in their bedrooms?

MFF: Bedrooms are a real window into each character’s personality. For me with every set, I start with colour to set the tone of the space. Colour also helps reveal the character’s inner life and helps tell the story. Eric’s bedroom was dark and in grays and blues with black accents. It lent itself to a depressing lonely feeling. Conversely, the parents room had light peach walls with a bold red contrasting carpet creating a feeling of dominance and power. My partnership with Set Decorator Melissa Licht is crucial because the set dressing adds the final layer of the character’s life and what they hold close to them.

 

The 1980s design and decor of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story plays a central role in bringing the series’ intense narrative to life. Through painstaking research, meticulous set builds, and authentic sourcing of iconic elements like Spago and the Menendez home, Matthew Flood Ferguson and his production design team captured the opulent yet unsettling atmosphere of the time. Each detail—from oversized floral arrangements to period-correct furniture—serves to immerse us in the haunting glamour of late-80s Los Angeles, reflecting the era’s style and the complex world of the Menendez family.

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