When I tell you I binged all eight episodes of the new Netflix How to Build a Sex Room when it launched last Friday, don’t judge. You’ve got to see it to understand. It’s campy and funny, even a bit raunchy, all at the same time.
Credit goes to the “Mary Poppins of sex rooms,” host and designer Melanie Rose. The congenial British lady with short white hair and sensible shoes puts the “Big O” into home renovations, trading in a luxury interiors business for a career creating spaces for couples to live out their wildest fantasies.
Have we got your attention yet? Rose sets us for what’s to come in the trailer.
“They say you never know what goes on behind closed doors. Ooh, but I do.”
Early in the first episode, we meet Taylor and Ari, a pleasant-looking pair who want to spice things up with a rock and roll sex basement. And it just so happens they have a “secret” space just off the laundry room.
Rose starts every job by channeling her inner Dr. Ruth. What does the couple really want? Suffice to say it encompasses white leather, mirrors, and red neon. And did we mention a spanking bench that could double as a coffee table. (“Of course, we’d clean it first,” says Ari.)
It’s a ‘Fifty Shades’ moment with a sense of humor — much like the show itself.
Still, what gives the show heart is that Melanie seems to have a genuine affinity for both the couples and her work. She hopes the series will prove such spaces needn’t be “dirty and disgusting” — in fact, just the opposite. “I want viewers to see that they can actually be quite beautiful and luxurious.”
Indeed. With help from her affable general contractor/sidekick, Mike, Rose converts a dozen drab spaces into high-end adult playrooms — even works of art — complete with delightfully naughty amenities. “I’m trying to create experiences for people, to get them in that mood,” she says.
Subsequent episodes are no less kinky, featuring an array of pleasure-seekers of various ages, sexualities, and racial backgrounds. A diversity of perspectives was crucial to make the series work, says Rose. “It just goes to show that you don’t have to be a certain type of person to want a set-up like this.”
Rooms straddle the luxe and the playful. There are touches of kitsch, sure, but we’re talking reality TV here. According to the Daily Beast, there’s not a hint of goofiness to the designs or their presentation. “Rose approaches her work with a playful but secure attitude that eschews anxious giggles that might’ve plagued a less secure production.”
We say she’s got game — in spades.
Anyone who can talk about butt plugs and flogging without blushing, giggling, or grimacing has our vote.
“What I really want through this show is to try and get everybody on the same plane and just talk about sex [without feeling like] they’re being judged,” says Rose. “I wanted to have people spark a conversation with their partner like, ‘Oh. That doesn’t seem so bad, does it? Should we try it?’”
Our obsession for interior design shows apparently is insatiable: Designing Miami, Instant Dream House, and Buy My House will also debut on Netflix this summer. The streamer’s breakout real-estate reality series Selling Sunset has also been renewed for seasons 6 and 7.
