From Rose Ceremonies to cocktail parties to the Bachelor Mansion itself, the magic of Bachelor Nation shows doesn’t happen overnight!

Production designer Angelic Rutherford has been with the franchise since 2004 and really does it all.

From making furniture by hand to designing romantic proposal platforms, Angelic sat down with BachelorNation.com exclusively to discuss what goes into designing the sets we all know and love.

After a challenging few years of fires, lockdowns, and more, Angelic was ecstatic to be back at the Bachelor Mansion for Clayton Echard’s season premiere.

Read Angelic’s entire interview below!

Bachelor Nation: We’re finally back at the Bachelor Mansion after some time away due to the pandemic. What was it like returning to the space after two years away?

Angelic Rutherford: The mansion is like a second home to a lot of us. We spent so much time there every year before the pandemic and for many years before that. It’s such a huge part of our show, so it felt amazing to be back. It was just so nice to be there in our familiar space, and be around everybody all in one place again. It was really great.

BN: That must have been so special! How do you keep reimagining the mansion after so many years there?

AR: Every season working in that location, I redesign it based on who the Bachelor or Bachelorette is for that season. I try to pull some design inspiration from them depending on who they are and what their personality is like. I also usually put together an inspiration color storyboard. The color stories are based on where we are filming throughout the entire season. I pull inspiration from anything from colors I’ve seen in nature to 1960s movies to designs from the Indigenous people of where we are filming. I am also often inspired by other designers like Dorothy Draper and 1970s Yves Saint Laurent.

For this season of “The Bachelor,” I pulled some inspiration from “Paradise” when it comes to the pops of color that are bright and happy. But when it comes to the specific inspiration, we pulled from Clayton. He’s this all-American kind of guy, so we’ve kept the outside very classic “Bachelor." It will be very familiar to viewers who have been watching these other locations for our quarantine shows. I wanted it to be very familiar for longtime viewers. And as far as the design on the inside goes, while Clayton is the Bachelor, it is also the girls’ house. So there are plenty of feminine hues, like earthy pink tones with major pattern and fringed pillows. Overall, it will feel very luxurious!

BN: We can’t wait to see how everything came together. It sounds incredible! Speaking of coming back to the mansion, what was it like to have to adapt while filming multiple seasons in quarantine bubbles? Was it challenging to have to take hotels and make them feel like the Bachelor Mansion?

AR: Yes, it was a very daunting task. We were one of the first shows back during our first quarantine season and it was 122 degrees and we were all wearing KN95 masks, so it was interesting and extremely hot, to say the least. But we were excited to get back to work and have some sense of normalcy, so while it was challenging, it was also really fun. We had to reimagine the space to make it not feel like a hotel to the cast by bringing in all these design elements. No matter if we were frustrated at times, it was a great challenge as a designer to go into these spaces and turn them into what the show usually looks and feels like. I also think it was fun for the hotel to see the space transform! We brought a ton of custom furniture in to make it feel cohesive and romantic.

BN: Sounds like a very fun and very big challenge! That first quarantine season was Clare Crawley’s, which was ready to go before the lockdowns. What was that like building the set and then finding out the world was shutting down?

AR: Ah, yeah, I actually had just recovered these gorgeous couches that I loved so much. I was so psyched to use them and then we were shut down. All of those pieces sat there for a while, and months later the crew had to go in and empty it out. We ended up using a couple furniture pieces at the La Quinta hotel that we had set up at the house. The big sectional that we use outside by the pool, we brought that to the hotel, but we mostly had to make pieces specific for the La Quinta space. The lockdown just before that season were just so surreal. It was a very strange experience. Like the rest of the world, we had no idea what was going on, but when we were able to film in the bubble, we were just happy and excited to get back to work.

BN: Totally. And the pandemic wasn’t the only tragedy that the Bachelor Mansion has faced over the past few years. There was also the Woolsey Fire back in 2018.

AR: Yeah, I mean we were pretty much just coming off that. While the mansion made it, we did lose some structures in the fire, like the barn on the property, which was a main hub for production. The area around the pool, trailers, and the sides of the structure also burned, so it was scary there. The whole fire was just so tragic and sad all around, but thankfully we made it. Many people also don’t realize that a family owns the mansion and lives there when we aren’t filming, so I believe they were there at the time.

BN: Right, when Bachelor Nation shows aren’t filming there, the house doesn’t just sit empty! What do you do with all the furniture when productions aren’t taking place?

AR: We have a storage warehouse where we store all of our items and all of our set dressing. All of those bunk beds you see on the show are all custom-made, so they’re all wrapped up and safe at the warehouse.

BN: Are most of the pieces we see on the show custom-made or do you shop for it?

AR: Most of our show is custom designs. I redesign and repurpose our set furniture, we’re always reupholstering! Sometimes, when we’re on the road for dates, we’ll send out for some pieces being made for specific dates and we will supplement with different brands while we’re on the road. But for the most part, everything you see is all handmade. We’ve also been mindful to shop local or small shops through Etsy and Instagram.

BN: That’s amazing. Do you have a favorite space you’ve designed for the shows over the years?

AR: There are a few! We shot at Chris Soules’ family barn that was over 100 years old. We were looking around for other barns to shoot in, but they ended up having this perfect location right down the street from his mom’s house. It was full of hay from the 1930s and it was gross and dusty when we found it. It was a huge undertaking but it ended up becoming one of the most romantic locations when we were ready to shoot. That was definitely one of my favorite spots. More recently, Tayshia’s proposal set was also one of my favorites. Again, it was very hot in the desert, so we built most of that at our warehouse and put it on a couple semitrucks to bring it out there. It was very hot in the desert, but we created this very romantic, soft set with tons of dried flowers and pampas grass. It was very feminine and soft against the desert terrain. I also loved Matt James’ final set. We were in the woods in Pennsylvania and we built this huge open air structure with a stone fireplace. The floors were all hand-painted and it was really intimate and romantic. I wanted it to feel like a fairy-tale location in the middle of the woods and I feel like we pulled that off!

BN: You definitely did — those were all gorgeous setups!

AR: Thank you so much! And what people don’t realize about Matt’s season is that we got to see the beautiful fall in Pennsylvania with the leaves changing, but as soon as it got colder, everything went really brown. So we were trying to save all of these leaves and branches by putting them in dark places with water just to make sure we had enough of those beautiful fall colors for the end of the season.

BN: Wow! That’s definitely not something most people would think of! Since you’ve been working on the Bachelor Nation shows for so long, how would you say they have changed over the years?

AR: We have become much more diverse and inclusive over the years. When I was first told about the premise from a friend of mine who was working on it, I was like, “The feminist in me would never design a show like that! That’s crazy.” But he brought me a bunch of VHS tapes of the show to watch and I was like, “You know what? This is really interesting.” So I agreed to do the first season and see where it went. The show has such a fantasy element to it, and I think over the years we’ve done a good job at keeping the fantasy alive while also breaking the fourth wall a little bit. The show now shows more so that nothing is perfect, whether that’s a location, or a person, or anything else. Everyone is going through their own journey on the show, and I think the show has evolved to do a really good job addressing things as they happen in real time. As uncomfortable as certain conversations have been or the growing pains we’ve faced, I think it’s changed for the better for sure. We keep the fantasy element, but also show the viewer that these are real people falling in love and sometimes with that, things get messy. So it’s been good to talk about that messy and uncomfortable stuff more.

BN: Absolutely. It’s been great to watch the show evolve. In previous interviews, you’ve mentioned that you need to make certain areas “makeout friendly” for the Bachelor Nation shows. What do you mean by this, and how do you design a space so it’s makeout friendly?

AR: (laughs) Yes! Normally this would be strange to talk about, but the main thing you have to know is that most furniture in real life is not usually suitable or has deep enough seating for TV-ready makeouts. We have to make a lot of our own furniture because you want to be able to have two people, especially for huge people like Clayton, fit comfortable and feel comfortable. They have to be able to lean back, lean in, lean away, and still have space to look natural. We think about the materials we use too, because we want the furniture to feel soft and luxurious and comfortable for making out! We also work really well and really closely with the lighting designer Dennis Weiler who’s amazing. We create light sources together because that’s half of it. We want to make sure the cast members don’t feel like they’re on a set or stage. That can be tricky, but I feel like we do a pretty good job of losing that feeling because there’s quite a bit of making out with no hesitation! We also try our best to hide as much gear and equipment from casts’ eye view as much as we can, since that could take the cast members out of that special element.

BN: That makes a lot of sense! Are there any other tricks you incorporate when it comes to making furniture for Bachelor Nation shows?

AR: There are tons. So for night one, all of the cast members usually sit on the same couch together. There was one time when I made these two hot pink couches for “The Bachelor” and I was so excited to use them, but guess what… As soon as the women started coming in, there were pink dresses and red dresses and it was such a nightmare because their dresses all sort of disappeared into the couch. So that was a quick lesson learned! And the same goes with the men, I try to stay away from black, browns, and grays because those are typical suit colors. I will try to do a teal velvet or a deep green so that all the suits pop off the couch. I’m a sucker for a lot of patterns, and that works really well too. For the women, it’s a little tougher because their dresses are a whole range of colors, so for the last couple of seasons, I’ve done really light pinks, and bright teals, which have done well with the girls’ dresses. It’s just funny because we have to take into consideration how the furniture is being used to make sure no one blends in, but also make it look not crazy for when people wear other outfits on it. Like, one night it’s formal gowns and the next they’re all in bathing suits on that same couch. So they have to be adaptable!

BN: That is such a good point! What are you most excited for going into 2022?