While recently watching a super old episode of Parks & Recreation, we had to laugh when we saw what looked exactly like our card-catalog-turned-spice-&-spoon-rack in the background behind Amy Poehler. Especially because the episode was all about her unabashed hatred for libraries:
Isn’t it a dead ringer for the $5 thrift store version I got two Valentine’s Days ago from Sherry (read more about that here)?
So it got us wondering if you’ve ever seen something you have in your house on TV. Was your fancy stapler on The Office? Did your Ikea curtains make an appearance on Project Runway? Have you spotted the same touristy magnet from Texas on someone’s fake sitcom fridge? Spill the as-seen-on-TV beans.
Laura (youngDCliving) says
No furniture for me, but I did see Lauren Conrad on the Hills wearing one of my favorite shirts I own. That made me excited, even if it sounds ridiculously silly :)
Liz says
I’ve seen my work telephone featured on The Office (Cisco IP phone). I always make a stupid point to myself that the phones on the show are just props because the phone screen isn’t showing any information. ;)
katie says
my office phone on “the office.” shock!
Mary Catherine Sears says
Two & A Half Men features my coffee maker. It’s fun to see something that I already own on TV!
Christin says
This is pretty old school, but I noticed that my brother’s childhood bedding was the same as the bedding in Home Alone – McCauly’s attic bedroom – as well as DJ Tanner’s bedroom on the older episodes of Full House (when the kids were all little). Crazy stuff. LOL. :)
Melanie says
on the Big Bang Theory: Penny totally has our green with white vines Ikea throw pillows! (I’m sure half the world has them, as they’re an Ikea staple, but it’s still so weird to see!)
Tiffini S. says
YES! I saw the matching occasional chairs to my sofa on a show about 6 months ago. It was some sitcom, I think. Not a big show watcher. Anyway, I got my couch at Sofa Mart, wanted the matching chair but could not afford it. Before I could, they discontinued my model. But it’s similar to this new offering, except it’s blue and the pillow design is slightly different. The chair is the wood one at the bottom of the page.
http://www.furniturerow.com/SofaMart/Riley-Sofa-Group/Riley-Sofa/prod531026/
Leah says
Nothing from the house- but on an episode of my favorite soap opera, I recently saw a character wearing a shirt I just bought from H & M!
Holly says
My aunt got me a 60’s style chip and dip bowl set for Christmas one year, which I absolutely adore. I was over the moon when I saw the same one as a prop in one of my favourite shows American Dreams a few years back.
Amanda @ Our Humble A{Bowe}d says
Not furniture related, but Tori Spelling’s son Liam was wearing a H&M shirt that my son has.
Emily says
I have some blue and brown Jonathan Adler dishes that were on the TV show “Gilmore Girls” and then again in Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck’s apartment in “He’s Just Not That Into You.”
Both sightings made me squeal with delight. :o)
ESBlondie says
We have a clock (that my husband actually got for a high school graduation present) that we see all the time on TV. I’ve see it on Real Housewives, Million Dollar listing and a few other shows. I get a kick out of it everytime.
Jenn says
My office in a cool old bank building was bought and renovated to become the Real World Philadelphia house. Surreal!
YoungHouseLove says
So trippy, Jenn! On a slightly similar note, the office I worked in in New York City in 2003 had previously been a set in the movie Big (ok, so like way previously). It was the toy company where Tom Hanks worked. I didn’t recognize it or anything (my boss told me about the connection) but later watching Big it was so weird to see him in the same hallways… especially since it looked pretty much the same all that time later.
-John
Jennifer S. says
Sandra Bullock’s character in “The Blind Side” had my C&B dinnerware. Oh, and when Robin Williams’ character in “Mrs. Doubtfire” moves into his own place, he has the very same rug in his apartment that my parents had in their living room when I was kid. That rug was 1990’s awesomeness.
MJ says
I was watching Home Improvement once as a kid and noticed that they had the same juice glasses that I won at my elementary school’s Fall Festival playing the dime toss game. They were clear glass with yellow strips at the bottom and a picture of an orange slice around the sides. I thought it was pretty cool!
Audra says
So this wasn’t from tv, but I did get pretty excited when I saw the brown quilt that I bought a few years ago in your guest room (before the great office makeover that is). You guys have such great taste I couldn’t help but be a little giddy that I had picked out something that you like too.
Lil-Kid-Things says
Right after I got married in 2007 I saw our bedding on ONe Tree Hill. It was Nate and Haley’s Bed. It made me laugh because it was just a bed-in-a-bag from Bed Bath & Beyond!
Cathryn says
At our wedding reception, we used these elegant little glass globe votive holders all over the tables. I thought they were pretty and timeless when I picked them out. We kept a bunch for us and gave others to family to enjoy after the weddng. On the Star Trek The Next Generation series (of which my husband is a childhood fan), these same glass globes are used as glasses in the ship’s bar. We never noticed this until after our wedding, when I bought my husband some of the Fan Collection dvds. I always tell my husband it is a sign that he married the right girl. : )
Kim says
The sofa I have was in a TV commercial recently. The commercial wasn’t for the sofa, and I forgot exactly what they were selling because I was just excited that I recognized the sofa…we have the Room&Board Murray sofa. :)
Travis says
My wife bought these square (probably 2X2), metal wall art pieces. There’s two of them that look exactly alike. They’re bronze with leafy cut-outs. I know, this doesn’t help much. I think they were Pottery Barn, but she got them dirt cheap at a garage sale. She saw them after she bought them on HGTV and then on one of your posts. She was more excited to see them here than on TV though! Wish I remembered where they were from. Sorry.
J.P says
Courtney Cox’s character, Jules, from Cougar Town has the same metallic lamp as us!:
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=1220&f=24459&q=lamp&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1
On the show its used as an entry table lamp whereas we use it as a bedside lamp.
rhiannon says
I was on the set of the Office a while ago and Pam told me that she had the shirt I was wearing and loved it! Not exactly what you were looking for, but it made me smile!
Holly West says
Again not furniture, but my husband and I recently watched the first episode of Arrested Development (yeah, we’re a little behind in our TV watching) and most of it took place on the same yacht we got married on. In fact, there is a scene that takes place in the front of the boat which is the exact same spot we got married on. We squealed.
Molly says
We have a set of colorful vases from Crate&Barrel and I laugh every time I see old episodes of Jon and Kate Plus 8. One of them is on the bookcase in the room where they did interviews.
Joan says
Years ago when our dogs were young and destructive we bought some cheap fake oriental area rugs. I hated them, and ended up giving them away, but not before I saw them on a sitcom. They were ugly on TV too.
Cassi @ Miles from Suburbia says
I don’t think any of my furniture is cool enough to make it onto a set, but I did see my parents’ old console TV in a Nirvana video in the 90’s (or was it Pearl Jam…). Does that count?
Angela says
Before my husband and I moved in together he had a headboard that was identical to the one form “Everyone loves Raymond”
Jen True says
Yes, I have the Raya (bright multi colored water pitcher) from Crate and Barrel on a shelf in my kitchen and I also spotted it on “Modern Family” in Claire and Phi’s kitchen, which is my favorite new comedy! It made me so happy, just because I’m silly like that!
I love the style of their house on the show, so I took it as a total compliment.
Andrea H-G says
Believe it or not, I have seen the exact 50s-era bar glasses that I got from my grandmother on a couple of episodes of Mad Men! They are frosted glass with gold leaves.
Christine says
Our exact bathroom cabinet from Lowe’s was on one of those Windows 7 commercials where the guy claims he came up with some element of the new operating system.
Leah says
I was watching Mad Men and it was the episode a couple seasons back when Betty finds out she’s pregnant. On the wall in the doctor’s office was the deer and fawn needlepoint that my granpa had made for me back in the 70’s. Super crazy.
carlye says
i cant remember off hand, but i do love when i see something on tv and i know where it came from. i think the most recent time was when i was watching the bounty hunter (the movie not the tv show) and in jennifer annistons bedroom she had a west elm comforter. i was like “ohhhh that comforter is from west elm,” like my boyfriend cares or is impressed by that.
Jill says
:) I too have the same headboard as seen in Everybody Loves Raymond.
Sarah @ The Ugly Duckling House says
Laura, don’t feel silly; I saw one of my Ann Taylor Loft dresses on Kate Plus 8 the other night.
I haven’t seen any of my home items on a TV show, but I have seen a certain pillow just about everywhere I look. I think it’s stalking me. I wrote this post about it a while back.
Theresa says
One of my living room chairs appeared in an episode of Clean House. Thank goodness the room was an “after” and not a “before!”
Michelle H says
Just last week, the fabric I used for my curtains was spotted on Burn Notice by a good friend. They used it for curtains too :).
Whitney says
Nothing home-related, but I have seen both a dress and a swimsuit from Target that I’ve owned on tv! They were from when I was a kid- the dress was a burgundy cotton tie-dye sundress.. I loved it and I wore it for my 6th grade dance! :-) I can’t remember the show that it was on, however. I just remember seeing it and saying, Hey I have that dress!! haha.
Emily says
Someone gave us a utensil holder that I noticed in Monica’s kitchen on Friends regularly. Also, I saw a couch on an episode of Wife Swap that was exactly my grandparents’ couch.
Kim Smith says
Back in the late 70’s I had a Soundesign Disco-Tek Record Player with Disco Ball/Lights/8 Trac & I had it until about the mid-80’s. When my mom finally got rid of it we we’re living in So. California & few years ago I saw it on a sitcom and wondered if the prop department found mine somewhere or if it was just wishful thinking, because I hadn’t seen any around for years.
I also have a purple sequin dress that I got in a vintage clothes shop in Beverly Hills that Morgan Fairchild wore in a movie, & when I was still acting I wore in a film. It was funny actually seeing the movie on TV of her wearing it. The dress is more famous than me, LOL!!!
Lori says
I found it really funny that these two oversize flower prints I got at Bombay Company were on the wall (by the stairway) of the large house in Grosse Point Blank that gets shot up by John Cusack & the other hitmen. Bombay Company FTW!
Anne says
We spotted our Target “Tiffany” lamp on TLC’s The Little Couple. It’s on a table in the background of Bill’s interview shots. Looks like they got a deal, too!
Albion says
I’m constantly spotting IKEA products on shows like Leverage…it’s really fun!
Paige says
The answer is yes, many times! But I can’t remember a single one. This isn’t as much fun now! Love the question though.
Misa says
The other evening, I was rewatching “Knocked Up” and I noticed that Leslie Mann’s character had our living room lamps in her bedroom (from Crate and Barrel). It was funny, because I actually bought a Target bowl I had been admiring after I noticed it in that same movie, on their dining room table.
Emily says
We have the brown Sango dishware- I’ve seen them on several t.v. shows!
Amy says
I have mugs from Pier 1 that saw on an episode of Reba. I was flipping channels and yelled out, “Hey, those are our mugs!”.
Page says
My son’s stuffed tiger was on ABC’s Wipeout. He was pretty excited about that. http://abc.go.com/watch/clip/wipeout/SH010461870000/PL5557066/VD5574117/moments?&clipId=VD5574117&playlistId=PL5557066&cid=siteplayer
Stella says
Jean-Luc Picard uses my coffee thermos to transport anti-matter.
Lindsay@Tell'er All About It says
Ok, Hilarious! My parents used to own the same Cosby Show couch back in the 80s. Pic is here:
http://mistercomfypants.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/cosby-show-5.png?w=300&h=225
That couch was my first couch when I moved into my first apartment – ugh! It was soooo ugly! Oh, well – at least it didn’t match Bill’s ugly sweaters!
haha!
Lindsay
elizabeth says
In one of the opening scenes of the Blair Witch Project, there is a leaning shelf from IKEA. I had the same shelf and knew that it came out after the movie was allegedly shot, so when I saw it I just started laughing in the theater. Bad move, set decorators… bad move.