After a journey to parenthood that can aptly be described as “really long,” Styling Hollywood star Adair Curtis and his co-star on the screen and in life, Jason Bolden, have been basking in the joy of fatherhood for the past five months.
“I’m excited about Arrow every single moment I get to see him,” Curtis tells ESSENCE of their 5-month-old son. He excitedly describes the most recent sentimental moment shared with Bolden and their baby boy the morning of our interview, as Bolden headed to work and he prepped to work from home. They’ve had some help caring for Arrow while maintaining their successful, busy careers, but nothing gets Curtis’ attention or touches his heart more these days than his son.
“For the first couple of months, I would look at Arrow and remember parts of the journey where I prayed and prayed and prayed for this,” he says. “The same with Jason. I would just break down into tears for months. I feel like I just stopped crying maybe a month ago. So it’s been a long one, but we are here. We are here.”
The responsibility has admittedly changed him, making the JSN Studio founder more aware of the world around him for the sake of their son. It’s also changed the way the interior designer looks at their home. He now, more than ever, has seen the benefit in making the most use of space (as many people have during the pandemic) and the importance of things having more than one use. A room that was once treated as an overflow storage has since become a dedicated family room. In it, a sleek new product, the Samsung Frame TV, goes from television one minute, to a frame for sweet images of Arrow and their family the next. The TV manages to go from live viewing to a central piece of a gallery wall with the push of a button.
“When I first started to experience the television, I realized, one, it’s really flat to the wall. It’s really, really thin,” he says. “So really you get that really clean, sleek, chic look on the wall. It has so many different bezels that are customizable that you can put.”
“I can go into art mode and have whatever piece of art from my phone, or also from their store, up on the screen,” he adds. “I really wanted the hero image to be one of Arrow. And then we just designed around that. So we had all these really cool frames that feature pictures of us. Jason and I, or of Arrow. And that’s what you see there.”
The TV fits into the space perfectly. It’s filled with toys for Arrow to play with and is cushy thanks to a daybed and more comfy, cozy furniture.
“You have pieces that are really contemporary, but then you have vintage pieces that really have soul and capture a little bit more of that warmth that you want in a room,” he says, describing the family room as “transitional.”
For the rest of us without the eye Curtis has, or the chic furniture, he says you too can best fit a beautiful piece of technology like The Frame into your home by giving the space it will be in the art gallery treatment. It’s easier than it sounds.
“One way I mentioned is incorporating the frame TV on a wall and surrounding it with beautiful artwork, beautiful photographs. That’s how you create a gallery wall. It also just looks good on the wall on its own,” he says. “And The Frames, the bezel are customizable, to put on it. The Samsung Frame television comes in black already, which is really striking and stunning in and of itself. And then you put these really beautiful customizable bezels on, and you can go from black to white, from white to a wood grain. So I think there’s so many ways for you to incorporate it into your home. And then it also doesn’t have to look like a television. If it’s on the wall and you’re not watching it, you go into art mode. Have it feature a piece that you really love, and it may be something that you created. It may be something that you’ve collected yourself.”
Curtis, who has designed the homes of stars like Taraji P. Henson, Gabrielle Union, Sanaa Lathan and many more, is having fun rethinking his own space as his family has expanded. When asked if he could see himself making more space for another cutie like Arrow down the line, he said he hoped so — just not anytime soon, of course.
“I love, love, love, Arrow so much. I’m obsessed with my child. I’m like, I can’t have you in the world without a brother or sister. You need a sibling,” he says. “I’m one of five and Jason’s one of five. So I would like to expand our family. Now, if my husband is going to allow for this, I don’t know. So fingers crossed, prayers up for me so that we can get to that point.”
The Samsung Frame is now available, ranging in price from $599 to $2,999.99.