The 'Skin Room' In Wuthering Heights, Explained

Imagine a room so personalized that it's nearly a literal extension of your body: Walls are flesh-toned, soft to the touch, and realistic enough to feature veins, freckles, and — horror upon horrors — even a hair sprouting from a mole. In the 2026 film adaptation of Emily Brontё's "Wuthering Heights", this is exactly what we see in female protagonist Catherine's bedroom at Thrushcross Grange. The "skin room" designed for the film is gaining notoriety, first with its eyebrow-raising name and second with its unprecedented appearance.

At first glance, the feminine decor in this dusty pink bedroom looks perfectly on-period for a Regency mansion. But upon closer inspection of the walls, you might notice padded panels that are so disturbingly lifelike that you half expect to see them rise and fall as though breathing. Upholstered walls are making a comeback, but this is next-level weird. 

As the movie's production designer Suzie Davies describes what they're calling "the skin room", a chance encounter with flesh-like latex material and the rosy skin of "Catherine" (played by Margot Robbie) inspired Davies to recreate Robbie's exact skin patterns as decor. As Robbie told Architectural Digest, "It's her skin on the walls, the floor, everything is designed to look like Cathy's skin." The design team photocopied Robbie's arm and printed the skin patterns onto fabric for not only the set bedroom's walls but also the ceiling and carpet. Even the headboard is upholstered in a Robbie facsimile. The idea is offbeat enough to spark a trend, but is designing your own "skin room" too gross to be pretty? We'll have to wait and see!

We literary nerds have plenty to discuss around the symbolism behind Davies' "skin room", but design nerds may find even more to talk about. Kitschy home decor is trending for 2026, and custom skin wallpaper may skirt the edge between kitschy and creepy. But is Davies' aesthetic extra creepy because of its sheer volume? Airbnb is offering stays at a reproduction of Thrushcross Grange in the U.K., so you could try it out firsthand.

Few of us have the resources to cover nearly every surface in a room with custom coverings, or to stay in coveted rentals in far-flung locales. But if you like to push style boundaries, maybe showing a hint of skin — either your own or a loved one's — in your decor is worth trying. A padded, upholstered "skin" would certainly be a unique design for an accent wall. With customizable wallpaper and fabric available from a growing number of outlets, it's not unthinkable to picture your own freckles and scars on a wall or throw pillow. Pull up your sleeve and see if papering a wall with a copy of it intrigues you. 

If this fad takes off, we could be seeing copies of celebrity skin for sale in the form of decorator items, but what if it expanded to prints of hair or the fur of a beloved pet? While even the most intrepid home decorator might not be ready to dip their toes into it, this idea of ultra-personalizing a room opens up many interesting possibilities.