‘Dear My Room’ sheds light on meaning of home

Upcoming cable series “Dear My Room,” which bills itself as a “do-it-yourself life drama” hopes to bring attention to interior design and the meaning of home on the small screen.

The show, which first airs Tuesday on cable channel O’live, features four young main characters with design and arts backgrounds and their tangled relationships, including Shim Eun-joo, a former editorial designer now unemployed, played by Ryu Hye-yeong.

Viewers will see Shim make a bold exit from her previously hectic work life where she spent just 18 hours at home a week and seek to find a new lifestyle as she works on her place with the aid of top interior designer friend Seo Min-seok.

Ryu said she feels like she matured along with Shim as she played her character on the set.

“As I have dreams about housing and think of when I can achieve my dream, I got to learn more about interior design including tips while filming the show, which helped make my dream bigger,” Ryu said during a press conference.

“Dear My Room” is packed with novel elements as it will air only once a week, as opposed to the Korean-usual twice, with 12 episodes that focus on the topic of interior design.

Jang Jung-do, who jointly directed the show with So Jae-hyun, said he opted for the topic as O’live is known as a channel that focuses on lifestyle.

Jang said fresh approaches were taken in the making of the series, such as the main cast consisting of rookie actors. Each of the main characters also has an Instagram account, part of efforts to reach a wider audience via social media.

To give the show a natural touch, Jang studied videos from interior design YouTubers and gave great thought to how viewers would take it.

So said the show marks the first series to air on O’live once a week with just 12 episodes scheduled, similar to the formats of US or Japanese TV series, with each episode around 40 minutes long.

Yoon Ji-on plays design student Yang Jae-hyun, who draws interior design inspiration from Shim’s Instagram. He said he was able to relate to the story better as he is a similar age as his character.

Yoon said he finds spending time before bed so much fun as his room is filled with furniture in charcoal gray, which he always wanted, while Park Ji-hyun, who plays the role of gallery director Ryu Hye-jin, opted for a more white and minimalistic style in real life.

The first episode of “Dear My Room” airs at 11 p.m. on O’live on Tuesday.

By Yim Hyun-su (hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)