Kips Bay 2018 Show House – Part 1

Decor enthusiasts know that May means the Kips Bay Designer Show House!

If you’ve been before, you know what an amazing experience it is to see, up close, the work of gifted designers you’ve seen in the top shelter magazines. And, if you’ve never been before…don’t miss out! My one word of warning…..carve out two hours to do it right. The townhouse at 110 E. 76th St (near Park Ave) has 7 floors! And, be sure and look up…there are many beautiful treatments on the ceilings…the 5th wall!

There are so many amazing rooms that it would take me a month to do them all justice, so here are just a few teasers to get you excited…as I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun of your experiencing the show house for yourself.

The top image was designed by Dan Fink Studio and is called “Diana’s Stair”. The idea was to create a space of quiet glamour, grace and strength as though the modern Diana, the mythical huntress, might live here if she was around today. Don’t miss the gorgeous lacquered trim and ceiling!

Next, is a view of Bunny Williams & Elizabeth Swartz’s room called “Gilded Knots”.  Their inspiration: “Imagine that you have a very comfortable Living Room in a Tree House, where you can look at the sky through gilded leaves and watch a spider make a giant cobweb”

The inspiration for “Laura’s Bedroom,” designed by Brian del Toro, begins with a vintage, hand-painted Robert Chowder screen from the 1960s decorated with birds and flowers in soft beautiful natural tones and pale greens. The color palette and delicate design of the screen provided a lush and feminine focal point for the bedroom. With the decorative screen in place, del Toro set out to find simple, elegant clean-lined pieces of furniture to give the room a more contemporary feeling.

This room was one of my favorites and also includes a beautiful dressing area, not pictured here.

I had the best time chatting with Alessandra Branca! Her master bedroom was inspired by the sunshine of the south …. this classical tree of life print with its sunshine yellows and sky blues was very warm and inviting… making breakfast in bed something you would want every day! And, that lucite bed is everything!

I commented that I always think of her and the color red and she laughed that she hears that a lot. She said that while she likes red, this room is emblematic of her typical work. There is one teeny tiny spot of red in the room…try to find it!

Barbara Ostrom was an absolute delight! She had visited a lot of museums and art galleries over the winter, which inspired her room, “Art and a la Carte”!

I pictured a library/dining room in the home of avid art collectors.  They are a couple who are confident in their unique and eclectic personal taste.

They love to entertain friends at home in their library to share exquisitely prepared dinners while having lively discussions on the latest in books, theater and progressive ideas.  They are cultured, widely traveled and sophisticated with a love of dramatic, grand living spaces.

If I lived in a swanky NYC apartment, I would love to have a room like this!  Walking into B. A. Torrey’s room — “The Afterparty” — is a design cocktail intended to pique the senses. You don’t just look, but touch and feel in this 70s-inspired homage to playful decadence and indulgence. Luxurious textures fill the room, making for a highly tactile environment. From the cerused oak of the custom millwork, brass of the stools and coffee table, crystal of the lamps, plush velvet and mohair of the upholstery, shimmery black and gold wheat inspired fabric of the Hermes throw pillows, and chunky honed stone of the fireplace and bar counter, this room is made to touch.

There’s a bar around the corner from view and the custom video “BONDrian: License to Love shows select James Bond scenes set to a Mondrian’s primary colors – it’s brilliant!

Oh, how I love an Alexa Hampton space! I posted some detail shots on Instagram yesterday, so I hope you saw them. The details are so, so lovely!

“Our room at this year’s Kips Bay Show House is the “Olympia Folly.” Born out of my ever enthusiastic and growing neo-classicist tic, I have been dreaming of campaign tents. This has led me to my first ever collaboration with De Gournay, in the creation of the draped interior of a Greco-Roman tent straight out of my decorator’s imagination – and mapped onto paper by my now-two-time Kips Bay collaborator: the artist Chuck Fischer. ”

Be sure and ask about the custom H bench that incorporates the pi symbol as a nod to Alexa’s husband.

I’ll post additional rooms and designers in the next blog post. There were just so many!