designwire daily | 2011 Kips Bay Decorator Show House Opens

2011 Kips Bay Decorator Show House Opens

by Ian Volner | Friday, April 29, 2011 | 11 Comments

Barbara Ostrom Associates

The annual Kips Bay Decorator Show House opens this week, with 23 decorators, designers, and interiors specialists giving their all in room after room of the former John Hay “Jock” Whitney mansion at 163 East 63rd Street in Manhattan.

The yearly exhibition to benefit the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club has turned the semi-dilapidated Upper East Side manse into a kaleidoscope of design ideas. Ten-thousand square feet in all, the house has three main floors, as well as an elaborate rooftop addition with front-and-back porches and a substantial backyard garden.

Brad Ford ID, Inc.; Robert Stilin

Highlights of the tour include Barbara Ostrom‘s delicately feminine reinvention of the guest bedroom, graced by authentically ancien regime touches that include a sky-painted ceiling and charming accents of silver leaf and custom woodwork. Harry Heissman merits serious kudos for “K’s Hideway”, an imaginative, almost psychadelic rendering of a teenage dream-bunker circa 1972, replete with bronzed mirrors, chocolate-brown wallpaper, and a lucite bed on an illuminated dais. One of the show’s real surprises is the laundry room: outfitted with Electrolux laundry machines, concealed LED lighting, and spacey Corian cabinetry, the Stephan Fanuka-designed interior suggests an unusually clean karaoke bar, or the cargo hold aboard a Russian billionaire’s private jet.

Kemble Interiors

Visitors who made it to the pre-show debut, when the house was nothing but bare walls and barer floors, were amazed at the transformation of the garden (courtesy of Greener by Design) and rooftop bachelor’s pad (by Robert Stilin and Brad Ford). There was, though, a tacky charm to the unoccupied old pile that few designers seemed to carry through into their stylish revamps: with the exception, perhaps, of Heissman’s tripped-out bedroom-cum-head-shop, the house’s tatty late-century glam seemed to fade into a mist of colorfully high-concept designs. What if someone wanted the original house back? (Scuttlebutt around the show, however, is that it’s off-the-market for the time being.)

Amanda Nisbet Design; Fanuka, Inc.

Richard Mishaan Design

Rauber + Rauber Interiors; Wayne Nathan Studio

Greener by Design

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11 comments

Janeth Herrera

Posted Monday, May 2, 2011 at 11:09 am | Permalink

love all these design they have nice features,nice colors, and beautiful arts.
Pauline

Posted Monday, May 2, 2011 at 01:07 pm | Permalink

What a brilliant idea to showcase creative talent. Love the Greener by Design garden, simple yet calming.

We’d love it if you’d ‘Like’ our Facebook page or visit our website: http://www.coco-design.co.uk

Best wishes
Pauline
Creative Director
Coco Design
VandM

Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 04:12 pm | Permalink

The one thing that popped out to me was the high quality of art this year. Definitely a showcase for the galleries involved.

Here’s a post that we did on the Show House, what we’re calling the Kips Bay Decorator Show House Interactive Tour, featuring room by room navigation and hundreds of photos.

http://vandm.com/Kips-Bay-Show-house-2011/Default.html
Bill Indursky

Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 04:12 pm | Permalink

You can see the most complete coverage including detail pictures with complete house tour of the Kips Bay Show House 2011 from VandM.com at http://vandm.com/Kips-Bay-Show-House-2011/Default.html
Lynn

Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 04:19 pm | Permalink

You can ship every piece of that GORGEOUS blue Barbara Ostrom bedroom to my house when you take it down. I’ve never seen a more beautiful bedroom!

Let me know when you’re ready for my address!
Mary Wilson

Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 04:25 pm | Permalink

As always a delight to see!
Victor Pedraz

Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 04:57 pm | Permalink

The garden area is spectacular! Kudos.
ju ju

Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 05:36 pm | Permalink

even worse than last year….a gaudy mess!
Donald Mitchell

Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 07:06 pm | Permalink

Kips Bay Show House has always been a wonderful and sometimes experimental expression of some incredible talent. I see this year is no exception! The garden is a nice marriage of modern and classic design.
Sonia Bendt

Posted Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 08:00 am | Permalink

The 2011 KIps Bay Show House is amazing! A decorating treat for the eyes. I am the Co-Chair for volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering from 11-2 or 2-5, please go to KipsDecoratorShowHouse.org and click on volunteer. You will be assigned to a room or area and after the shift you can view the house compliments of KIps Bay Show House. Thanks in advance! Sonia Bendt
Chantal

Posted Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 01:14 pm | Permalink

Love the Brad Ford ID room. Gorgeous! Can’t wait to see more pictures!