Show House Inspo: Finding ideas and inspiration from the over-the-top rooms at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House
After a pandemic-induced three-year hiatus, show houses are back—including the grand dame of them all, the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York City. Interior designers compete to transform rooms—often badly in need of major facelifts—into showcases for their talents. Calico’s Jan Jessup toured this house with camera in hand, focusing on custom window treatments, upholstery styling, design trends, use of trimmings, textiles, and other details that make a room unique. Show houses are great learning environments!
A rite of Spring in Manhattan for the past 48 years, the Kips Bay Show House opened for a month of ogling 23 spaces on five floors, each totally redone by an interior design firm. The setting was the historic River Mansion on the Upper West Side with Hudson River views. Most recently, the house was home to the Bronfman family: Sherry (a Broadway actress), former husband Edgar (CEO of Seagram and Warner Music Group) and their three children. After extensive renovations by the Kips Bay designers, the home is now on the market for $20 million. Here is a closer look at the intriguing design elements that caught our eye:
Gorgeous window treatments! The over-the-top “Spring Fever” living room by designer Timothy Corrigan is also shown in the opening photo. The French doors are framed by fan-pleated drapery panels in a Schumacher damask—the same fabric in two different colors! Note how the drapery panels stack off the window to let in more light, an allowance that Calico designers can determine when advising on custom window treatments. We like how the draperies just kiss the floor.
Trimmings finish the look: an elegant tape was stitched to the leading edge of the drapery panels—a finishing touch that works for any style of window treatment, formal to casual. On the velvet banquettes at the back of the room, a bullion fringe adds contrast and movement. Each pillow also has a special tape, cord or brush fringe. Pillows repeat on the sofa below for visual continuity. The sofa is finished with ribbon trim, top-stitched to the pleated skirt. Calico has a wide selection of designer trims, both plain and fancy, to achieve similar looks.
Pillows add personality to a room! The two armchairs in the Timothy Corrigan living room feature green velvet pillows (the same fabric on the banquettes) trimmed in a satin tape embroidered with beautiful bugs. In the hideaway room below, designed by Clinton Smith Studio, a daybed becomes a showcase for a plethora of pillows in unique fabrics, all connected by color.
A bedroom with a bounty of ideas! Pattern runs rampant in this bedroom by Mary McDonald Inc., with a Schumacher Shell Grotto wallpaper that creates an intimate room, lightened with blue/white fabric bed panels, Roman shades and cleverly slipcovered chairs.
Slipcovers with ties that bind. Yes, you can slipcover a wood-frame chair, if ties are added to attach the fabric to the frame. Calico slipcovers are custom cut to fit the furniture, whether you prefer it to fit like a glove or favor a more relaxed look. With these chairs, the slipcovers provide extra padding on the back or seat, and the ties become decorative as well as functional elements.
MIXED MATERIALS: This living room by designer Penny Drue Baird features a custom sofa with a leather exterior and cushions of a chunky chenille upholstery fabric from Pollack Associates. The back pillows combine both materials. The side pillow fabric has embroidered leaf shapes to add visual interest. Fan-pleated draperies enhance the window; a Roman shade made with a sheer casement filters the light to add privacy without blocking the view. For a similar sofa, check out pages 34-35 of Calico’s new catalog; the Nicholas Sofa has the exterior upholstered in a tweedy ivory performance fabric and the interior cushions are in a plush ivory velvet.
VELVETS ARE HOT…
A slate blue velvet creates sumptuous seating for a deep sofa in a media room created by the design firm Sawyer Berson. Velvets add rich texture to a room and marry beautifully with so many other fabrics. They can be elegant and add a subtle shimmer, as on this sofa—or they can be more informal, as in a linen-look velvet or one with a distressed texture. Velvets are always in style! And Calico has more than 300 choices. Did you know? The color of a velvet changes with the direction of the nap. When looking at a velvet sample, be sure to place it so that the nap runs DOWN. This is how an upholsterer will cut the fabric for the best wear.
…AND CHAIRS CAN BECOME SCULPTURAL ELEMENTS IN A ROOM. Design variations on the classic wing chair are rendered in plush gold velvet in a room by David Scott Interiors. The plaid wing chair is from the library (see below) by Jay Jeffers, a perfect place to catch up on reading. Calico’s Conrad Chair and Landon Chair have similar lines in updated wing chairs.
Window treatments frame the view and finish the room. Pleated draperies in an abstract print from Zoffany by Sanderson pull together all the colors in this library by designer Jay Jeffers. Close-ups of the fan-pleated panels are below. Calico customers love this pleat style too—and they can be made with three prongs (like these, for more fullness) or with two prongs (for less fullness).
Patterned window treatments enhance a room of neutral textures. David Scott interiors gave life to this room in a neutral palette with fan pleated drapery panels in a geometric print from Pierre Frey, plus art and accessories. These window treatments—the print and sheers—were made with two prong pleats for less fullness. Calico workrooms make several styles of pleated headings for draperies.
Roman shade reviews: What happens when you make a relaxed Roman Shade from a Kravet upholstery fabric? Above is the dramatic result, designed by Kesha Franklin of Halden Interiors. Note that it’s hard for such a heavy fabric to hold the pleats and folds. For comparison, across the room was a Roman shade in a lighter fabric that became a valance to dress the space above the elevator door.
