5 Kips Bay Decorator Show House interiors
The stereo lounge is on the third floor of the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Manhattan. The Show House is raising money toward the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club and hopes to earn $1 million this year. (April 25, 2011) Credit: Jason Andrew
If you're looking for some ideas on how to update your home, stop by the 2011 Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Manhattan. There, 22 interior designers have turned an Upper East Side mansion -- once owned by the late multimillionaire John Hay "Jock" Whitney, also a Long Islander -- into a laboratory for cutting-edge home decor ideas. Here are five rooms not to miss at the event, a fundraiser for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club in the Bronx and its outreach programs for children in need.
1. K's Hideaway
Manhattan designer Harry Heissmann named this fantastical children's room after one of Whitney's two adopted daughters, Kate. The ceiling fixture is made of rock crystals. An eight-foot stuffed giraffe stands in one corner of the room. The bedspread is a colorful Turkish Tulu rug of unspun goat hair. And that brass cobra floor lamp? It once belonged to Elton John.
2. The Gentleman's Lounge
A 19th-century skeleton greets visitors to this manliest of man caves, where Manhattan designer Aurélien Gallet (who will also be in the 2011 Hampton Designer Showhouse) has included another item from his personal collection -- a polished 1960s aircraft riveting gun. Step around the wolf rug and you'll find other surprises, including artworks by Cindy Sherman and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
3. The Library
Manhattan designer Celerie Kemble's library took flight with a ceiling of verre églomisé -- where gold leaf and etching are used on the back side of a mirror to create a design. The lightness helps to offset the antique Norfolk pine panels, which Kemble wrestled with in the design.
4. The Stereo Lounge
Manhattan designer Brad Ford's ode to vinyl features a 6-foot-long, 51 / 2-foot wide, 300- to 500-year-old claro walnut coffee table with a built-in turntable. Ford, who was in the 2009 Hampton Designer Showhouse, created walls of speakers from distressed European oak for the visitor's hi-fi pleasure.
5. Electrolux Laundry Room
This is the laundry room the Jetsons would have had -- the all-white nook is like a space-age lounge with up-lit countertops, lacquered walls and neon lighting strips. Contractor Stephen Fanuka, a Manhasset resident, installed a flat screen over the appliances -- so you (or Rosie) can watch a little early '60s Hanna-Barbera while folding shirts.
39th Annual Kips Bay Decorator Show House
WHEN | WHERE Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.; through May 26, 163 E. 63rd St.
INFO $30; no kids under 6; 212-755- 5733, kipsbaydecoratorshowhouse.org
