Holiday House 2012 taps into trends

Design inspiration abounds at nearly every turn at the 2012 Holiday House, the annual decorator showcase at a four-level, 20,000-square-foot mansion on the Upper East Side. Twenty-seven designers -- including three from Long Island -- came together to decorate the spaces, each after a holiday or theme of their choosing. "Everyone usually walks away with at least one idea that they want to apply to their home," says Woodmere native and Southampton homeowner Iris Dankner, founding chair of the event.

Here are some of the trends you'll see:

That classic combination appears everywhere at the event, but always "with a splash of color," says show house chair Iris Dankner. Manhattan designer Geoffrey Bradfield's bold treatment in his Marcel Proust-inspired "Remembrance of Things Past" room features custom-made yin-and-yang chairs and rugs.

In the sewing room, "Celebration of a Father" (also pictured on the cover), the ceiling, moldings and panels are done in a high-gloss lacquered paint. "I wanted to create a balance with the wallcovering, which is a herringbone fabric and heavy in texture," says designer Diane Guariglia, owner of Dyfari Interiors in Cold Spring Harbor, whose tailor father was her inspiration. "The contrast creates a balance. Plus, it reflects light, and so in small spaces when the light is reflecting on the walls and ceiling, the room feels bigger."

Bronze and brass will overshadow nickel and chrome as stylish accents for the home. "Everything is bronze or brass," says Manhattan designer Brett Beldock, who summers in Southampton. Her "Valentine's Day"-inspired space features the metals in furniture legs, the chandelier, bookcases, end table and accents.

The Columbus Day-themed room, left, features a handmade Maya Romanoff wall covering made of lokta fiber. Called Meditations Ohm, the fiber is harvested in Nepal with a honeycomb pattern created with chopsticks. It costs $120 per yard.

- Port Washington decorator Lee Najman's "Seasons of Joy" Sukkot-inspired dining area uses yarn of different colors, decorative stainless-steel balls and LED lights to decorate custom-made framework.

- In the "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" anteroom, diSalvo Interiors, which has offices in Carle Place and Manhattan, paired pages from leather-bound antique books and a Hollywood-style console in a high-gloss finish with pink ribbons around the necks of porcelain birds.

- Manhattan designer Vicente Wolf, a part-time Montauk resident, goes almost all white in the appropriately named, Swedish-inspired "Winter White" bedroom.