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:

1. Black & white

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.

DIY TIP "Edit, edit, edit," says Bradfield. Start with white walls and a black rug, or just two chairs. "One could be white and one could be black," he adds.

2. Old and new

Washington, D.C.-based Huntley & Co. Interior Design pairs a French Provincial-style dining room table with sleek white chairs. "It's good to create that tension," says designer Tricia Huntley. Otherwise, the room will look one-note, she explains.

DIY TIP "Go find some old farmhouse table at a flea market and spend more money on the chairs," Huntley suggests. Or, she says, use the dining table you have and reupholster vintage chairs in a sleek, fresh fabric or material.

3. Shiny surfaces

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."

DIY TIP Guariglia used leftover paint for the sewing machine, pendant and frame on the spool holder. "This is a great way to coordinate items in your room on a budget," she says.

4. A room of her own
Spaces traditionally thought of for women usually revolve around a function -- the kitchen, the craft room, the laundry room. Manhattan designer and architect Joan Dineen wanted to "call on the complexity of what being a woman is" for her "Mother's Day" room. She created a modern-day boudoir, which she defines as "a woman's power center for work, romance, family and self."

DIY TIP "Don't be afraid of rich, dark color," she says. "It makes everything glow against it." But make sure to use good lighting. The oversized, sculptural chandelier -- another trend -- lightens up these graphite walls.

5. Warm metals

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.

DIY TIP Start small with picture frames or doorknobs, and try them for a few days. "Don't buy anything that's not returnable," suggests Beldock.

6. Made by hand

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.

DIY TIP "You don't have to spend a lot of money on wallpaper," says Alla Akimova of Manhattan-based Archives ID, the room's designer. Akimova, who has clients in the Hamptons, suggests looking for wallpaper with a texture, using lights to accent it.

MORE SPACES

- 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.

If you go

WHAT The 2012 Holiday House, a designer show house to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which was founded in 1993 by the late Evelyn Lauder

WHEN | WHERE 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Tuesdays and Thursdays until 8 p.m., through Nov. 18 at 2 E. 63rd St., Manhattan

INFO $30 general admission; 212-472-3313, holidayhousenyc.com