How can you make a 25,000-square-foot office building with drop ceilings and antiquated conference rooms feel homey with luxurious, forward-thinking design? That’s what the 5th Annual 2019, which runs through November 13th, says. It was a challenge for the 25 designers selected for the Next Kips Bay Decorator Show House Dallas.
The Dallas Show House is located in the Turtle Creek neighborhood near downtown and is an addition to the original Kips Bay Decorators Show House, which debuted on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1973. Featuring top-of-the-line spaces designed by renowned interior designers, tickets are required. Proceeds will be used to raise funds for after-school programs for children in New York City. More than 50 years and $30 million later, the organization has only two other outposts: West Palm Beach and Dallas. In other words, this is a big moment for Texas talent (17 of the 25 designers are based in the Lone Star State). The show is also an opportunity to raise significant funds for local nonprofits serving North Texas families. This year’s winners will distribute funds to Dwell with Dignity, a nonprofit that helps previously unhoused people and families organize their spaces, as well as various children’s charities in the Dallas area. This is the “Crystal Charity Ball”.
The showroom’s rooms draw inspiration from everything from Sandro Botticelli’s painting The Birth of Venus to men’s smoking jackets. One designer drew on memories of her childhood Midwestern home with the goal of making wood paneling, wall-to-wall carpeting, and popcorn ceilings cool again. Another delved deep into the building’s past to revive the feel of the Shipango Club, a hip 1940s spot that once occupied the property. Whether you’re renovating your own space or just daydreaming about the possibilities like we are, there’s no shortage of decorating inspiration. Below are all the show home interior design trends we can’t stop thinking about.
personal touch
Since a show house isn’t actually a home, you might expect it to be free of personal belongings. But as many designers have shown, great design is rooted in a great story.
One designer incorporated his grandmother’s Min chair. Another woman framed her husband’s collection of vintage pocket squares to create impactful yet affordable art. Shelly Haislip, of Dallas-based Shelly Haislip Interiors, displayed the original building blueprints drawn by the architect, who also happened to be her late husband. Dallasite Ashley Ross of Muse Noire Interiors created an intimate gallery feel by centering two vintage theater chairs surrounded by hanging lights, opposite one of her favorite photos of Gordon Parks. It created a great moment. Ross said the photo represents her journey as a black designer.
Muse Noir’s Ashley Ross has displayed photographs from Gordon Parks’ famous 1956 Separation series in her drawing room. Nicholas Sargent
Indoor or outdoor, who cares?
Perhaps because Texans can’t take advantage of their outdoor space as much as they would like, designers are bringing natural elements all the way indoors. The founders of Austin-based Henry Street Design Company installed a giant brass palm tree in the tea room, and Dallas designer Jan Showers decorated the lounge ceiling with lifelike birds. Courtenay Tart Elias of Creative Tonic Design in Houston incorporated flora and fauna into the kitchen’s chandelier and trellis columns, which she named Citrus Garden. (Note the silver snail with ladybug cocktail picks in the breakfast nook, or the topiary planted in a champagne bucket.)
Reimagined by Dallas’ Lambert Landscape Company, the showhouse terrace takes the opposite approach, bookending a fountain and native Texas plants with a canopy made of custom fabric that doubles as a curtain. The outdoor kitchen had a gaucho grill and an elegant, weather-resistant porcelain backsplash.
unexpected backsplash
Speaking of backsplashes, other innovative approaches include the asymmetrical wavy backsplash in the women’s bathroom by Dallas-based Ink + Oro Creatives and the marble-trimmed mirror in Tart Elias’ kitchen. Includes backsplash and more. This type of backsplash is perfect for small spaces and is affordable (mirrors are cheaper than tile or stone), but for lazy chefs who worry about regular maintenance, it’s also a great option for hiding spills and spaghetti sauce. We recommended an antique style mirror to help with this. Scatter.
Lots of wallpapers
If there is a room in the Dallas show house without wallpaper, we couldn’t find it. From Texas-sized florals in the stairwells (selected by New York City’s Loudermilk Jordan) to several large-scale murals, the show house highlighted that wall coverings are back in a big way. Look for hand-drawn designs by our sponsor Gracie Studio. Gracie Studio is a 120-year-old company that decorates the homes of celebrities and presidents (Chinoiserie patterns were chosen for the master bedroom of the White House). However, please do not sleep on the floor. There are also more subtle patterns. The guest room, designed by Lisa Henderson Interiors of Dallas, featured prints from her line called English Garden. The botanical stripes in this nursery by Houston’s Katie Davis Design made me want to be a kid again.
majestic ceiling
The ceiling is often an afterthought, but here it’s treated as the fifth wall. Several designers covered portions of the ceiling in fabric, including the husband-and-wife duo behind French & French Interiors in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They repeated the ceiling stripes in a different color on the pillows in the quirky drawing room. If you can tear your eyes away from the antique French desk in the Sobremesa Lounge (which has been converted into a bar), don’t forget to look up. The ceiling is eye-catching and pays homage to the history of Jimador, Mexico. Dallasite Javier Burkle of Burkle Creative constructed the homage using an oxblood color palette, diamond-like wallpaper, midcentury modern medallions, brass agave leaves, and a jute-covered chandelier.
If you look closely, you’ll see that the pillows match the ceiling in the reception room by French & French Interiors. By Nicholas Sargent All the little trinkets in Javier Burkle’s tequila tasting room were sourced from Mexico. Nicholas Sargent
trim on trim on trim
Is there a buzzword that almost every designer repeats? Layers. This often manifested itself as textile trimming, extra treatments, or, in the case of Tracy Connell Interiors’ Cigar Lounge, both. The Dallas-based designer used three rows of molding to visually lower the ceiling and make the room feel more comfortable. She then added texture with feather trim on the chaise longue.
Trish Sheets, who runs her own eponymous design company in Fort Worth, also held a layering master class in her space, a blue-and-white salon. Instead of reupholstering the underside of the sofa with the same fabric as the sofa skirt, she juxtaposed the striped fabric with an organic velvet top layer. The same sofa had both a braided tassel trim on the bottom and a ruffled trim along the armrests.
plate as art
Disguising refrigerators with wood panels is nothing new, but Tarte Elias took the latest model of Kohler’s refrigerator (with a black interior) and created a top that resembled an antique ceramic cabinet. She then added Lucite and brass handles and 11 attractive display plates to the front. High-quality porcelain was also used in other rooms. A wall bracket in the guest room supported a European Delft charger, and a not-so-precious plate was mounted above the doorway in Davis’ nursery.
picture rail
Forget about hanging art on nails. These days, it’s all about the old-school approach. In more than a dozen rooms, the designers chose Victorian-era picture rails and tasteful chains to display paintings, photographs, and mirrors. One of the best examples is the Rotunda by Dallas-based studio Swoon. Using chains purchased at the hardware store and photos they took themselves, the designers turned an often overlooked second-story window into a focal point. The chains are hidden behind the curtain, making the oval frame appear to be floating in the air.
Bars in (almost) every room
Every space had some kind of bar, except for the children’s room and bathroom. There were a few things that I found particularly refreshing. In the listening room, an antique kettle and Japanese cups create a Zen, zero-proof happy hour, while the cigar lounge has a minimalist coffee system with espresso martinis in mind, and the library features a hidden caviar bar. Dallas’ Shelby Wagner Design also transformed an old cloakroom into a warm welcome station with silver cocktail shakers, smoky glassware, and a sophisticated orange hue reminiscent of Hermès and the University of Texas (Wagner) He says it was unintentional (he is proud to be an SMU graduate).
Designer Shelby Wagner, an SMU graduate, says the wallpaper’s resemblance to UT’s burnt orange is purely coincidental. Nicholas Sargent Citrus Kitchen featured Kohler’s newly released sink in Aspen Green and a Kohler refrigerator with an all-black interior. Nicholas Sargent
sustainable solution
Swoon anchored the space with a Frank Gehry wiggle side chair made from scrap cardboard. Tartt Elias modeled a slipcover for a lampshade, using fabric scraps as a cord cover that can be replaced as tastes or seasons change. Several designers also mentioned their love for patina and well-worn antiques. Bottom line: There’s no need to discard existing functionality. Just need to be creative.
Victoria Sass of Prospect Refuge Studio in Minneapolis decided to challenge herself by leaning into some of the discarded trends she remembered from her childhood home in the Midwest. Rather than remove the golden oak paneling, she installed it and left it bare. She took the wall-to-wall carpet a step further by pushing it to the side of the wall, and added a custom square desk fully upholstered in floral chintz and fitted with laminate drawers reminiscent of retro plastic sofa covers. The curved ceiling was given a speckled effect reminiscent of a popcorn ceiling. Her space was unlike any other in the showhouse, yet still cohesive, strikingly fresh, and proving that trends are what you make them.
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