We Can’t Stop Thinking About These Gorgeous Rooms in the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse
The 49th Kips Bay Decorator Show House New York has once again opened its doors to the public. This year, 24 designers and architects have overtaken a five-story 1904 neo-Georgian townhouse at 125 East 65th Street in New York’s Upper East Side. Every corner of the 12,000-square-foot building, designed by architect Charles A. Platt, has been graced with the designer’s touch, with lowly lit lounge rooms made for swirling smoke plumes, glamorous azure blue bedrooms (do we spot an original Renoir?), and jewel box dining rooms with more pattern play than most people know what to do with (aptly, Kit Kemp does).
“This year’s New York Show House is a testament to the extraordinary talent and professionalism of our participating designers, who have worked tirelessly these past 10 weeks to construct their spaces,” James Druckman, president of the board of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, said in a statement. The show house, which raises money for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, is now open for in-person visits through May 28. But if you, like us, couldn’t wait to see it IRL, read on for 10 of our favorite design moments.
A stately brick Greek Revival townhouse at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights got a lightning-speed makeover by 16 design firms in the 2024 Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse, which debuted this week. Having been given less than a month to transform the space, they’ve been working in overdrive to make finishing touches. It feels far from hurried, though. Throughout the row house, guests will observe an ethereal mural that spans the entryway and three-story staircase, chocolate-hued high-gloss ceilings in the study, and a glorious wildflower-inspired yellow bedroom.
The property, originally built for Isaac Wood, M.D., in the late 1840s, sits on a Brooklyn street that in the 18th century was called Doctor's Row. (Fun fact: Under Wood’s residence, it was the site of the first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.) The home saw a series of longtime single-family homes being reconfigured into multifamily housing before World War II, then being converted back to single-family in the 1990s.
This fall, the showhouse is open for in-person visits through November 3. But if you, like us, couldn’t wait to see it IRL, read on for 10 of our favorite design moments.
A Walk in the Park
This ethereal entry, aptly dubbed Park Bath, is designer Jennifer Morris’s artistry. Morris commissioned Shanan Campanaro of the textile design studio Eskayel to create a custom mural that spans the entryway and winds up the three-story staircase. On the ground floor, a dense composition inspired by an urban forest creates the feeling one gets when walking down a tree-lined street. As one ascends, the mural merges into a light-and-airy blue pattern that mimics the sky.
Warm-Hued Parlor
Allegra O. Eifler’s renovation of the parlor floor exudes quiet warmth, bathed in a warm terra-cotta color that references the 1848 Italianate architecture. “The first time I saw the parlor it was bathed in eastern morning light, a quiet warmth that contrasted with the buzzy energy of Brooklyn waking up,” Eifler said in a statement. “My concept for this room is rooted in that duality that Brooklyn possesses—a space that can be both enveloping for intimate conversations and vibrant for joyful gatherings.”
A Thoughtfully Designed Kitchen
Ingui Architecture and BIA Interiors’ design of the cooking space on the ground floor is a calm, sophisticated room that redefines what a kitchen can be. Emerald and turquoise marble is flanked by deep teal cabinets. Dark cyan millwork grounds the space, alongside limestone flooring in a tonal checkerboard that calls to mind the stateliness of old New York.
Summer, All Year Around
In the primary bedroom, Landed Interiors’ Lynn Kloythanomsup called upon a summer sojourn to the Cotswolds in England for inspiration. Collaborating with Brooklyn-based plaster artists Arkada Plus, she made the dried wildflowers and wheatgrass colors come to life on the walls, which are punctuated by industrial furnishings like a German touch lamp and a Joseph Hoffman pendant.
Gentility for the Littles
On the third floor, Rebecca Amir invites us into a wonderland of sorts. “The design for this children’s bedroom is meant to evoke a deep sense of nostalgia and longing, inviting anyone who steps inside to momentarily escape to a beloved seaside sanctuary,” Amir says. “Furniture from the past and present comes together to create a space that feels warm, personal, and familiar.” A tasteful mix of paisleys and delicate florals is complemented by items that call to mind family heirlooms, memories, and traditions.
Old-Meets-New Study
Cue the drama in this sultry space, christened by design firm JAM as the “midnight study.” This room—filled with classic elements from the Art Deco and Viennese Secession movements and contemporary pieces alike—is the embodiment of JAM’s motto to keep the best of what is old and thoughtfully introduce the new. We especially love the cigarette burn on the vintage desk (if tabletops could talk). For those who have trekked all the way to see this room, don’t forget to step inside their closet-turned-speakeasy, which is swathed in a plush fur carpet that they coaxed this ELLE DECOR editor to remove her shoes to feel.
Hello, Old Friend
Every townhouse needs a study, and this Venetian-inspired room—designed by Casa Angulo’s Adalberto Angulo Sosa and Jennifer Paccione Angulo—would make the most idle of proletarians find the incentive to roll up their sleeves. Though a smaller space, this rectangular room is a world within a world, featuring rich textiles, a chocolate brown ceiling with expanded crown moulding painted in high gloss, an antique scroll desk, and an antique Deco tapestry. Decorative oddities like Murano glass eggs and woven tassels are subtle echoes to the Floating City. “The objects throughout the room are intentionally placed to reflect the realism of one’s own home—a collection of old and new, sentiment and nostalgia, memory and present,” Paccione Angulo said in a statement. “There is a hope that each of you feel an emotion of home, or of stepping into the room of an old friend, upon entering ours.”
A Writer’s Escape
Sister duo Parul Jain Ghei and Kanika Jain Gupta at Studio Jai Home created a writer’s study, a calming escape boasting rich, saturated colors and varying textures that create a welcoming environment for writers to find inspiration. But the best part is the way Jain Ghei and Jain Gupta maximized the space, in the form of multiple hidden desks and a window bench with storage. We daresay someone’s greatest novel has yet to be scripted in just such a space.
Mr. Givenchy-Approved
As a young man, designer Steven Walsh says he was very interested in fashion, fashion designers, their homes, and how they lived. “Yves Saint Laurent, Bill Blass, Valentino, and Givenchy all inspired me,” Walsh said in a statement. At some point, he came across a 1978 photo of Hubert de Givenchy’s Paris apartment on rue Fabert. “Needless to say, I was quite taken by his salon,” he said. “Its striking timeless style has stayed with me. It was rich yet casual. The scale and the curated collection of furnishings, objects, and art created a room of diverse periods yet remained approachable, unpretentious and inviting.”
Walsh’s Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse contribution is a modern take on Givenchy’s remarkable Paris home, complete with black leather club chairs, brass and bronze light fixtures, and silk velvet sofas.
Moody Media Room
When Batliboi Studio was tasked with renovating the sunken cellar floor, they decided to lean into the cocooning nature of the space’s architecture with a media room. New floors were installed, as was a seating platform, creating a sunken living room feel. But we can’t talk about this room without mentioning the color palette, a luxurious combination of deep red and crimson tones inspired by the interior of Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre. It’s a true retreat from the real world—something every New Yorker requires to stay sane.
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