Decorator Show House – a staple in New York City since 1973, has returned to Palm Beach for its third iteration.
This year’s plantation-style home, nicknamed “Bamboo Hill,” situated at 260 Palmetto Lane in the South End neighborhood of West Palm Beach, a block from the Intracoastal Waterway, is owned by renowned Swedish interior designer Lars Bolander.
“The Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach has become a highly anticipated event since first opening its doors in 2017 and we are thrilled to return for a third year,” said James Druckman, president and CEO of the New York Design Center and president of the board of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club.
“This year’s incredible talent is [composed] of local, national and international designers, and we are so grateful for their support in raising critical programming funds for the 17,000 children served by both organizations,” he said.
Proceeds benefit both the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club and Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County.
The home, with 8,751 square feet, boasts four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a great room with vaulted ceilings, an expansive loggia, picturesque swimming pool and lush greenery.
It also has two guest houses, a pool house, and private garden.
This year, 19 designers from across the country, bringing with them the latest in design trends, high-end and high-tech fixtures, original artwork and antiques, executed their vision for each space, completely reconstructing and reconfiguring the rooms over a period of three months.
The transformation is both inside and out and the expansive backyard and pool is alone worth the trip.
The back garden, “The Mughal Garden,” was designed by Mario Nievera and Keith Williams of Palm Beach-based Nievera Williams Design, who drew on inspiration for the gardens from India’s Taj Mahal.
Inside, a serene and minimalist entrance, created by Alizee Brion of Miami-based Light on White, provides a moment of reflection upon entering the estate.
A show-stopping custom rug designed to emulate a terrazzo floor acts as a focal point for the French, handcrafted white marble furniture, clean lines and serene palette of whites and soft greens, creating an immersive layer of tropical gardens.
Valéria Nascimento’s white porcelain sculptures make a floral statement on the wall as does a hand-painted bamboo leaf mural by artist Austin Kerr.
From custom-painted de Gournay and Gracie wallpaper to custom-created furniture and artwork, no detail is left to chance.
From designer Suzanne Kasler’s great room in feminine shades of pinks and whites with its handpainted de Gournay “sans souci” wallpaper and custom Paul Ferrante chandeliers, to the bold colors and patterns of Betsy Wentz and Tom Kirchoff’s closets and master bathrooms with their lime green vanities and cast-iron sinks in shades of lavender, to the soothing blue and whites of
Alessandra Branca’s master bedroom (“bedrooms should be peaceful and calm”), creativity is on maximum display wherever your eye lands.
Branca, who is based in New York, Chicago and Paris, is launching her own line of sheets, linens and fabrics, some of which are hand-embroidered by Rwandan women and survivors of that country’s genocide.
New York-based interior designer Sarah Magness, who created mediation rooms for record moguls Russell Simmons, Sean Combs and singer Lenny Kravitz, created a Japanese-inspired “Mindfulness Retreat,” in the transitional space between the living room and the bedrooms.
Magness, who spent a number of years in Japan, believes she sees the emergence of a new trend.
“People want to have a room in their house where they can relax, decompress and escape from the stress of the day,” she says.
A meditation bed dominates the center of the room, a gentle cascade of water ripples in a fountain, a bookcase cradles her own collection of porcelain antiques, meditation bowls and antique Japanese floral stencils.
A custom Sacco carpet of a “samurai” tiger creeps up the stairs and hand-painted Gracie wallpaper with koi fish in blues, greens and silvers blankets the ceiling, along with a cherry-blossom inspired chandelier by Jeff Zimmerman.
Other highlights include Los Angeles-based designer Kevin Isbell’s guest suite and bathroom, which he transformed into a “Writer’s Retreat,” complete with manual typewriter and writing tablet embossed with Ernest Hemingway’s ironic decree, “Write drunk, edit sober.”
And then there are Boca Raton-based designer Javier Fernandez’s Diana Vreeland-inspired powder room, “Room with a Bite,” and designer Keith Baltimore’s guest casita, “The Sanctuary,” a spa room covered in delicate peaches, creams, greys, silver and aqua.
Landscaping and front gardens were designed by Lake Worth-based Jobe Lopez of the Lopez Group and were inspired by the vineyards at the Klein Constantia Estate in South Africa.
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Additional rooms include: guest suite/bathroom/outdoor terrace by Joe Lucas of Lucas Studio, the foyer by Brian and Alexandra Brady (father and daughter architects), the loggia by Sherrill Canet of Sherrill Canet Interiors, the kitchen by Sarah Blank of Sarah Blank Design Studio, dining terrace by Toronto-based Colette van den Thillart, a jungle-inspired study by Palm Beach-based Leta Austin Foster, the guest bedroom/bathroom by Massachusetts-based Robin Gannon and the “Cabana Hideaway,” or pool pavilion by Nashville designer Jonathan Savage.
The house is open to the public through Sunday, March 1; hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. Tickets ($35) can be purchased online and at the door. For tickets and more information visit kipsbaydecoratorshowhouse.org/palmbeach or call: 718-893-8600, ext. 11236.