The Times' Home & Garden section has a helluva lotta visuals this morning, what with an extensive cover story on the Kips Bay Decorator Show House, which opens its doors today. The limestone townhouse on NYC's Upper East Side is listed for$28.8M, and Kips Bay being, well, Kips Bay, we're devoting our entire index to the showhouse and the nitpicky details of the 17-room, 18-designer space. (If you're looking for additional H&G intel, here's a quick rundown: furniture and accessories firm Dwell Studio opens a shop-in-shop at NYC's ABC Carpet & Home and designer David Weeks has a new line of minimalist lighting.) And now, onward to the showhouse:
· The bedroom designed by Noel Jeffrey was formerly shaped like a rectangle, but now looks like a "giant lozenge" thanks to sheer curtains hung just so.
· In early November, Gilt Groupe will sell the furnishings and accessories found in three of the showhouse's rooms.
· The front hall boasts $25K worth of Jean Paul Gaultier for Roche Bobois home furnishings.
· Aiming to craft a space chock full of good investments, designer Darren Henault incorporated $1M worth of goods into the his-and-hers dressing rooms.
· Designers Joan and Jayne Michaels adorned their room with sculptures with Long-Bin Chen, whose media includes The Yellow Pages and Sotheby's catalogs.
· One bathroom features hand-blown glass bubbles in the tub.
· Nailhead detail punctuates the glasscloth walls on the fourth-floor landing.
· Elizabeth Pyne of McMillen Plus (the venerable decorating firm's younger, hipper division) draped a bed-sitter in acqua and gold linen.
· One wall features three-dimensional rubber-and-plaster floral appliqués by artist Nina Helms.
· There's a his-and-hers massage room.
· And now, the visuals:
· Almost a No-Go, the Kips Bay Decorator Show House Opens After a Six-Month Delay [NYT]