Dispatch From Palm Beach: DLN Members and Partners at the Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse

The design world descended on Palm Beach this week for the opening of the sixth annual Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse Palm Beach. As in past years, the Floridian offshoot of the iconic New York design showcase provided occasion for designers and industry professionals to flock south not just for the showhouse, but a slew of associated events, too (more on some of those coming your way soon!). As always, the DLN presence was significant: The showhouse, which benefits the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club as well as the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Palm Beach, saw five Members conceiving rooms within this year’s host home, a 7,000 square-foot Mediterranean-style villa overlooking the Intracoastal. Numerous DLN Partners came together to provide everything from paint to plumbing. Read on for your inside look. (In town? Click here to purchase a ticket to tour the showhouse through March 19)

 

Hall by David Frazier

Faced with one of the home’s more challenging (and less glamorous!) spaces, New York-based David Frazier worked magic to transform a cramped back hallway and utility room into a sophisticated gallery and adjacent laundry dubbed the “Acanthus Enfilade.” DLN Partner Benjamin Moore’s moody Brown Sugar provides a dramatic flair to a hallway covered in art and antiques, which leads to what may be the chicest laundry room in all of Florida. To conceal the room’s appliances and storage, Frazier conceived skirts and drapery in Acanthus chintz by Partner Soane Britain, which he paired with smart soapstone countertops. Who said laundry had to be a chore?

 

Bedroom and Bath by Mabley Handler

Upstairs, new DLN members Jennifer Mabley and Austin Handler of Hamptons-based Mabley Handler Interior Design turned a bedroom and en-suite bath into a new riff on tropical Floridian style. First, the duo swathed the bedroom walls in a scenic wall hanging by Gracie, rendered in muted shades that evoke the pink-and-green of Palm Beach in a less Lilly Pulitzer way. Whimsical touches like antique stone flamingos allude to Florida’s retro resort style while staying elevated. The duo let loose in the bath, which features a graphic wallpaper by Harlequin and a high-tech waterfall shower by Kohler, which so delighted Jennifer she left it running for part of the opening night party. An adjacent closet got the high-design treatment, too, with Silestone in Posidonia Green from Partner Cosentino providing a jolt of color.

 

Bath by Paladino Rudd

Speaking of high-tech plumbing fixtures, Palm Beach locals Paladino Rudd created the ultimate bath on the home’s second floor, a suite comprising separate water closet, shower room, and infinity bathtub with views of palm trees beyond. The space is powered by a single, sleek Kohler touchpad and clad in Dekton from Partner Cosentino, so it’s as durable as it is inviting.

 

Salon by Danielle Rollins

Downstairs, Danielle Rollins presented a lesson in decorating with texture for her all-white salon, where she warmed up the home’s original stone walls and floors with soft rugs, leafy plants, and lots of natural materials, like a linen Kravet sofa and plenty of rattan. A large, white seashell mirror and plaster chandelier by Partner Visual Comfort serve as dramatic focal points. Rollins also joined forces with fellow DLN Member Billy Ceglia to provide “Danielle and Billy’s Guide to Palm Beach,” a cheeky pamphlet outlining the duo’s favorite local spots (Flagler Mansion, Lake Trail, The Church Mouse, to name a few) alongside Slim Aarons-style photographe of the two around the house.

 

Exterior by Billy Ceglia

Speaking of Billy, the new Palm Beach local wowed with a showstopping all-white exterior featuring dozens of furniture pieces from DLN Partner Brown Jordan. Ceglia divided the sprawling pool and patio area into several seating, dining, lounging and entertaining zones, including a complete outdoor kitchen, sofa area featuring a Cosentino topped coffee table, makeshift game table, and waterside dining area. Everything, down to the decorative faux succulents (and even floating pool loungers), is a cool white, providing a minimal frame to the water views—and a telling testament to the quality of today’s performance fabric, including Partner Perennials.

 

Other standouts from this year’s house included Amy Studebaker’s Soane-swathed guest bedroom with a charming trellis ceiling; Eneia White’s shutter-encased bed covered in a soft sage by Benjamin Moore atop a graceful floral Stark carpet, White’s adjacent bathroom featuring a Pepto Bismol pink Kohler tub, sink, and toilet; Scott Sanders’s ode to Palm Beach with Phillip Jeffries wallcovering and vintage rattan furniture recovered in Pierre Frey fabric, and Honey Collins’s outdoor living room on a second-floor terrace featuring furniture from Partner Janus et Cie and local dealer Circa Who. See all the rooms from DLN Media Partner Veranda here.