WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — There’s one week left to step into another world, which happens to be inside one of your neighbor’s homes.
The Kips Bay Decorator Show House invites designers from all over country to take on a very rapid redesign of a home, all in an effort to showcase design trends, while also raising money. Proceeds benefit Boys & Girls Clubs of the Palm Beaches and Kips Bay in the Bronx.
While there have been show houses in Manhattan for 47 years, more recently, the tour added homes in Palm Beach in 2017. In 2020, a Dallas home tour began.
Director of Special Events & Corporate Partnerships, Nazira Handal, says it’s a very rapid and intense labor of love.
“So it’s a very short period of time, very intense timeline. The designers have less than three months to transform an entire, new bathrooms, new kitchen, and new flooring. New wall coverings. So they really have put all their time, effort and money. To really transform this space,” she said.
This year in Palm Beach, a home in the Northwood neighborhood of West Palm Beach received the makeover. Two dozen designers from all over the country, including two from Florida, were selected. The finished transformation is includes a guest house, pool area, and gardens that meander around the estate.
Handal points out that many designers drew the visitor’s eye up, using with fabric, wallpaper, or three-dimensional ceilings.
“This year especially has been ceilings, as you can see all over the house. The ceiling has been the key component of each room.”
The homeowners must completely move out of the home during the process. While they are consulted for elements that will stay with the house, they will also have decisions to make about what to keep when they return at the end of the tour.
“So the furnishing goes. The owners of course have the possibility of buying it. But most of the furniture just goes. And in terms of the kitchens and bathrooms, they do stay with the kitchens and bathrooms and they have been preapproved by the owner. The designers do send their sketches and their designs for them to be approved because those elements do stay,” Handal said.
Tour tickets can be purchased through Sunday.
