The Blue & White Kitchen

Jim Dove - Veranda

 

This blue and white very Palm Beach kitchen is the inspiration of Jim Dove Design for the just opened Kips Bay Palm Beach Show House.

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Tristan Harstan - Veranda

 

Kips Bay Palm Beach opens today and this is the wonderful blue and white dining room by Tristan Harstan. 

"Rooted in Harstan’s love of classicism and history, the space reflects its coastal context through the scenic de Gournay wallcovering, palm leaf Paul Ferrante chandelier, and palette of refreshing blues. An ivory Colefax and Fowler silk fashioned into draperies by The Shade Store adds an extra dose of warmth and serenity while a mix of antique and contemporary furnishings from Ainsworth-Noah bring depth and texture."

Kips Bay Palm Beach

Phoebe Howard - Kips Bay Palm Beach 2024

Kips Bay Palm Beach opens this week. When I lived in D.C., I loved going to the showhouses in D.C., Baltimore, and Alexandria. Unfortunately, most are shuttered and a thing of the past.

The Blue and White Bedroom

Alessandra Branca

This wonderful blue and white bedroom is from the 2020 Kips Bay Show House Palm Beach done by Alessandra Branca.

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2023 Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach

 

I posted yesterday on the 2023 Kips Bay Show House Palm Beach that opens today. Having attended decorator show houses for decades ( I love them), I always enjoy seeing what the talented landscape designers do with the landscaping and gardens of the home.

Palm Beach Style

Amanda Lindroth - Veranda

 

This great room by Amanda Lindroth is in the new 2023 Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach. The 9,000 square foot waterfront house is in the Northwood Shores neighborhood of West Palm Beach.

Pet Peeves

Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach

 This space is from the just opened Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach. It caught my eye because this next week I will be putting together my newly tiled lanai. Although my lanai is completely under roof and screened, I have been very sensitive to only using materials designed for the outdoors - resin wicker furniture, Sunbrella fabric, and the like.

I have a pet peeve about designer show house rooms that are completely impractical. Although this space is very pretty, even assuming outdoor fabrics have been used, so much of it is not meant for the outdoors. Especially the wood furniture. With the heavy rains we get and the humidity, this loggia would not look like this in short order. It brings to mind a NSO Decorator Show House in DC years ago where they had put a king sized bed in the living room. A whole new spin on entertaining - LOL.

Palm Beach Neutrals

Courtney Giles Interiors

 This lovely bedroom is from the newly opened Kips Bay Show House Palm Beach. Although we generally associate Palm Beach with lots of vibrant color, this is a wonderful example of embracing that style with a neutral palette. The palm wallpaper is Schumacher Blair House Palm. I especially love the scalloped linens. I spot a Chinese Chippendale chair and an orchid on the side wall.

Summery Blue and White

Alessandra Branca

 This lovely space is from last year's Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse Palm Beach. It includes so many of my favorites - a blue and white palette, seagrass matting, faux bamboo furniture, a rattan bar cart, a wicker hurricane, palm fronds, stripes, wicker lampshades, and a pair of very unique garden stools. The navy piping on the white cushions is a lovely detail. I may attend this year, but I believe one also has the choice of a virtual ticket. 

Caftans and Chinoiserie

WSJ

Caftans, also spelled kaftans, were originally worn by men. Cut from airy material to sit off the body, it is one of the most comfortable things you can don in tropical climates. Long associated with Palm Beach and Florida, the caftan is as comfortable as sweat pants, but with elegance and sophistication.

Caftans are thought to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia and were worn in India, Africa, and Iran by sultans and high ranking officials (men) from the 14th to 18th century. Caftans became the rage in the sixties worn by women like Jackie Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, and Vogue editor Diana Vreeland.

Jackie Kennedy

Elizabeth Taylor

Grace Kelly

Since moving to Florida and especially now with quarantining, I have embraced this style full throttle. I have always worn dresses - I don't own a pair of jeans. You can get out of the pool and throw on a caftan, thrown on some statement jewelry and a pair of Jack Rogers, and go to the most stylish dinner party or restaurant - someday again.

And, how does this relate to Chinoiserie? Many of our favorite interior designers have espoused this attire in their tropical abodes.

Meg Braff - matching her Kips Bay room

Meg Braff

Amanda Lindroth

Amanda Lindroth

Tory Burch - a fashion designer, but she uses Chinoiserie throughout her gorgeous homes

Alessandra Branca

Alessandra Branca

Such a great look - comfortable, effortless, sophisticated, timeless, and looks great in the Chinoiserie home.

The Perfect Salmon

Suzanne Kasler - 2020 Palm Beach Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse

Has this blog turned into a cooking show? No, but I do love a great salmon pink paint color and this is it. Benjamin Moore Custis Salmon CW - 215, a historic color found by researchers on the exterior of an 18th century home outside of Williamsburg, Virginia.

Benjamin Moore Custis Salmon

Suzanne Kasler used this paint color on one wall only, hanging de Gournay Chinoiserie wallpaper on the lower portions of the other walls. The white is the iconic Benjamin Moore Dove White. The styling of the bookcases is great too - love the brass sconces and the art.

Check out the scalloped wicker daybed. Kasler uses lots of rattan as well in this modern approach to the Palm Beach look. My only complaint is that I wish she had used a bit of blue and white Chinese porcelain on the shelves - it is amazing with salmon pink.

Well, I am off the see the Nationals and the Yankees in Tampa. Spring Training. BTW, the Palm Beach Kips Bay Showhouse runs through March 1.

The Chinoiserie Staircase

Domino - Lee W. Robinson and Kyle Johnson

A dramatic staircase features Chinoiserie wallpaper and a pagoda birdcage in this 2019 Kips Bay Show House Palm Beach.

Lush

Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse - Ken Fulk

A stunning combination of green silk taffeta, leopard, Greek key, and flamingos.

Alessandra Branca

Alessandra Branca - Kips Bay 2015

Leopard & Chinoiserie

This remains one of my favorite bedrooms of all time-Tonin MacCallum's "A Sunny Boudoir" for the 34th Kips Bay Showhouse in 2006. The leopard fabric covered walls are wonderful as is everything. My dining room chairs are off being recovered in a very similar leopard velvet epingle that I got from Mary McDonald's Tastemaker Tag Sale on One Kings Lane. The reveal will be soon!

Chinoiserie Umbrellas

This Charlotte Moss room from the 1995 Kips Bay Show House still remains one of my all time favorites. I love the de Gournay wallpaper, the velvet cover, the Chinese embroidered silk pillows, the red cashmere throw, the leopard pillows, and the single Oriental poppies in vases on the mantel. The piece de resistance of course is the umbrella bed. When I spied these antique English brass Chinoiserie umbrellas on eBay, they reminded me so much of this umbrella bed. I picked them up for only $9.95! I haven't quite figured out where they will go, but they will serve as inspiration and a reminder of this lovely Chinoiserie room that only lived for a month in 1995, yet still remains fresh in my mind.