Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse

In 1973, supporters of the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club in New York City sought a way to raise money for local children in after-school and enrichment programs. Enter the Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse. Done annually, interior designers take a Manhattan Georgian mansion home and thoughtfully reinvent its rooms, displaying a cornucopia of inspiring artwork, furnishings, and technology. Favorites from our visit? A wall treatment and staircase mural done by Richard Rabel as well as an invitingly tranquil living room, by Robert Passal and Danial Kahan, inspired by Parisian salons and incorporating hidden speakers within its ceilings, so as not to indicate where the music was coming from.