The Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach has returned in a big way, showcasing two houses for the first time ever: a waterfront bungalow at 3410 North Flagler Drive, and a charming cottage located just across the street. Open to visitors through March 24, this ticketed event spotlights the work of 23 interior and landscape design firms and raises funds for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County.
There’s lots of pretty on display: curtain-wrapped rooms and cabanas, decadent layers of trim and fringe, floral textiles interpreted through a fresh, contemporary lens. But there are also strikingly modern moments. Sergio Mercado of San Francisco–based BAMO Design Studio designed the ethereal sunroom in the Intracoastal House, which boasts a rippling slatted ceiling that casts dramatic shadows on the walls and a Gio Ponti–inspired patterned floor combining multiple varieties of stone. “We were inspired by surrealist spaces,” explains Mercado. Harlequin Belgian linen curtains continue the wave motif with silver metallic thread.
A seashell-inspired tile from Artistic Tile served as a design catalyst for the bathroom designed by Rayana Schmitz of Coconut Creek, Florida–based Firefinish Interiors. “Its geometric, almost architectural quality felt very aligned with how we approach design,” Schmitz tells AD PRO. A chartreuse ceramic chandelier from Entler adds tension to the otherwise soothing space and directs guests to the backyard extension, where an outdoor shower plastered with citron yellow zellige tile by Otto Tiles awaits.
Citron was a defining hue of this year’s show house. In the lounge by New York City–based Pappas Miron Design, it was paired with plum as the firm’s “take on Palm Beach, colorwise,” says principal Tatyana Miron. With its burnished lime, plaster wax-finished walls, the room is a veritable antique emporium, filled with vintage finds from the firm’s annual trips to Parma, Italy, and pillows made from a silk textile remnant saved from Miron’s childhood home in Detroit.
Personal connections abounded. In her great room, Miami-based designer Deborah Wecselman of Wecselman Design installed several artworks from her home, as well as her own Ralph Pucci chairs, which she reupholstered in a mint alpaca fur she describes as “a nod to my own Peruvian heritage.” A handwoven textile by Colombian artist Olga de Amaral anchors the room, set off by a custom sculptural sofa from Pivot Home and a hand-polished marble and bronze Artemest coffee table. “Layering is central to how I design,” says Wecselman, who spent more than a decade crafting the interiors at Ralph Lauren flagships worldwide.
Expert layering was also executed by Lucy O’Brien, principal of Philadelphia-based firm Tartan & Toile, who squeezed multiple wallpapers from Kravet, de Gournay, and Gracie into the tight vestibule and bathroom spaces. “Using so many wallpapers in addition to dramatic fabrics in a small space actually gives the area greater presence,” O’Brien says. On the windows, intricate Pierre Frey drapery “creates a connected moment that doesn’t feel like you’re in a corner.”
In the waterfront backyard, Birmingham-based architecture and interiors firm River Brook turned an existing tiki hut into a glamorous entertaining cabana complete with tented, yellow Schumacher stripes and a pink marble-wrapped bar. “We really wanted to create an extension of the home outdoors,” said principal Leigh Misso. For the pool surrounds, landscape architecture firm Bell Design Inc. tapped Brooklyn-based fabricator Belt Metal to design a showstopping brass fish bar, which can fold up into a metallic sculpture à la Lalanne for more pared-back occasions. Also in charge of the home’s front exterior, Bell Design Inc. created a charming children’s tree house and an outdoor wellness retreat in collaboration with Kohler.
Across North Flagler Drive, the petite size of the Palm Cottage enabled designers to think big. “I wanted to make the biggest impact I could,” designer Steven Walsh tells AD PRO—this meant opting for full slabs of marble in his bathroom, using the same stone in two different finishes. In the adjoining hallway, Walsh incorporated three-dimensional botanical plaster relief panels on the walls and added a brass inlay pattern to the home’s original terrazzo floors.
Warm desert tones pervaded designer Amy Young’s breakfast room and kitchen. (Usually partial to neutral palettes, principal Amy Lee McArdle confessed that working with so much color was a “fun challenge” for her.) The kitchen is defined by maroon velour quartzite, which travels from the countertop to the bull-nose-edged shelving to the range hood, all sourced from Primstones and fabricated by Innovative Stone Design. Meanwhile, the breakfast room glistens from bottom to top, capped off by a Larose Guyon Abysse 03 chandelier hanging from the polished plaster ceiling. Despite its tight square footage, the space—which McArdle dubbed “The Breakfast Club, After Hours”—makes a statement, just as all show-house rooms should.
Step Inside the Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach 2026
